All the Denver fans who bet the Nuggets to win the Western Conference Finals really have something to cheer about. Last night point guard Chauncey Billups evened up the series to make it two games a piece. And all the Sportsbook.com players who took the Nuggets at +500 odds to win the series are really pumped. 

Four games into the Western Conference Final, the Nuggets see themselves knotted up at 2-2 with last year’s conference champs, the Los Angeles Lakers. As it stands now, Sportsbook.com has the Series Price odds with the Nuggets listed at +170 to unseat the Lakers as Western Conference champs while the Lakers are listed at -200 to represent the West in the NBA finals for the second-straight year.

The Nuggets, pardon the pun, struck gold when they acquired PG Chauncey Billups from the Detroit Pistons for Allen Iverson in early-November. With Billups officially taking over at the one-guard position on November 7 against the Dallas Mavericks (a 108-105 win and pointspread cover), the Nuggets proceeded to go 53-25 SU and 42-35-1 ATS after his arrival.

The Nuggets’ regular season success has carried over into the postseason as they are 12-1-1 ATS during these playoffs. In Game 4 of the Western Conference final on Monday night, Denver gave the Los Angeles Lakers a thrashing, more than adequately covering as 4.5-point home faves in a 120-101 win. The tide could turn on Denver in Game 5 though as they lose home court advantage heading to the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles—online sportsbooks have the Nuggets are listed as 6-point underdogs and the Total is set at 209.5.

Denver is 2-0 ATS in their last two starts at the STAPLES center, but are only 6-14 ATS there in their last meetings with the Lakers. Those last 20 games at LA have produced 7 Overs and 13 Unders. Currently, Denver is listed at +240 on the Game 5 Money line while the Los Angeles Lakers are -280. In Denver’s last 20 games when listed as underdogs of 6-points or less, they are slightly profitable at 11-8-1 ATS but in their last eight in the same range, they have fashioned an impressive mark of 7-0-1 ATS. The Nuggets have trended to the Under in this situation, as they have 3 Overs and 9 Unders when ‘dogs of 6-points or less as well.

Sports bettors are split on this game so far, with the Lakers receiving 57% of the early action.

It’s not a coincidence the Nuggets are only two wins away from the Finals with Billups in the lineup after five straight seasons of first-round playoff exits. He has been the spark that makes this team go. The big question is can the Nuggets and Billups get a win in LA…or for bettors, can they keep covering pointspreads? We’ll find out later tonight. Visit Sportsbook.com for the current NBA playoff lines.