Slump Buster
Sacramento,Ca – The Denver Nuggets lead in the Northwest Division has slipped to the slimmest of margins, and the struggling club’s five-game road losing streak certainly hasn’t helped.
A trip to Sacramento, however, isn’t something most teams currently fear.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook SPORTSBETTING have made the Nuggets -6.5 point spread favorites for today’s game against the Kings. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 63% of more than 214 bets for this game have been placed on the Nuggets -6.5.
The Nuggets should have a good chance to avoid a seventh loss in their last 10 games overall Sunday night against the NBA-worst Kings, who are having major defensive problems with their revamped roster.
The addition of Chauncey Billups via an early-season trade with Detroit has helped Denver (40-23) set the pace in its division for nearly the entire season, but its lead has slipped to a half-game after the Nuggets fell 97-91 at Utah on Friday night.
"I just feel like every game is a playoff game at this point no matter who it’s against," Billups said. "I think every game is important and if we don’t feel that way then we are going to get beat a lot of nights that we shouldn’t."
While Denver has beaten Portland and Los Angeles Lakers in the last nine days, the team’s 3-6 stretch since Feb. 20 also includes losses to Milwaukee and Indiana. The Nuggets have dropped all five road games over that span, falling to 17-16 away from home this season.
Losing at Utah was hardly shocking considering that the Jazz moved to 28-6 at home, but Denver held a 19-point lead late in the second quarter before crumbling.
The Nuggets got 27 points from J.R. Smith and 20 from Carmelo Anthony, but Billups had just 12 on 5-of-17 shooting. Denver shot 39.5 percent, the third time it has shot under 40 percent in the last six games after it did so four times in the first 57 contests.
It will certainly hope for a better result against Sacramento, which will be trying to avoid its 42nd loss in its last 50 games.
The Kings (13-49) haven’t played since Tuesday night, when they lost 117-109 at home to the Pacers, prompting coach Kenny Natt to call their defense "atrocious."
They were especially poor on the perimeter, as Indiana shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from 3-point range. Sacramento is the NBA’s only club that is allowing opponents to shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, and the team has given up an average of 113.4 points in the last 24 games.
"We take strides and then we take three steps back," center Spencer Hawes said. "We definitely have to figure something out, put a combination together and get some kind of consistency on the defensive end of the floor."
Denver hasn’t had any trouble exploiting the Kings’ woeful defense this season, twice scoring 118 points in lopsided victories. The Nuggets won 118-85 in Sacramento on Dec. 6, holding the Kings to 29.3 percent shooting.
Sacramento is still adjusting after dealing John Salmons and Brad Miller before the trade deadline last month. The team also made a number of other moves, leaving only six active players who’ve been with the Kings all season.
Sunday’s game is the Nuggets’ final contest before a four-game homestand, and it opens a favorable stretch of the team’s schedule. Denver plays six of its next seven games against teams with losing records, including contests against the league’s five worst teams.
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Posted: 3/8/09 4:00AM ET
