2* Rotation #547: NBA Thursday 2* Denver Nuggets Money Line -155 @ LA Lakers @ 8:30 ET - As long-time followers know, I play a lot of money line dogs. This is a rare case where I am playing a money line favorite in NBA. I expect this series ends tonight. The Nuggets are the defending NBA champs and they certainly know plenty about the importance of rest. With the Wolves on the edge of sweeping the Suns and other series seeing the Mavs and Thunder look quite dominant against their respective foes, Denver knows a sweep would certainly help them prepare even better for the tough road ahead. The concerning thing for the Lakers is they had a 10 point lead after the first quarter in Game 3 and yet lost by 17 points the rest of the way in the eventual 7 point loss. The Nuggets dominated on the glass in that game too. Both teams shot poorly and yet Denver still was the team to grind out the win. Also, the Lakers have been missing some depth players that still remain out. Then when you look at the star players like Davis and James, note that Davis is listed as questionable with a wrist issue and that is different from the back issue he has been playing through. As for LeBron, he is consistently on the injury report with his ankle issue but is he truly wearing down now? He was 1 of 6 from 3-point land on his home floor and he only had 6 rebounds in 42 minutes. Some extra time off between Games 3 and 4 - for example, like Embiid and Sixers have against Knicks - would certainly help James and Davis but that is not the case here. We could lay the 3.5 points here but I am more comfortable with the money line given there has already been a tight 2-point win in this series also. 2* DENVER -155