NBA Marketwatch Edition 19 2009-10

The Nuggets have been hurting my feelings lately.  It’s not entirely their fault, of course.  It’s just that I’ve been running my mouth off to friends about how deep they are, how different and focused Carmelo has looked this season, how I think they’re headed to the NBA Finals this year.They’ve had a marquee victory in each of the last three weeks, winning against the Celtics, Cavaliers and Mavericks in that time span.  The week before that, they even beat the Lakers in the Staples Center.  So I figured it was really time for a breakout party when they played at the Lakers and Suns on back to back days to begin this week.  There I go figuring again… They got handed a 6-point loss and a 16-point loss.But we love to buy on bad news, remember?  It’s where we find value.Tonight a wounded but proud Nuggets team returns to Denver to face a young Thunder team that went 9-2 in February.  Their young legs, though,can’t help but feel a bit fatigued, as Oklahoma City will be playing their8th game in 12 nights.  They struggled to put away Sacramento last night, and the Nuggets beat them by 9 in their first match-up in Denver this season.Denver opened as 6-point favorites at CRIS and Pinnacle but, asthe Public has become plenty familiar with Kevin Durant and the streaking Zombie Sonics (as the Sports Guy likes to call the transplanted team), they are giving the visitor 60% of spread bets.  Curiously, the line ontonight’s game has moved in reverse, sitting now at most offshore books at-6.5.  The Thunder are destined to start getting the Western Conference brass’ best shot, and though they’ve played incredible defense thus far this season, Denver has more weapons than most.  After finishing a 4-1 road trip, Brandon Roy of the Blazers recently commented that the first game back home was always tough because you’re tempted to relax and make assumptions.Denver has only lost 3 games in a row once this season, and coming off back to back prime time losses, we expect them to be determined to make a statement at home. Go and find the extra half point still available at Bet Phoenix.