Bulls vs. Nuggets NBA Picks and Odds Breakdown (Archive)
The Bulls have been on a roll this season and now they are facing a banged-up Nuggets team playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Which way to lean at BMR’s best sportsbooks?
Chicago Bulls vs. Denver Nuggets
Friday, November 19, 2021 – 09:00 PM EST at Ball Arena
Can Nuggets Overcome No Rest?
Denver has not been blessed with an easy schedule to start the year. It’s included three early-season games on no rest and tonight will be the fourth as they welcome the Bulls to Denver.
Chicago has been one of the better stories in the NBA this season, but even a wounded and tired Denver team is still dangerous, so while I do think the Bulls are a good play here taking points, there may be a better play that can bring us some cash tonight.
If you’ve watched the Nuggets play this season, they have no problem slowing down the pace. Sometimes they slow things down to a crawl and with the reigning MVP on their roster, it suits their style of play.
With a player like Nikola Jokic, there isn’t much need to run fast breaks when he makes your half-court offense so good.
In fact, with all the injuries the Nuggets are dealing with, combined with them playing their second game this season on no rest, I expect a very slow pace from them.
The Bulls will be happy to oblige too. Chicago plays at a pace below 100 possessions per game and while they may try to speed up Denver early in the game to grab a lead and make them uncomfortable, the Bulls’ formula to win this game is to beat Denver at their own game plan.
The Sharp Pick
Since Denver is probably tired, if the Bulls slow down their offense and force the Nuggets to defend for long stretches of the shot clock, that will do two things.
Firstly, it will wear them down enough to where they are less willing to attack the paint and they hopefully settle for longer, more contested jump shots on offense.
The second thing it does is grind them down and run a lot of clock. By the time the fourth quarter comes around, the Bulls will easily be the fresher team and I doubt the scoring gets too crazy.
Chicago is still missing Nikola Vucevic tonight as he makes his way out of Health and Safety protocols, but that will only help their defense and hurt the Chicago offense.
As long as Tony Bradley and the rest of the Bulls’ frontcourt is up to the challenge of slowing down Jokic, I see Chicago playing so slow that neither one of these teams makes it to 100 points.
Last night we saw a banged-up Sixers put the clamps down on the Nuggets and I know Chicago took notice.
As long as they keep Jokic from getting easy buckets, or getting his teammates easy buckets, the Nuggets don’t have enough offense to get over 100 points against this Bulls defense, especially on the second night of a back-to-back.
In their first three back-to-backs so far this season, Denver has played at an average pace of 95.4 possessions per game, with their last two both falling below that running average.
I expect a crawling pace for this game and the first team to 100 will win it. For your NBA picks, take the under at the NBA odds with that in mind.
NFL Pick: Under 210 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
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