The Washington Wizards went through a roller-coaster of a match to kickstart their five-game West Coast trek this Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns. Both teams traded scoring runs and fouls galore, and it was Washington who escaped from Arizona with a key 131-127 victory.
Tuesday’s contest saw the Wizards step to the free-throw line a staggering 53 times – the most for a single team this season – and they luckily made 42 of their shots from the stripe. Bogan Bogdanovic, by the way, set a new franchise record by going a perfect 16-of-16 from the line before finishing with 29 points.
Bogdanovic was further aided by 20-point outings for his team’s prolific backcourt tandem: John Wall (25) and Bradley Beal (27). Now, Washington seeks to extend their winning ways to three games this Wednesday night at Denver in the second of a back-to-back.
While the short amount of rest and the high altitudes of Colorado do appear dismaying on paper, it’s worth noting that the Wiz have been terrific away from the nation’s capital of late as they’ve won eight of their last 10 road games (7-3 ATS). With playoff positioning for the current second to fourth seeds in the East still up in the air (Washington’s currently in the No. 3 spot), expect head coach Scott Brooks to have his team come out in full swing regardless of the inevitable travel fatigue.
Betting on the Denver Nuggets (29-34)
For the first time in six meetings, the Denver Nuggets have finally gotten one over the Sacramento Kings. Denver prevailed with a crucial 108-96 win on Monday over the Kings to keep their relatively loose grip of the final spot in the Western Conference playoff picture.
That evening, Wilson Chandler lit the Pepsi Center on fire. Chandler scored a career-high 36 points – 16 in the first quarter alone – to go with 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who actually need all the help they could in their frontcourt right now. Not only is Kenneth Faried still dealing with back spasms, but even standout Serbian Nikola Jokic had to sit out Tuesday’s contest with an unspecified illness.
Jokic’s return is imperative since it’s clear that he’s the focal point his team’s offense now, as evident by his four monster triple-double lines over his last 14 starts. Then again, perhaps Denver’s home court will once again give the team an upper hand once more versus visiting teams from the East. In particular, the Nuggets have beaten the Wizards at home in seven of their last nine meetings (6-3 ATS), so we can at least expect a competitive battle this Wednesday in spite of the Nugget’s recent spells of injuries.
Writer’s Prediction
The Wizards suffer no jetlag from their trip to Mile High and pull away with a 103-97 victory.
