Coming off a heartbreaking, last fraction of a second loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Denver Nuggets return to the Pepsi center after their 5 game road trip – only to face the uber-talented, sweet shooting Golden State Warriors. Even though the NBA re-jiggered the schedule to take away some of Denver’s presumed home court advantage, in this game, the Warriors come in to Denver from the west coast on the second night of a back to back. Against Golden State, you’ll take any sliver of an advantage you can get.
Three things I’m looking for
Death vs Bulk
In their preseason face off, the Jurkic line up, featuring Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic playing together, faced off against the revamped, yet even more vaunted, new death line up (I kinda like megadeath as a new name) with Kevin Durant stepping in for the departed Harrison Barnes. It could be argued this was a bit of an upgrade. With all the caveats in the world about small sample size, during that stint, the Nuggets clearly outplayed the Warriors. I am skeptical that we can see a similar performance, but it should would be fun to see.
Continued Ball Movement
Over the past two games, the Nuggets are averaging almost 23 apg as a team. Strong numbers, but even better in my view when you consider that no one individual player has been the main distributor. Almost every player the Nuggets have put on the court has had an assist (I’m looking at you, Juancho Hernangomez). They are sharing the ball, looking for the extra pass, and passing up good shots for great ones. It’s still not all the way there, but the offense is starting to show flashes of what it could become.
Something to feel good about
Tuesday was a rough day. I had a co-worker who was found dead in his car outside the office (no report as to cause), another co-worker had a major seizure, stopped breathing, and was kept alive by one of our mentors via CPR until the paramedics arrived. Without getting too political (this is not the place) I was deeply disturbed and saddened by what the presidential election results said about our country. And, to top it off, the Nuggets loss against the Grizzlies was heart-wrenching. I'm just hoping this game can bring a little joy. Enjoy the game, folks. Enjoy your life. Smile more. Laugh.
