T.M. Selection: Denver Nuggets.

I like the Denver Nuggets to cover the spread against the LA Lakers in this game on Saturday. The Nuggets have won 3/4 of their previous 4 games and they just destroyed the Trail Blazers by 30+ points in their most recent game. Will Barton returned to action in that game after missing some time and he looked great, contributing to their offense with 21 points. I think having Barton back in their lineup will be a big boost for them and they should be able to take down the Lakers at home who are banged up for this game. The Lakers have already been missing Davis for a while now but there is a chance they will be missing Carmelo Anthony too and that is a lot of minutes that will need to be made up. The Lakers don't have the youngest team and as their season goes on the injuries start to pile up. The Nuggets have also been dealing with injuries all year but the Lakers have not looked that great on the road this year and the Nuggets have defended their home court well this year winning 2 games in a row by 10+ points in home games. They just put up 140 points on Portland in their most recent game which was also at home. The Lakers were on a run last week but that was ended by Memphis and they have lost 2 games in a row ever since then. Their most recent loss was on the road in Sacramento losing that game by 9 points. LeBron scored 34 points in that game and Monk scored 22 but there was not a lot of offense from any of their other starters. I think LeBron is going to need a lot more help in this game to win it and I don't think he is going to get that contribution from the players on his team. I think the Nuggets are going to outplay them here so I like the Nuggets to cover the spread in this game.

T.M. Prediction: 116-108 Nuggets.