| 2012/2013 NBA Regular Season: Game 77 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
vs |  |
|
43-33 (16-22 on the road)
|
3-0 DEN | |
| April 6th, 2013 – 7 PM (MT) | ||
| Pepsi Center – Denver, CO |
||
| Altitude / 950 AM / 104.3 FM The Fan | ||
| Probable Starters | ||
| Jeremy Lin |
PG | Andre Miller |
| James Harden |
SG | Andre Iguodala |
| Carlos Delfino (probably) |
SF | Wilson Chandler |
| No clue |
PF | Kenneth Faried |
| Omer Asik |
C | Kosta Koufos |
| Notes | ||
| The Dream Shake | Blogs | Denver Stiffs |
| Chandler Parsons (not expected to play) | Injuries | Danilo Gallinari (torn ACL, out), Ty Lawson (out, Foot ouchy) |
| Houston is fighting for 6th seed in the Western Conference behind Golden State |
Stat | The Nuggets can move a full game and a half over the Memphis Grizzlies with a win |
There very well may be a time where we mark Danilo Gallinari’s as a watershed moment in Denver Nuggets history. Not because Gallo is a more important player than anyone else (he is not). Not because of it’s effect on the Nuggets in the Mavericks game (because they won). No, it will be how the Nuggets respond from here on out. Clearly Gallo’s injury, and it’s severity, was a huge emotional blow to the team. They all seem to genuinely like Gallo and afterward the players seemed quite distressed about it. However, there are silver linings.
As a very motivated Houston Rockets team, led by “the beard” James Harden and Jeremy Lin come to town — what the Nuggets are facing now is the very essence of gut-check time. How the Nuggets respond in these next two games (with a “just-as-injured” San Antonio Spurs team coming to town on Wednesday) will tell us everything we need to know about this team going forward.
The Rockets are without Chandler Parsons tonight. Additionally the Rockets played in Portland against the Blazers very late last night and flew into town extremely late. That is usually an advantage for the Nuggets (however overstated by the National media) and as usual, covering the three-point line will be imperative for the Nuggets. Carlo Delfino can be deadly from outside. Most likely Andre Iguodala will be one again put on James Harden so it will be up to whomever replaces Gallo to cover Delfino.
As of this writing we are not sure who George Karl intends to start at the small forward position. Speculation is that it will be either Corey Brewer or Wilson Chandler. We shall see. I feel the best option for now would be to move Iguodala to the 3, and then start Corey Brewer at 2. However that is just pure speculation on my part.
Whatever happens tonight, let it be known from my perspective that any emotional let down will be highly disappointing to me. This team has come too far to fold, and regardless of when Ty Lawson comes back, this team still has enough talent on this roster to win games and be impressive doing so. I believe in this team and I know you do as well. Seven games left until the playoffs. The countdown has begun.
GO NUGGETS!!
Update: Nuggets announced that Wilson Chandler would be starting at the small forward spot tonight. Ty Lawson also practiced "lightly" and indicated that he would aim for playing in the last two regular season games before the playoffs.
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Twitter: @jmorton78 https://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
