For Tuesday’s betting card, I’m looking at the Thunder – Nuggets game. The first quarter against-the-spread odds and line seem to be gettable, and it’s where I’m going for one of my NBA betting picks. Using the help of OddsShopper to locate the best plays and prices, let’s analyze some NBA picks.
[CONOR]
[SportsbookAffiliates]
Tuesday’s NBA Betting Picks & Predictions | Thunder vs Nuggets
Oklahoma City Thunder at Denver Nuggets: Denver First Quarter -2.5 (-120, William Hill)
I haven’t done all that well releasing the first quarter and first half plays this season, playing trends that match up about three or four times. But now that we’re almost a month into the season, we should have enough data here to start playing more of them — this is one of those spots where that’s the perfect mismatch.
The Nuggets are an NBA-best 9-3 against the spread in the first quarter with a margin of +4.92. Those numbers improve over the last 10 games (8-2 against the spread in the first quarter) to winning the first frame by just shy of 6 points per contest. At home Denver is 5-2 against the spread in the first quarter with a margin of +5.57. The Nuggets have been getting out to terrific starts all season, averaging 31.5 points per first quarter, which ranks second in the NBA. That number takes a slight jump to 31.9 in home games and is 34.3 over the last three contests.
Meanwhile, the Thunder have one of the worst offenses in the NBA, and it shows early in games; they rank 29th at 24.8 first quarter points per game. Oklahoma City is just 3-8 against the spread in the first quarter with a -4.91 margin. It’s been even worse on the road, where Oklahoma City is 1-5 against the spread in the first quarter, losing the quarter by 6 points per game.
Most books are showing as high as 3.5 on the spread for the quarter, so you’ll want to scoop this number ASAP. I think a little extra juice on -2.5 is well worth it considering we’re betting a 12-minute game.
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.
Need more NFL picks, NBA odds and picks? Check out the Awesemo betting home page.
