Oklahoma City Thunder vs Denver Nuggets Prediction, 12/29/2023 Preview and Pick
Game: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Denver Nuggets
Date: Friday, December 29, 2023
Location: Ball Arena in Denver, CO
TV: Altitude
The Oklahoma City Thunder (19-9) are en route to Ball Arena on Friday where they will compete against the Denver Nuggets (22-10).
The Thunder faced the Timberwolves and walked away with a win by a score of 129-106 in their last game. When discussing fouls, the Thunder walked away with 24 while the Timberwolves accumulated 16 fouls. They converted 12 of their 27 tries from 3-point range. Minnesota ended up going 81.3% from the free throw line by making 26 of 32 attempts. Furthermore, Minnesota pulled down 34 boards (8 offensive, 26 defensive) and had 7 blocks. Minnesota recorded 22 dimes and had 8 steals in this contest. With regard to the defense, Oklahoma City allowed their opponent to shoot 46.6% from the field on 34 out of 73 shooting. They also doled out 35 assists for the contest while forcing the opposition into 21 turnovers and getting 9 steals. When discussing grabbing rebounds, they collected 29 with 3 of them being on the offensive end. At the charity stripe, the Thunder buried 13 of their 16 attempts for a rate of 81.3%. Oklahoma City finished having earned a 60.5% field goal percentage (49 of 81) and converted 18 of their 39 three-point attempts.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is someone who was a major factor for the contest. He accounted for 34 points on 14 of 19 shooting. He played 33 minutes and also collected 6 rebounds. Gilgeous-Alexander ended up going 73.7% from the floor and totaled 9 dimes.
Oklahoma City will play this game with a win-loss record of 19-9 so far this season. They have an average of 121.0 points per outing (5th in basketball) on 49.5% from the field. The Thunder are hitting 38.6% on shots from beyond the arc (359 of 930) and 85.4% from the free throw line. As a unit, Oklahoma City is collecting 41.0 boards per contest and has tallied 731 dimes for the season, which is 25th in the league in terms of passing. They lose possession via turnover 12.8 times per game and as a squad they are committing 19.9 fouls per game.
When they are on defense, the Thunder have forced 16.7 turnovers per contest and they draw 19.8 personal fouls. They are currently ranked 10th in the NBA in allowing assists to the opposition with 754 surrendered on the year. The Thunder are giving up a FG percentage of 44.5% (1,119 of 2,516) and they concede 45.9 rebounds per game as a squad. They relinquish 36.3% on shots from beyond the perimeter and they rank 14th in the league in opponents PPG (113.4).
When they last stepped on the court, the Nuggets got the win with a final of 120-114 against the Warriors. When talking about rebounding, Denver allowed Golden State to get 39 in total (9 on the offensive glass). They went 35.0% from 3-point land via 14 out of 40 and finished the contest at 20 of 23 from the free throw line (87.0%). The Nuggets allowed the Warriors to make 40 out of their 87 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.0% for this contest. When all was said and done, the Nuggets shot 40 out of 82 from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 48.8%. With regard to shooting from 3-point land, Denver buried 14 of 34 attempts (41.2%). They were able to make 26 of those for a clip of 81.3%. The Warriors earned 23 personal fouls for the matchup which got the Nuggets to the charity stripe for 32 attempts. They turned the ball over 14 times, while getting 6 steals for this contest. The Nuggets earned 33 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive rebounds totaling 43 in this game.
Jamal Murray ended up being a major contributor for the Nuggets for this contest. He made 10 of 18 in this contest giving him a rate of 55.6%, and added 5 rebounds. Murray recorded 28 points in his 33 mins on the court and accounted for 3 assists in this matchup.
Denver has a record of 22-10 so far this season. The Nuggets commit 18.9 fouls per game while shooting 73.7% from the free throw line. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 29.3 times per game (2nd in basketball) and they are giving up possession 12.2 times per game. Denver has totaled 3,684 points so far this year (115.1 per contest) and they collect 44.6 boards per game. As an offense, the Nuggets are shooting 48.9% from the field, which ranks 4th in basketball.
The Nuggets are ranked 4th in basketball in PPG given up with 110.2. They are forcing their opponents into 12.6 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 46.0% from the field (8th in basketball). The Denver defense concedes 35.6% on shots from 3-point land (356 of 1,001) and their opponents are connecting on 79.5% of their foul shots. They have relinquished 24.8 assists and 42.9 rebounds per contest, which ranks them 5th and 12th in the NBA.
Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?
Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Oklahoma City
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