Denver Goes for Second Straight Post ‘Melo as NBA Odds Underdog vs. Boston

The Denver Nuggets will try for their second straight victory post-Carmelo and post-Chauncey as a home underdog in the NBA sportsbook on Thursday, February 24th.

The Nuggets put a serious beat down on Memphis, 120 to 107, in their first game without Anthony and Billups. They face a more difficult team to handle on Thursday than the Grizzlies in the Boston Celtics. Denver doesn’t necessarily have to win to reward their backers, but they have to play well and playing well against Boston can be difficult to do at times.

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Boston Celtics (41-14) at Denver Nuggets (33-25)

Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado

When: Feb. 24th, 2010 at 10:30 pm EST

TV: TNT

NBA Betting Lines

Boston Celtics -3 -110 O 203 ½ -110

Denver Nuggets +3 -110 U 203 ½ -110

Check out some Betting trends for this game.

• The Boston Celtics are 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5 games after playing on 1 day of rest.

• The Over is 8 and 3 in the last 11 meetings.

• The Denver Nuggets are 1 and 4 ATS in their last 5 meetings following a straight up win.

• The Over is 5 and 1 in the Denver Nuggets last 6 games overall.

Denver played a marvelous game versus the Memphis Grizzlies in their last. I was sure that the Grizzlies would win that game. Going into it, Memphis had been spectacular against the spread. I discounted how badly Memphis would play with Rudy Gay hurt and how well Denver would play with ‘Melo and Chauncey out of the building. I’m not expecting Denver to repeat that performance on the NBA odds moneyline against Boston on Thursday night. I don’t believe Denver keeps it close enough to lose by only 3 points either.

Boston is the type of team that can play any style you want them to play. The Celtics are good at playing a defensive game, should you want to do that, and they’re also good at running up and down the court and scoring at will against you. It’s your choice. Golden State pushed the Celtics in their last game and the Men in Green responded with 115 points. They held Golden State to only 93 for the entire game. What’s amazing about the performance is that the 2 teams were tied at 60 at halftime.

The Celtics scored 58 points in the second half of that game and held Golden State, the home dog, to only 33 second half points. That’s incredible. It’s also the reason that betting on the over in this game could be problematic for NBA online sportsbook fans. Boston should blow out Denver on Thursday night. If they do, then they’ll end up scoring over 100 points but probably holding the Nuggets to under 100.

It’s possible that something like that could happen because Ray Felton, even if a lot of tweeters are giving him props, can’t stick with Rajon Rondo. The rest of Denver’s squad can’t stick with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

Boston should roll on Thursday night. They’re the better team and the day of rest will make them fired up to face a depleted Denver unit.

I’m backing Boston to cover the spread on February 24th.

NBA Basketball Betting Pick: Boston -3

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