NBA: Saturday, Denver’s Jokic will have last laugh against Sixers

Sixers +9 @ NUGGETS (225) 9:05 pm
Pick: Nuggets -9

This was going to be a hard game for the Sixers even if they were fully healthy. Denver is one of the hardest places to play in the NBA as the Nuggets are an impressive 20-4 and 16-8 ATS in their home barn. Then consider that the Sixers are without Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler in this one, and laying nine points to back Denver all of a sudden feels like a bargain. Nikola Jokic was already going to feast on Philly without Embiid. But, another factor in this game is that Jokic will be returning from a one-game suspension for his role in an altercation Wednesday night against Utah. Denver gets its best player back while the Sixers are without their best two players. There’s only one side even worth thinking about here and it’s the home team in the mile high city.