The Hornets are struggling through a 1-5 stretch and have had problems with high-octane offenses all season. Nab the Nuggets as road chalk in the Big Easy.
The Denver Nuggets have the front end of a back-to-back in the Big Easy on Friday night with second game coming against Memphis on Saturday.
The Nuggets have averaged 110.8 points per game over their last five games while the Hornets just barely got over the century mark with 100.2 points per game average.
New Orleans is actually being outscored at home 100.4 to 101.8 and overall 99.9 points per game to 100.5 points per game on the year. Denver on the other hand has a significant positive point differential overall averaging 107.7 points per game while allowing only 100.4 points per game this season.
The Hornets have struggled against teams that average 103 or more points per game posting a record of 11-28 against the spread in those contests. New Orleans has dropped seven of its last nine including the last three against division opponents this past week.
Defense has once again been their Achilles heel allowing five of their last six opponents to score 100 or more and Oklahoma City just missed the mark with a 98 to 83 win over the Hornets on Wednesday night.
We know the Nuggets are a better play on the frontend of a back-to-back and they will be facing a Hornets team in search of a defensive identity. Lay the short number here as Denver gets its fifth straight victory and leaves the boys from the Big Easy still wondering what went wrong.
Projected Final Score: Denver-122 New Orleans-109
Free Pick: Nuggets -4½ (-110)
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