The Denver Nuggets open their season as one of the favorites to win the title against the 1-0 Golden State Warriors. While Bruce Brown and Cameron Johnson will make impacts in their debuts, look for the familiar Warriors killer, Aaron Gordon, to serve as the x-factor.
In Indiana, back Rick Carlisle and the Pacers to re-create last season’s magic and keep this title rematch close at home.
| Wednesday, October 21 at 8:10 PM | Spread | Money | Total |
| Indiana Pacers |  -4.5 (-105) |  -165 | O 243.5 (-110) |
| New Orleans Pelicans | +4.5 (-115) | +140 |  U 242.5 (-110) |
Indiana +7.5 over Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is coming off a double-overtime victory on opening night against the Houston Rockets in a game where they battled and battled until SGA turned on the jets in the last period. They travel to Indiana for a rematch of one of the best NBA Finals in recent memory, taking on the Pacers, minus Haliburton, in their opening matchup of the new year.
After a grueling battle on Tuesday night, I’m giving the edge to Rick Carslile and Indiana to push the pace and keep this game within striking distance. After one of the more emotional losses in NBA Finals history that happened to come in a Game 7, expect Indiana to shock the world once again and come out with a vengeance against Oklahoma City.
Without Myles Turner and Haliburton, it will be nothing short of difficult, but the Thunder have some defensive holes without Jalen Williams in the lineup.
G Bennedict Mathurin (IND) OVER 18.5 Points
Without Haliburton in the lineup last season, Benn Mathurin scored 21 PPG in 7 games, reaching this ‘over’ in 6 of these games. Mathurin is a pure scoring machine, which showed in last year’s playoffs, scoring 20+ points off the bench twice in the Finals and twice in the Conference Finals.
He will get added minutes and added usage in this season opener, most likely playing around 30 minutes in this one. He gets to the line at will and has the green light in transition. With the belief that Mathurin tightened up his handle over the offseason, he’s a candidate for MIP, and that campaign begins tonight.
F Aaron Gordon (DEN) OVER 22.5 PRA
While the additions of Cam Johnson and Bruce Brown will take away some opportunity from Aaron Gordon, I’m still backing him to have a massive impact in this game against the Warriors. A matchup nightmare for this team, he averaged 22.7/5.7/5.3 against GSW last season with one 38-point outburst.
AG got injured towards the end of the Conference Semis last year, but if healthy, who knows if OKC would have lifted the trophy a few weeks later? Gordon has gone for 23/27/34/24 PRA in his four-season openers with Denver. The past results and gut feeling say to trust Gordon in this matchup.
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