There are some terrific matchups around the NBA on Thursday night but none better than Golden State at Denver as the Nuggets are +325 favorites on the NBA odds to win the Western Conference and the Warriors +450.

Warriors’ Klay Thompson, Steph Curry Unlikely To Play Thursday

However, the Dubs are expected to be without All-Star guard Klay Thompson at a minimum because it’s the second of a back-to-back, and he hasn’t played both ends of a B2B all season after missing the previous two years due to injury. Steph Curry also seems unlikely and it could be that fellow starters Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green also sit. Thus, Denver is a whopping 12-point favorite.

Golden State might have been caught looking ahead to this game on Wednesday as it blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead at Minnesota and lost 119-114 in overtime. Curry scored a team-high 29 points and Draymond Green recorded a double-double, tallying 10 points and 12 rebounds. Thompson had 14 points and six rebounds.

Curry had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of regulation, but his pull-up jumper missed the mark as the Warriors fell 7-18 on the road this season. The Dubs have gone 5-5 when playing on the back end of a back-to-back, most recently winning at Cleveland with an extremely shorthanded roster last month. That is likely to be the case again tonight.

Denver is on normal rest and owns the second-best record in the NBA. Nikola Jokic remains the betting favorite to win a third straight MVP. He shot 10-of-14 from the field and 5-of-5 from the foul line in Tuesday’s 122-113 win over the Pelicans, scoring 26 points with 18 rebounds and 15 assists. He leads the NBA with 16 triple-doubles. It was Jokic’s first career game with 26+ points, 18+ rebounds and 15+ assists. He is just the fifth player in NBA history with 26/18/15 (Robertson, Chamberlain, Bird and Westbrook) and he did it in the fewest minutes.

Jamal Murray finished Tuesday’s win with 32 points, six assists and five rebounds and is returning to the level he was playing at before tearing his ACL in the spring of 2021. Over the past two weeks, Murray is averaging 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 49.5% from the field and 93.1% from the foul line.

Denver is listing starting forward Aaron Gordon as questionable for this game with a sprained left ankle. He had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists in 36 minutes. It was Gordon’s third game of the year with 15+ points, 6+ rebounds and 6+ assists (3-0). The Nuggets are 9-1 this season when Gordon has 5+ assists in a game.

The Nuggets visited Golden State on Oct. 21 in the lone meeting so far between the teams and won 128-123. Jokic had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists playing with a sore right wrist he had taped. Jordan Poole made a backcourt steal from Bones Hyland and scored with 14.7 seconds left to get Golden State to 124-123 then Bruce Brown dunked immediately off a long pass by Jokic. The Warriors had another chance and Thompson missed a potential tying 3 from the top with 9.3 seconds to go. Jokic secured the rebound then converted two free throws. Curry had 34 points in a losing effort.

The Nuggets have won four of the last five meetings against the Warriors. Following tonight’s game, the Warriors play four of their next five games at home. The reserves for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game for each conference will be revealed tonight as well. Curry and Jokic already were named starters for the West.