Are the Nuggets the worst team in the NBA playoffs? I’d argue for it after watching Game 1.

In my Western Conference series betting predictions, I said that the Warriors would win this series in six. This may have been too much credit for the Nuggets who looked totally overmatched in the opener. Nikola Jokic can’t keep up with the Warriors who made the game a track meet.

Hopefully, the Nuggets have their running shoes on Monday night because Jordan Poole isn’t stopping anytime soon.

At the time of writing, the Warriors had not released any information about Steph Curry’s injury status. It is possible that he plays sparingly Monday night. He has been battling an ankle injury and could use a little extra time to prepare for a series against the Grizzlies/Timberwolves winner. The Associated Press did report that ankle pain could be a reoccurring issue

Odds provided by BetMGM

Spread: Nuggets +7.5 (-120) vs. Warriors -7.5 (+100)

Moneyline: Nuggets +230 vs. Warriors -300

Total: Over 231.5 (-115) | Under 231.5 (-105)

Jokic looked absolutely exhausted during game one against the Warriors. Why? The Warriors debuted a new “death lineup” and it nearly had Jokic in a heat stroke.

The combination of Curry, Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green is going to be a handful for anyone to deal with. It will be interesting to see how much Curry is used in Game 2 but I would expect him to play a maximum of 25 minutes.

The Nuggets did not give me any sort of confidence in Game 1. In fact, I am not sure it could have gone worse. Curry didn’t even play well and Denver was never close to winning. The Warriors should be able to win this game by a healthy number if they want to keep their foot on the has.

From a betting perspective, I think that the first-half alternate spread of -1.5 is an excellent value on BetMGM. The Nuggets were down by 11 at the end of the first half last time and the Warriors should be looking to get an early advantage in the series.

There is no reason to play with their food here if you’re Golden State. Let Curry get healthy and hope to get to the next round stress-free and healthy.

Nuggets vs. Warriors prediction: Warriors first-half spread -1.5 (-160) via BetMGM

Poole had four assists last time out and is over this number nine of his past 11 games where he played more than 20 minutes. He only played 14 minutes in his last game of the regular season. Other than he is one of the best distributors in basketball and could easily go over this total.

A small same-game parlay that I placed on FanDuel and find extraordinarily interesting is on the back of Curry playing limited minutes. The total odds are +961 for it at the time of writing.

This may be our last chance to bet “under” for Curry’s player props. If his minute total is under 25, we have an excellent chance to hit this longshot parlay.