The Denver Nuggets are entering a crucial stretch on New Year\u2019s Eve, as they\u2019ll be without Nikola Jokic for at least the next four weeks due to a knee injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jokic was injured in Denver\u2019s loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night, and the Nuggets are now down four starters heading into Wednesday\u2019s matchup with the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n
As a result, Denver is a 6.5-point underdog against a Raptors team that is 5-5 in its last 10 games and holds the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
While Toronto hasn\u2019t exactly been great after a fast start to the season, it is expected to pick up a win against Jamal Murray and this short-handed Denver team.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the odds, my favorite player prop and a prediction for this interconference battle on the final day of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.<\/a><\/p>\n Spread<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n Nuggets Injury ReportRaptors Injury ReportNuggets Best NBA Prop Bet<\/p>\n In today\u2019s best NBA props column for SI Betting<\/a>, I shared why Murray may be undervalued as a playmaker:\u00a0<\/p>\n With Nikola Jokic (knee) out of the lineup, I\u2019m buying Jamal Murray as a playmaker on Wednesday, as basically all of Denver\u2019s offense is going to involve the star guard.<\/p>\n This season, Murray is averaging 7.0 assists on 13.1 potential assists per game, and that number should skyrocket without the league\u2019s leading assist man (Jokic) in the lineup.<\/p>\n Murray has also picked up double-digit dimes in three of his last four games and is averaging 7.5 assists per game in the month of December.<\/p>\n The Raptors rank in the top five in the NBA in opponent assists per game this season, but I think the increased workload for Murray is too attractive to pass up in this market on Wednesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Denver Nuggets are now down four starters heading into their matchup with the Toronto Raptors, who are 10-7 at home this season despite a shaky against the spread record.\u00a0<\/p>\n Toronto has not been great against the spread at home, but I think this is a prime spot to back Scottie Barnes and company to win with Nikola Jokic out.<\/p>\n Jokic is going to miss the next four weeks with a hyperextended knee, and Jamal Murray is the only healthy starter for a Denver team that was not built to withstand this many injuries (no team is) to so many key players.\u00a0<\/p>\n This season, the Nuggets are +11.9 points per 100 possessions when Jokic is on the floor and -5.4 points per 100 possessions when he\u2019s off the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n They fell apart against Miami on Monday once the three-time MVP exited, and they don\u2019t have Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson and Christian Braun to lean on to help carry the load in this matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n Toronto has won back-to-back games and sits in the No. 4 spot in the East, and it\u2019s No. 7 in the league in defensive rating this season. That\u2019s going to make things tough on a makeshift Denver offense on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Raptors -6.5 (-110 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Find Peter Dewey’s\u00a0NBA betting record here<\/a>\u00a0(futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on \u00a0BetStamp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Nuggets are entering a crucial stretch on New Year\u2019s Eve, as they\u2019ll be without Nikola Jokic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-379818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}