NBA Regular Season 2023/24, Wednesday, 20.03.2024
On Wednesday night, two contenders for pole position in the Western Conference will face off in the NBA. Excitement should therefore be guaranteed in Minneapolis!
My Timberwolves Nuggets betting tip, for which an Intertops registration is recommended, explains why you can expect at least 55 points in the opening quarter
In early March, Minnesota received the shock news that All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns will have to undergo surgery on a ruptured left meniscus and will be out for at least 4-6 weeks.
The procedure has since been reported as successful and Towns could ideally be ready to return for the first round of the playoffs.
The Timberwolves, a controversial subspecies of the Wolf in terms of classification, have handled the loss of their second offensive option surprisingly well so far, winning four of their last six and the last three games since then.
In particular, the 118:100 away win at the LA Clippers in the middle of last week can be seen as a real exclamation mark.
With a 47-21 record, the Wolves are still within striking distance of the top spot in the West (half a game behind the OKC Thunder and tied with the Nuggets).
With a record of 23-8, Minnesota is enormously strong at home.
In the five of the past six games without Towns, the Timberwolves boast an almost elite defense (13th with a rating of 110.6), as well as an – unsurprisingly – average defense (15th with 114.6).
The offensive responsibility for Timberwolves superstar Anthony “Ant” Edwards has increased noticeably since then.
The explosive guard has more than lived up to it so far, scoring 32.2 points per game since Towns’ latest injury, with a very respectable 47.3% field goal percentage.
The Nuggets have already had unpleasant experiences with explosive guards in their last game on Sunday, when Mavericks star Kyrie Irving sunk the reigning champions with a spectacular buzzer-beater gamewinner.
With a record of 47-21, Denver still has a good chance of clinching the first seed in the West. The team from Colorado has also won eleven of its last thirteen games.
However, with a record of 20-15, they are vulnerable on foreign soil. They are also vulnerable on the defensive board.
Denver has the third-worst defensive rebounding percentage in the last six games, while the Timberwolves have the tenth-best offensive rebounding percentage in the same period.
So if the Nuggets want to win in the far north of the USA, it will be imperative to box out Minnesota’s 6-foot-10 center Rudy Gobert (12.9 rebounds).
The Nuggets, meanwhile, can rely on the seventh-best offense (rating of 117.6) and the tenth-best defense in the league (112.9).
The resulting net rating of +4.7 is the fifth best in the league and Denver is only one of four teams in the top 10 on both ends of the floor.
The champs’ offensive figurehead is Serbian center and two-time MVP Nikola Jokić, who is once again putting up fabulous numbers (25.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, 9.1 assists, 1.3 steals on a phenomenal 58.1% from the field).
The only duel of the season so far (two more will follow shortly) went to the Timberwolves in Minneapolis in November with a surprisingly clear 110:89.
For today’s NBA betting tip, I have dug up a very special bet for you, which offers a formidable chance to beat the best sports betting providers due to its inexplicably high odds!
At Intertops, the bet “over 54.5 points in the 1st quarter” is listed with odds of 1.84.
This is surprising in that Denver averages 29.9 points in the first quarter (9th) and Minnesota still scores 28.9 (14th).
Moreover, the aforementioned mark has been surpassed in three of Minnesota’s last four games and in ten of the last eleven Nuggets games.
My Timberwolves Nuggets betting tip for tonight’s highlight game is therefore: Over 54.5 points in the 1st quarter!
