Pickswise was nice enough to give me the opportunity to write my plays up for you all. For those of you who don’t know me, they refer to me as JutPicks on Twitter. I post all my plays with brief write-ups every day. Now I get to write even more with no character limit!
I pride myself in being as transparent as they come. My NBA record from last season and this season are listed in my bio alongside with my MLB record. Without further ado, let’s dive into my favorite play for Thursday.
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets) over 26.5 points (-110)
Line available at Fanduel at the time of publishing.
Denver is coming off a confusing loss to the Thunder last night. The game was well within reach for the Nuggets in the 4th quarter, but head coach Mike Malone refused to play any of his starters in the comeback effort. That is good for us, though. Jokic should be relatively fresh after playing only 24 minutes.
We could not ask for a better matchup in this one. The Hornets can not defend anyone — but especially not the center position. Mason Plumlee is going to have extreme difficulties keeping Jokic in check underneath. Charlotte allows the most points to the big man position by a wide margin and just this week we have seen Rudy Gobert, JaVale McGee, and Deandre Ayton feast against Plumlee.
The former MVP is over this line in 5 of his last 10 including 4 straight home games. We should see an aggressive Jokic in this one after an embarrassing loss to the 11-19 Thunder.
Check out full game preview for Nuggets vs Hornets
Dejounte Murray (Spurs) over 36.5 points + rebounds + assists (-111)
Line available at Fanduel at the time of publishing.
We were smashing this number earlier in the season but tailed off a bit after Murray’s scoring slowed down a bit. But…we are back!
The 25 year-old electric point guard is fresh off a 24-point triple-double performance against the Clippers. Tonight he faces the Lakers in the same arena. Both teams play at a top 5 pace and the Lakers allow the 4th-most points in the league. Taking a look back at Murrays previous games vs Los Angeles, he has shown out. In both games he recorded a triple-double with an average PRA (points, rebounds, and assists) of 45.
Murray has eclipsed this total in 3 straight and a streak of 5 in a row on the road. I love this spot for him against an aging Lakers defense.
Check out our full game preview of Spurs vs Lakers
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