The Denver Nuggets are hosting the Brooklyn Nets tonight. It will be the final matchup between the two teams this season. The Nets are still mired in what is becoming a longer and longer rebuild after their infamous big three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden didn’t work out. That’s led to a 13-24 record this season and Brooklyn looking to trade players for future assets. They’ve already sent Dennis Schroder to the Golden State Warriors and Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for picks and, in the case of the Lakers trade, D’Angelo Russell’s expiring contract. The Nuggets meanwhile are working towards getting healthy. They are waiting for Nikola Jokic to recover from an illness and Aaron Gordon appears to be close to returning as well. Neither guy is guaranteed tonight though so the Nuggets once again will need contributions from all guys on the court.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (21-15) vs Brooklyn Nets (13-24)
When: 7:00PM MST
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV, My20 KTVD, Altitude+, NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market, Altitude Radio 92.5FM. Show up at the arena saying you have 2nd round picks for sale and the Nets security will usher you right in.
Rival blog: Nets Daily
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Nets | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Ben Simmons | Nuggets |
| SG | Russell Westbrook | Tyrese Martin | Nuggets |
| SF | Christian Braun | Ziaire Williams | Nuggets |
| PF | Michael Porter Jr. | Noah Clowney | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Nic Claxton | Nuggets |
| Bench | Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson, DeAndre Jordan | Jalen Wilson, Tosan Evbuomwan, Reece Beekman, Keon Johnson | Nuggets |
Injury report: Nikola Jokic – questionable (illness), Aaron Gordon – doubtful (calf), Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles), Spencer Jones – out (G-League), PJ Hall – out (G-League); Bojan Bogdanovic – out (foot), Cameron Johnson – out (ankle), Cam Thomas – out (hamstring), D’Angelo Russell – out (shin), De’Anthony Melton – out (knee), Maxwell Lewis – out (leg), Trendon Watford – out (hamstring), Dariq Whitehead – out (concussion).
The Three Things
The thing to watch: efense going back to defense?
Don’t look now but the Nuggets haven’t allowed an opponent to score 120 points or more for four straight games. Now, 120 points is a low bar but still, the Nuggets have shown improvement on the defensive end lately. It’s easy to let that focus slip when you’ve got a bad team coming into the building but that’s exactly how the Nuggets can let this game get away from them. Obligatory, these guys get paid too. If the Nuggets keep playing defense like they have in the past few games then I don’t see any way the Nets win this one, even if Nikola is out.
The thing to remember: Nets are not healthy
Did you see that injury report? Yikes. I’ll be the first to say I had to look up who the heck Reece Beekman even is (he’s a two-way player the Nets acquired from the Warriors in the Schroder trade) and had no idea that Tosan Evbuomwan has been bouncing around the league for two years. Point being, the Nets aren’t a good team but they are especially talent deficient right now. They probably get Ben Simmons back tonight and him, Ziaire Williams and Nic Claxton are the only three players I expect to play tonight for the Nets that were in their rotation at the start of the season. No excuses to not win tonight.
The thing to bet: ?
We’re getting the classic Jokic is listed as questionable so the only player the sportsbooks will let you place a wager on from the Nuggets is him. If I have to give ya something, I’ll go with Jokic to hit the under on his 1.5 threes line. No real reason other than he should be able to feast inside and he’s also coming off an illness so might have some tired legs. Also it’s +145 so the gamble pays well if it pays out.
