Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, February 12th, 2022 

Venue:  Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

Opening NBA Odds at USA Sportsbooks

DraftKings:  Spread:  Raptors -3.5; O/U 222.5

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Raptors -3; O/U 222.5

WynnBet: Spread:  Raptors -3; O/U 222.5

Nuggets: 30-24. 6th place Western Conference

Raptors: 31-23, 6th place Eastern Conference

An NBA non-conference battle of the 6th place teams.  This is a Canary in the coal mine game.  Which conference is better?... Let’s let our 6th place teams battle it out to figure it out!  Nah… The truth is the conferences are wildly different this year.  The top-three teams in the ENTIRE league are in the West:  the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors, and the Memphis Grizzlies… but after that?... after that?... all the contenders come from the East.  The next 8 best teams are Estern Conference teams with big question marks.  The Brooklyn Nets are a completely different team when Kevin Durant gets healthy…my sources say he may shut it down if Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons can’t display winning basketball together.  The Miami Heat are the favorites but still just a team led by a mix of defense… Jimmy Butler is a great player but not a great scorer.  The Chicago Bulls are a contender for sure, but will have to wait forever for young guys to get back from injury… will they be great when healthy?... or still just learning to play together?.  The Milwaukee Bucks won it all last season… and they hands down have the best player in Giannis… but the Phoenix Suns so brutally picked them apart last night they may not even want to make the Finals.  The Nuggets in the West have the league’s other best player with no support whatsoever.  His best running mates are out… he has to carry the team every night… some of the guys starting alongside hime shouldn’t even be in the league if we redacted just 4 teams. The result is the West is a better conference at the top but the Toronto Raptors at #6 in the East are way better than the Denver Nuggets at #6 in the West.  

The Denver Nuggets have won 7 of their last 10 games.  They have a very unique feature that is unreplicated among all NBA teams… even Dallas.  Their star C Nikola Jikoc… leads the team in points, assists, rebounds, FG%, steals, and blocks.  That is why they are a bad team.  They have literally no one bale to step up in an area that Nikola can’t do better.  SF Aaron Gordon should be ashamed of himself… he leaves no mark on the floor at all.  Sure, he plays… he even gets some stats.. But his center gets more steals and assists than he does… while carrying the load.  PG Mote Morris, PG SG Austin Rivers, and PG SG Bryn Forbes should be ashamed since their Center leads them all in assists… even though the floor is wide open for them to lead the team… the Center leads them in everything where they could make an impact…. No one else on the team will be in the league 5 seasons from now… I’m talking to you Jeff Green, I’m talking to you JaMychal Green (even though you are an underestimated player), I’m talking to you everyone else not named Jamal Murray (who is injured).  Golden State had a nuclear option this trade deadline… It was C James Wiseman, SG Jordan Poole and SF Jonathan Kuminga and maybe some picks if they could have added the piece that would guarantee the dynasty took over the league again.  That player was Jokic. Denver will regret not making that trade.  Jokic will be used up someday (4.7 seasons from now) and the Nuggets will have not made any headway toward being a Finals winner.  Everyone knows it… everyone knows Jamal Murray is not going to play this year and he will never equal Donovan Mitchell… and everyone knows MIchael Porter Jr is done.  Back surgery in high school, back surgery in the pros… followed by back surgery?!!!  It’s over soon.  The nuclear option would have blown up the Nuggets with young players at 3 very important positions and just when the Warriors were done (3.7 seasons from now) the Nuggets would have taken over the league.

The Toronto Raptors have won 9 of their last 10 games.  They have risen from 10th in the East to 6th. They are currently on an 8-game winning streak.  They have found themselves during a healthy period… full of quality guys and trading for more.  At the trade deadline they sent out Goran Dragic and a protected 1st round pick and his large expiring contract for PF Thaddeus Young and PF Drew Eubanks and a second round pick. History tells us it doesn’t really matter whether Toronto GM Masai Ujiri has a late first round or early second round pick to find a real player.  Reality tells us they have found their new star in rookie Scottie Barnes.  Scottie can play about 4 different positions in the starting five… he gets rookie stats right now, but that is because Fred VanVleet has way too high a usage rate.  In a perfect world for the Raptors, Scottie gets bigger and bigger challenges as this season goes on.  He will be the team’s star soon… They have saved cap space… they have good young players in PF Pascal Siakam, PF/C Chris Boucher,Sf OG Anunoby, C Precious Anchiuwa and PG Fred Van Vleet.  The future is bright and they will show it against the Nuggets… let’s also not forget that SG Gary Trent Jr has raised his scoring to 18.8 with big games during this winning run.

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The Nuggets are 30-24 on the season, but 23-30-1 ATS.  They have logged 29 Overs, 24 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 15-14 in road games.

The Raptors are 31-23 on the season, but 33-21 ATS.  They have notched 31 Overs and 23 Unders,  They are 16-12 in home games.

The Denver Nuggets are 14th in scoring with 109.7 ppg, 25th in rebounds with 43.5 per game, and 5th in AST/TO ratio with 2.0.  They are shooting 3rd in FG%, 12th in 3PT%, and 11th in FT%.  On defense they rank 11th while allowing 107.7 ppg from opponents.

The Toronto Raptors are 15th in scoring with 109.1 ppg, 13th in rebounds with 45 per game, and 15th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7.  They are shooting 25th in FG%, 10th in 3PT%, and 23rd in FT%.  They rank 9th on defense while allowing 106.9 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Saturday, February 12th is…. Raptors 118 - Nuggets 110

The Raptors are on a real winning streak and playing their best ball of the season.  The Nuggets are falling apart .  The Nuggets have no reinforcements on the way.  Yes, Jokic is better than any frontcourt player the Raptors have… but since the Raptors are already used to platooning big men at the Center and Power Forward spots… they should be able to allow Jokic to have a big game in a loss.  The Raptors will win at every other position.

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Denver is 17-6 ATS versus Toronto since 1996.

4 of 4 games in this series have gone UNDER the last 3 seasons.

Toronto is 1-0 ATS versus Denver at Toronto the last 3 seasons. 

Raptors: PG Fred VanVleet (Groin) Quest

Nuggets: SG Jamal Murray (knee) Out indefinitely ** PF Michael Porter Jr (Back) Out indefinitely ** PG Austin Rivers (hip) Out ** PG Monte Morris (concussion) Out 

Nuggets: PF Jeff Green, SF Aaron Gordon, C Nikola Jokic, SG Will Barton, PG Bryn Forbes

Raptors: PF OG Anunoby, SF Scottie Barnes, C Precious Anchiuwa, SG Gary Trent Jr, SG Pascal Siakam  

Nuggets: Michael Malone

Raptors: Nick Nurse