For the third time already, the Denver Nuggets will take on the Houston Rockets. Denver won the first two against a Houston team that was clearly struggling to re-discover their identity. Of late, while they’re still not playing at the level that saw them to the Western Conference finals last year, they’re starting to gain a bit of traction.
Surprisingly, one of the changes made by the Rockets to help turn things around was to bench former Nugget and fan favorite, Ty Lawson. Going from starting to kick off the season, Lawson has seen his minutes reduced dramatically, giving way to defensive point guard Patrick Beverley. While Beverley is undoubtedly a better fit alongside James Harden, Ty can’t seem to even get into the normal rotation under interim coach JB Bickerstaff. The fit has been so poor that the Rockets are supposedly shopping the speedy point guard they acquired this off season from Denver. It will be interesting to see if Lawson gets some time against his former team in the Rockets second, and final, appearance at the Pepsi Center this season.
