The Denver Nuggets might just have something cooking. Winners of their last three, the Nuggets have two more very winnable games to close out their latest road trip. The first of those two games is tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland is right in the middle of a long rebuild that’s looks like it’s getting longer with last year’s #2 overall pick, Scoot Henderson, still struggling to make a consistent impact. So, right now the Trail Blazers continue to be bottom dwellers in the standings while they accumulate assets and look to ship off the last of their pricey veterans like Jerami Grant, DeAndre Ayton and Anfernee Simons. No excuses for Denver to not get a dub tonight.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (14-10) at Portland Trail Blazers (8-18)
When: 8PM MST
Where: Screw you Moda Health, I’m still calling it the Rose Garden. Portland, OR.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy….unless it’s the romanticized 17th century type. Altitude TV where available (Altitude 2 tonight), NBA League pass for those not in the Nuggets market, Altitude+, 92.5FM Altitude Radio. Wear a suit and a name tag and tell arena security you are the local chicken inspector, here to ensure the chicken being served at the arena was fed nothing but a diet of sheep’s milk, soy and hazelnuts.
Rival blog: Blazer’s Edge
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Blazers | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Anfernee Simons | Nuggets |
| SG | Christian Braun | Shaedon Sharpe | Nuggets |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Toumani Camara | Nuggets |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Jerami Grant | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Donavan Clingan | Nuggets |
| Bench | Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, DeAndre Jordan | Deni Avidija, Scoot Henderson, Robert Williams III, Dalano Banton, Jabari Walker | Even |
Injury report: Christian Braun – questionable (back), Dario Saric – out (ankle), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles), Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), Trey Alexander – out (G-League), PJ Hall – out (G-League), Spencer Jones – out (G-League); DeAndre Ayton – questionable (illness), Dalano Banton – questionable (hip), Mathisse Thybulle – out (ankle).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Rookie baptism
Ayton is questionable tonight with an illness, he did not play in the Blazers last game. If he is out that will once again put #7 overall pick Donovan Clingan into the starting spot at the five. Clingan is a fine prospect and very well could develop into a premier big man in the league but he is not that today and he gets to defend the greatest player on earth: Nikola Jokic. Even if Ayton plays, the days of him being a “Nikola stopper” are long past and he’s never been known for his defense anyways. Jokic has been in a bit of a scoring slump if you want to call it that (I call it more of a scoring indifference) so tonight is a great night to break out of the slow scoring and put up some big numbers while welcoming the rookie to the league.
The thing to remember: the Wizards game
No one should be taking this game for granted tonight, first and foremost the players. The Nuggets are only a little over a week removed from an embarrassing loss to the Washington Wizards. The Blazers have won nearly three times as many games as Washington. Now, nearly three times as many equates to a total of eight wins but the point being is even the lousiest teams in the NBA are still NBA teams. The Nuggets got caught sleeping in Washington when they didn’t take their opponent seriously. Now their in the middle of a road trip facing an inferior opponent with another inferior opponent up next. It’s easy to overlook this game but Denver absolutely cannot do that, it would be devastating to the hope they are starting to build back up with the fanbase. There’s no excuse to not get up by double digits early and then coast to a blowout victory tonight.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 2.5 3 pointers (+125)
Murray may have got a bit of his groove back with his fourth quarter point explosion in the last Nuggets game. Right now you’re getting some pretty good odds on the over for his three pointers line. In his two games back he’s taken five and eight three pointers respectively, and made two and four. Simons is not exactly what you would describe as a defensive stalwart so I think there’s a good chance Jamal gets some open looks from three tonight and I’m banking on him building on the momentum from last game and knocking at least three of those open looks down.
