Stump the Stiffs Week 5, 11-27-15

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all! Black Friday is upon us which means incredible savings, fist fights at the shopping mall, that crazy dude who’s been camped outside of Best Buy since Tuesday and of course, Stump the Stiffs! In honor of Thanksgiving we’ve got a feast of NBA games to choose from this week with five match ups as delicious as pumpkin pie. As always we’ll predict the outcome of the Denver Nuggets Friday night match up (this time it’s the San Antonio Spurs in town), and we’ll make sure our metaphorical dinner spread of games is well diversified with one all Eastern Conference match up, one all Western conference match up and two inter-conference showdowns.

Representing the Stiffs Staff this week is the expatriated Nuggets fan (and long lost relative of Daniel Day-Lewis) Daniel Lewis. From the Stiffs commenter side we've got a man who's never afraid to put StS ahead of his normal day job in jordandan53. Finally, from our friends over at the Nuggets subreddit we've got user /u/RSNLachy. Let's get to the picks!

Daniel Lewis (@minutemandan): The Spurs are going to beat the Nuggets. It’s too early in the season for them to rest their starters (editor’s note: Dan made his picks back on Tuesday so cut him some slack), and the Nuggets have been playing well enough that Coach Pop won’t want to take it too easy. Kawhi Leonard can keep Danilo Gallinari in check and that’s bad news for Denver. The Grizzlies will beat the Hawks, winning the rebounding battle and dominating inside. Paul Millsap is underrated, but against Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol it’ll be tough sledding. I’m picking the Kings, because I don’t think the Timberwolves have it entirely figured out how to win on the road. When Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins are both healthy, the Kings have played well. The Bulls are really good, and the Pacers have been surprisingly good. Jimmy Butler saved a win for them last time they played if I remember correctly, and I think he’ll have another good game here to help them win. The Thunder will beat the Pistons. OKC can send bodies at Andre Drummond, and they rebound really well. Reggie Jackson won’t be able to defeat his old teammates this time.

jordandan53: Gotta go with the heroes tonight since I’ll be at the game and plan to be a good luck charm. The Hawks are just a better team in my opinion and should take that game. Rajon Rondo looks like Rondo again, Kings beat the Timberpups. PG-13 (Paul George) is a beast and the Bulls are struggling offensively. Drummond will be too much tonight and Jackson has something to prove, Pistons with the upset.

/u/RSNLachy: As much as I would love the Nuggets to win at home, the Spurs bigs will give us trouble all night. The seemingly refreshed Grizzlies will conquer the Hawks. The Kings will power through to the win. Pacers look to be in good form right now. If C.J. Miles and George can produce another solid game, they should have no problem dispatching the Bulls. I think the Thunder have a very good chance, given Kevin Durant is back, and Serge Ibaka may cause problems for Drummond (maybe limiting him to only 20 rebounds?).

And there you have it! Make sure to reach out to our moderators (Russ Hamilton, Mancar and CombatChuk) to take part on the Stiffs commenter side or head over to the Nuggets subreddit or get in touch with Alec Gwin (@alecgwin) to take part on the Reddit side.

If your keeping score (Brock Osweiler hit exactly 250 yards passing last week so we pushed everyone to a loss again!):

Stiffs Staff: 8-12

Stiffs Commenters: 10-10

Nuggets subreddit: 12-8