Lakers vs. Nuggets Game 3 picks, best bets: Look for Denver to cover despite Los Angeles’ dominance at home

Now that we are within the thick of the NBA playoffs, the basketball making a bet marketplace is warmer than ever. CBS Sports can be offering day by day alternatives for the period of the postseason. Sam Quinn will make at least one pick out for each sport between now and the NBA Finals. All strains courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.

We’ve performed two video games so far within the Western Conference finals. The first used to be determined by means of six issues. The 2nd used to be determined by means of 5. That makes the 5.5-point unfold a really perfect illustration of what we’ve got observed so far. The Lakers were dominant at home this postseason, wearing a 7-0 report and a plus-116 point-differential. The Nuggets are 2-3 at the street. Yet given the closeness of those video games, I’m prone to take Denver with the issues in Game 3. In Game 2, the Lakers have been outscored by means of 9 issues all through the 8 mins LeBron James spent at the bench. That is an ideal encapsulation of the variation between those groups presently. The Lakers, at their best, can dangle with the Nuggets. But they’ve so few gamers who they are able to depend on that they’re in peril the instant any of them take a seat. The Lakers may nonetheless win this sport, however I’m now not anticipating a blowout. The Pick: Nuggets +5.5

Game 2 of this collection appeared like a rock battle. For lengthy stretches, each groups struggled to generate the rest offensively. Yet the general tally used to be 211 issues. Even in a sport by which the 2 aspects blended to shoot 32.4% from 3-point vary, they nonetheless controlled to submit somewhat a couple of issues. The offensive ground on this collection is simply too prime to pick out an beneath this low. If Anthony Davis begins scoring once more, or the capturing alternatives up, or only one or two of the 5 – 6 different elements that led to Thursday’s scoring decline shift in Game 3, this can be a very easy over. The Pick: Over 222.5

We picked the D’Angelo Russell beneath in Game 2, and we are selecting it once more in Game 3. The Lakers are minus-41 within the 59 mins he has performed on this collection and plus-30 within the 37 mins he is sat out. This simply is not a sequence that he can live to tell the tale in defensively, so his mins are going to dwindle. The books have not stuck on but, however we will make the most of that till they do. The Pick: Russell Under 13.5 Points