Wednesday NBA odds: Denver Nuggets at Atlanta Hawks

The Denver Nuggets look to get a winning streak started as they visit Atlanta for the lone time this season in Wednesday night NBA action. The Hawks are favorites on WagerWeb.com. Check our current lines.

Denver (9-9) ended a three-game losing streak with a 113-100 win over Toronto on Monday. Corey Brewer scored 19 points, JaVale McGee had 17 points and five blocks,. Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points for Toronto and Kyle Lowry had 24, including 12 in the fourth quarter when the Raptors cut a 17-point lead to one with 2:18 left. It was the third time in the last four games that the Nuggets let a double-digit lead disappear late. This time they were able to hold on after losing at Utah and Golden State last week. Kenneth Faried had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Six players scored in double figures for Denver, which held a 23-9 edge in offensive rebounding.

The Raptors sent McGee to the free-throw line 16 times, and he made nine of them. That’s the most free throws attempted by any non-starter in any game this season; the only substitute to go to the line that many times in a game last season was the Hornets’ Jerome Dyson on April 18 (14 for 16).

Atlanta (9-5) has been off since losing to Cleveland 113-111 on Friday. Alonzo Gee scored on a putback with less than 1 second remaining. Gee rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Dion Waiters and quickly followed up for the tiebreaking basket. The Hawks, out of timeouts, couldn’t manage a shot before time expired. Josh Smith took the blame for Atlanta’s loss, saying he should have boxed out Gee but instead was “ball watching” on Waiters’ shot. Smith had 25 points for Atlanta, which had won six in a row. Al Horford had 15 points and 11 rebounds, but he got little help as the Cavaliers outrebounded the Hawks 49-28.

Atlanta has hit 12 3FGs in each of the last two games, including a 12-20 (.600) night vs. Cleveland. Overall, Atlanta is eighth in the NBA at .373 3FG%.

Lou Williams is third on the team, averaging 13.9 points, despite not having started a game this season. He ranks fifth in scoring among NBA players who have not started a game, trailing only Jamal Crawford (17.5), Kevin Martin (16.1), Ramon Sessions (15.9) and Carl Landry (14.3). The Hawks rank sixth in the NBA in points allowed (93.5), third in opponent FG% (.429) and 13th in opponent 3FG% (.350), and have not allowed an opposing team to shoot .500 from the field in a game this year. Atlanta is also tops in the league forcing 18.0 turnovers per game and third in steals (9.2). Atlanta is averaging 27.6 assists (138) in the last five contests, dishing out at least 25 in each game.

The Nuggets have a four-game win streak against the Hawks and took the last meeting at Philips Arena on 3/16/11 (102-87). Atlanta’s last win in the series was a 125-100 home triumph on 11/7/09. The Hawks lead the all-time series 40-35, including a 29-7 home record.

WagerWeb.com trends: Over is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings. Favorite is 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings. Nuggets are 7-15 ATS in the last 22 meetings. Nuggets are 2-6 ATS in the last 8 meetings in Atlanta.