The Denver Nuggets wrapped up their four game road trip last night with a gritty win against the Houston Rocket to go 2-2 overall away from home. They don’t get any chance to rest however, tonight they face the Chicago Bulls back at Ball Arena. The Bulls seem to be perpetually stuck in limbo. They are once again headed towards a losing season but they also once again aren’t complete bottom feeders. In the Eastern Conference, that means you’re a play-in team without a snowball’s chance in hell of making a run past the first round and that’s essentially been the case for Chicago for four years running now. They made some big roster changes this season though, sending Zach LaVine to Sacramento at the trade deadline for a first round pick, Kevin Huerter and filler. It’s clear they are going in a different direction and looking to rebuild but are stuck in this awkward spot where they technically still have a shot at winning the title this year, albeit incredibly slim. Tough team to figure out but one Denver should be able to defeat, sans Nikola Jokic or not, if they take care of business.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (45-27) vs Chicago Bulls (31-40).
When: 7PM MDT
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy, unless it’s the romanticized 17th century type. Altitude TV, Altitude+, NBA League Pass for those not in the Nuggets market, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5FM.
Rival blog: Pippen Ain’t Easy
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Rockets | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Coby White | Nuggets |
| SG | Christian Braun | Kevin Huerter | Even |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Josh Giddey | Even |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Matas Buzelis | Nuggets |
| C | DeAndre Jordan | Nikola Vucevic | Bulls |
| Bench | Russell Westbrook, Peyton Watson, Zeke Nnaji, Jalen Pickett | Dalen Terry, Zach Collins, Patrick Williams, Julian Phillips | Even |
Injury report*: Nikola Jokic – out (ankle), Julian Strawther – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles); Lonzo Ball – out (wrist), Ayo Dosunmu – out (shoulder), Tre Jones – out (foot), E.J. Liddell – out (G-League), Emanuel Miller – out (G-League), Jahmir Young – out (G-League). *The Nuggets injury report was not submitted at time of writing.
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: No let downs
When I wrote the preview for last night’s game I said the Nuggets were trying to salvage the road trip. They did that. It was not a great trip by any means and it comes on the heels of a week that was up and down at best. Still, salvage the trip they did. However, that doesn’t mean it’s time to rest on laurels. Denver is still in an absolute seeding dogfight and while you have to learn form last year and not prioritize seeding over being healthy and fresh for the playoffs, they also haven’t done enough work early in the season to really afford that luxury. That means, Nikola or no Nikola, you have to take care of losing record teams like the Bulls on your home court. This team has shown time and again they are capable of falling off after a big win. They need to not do that tonight.
The thing to remember: Chicago doesn’t really want to win
The Bulls players are going to go out and compete every night and try to win every game. That’s their job. However, it’s not exactly in the best interest of the franchise long term. The Bulls aren’t going to just roll over but it’s not a team fighting for really anything other than to lose early in the postseason. As hard as it can be on a back to back, the Nuggets have to get out early and put the clamps on Chicago to snuff out any hope of a victory. Let this team hang around and you end up getting got on some stupid late game shenanigans. The Nuggets need to get ahead in the first half, bury the Bulls in the third quarter and spend the majority of the fourth watching Jalen Pickett dime up Hunter Tyson and Spencer Jones.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 2.5 three pointers (+100)
Even money on three Jamal Murray threes tonight. Coach Malone already stated he does not expect Jokic to play which means the scoring load falls to Jamal first. Second night of a back to back and coming off the road trip means tired legs which might make you think the three won’t fall tonight but I go the opposite direction. I see Jamal settling for outside shots more often tonight but it’s also Jamal who doesn’t really care about being tired or feeling pain so willing his way to three makes from outside regardless of the schedule doesn’t seem like to big of an ask.
