Tonight’s marquee NBA matchup features the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets.
The pregame narrative: Nikola Jokic is in the midst of his best season ever, which is saying a lot. I’m backing him to clear his point total at home and also expect OG Anunoby to be a menace on defence.
Check out my Knicks vs. Nuggets prop picks for Nov. 25.
Knicks vs. Nuggets prop picks
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Best Bet: Jokic over 27.5 points (-120)
Jokic is fresh off his third MVP award in the past four seasons, and somehow, he’s still getting better.
The Serbian superstar is averaging career highs in points (30.3), rebounds (13.9), assists (11.3) and 3-point percentage (56.3%).
- Jokic has scored 30+ points in four straight games
- In that span, he’s shooting 64.5% from the field and 69.2% from deep
- He’s 8-4 against this line on the season with 27 and 26-point performances mixed in
Simply put, the man has been unstoppable. And while you might think the Knicks represent a tough matchup, that hasn’t been the case this year.
New York had the ninth-best defensive rating last season but is 21st through 16 games.
The squad has particularily struggled to defend the short midrange (shots from four to 14 feet), allowing opponents to shoot 45.5% from that area of the court, which ranks 29th in the NBA, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Jokic takes 35% of his shots from there, which ranks in the 88th percentile of all NBA players.
Key stat: Jokic has cleared this mark in five of his last six games.
Quick pick
Anunoby over 2.5 blocks and steals (-112): Anunoby was getting some Defensive Player of the Year love with the Knicks last season before getting injured in late January.
It was well deserved, as the former Toronto Raptor was averaging 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks with the squad over a 14-game sample.
He’s not quite back to that level this year but is still averaging a healthy 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. And he’s coming off a two-block, three-steal night against the Utah Jazz.
Anunoby is always a good bet to get his hands in the way. He’s had a steal in 14 of 16 starts with two-plus steals in nine of those games.
He should get a steal or two tonight and the Nuggets are allowing the second-most blocks per game to small forwards (1.12), according to StatMuse.
Picks made at 1:02 p.m. ET 11/25/2024.
Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.