| Game 61: 2014-15 NBA Season | ||
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| Series 2-1 DEN | ||
| March 4th, 2015 | ||
| Target Center – Minneapolis, MN | ||
| 6:00 PM MT | ||
| Altitude / 104.3 FM |
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| Ty Lawson | PG | Ricky Rubio |
| Randy Foye | SG | Kevin Martin |
| Danilo Gallinari | SF | Andrew Wiggins |
| Wilson Chandler | PF | Kevin Garnett |
| Kenneth Faried | C | Gorgui Dieng |
| Notes | ||
| Denver Stiffs | Blogs | Canis Hoopus |
| Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) is out | Injuries | Anthony Bennett, Robbie Hummel, Shabazz Muhammad (all out), Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic (both questionable) |
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The Nuggets are 1-0 under Melvin Hunt. |
Etc… | The Wolves have lost 3 games in a row. |
Kevin Garnett returned to the Wolves after waiving his no-trade clause at the deadline and accepted a trade to return to Minnesota. If you haven't watched his press conference, do so at some point! He talks about how the city has changed, his hope for the future, and gives a reporter a hard time in a funny way.
I couldn't stand Garnett after his Wolves defeated the Nuggets in the 2004 playoffs (4 games to 1). It wasn't until Garnett moved on to the Boston Celtics that I started to enjoy watching him play again. That coupled with a story Scott Hastings told on 104.3 FM the Fan years ago about Garnett forcing Paul Pierce to work harder in practice.
It took me a while, but I finally figured out that you have to have insane guys like KG on your team in order to win. He's insane, in a good way, about the game of basketball. It's hard not to like him after you hear him talk and see the passion he has for the game.
Bringing KG back into the fold for the Wolves should do wonders for their young players. Ricky Rubio can learn from him, but more importantly, Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins can soak up some knowledge from Old Grandpa KG. While Garnett returned to the Wolves, we wait for a guy like Chauncey Billups to return to the Nuggets in some regard. While Billups wasn't a long time Nugget, he is a Denver native and a guy many hope could help the Nuggets appearance around the league.
For now, the Nuggets are struggling to get though the end of this season. Gone is Brian Shaw, Lester Conner, and Chris Farr. Melvin Hunt, Patrick Mutombo, and Noel Gillespie have all stepped up – along with player development coaches Corsely Edwards and John Beckett.
Another leader the Nuggets can rely on is Danilo Gallinari. Gallo said last night, when asked if he's stepping up his leadership ability, that he's always been a leader. He said he may not be a screamer, but you can lead without screaming. Gallo is getting back on track as he's averaging 14.7 points in his last 10 games, including scoring 20+ points in four of Denver's last five contests, and a team high 26 points last night in the Nuggets' win over the Bucks.
Let's see where the rest of the season goes, we'll get another look tonight in Minnesota.
