Reasoning: Trading away 'Melo obviously was not a great thing for this Denver franchise because in the long run they will not have that superstar force but a lot of pieces came their way from the Knicks and believe it or not the Nuggets have been very good in the early post Anthony era. I'm not sure if they will keep it up but guys like Gallinari, Chandler and Felton are quality players to go along with JR Smith, Kenyon Martin, Nene and the Bird Man. They are 2-1 straight up and a perfect 3-0 against the number so far since the trade including beating Boston and Memphis and covering in the overtime loss on the road against LaMarcus Aldridge and the pretty good Trailblazers.
It is asking an inferior team a lot to be laying half a dozen to a solid Atlanta Hawks squad but tonight's visitors are playing on a ridiculously rough back-to-back and it will catch up with them. Anytime anybody is playing for the second straight night in the altitude of the Pepsi Center they are a total go against, no matter what. The legs just aren't going to be there and the boys from Hotlanta are also playing for a third time in four nights and a fifth time in eight days. Being on the west coast the entire time also is a negative and hitting the wall a bit isn't out of the question in the slightest in said spot.
I really do like Joe Johnson and Al Horford and Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford and this Hawks team as a whole. They are even clearly better overall than the Nuggets at 35-23 and should win 50 plus for a second straight season. But the situation is not a good one for the visitors and in the end we are going to see them pretty much run out of gas and lay a big fat juicy egg thanks to every single fatigue factor on the planet going against them on this night.
The pick: Matt Rivers has Denver
For more information: Nothing all that fancy here but I'm getting back on the winning track with a 300,000* winner from the land of Touchdown Jesus. It's a Big East clash between the struggling Wildcats of Villanova and the very much overachieving Notre Dame Fighting Irish. What gives? I know and that will turn into a winner. It's among the winners at OffshoreInsiders.com
