Denver vs San Antonio | Preview & Predictions

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010 — NBA FREE PICK

Denver Nuggets (31-15) at San Antonio Spurs (27-18), 1 p.m. EST, ABC

The Denver Nuggets, the first-place team in the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, will travel to San Antonio to do battle against the San Antonio Spurs, the second-place team in the Western Conference’s Southwest Division, at AT&T Center on Sunday.

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Denver leads the season series 1-0 after a 106-99 win at San Antonio on Dec. 5.

The only storyline going for the Nuggets right now is the absence of All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury. Denver, however, didn’t feel the sting from Melo’s absence until last night’s loss to Oklahoma City, snapping an eight-game winning streak for the Nuggets. The problem with Anthony right now is that the ankle just isn’t healing properly, and began to swell up again after the flight to Oklahoma City, leading coach George Karl to say “no progress was being made” on the injury. With so much to play for after the All-Star break, don’t think that the Nuggets will take a chance on playing their franchise player if he’s not where he needs to be, health-wise. Yes, there’s still Billups and Kenyon Martin, but that’s not enough to win in the West.

The Spurs have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and put together a two-game winning streak after a head-scratching slide that saw them lose five of six games and fall to one of the final two playoff spots in the West. That’s not the San Antonio team we’ve all grown accustomed to. Without Tony Parker in the lineup right now because of a nagging ankle injury, we won’t see the Spurs at full strength, but missing Parker isn’t quite the same as missing Carmelo Anthony, and San Antonio still has yet-to-produce Richard Jefferson, perennial All-Star Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to deal with.

The odds makers have this game as a pick ‘em.

Denver needs to rely almost solely on snubbed All-Star Chauncey Billups to run its offense through with Anthony sidelined. He can handle the load more than admirably, but he will need some help from J.R Smith and Martin to pull out a win. San Antonio needs to attack, attack, attack to get this one. Look for the Spurs to play good in front of an energized home crowd and a national television audience, and the key matchup is going to be Jefferson vs. Martin. If Jefferson can hold serve, the Spurs will be okay.

Look for the Spurs to capitalize on the opportunity to show their stuff on the big stage and win by three points.

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