Just before the All Star break, the Denver Nuggets stole a game right out from under the Brooklyn Nets on their home floor…almost. Following a miraculous running hook shot from Kenneth Faried, Joe Johnson his a 28 foot, three point bank shot over Danilo Gallinari as time expired, letting the Nets snatch victory from the jaws of previous victory. To be fair, the Nets had dominated pretty much the entire game up to that point, and the Nuggets had no business even being as close as they were to winning. The Nuggets appeared to be sleepwalking through the game, finally deciding to show up toward the end of regulation. As nice as the win would have been, the game was not lost on the final play. The game was never really won.
Tonight, we won’t have to worry about an encore of Iso-Joe hitting a game winner in Gallo’s eye. Johnson has been bought out and is now on the HEAT, and Gallo’s ankle exploded in a freak postgame celebratory firework accident (not really). And while the Nets are not good – they recently lost to the Lakers, after all – they do have two players that cause the Nuggets problems traditionally in Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young. How Denver controls the paint on the defensive end could be a big key in winning this game.
On a side note, two games into this seven game home stand, and my 6-1 prediction is still on the table. Amazingly, I thought it was the Memphis game we would lose. Also, I really, really, really hope that Jusuf Nurkic gets some playing time tonight for a couple of reasons. First off, I just flat out enjoy watching him play basketball. Secondly, I would like to not have to read more about why he did or didn’t get minutes
