NBA: Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets Preview, Odds, Prediction

Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic are hosting the Miami Heat this Friday night. The franchise from Colorado has been very good lately, which is why they ended up in the top spot of the West, while on the other side, their rivals have accelerated in the past couple of weeks. Miami has had all sorts of problems lately, yet their results are among the best in the league during the second half of December. All this promises an exciting and interesting battle at the Mile High.

Preview

Miami Heat (18-17, +260) have been on fire, with eight wins in the recent 10 events, and that’s something just a few teams can match at the moment. Furthermore, this success is even more important due to the fact that the Heat had to play some of the games without two starters.

They are coming into this event following back-to-back victories at home, over the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-110, and the LA Lakers, 112-98. The one against the Lakers saw the Heat missing just Kyle Lowry, but Jimmy Butler was back.

Jimmy Bucket had 27 points, being the leading scorer of the unit. He was followed by Bam Adebayo, who had a double-double with 23 points and 14 boards, 10-for-16 from the field, while Tyler Herro had 18 points and nine assists. They would kill the Lakers with hard defense in critical moments, routinely solving this puzzle.

Denver Nuggets (22-12, -190) snapped their winning streak losing the second of back-to-back events against Sacramento in California. Following a 113-106 win, the Nuggets were defeated 127-126 in the second one.

The thing that hurts the most here is that Denver had a double-digit lead throughout the majority of the event but lost in the last second. What happened to them in the finish, we aren’t quite sure, but at some point of the season, such an unpleasant experience had to happen. Mike Malone mentioned all this, saying that a perfect cure for failure would be a win in the very next event.

Jokic had 40 buckets, 15-for-24, Bones Hyland 20 with 11 assists, while MPJ scored 19 and had seven assists with three blocks. Jamal Murray’s absence was dearly felt because the Canadian guard not only allows Jokic to rest but also, knows to hit clutch shots.

Head to Head Games

We all know what happened between Morris and Jokic in the past, but fortunately, that is all behind us. Right now, the Nuggets have four wins in a row over this rival, beating them in both of the past season’s events, one in Colorado, 113-96, and the other in Miami, 120-111.

Prediction

The line for this game is currently set at 223.5 points. Now, the Heat has been playing very good defense, and they aren’t allowing more than 105.6 points in the previous ten contests. Now, Denver knows to tighten up the defense at home, and we need to point out that Porter Jr. does an excellent job under the rim. All this forces us to take under, with the odds on that -110. Regarding the winner, Denver is the favorite, but we wouldn’t take it.

Pick: Under 223.5 points -110