The Denver Nuggets got a much needed win last night and now get a chance to build on the momentum against the Charlotte Hornets tonight. Charlotte is led by arguably the biggest All-Star snub in the league: LaMelo Ball. Ball has had a fantastic season, averaging over 28 points a game to go with 7+ assists. He’s essentially been the lone bright spot in yet another losing season for the Hornets. The problem is, outside of ball there’s not much to like. You have serial assaulter Miles Bridges who belongs in a prison cell, not on a basketball court, and then a bunch of cast offs and underperforming draft picks. Ah well, karma is a bitch I suppose.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (29-19) at Charlotte Hornets (12-33)
When: 5:00 PM MST
Where: Providing absolutely no customer service because we have a monopoly on television Center. Charlotte, NC.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy…unless it’s the romanticized 17th century type. Altitude TV, Altitude+, Altitude Radio 92.5FM. Show up in an orange jumpsuit because employing criminals is no problem for the Hornets.
Rival blog: At the Hive
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Hornets | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | LaMelo Ball | Even |
| SG | Christian Braun | Vasilije Micic | Nuggets |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Josh Green | Nuggets |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Miles Bridges | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Taj Gibson | Nuggets |
| Bench | Julian Strawther, DeAndre Jordan, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett | Josh Okogie, Moussa Diabate, Set Curry, Nick Smith Jr, DaQuan Jeffries | Even |
Injury Report*: Russell Westbrook – questionable (hamstring), Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles), Spencer Jones – out (G-League), Trey Alexander – out (G-League); Mark Williams – questionable (foot), Josh Okogie – questionable (hamstring). *Neither the Nuggets nor the Hornets injury reports were published at the time of writing.
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: LaMelo vs Jamal
Like I said, LaMelo is having a fantastic season. Meanwhile, Jamal Murray has also been very good as of late, including a thirty-one point performance last night to lead Denver in scoring. Not sure if Russell Westbrook will play tonight but I tend to think he won’t given that it’s a B2B and he left the game last night with a tight hamstring. That could mean extra defensive duty for Jamal trying to contain LaMelo. I’ll be interested to see if the Nuggets switch Braun onto him, but that may also leave Murray defending Vasilije Micic who’s been playing strong as well. The Hornets meanwhile don’t boast a ton of perimeter defenders to throw at Murray, so it could be yet another big night for him.
The thing to remember: Miles Bridges is a piece of shit.
As long as I’m writing for this blog and as long as Bridges is in the league I’m going to use my platform to remind everyone that this ghoul has no business being in the league. As a reminder, Bridges was arrested in June of 2022 after being accused of assaulting his girlfriend in front of their children. He was charged with felony causing harm to the parent of a child and two felony charges of child abuse. He eventually plead no contest to the first charge and received three years of probation. In October 2023, he was issued a criminal summons for violating a protection order and was charged again, this time for child abuse and injury to personal property stemming from an incident where he threatened his girlfriend in front of their child. He surrendered to authorities but charges were later dropped after the victim recanted her statement. Meanwhile, a convicted abuser continues to get to make millions of dollars in the NBA because some teams, like the Hornets, have no fucking shame. Gross.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 2.5 three pointers (+145)
I like the way Jamal has been playing lately and I don’t think the Hornets are going to offer much in terms of defenders. Plus, on a B2B I can see Jamal settling for outside shots a bit more. Really though, at +145 it’s worth the gamble.
