The Basics:
Who: Denver Nuggets (12-17) at Oklahoma City Thunder (20-10)
When: 5:00 PM MT
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma CityHow to watch: Altitude
Rival Blog: Welcome to Loud City
Every time see the name of the arena that the Oklahoma City Thunder play I I wonder why one of their owners, Aubrey McClendon, is still allowed to own a team. But I digress…
Lets face it, the wounded Denver Nuggets have an enormous mountain to climb versus the Thunder tonight. Second night of back to back, four of their six best players are injured and out (Jusuf Nurkic, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Emmanuel Mudiay) and the Oklahoma City Thunder appear to be back, healthy and motivated after losing at home to the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day. Oh and a now-healthy Kevin Durant and the always bouncy and vociferous Russell Westbrook.
All things don't bode well for your Nuggets.
If you want to “look” for something in this game midst the potential carnage is the continued development and good play of Nuggets rookie center Nikola Jokic … who after posting his 22 points, 7 rebound, 5 assist game last night is starting to gain some National exposure for his good/still-developing game. He is rapidly forcing head coach Michael Malone to give him more and more minutes and it’s been a positive to watch while the team’s injuries mount.
This is one of those roll the ball out there and see what happens sort of games. The odds are stacked against the young, injured Nuggets team but maybe some glimmers of good play and hope are sprinkled around.
Today's preview music is
