Milwaukee Bucks G Jrue Holiday has been ruled inactive for Monday’s game vs. the Denver Nuggets. The Bucks had announced the starting lineup for Monday’s game with Holiday not in it. We don’t know why Holiday isn’t starting and why he now isn’t playing in the game. Bryn Forbes is expected to start in place of Holiday.
Jrue Holiday is INACTIVE tonight.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) February 9, 2021
If you’re reading this, you’ve got a minute before lock on this game at 9:30 p.m. ET. This alters things a lot. Forbes becomes a pretty appealing value play. We’re also now getting word that Holiday is sidelined on Monday after being placed into health and safety protocols. The NBA has had issues with contact tracing and teams have had problems reporting players in a timely fashion. At least we know before tip-off (albeit a few minutes) that Holiday will not play, rather than him being active.
If you can hop on the line for the Nuggets, good on you. When we found out Jamal Murray (knee) was going to start for the Nuggets, they were +3.5 at home against the Bucks. Now, the Bucks will be without their starting guard, which gives the Nuggets more of an advantage in Monday’s contest. Because of the uncertainty surrounding Holiday, the line moved to Nuggets +1.5, which still gives us value with a team getting points at home with a clear lineup advantage. Denver is also coming off back-to-back losses, so the team is in need of a win.