Only 2 games in the NBA on Thursday night and I'm going to talk about the game between Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets. Both teams have played 7 games so far, and the record is the same as the Thunder and Nuggets have 4 wins and 3 losses. Oklahoma City is on 4 game winning streak during which they have beaten the Clippers two times, the Mavericks and the Magic while Denver lost to the Lakers in the last game which ended a 2 game winning streak.

In this game, I'm picking the Thunder to cover the handicap. Almost 2 weeks ago teams met in Denver where the Nuggets won only by 122:117. The 4th quarter was very tight and Denver managed to secure the win only in the last possessions. The Nuggets shot way above their season averages from the field and three-point land. Now they are meeting in Oklahoma City where the Thunder has won 3 out of 4 games while the Nuggets have struggled on the road. They have lost to the Jazz, the Blazers and the Lakers away from home and the only win was against the Warriors.

If we look at the advanced stats, Thunder has an edge. Yes, the offensive rating is better for Denver (112.9 and 108.4 respectively) but the biggest difference is on the defense where Oklahoma City is 6th best (106.7) while the Nuggets are only at 25th position (115.7). It's not like the Nuggets average way more points than the Thunder (114.1 and 112.9) but we can see an important difference on the defense where Oklahoma City allows 6 fewer points (110.9 and 117).

The Thunder’s self-confidence must be through the roof at the moment. OKC is playing tough, aggressive defense, while the Nuggets have plenty of problems on the defensive side of the ball. Thunder has been 6-1 against the spread this season and I'm confident that his trend will continue as Oklahoma City has covered the spread the last 5 times versus Denver.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

周四晚上NBA只有两场比赛，我要讲的是俄克拉荷马雷霆和丹佛掘金之间的比赛。到目前为止，两队共打了7场比赛，战绩与雷霆和掘金的4胜3负相同。俄克拉荷马城有4连胜，在这期间他们两次击败快船，小牛和魔术，而掘金在上一场输给湖人，结束了他们的2连胜。

在这场比赛中，我选择雷霆队来弥补劣势。大约两周前，两队在丹佛相遇，掘金仅以122:117取胜。第四节比赛非常激烈，掘金队在最后几回合才锁定胜局。掘金的投篮和三分命中率都远高于他们的赛季平均水平。现在他们将在俄克拉荷马城碰面，雷霆在这里4场比赛中赢了3场，而掘金则在客场苦苦挣扎。他们在客场先后输给爵士、开拓者和湖人，唯一的胜利是对阵勇士。

如果我们看一下先进的数据，雷霆有优势。是的，掘金的进攻效率更好(分别为112.9和108.4)，但最大的区别是在防守上，雷霆排在第六(106.7)，而掘金只排在第25位(115.7)。掘金的场均得分并不比雷霆(114.1分和112.9分)高，但我们可以看到一个重要的差异，雷霆在防守上少了6分(110.9分和117分)。

雷霆的自信心在此刻一定是冲破了屋顶。雷霆打出了强硬、积极的防守，而掘金在防守端有很多问题。雷霆本赛季6胜1负，我有信心他的趋势会继续下去，因为雷霆在过去5次对阵掘金的比赛中都有突破。