The Golden State Warriors (27-7) will be out for revenge against the Denver Nuggets (17-16) on Thursday after ending up on the losing side in a hard-fought battle a couple of nights ago.
Golden State is a six-point favorite for the contest and bookmaker BetOnline has the odds at -215 for them to win outright. The odds are at +185 for a Denver victory while the total is set at 212.5 points.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 30th, 7:30 A.M. (EST)
The Warriors seemed to have been suffering from a Christmas hangover when they had an awful start on home court on Tuesday. They woke up following the halftime break and Stephen Curry went off for 21 second-half points but it wasn’t enough in an eventual 89-86 defeat.
Curry had 23 points in the end on Tuesday, which marks his lowest scoring output for quite some time and he’ll certainly be very motivated to do a lot better in Thursday’s rematch.
The former MVP had dropped 30-plus points in four consecutive outings prior to Tuesday’s action. He rarely has consecutive off nights and Denver could be in for a very long night if they allow Curry to get going early.
Meanwhile, Golden State is set to get another headache from trying to stop Nikola Jokic. The reigning MVP has been in immense form lately and fell just two rebounds short of posting his third consecutive 20-20 game in Tuesday’s win.
Jokic also played a huge part on the defensive end at the Chase Center with four steals and a game-winning block in the final seconds. There’s almost no way of stopping him – you can only slow him down, and even that takes a mammoth of an effort.
Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only players in the league to average at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game this season. The Serbian giant has struggled with his shot lately, but he can hurt the opposition in multiple ways and always helps out his team in a number of areas.
Denver could rely on Jokic even more than usual on Wednesday because Aaron Gordon and Monte Morris are questionable for the game with injuries. Their absence will make it very difficult for the Nuggets, but with Jokic running the show, they should still be able to keep the game competitive in front of home fans.
