| 2012/2013 NBA Regular Season: Game 34 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
vs |  |
| 14-14 (5-10 on the road)
|
||
| January 3, 2013 – 7:00 PM (MT) | ||
| Pepsi Center – Denver, Colorado |
||
| TV Altitude / 950 AM / 104.3 FM The Fan | ||
| Probable Starters | ||
| Luke Ridnour | PG | Ty Lawson |
| Malcolm Lee | SG | Andre Iguodala |
| Andrei Kirilenko | SF | Danilo Gallinari |
| Kevin Love | PF | Kenneth Faried |
| Nikola Pekovic | C | Kosta Koufos |
| Notes | ||
| Canis Hoopus | You’re here. | |
| Rickey Rubio (out, back) Chase Buddinger (out), Brandon Roy (out) | Injuries | Wilson Chandler, Julyan Stone (out), Ty Lawson (game time decision) |
| Timberwolves have split their two games with the Nuggets so far this season, both at home | Stat | The Nuggets have won 7 in a row at Pepsi Center. |
The Minnesota Timberwolves lost in rather embarrassing fashion to the Utah Jazz last night because their shooting percentage was a woeful 34% (!) and while playing Utah even in basically every category, falling short in the shooting percentage area did them in. Now, they should be in Denver at the time of this writing (2 am) or thereabouts.
Second night of back to back, coming to Denver? We have seen this movie before.
Now it's never as simple as that with the Nuggets. Sure the T-Wolves starting backcourt is out (Brandon Roy and Rickey Rubio) and Kevin Love has been playing like he's a substandard Demarcus Cousins of late … BUT we must caution against the Nuggets taking too much of that into consideration and sleepwalking through a game where they should run the team out of the gym. Can't let the guard down.
Particularly since the T-Wolves kind of beat up on the Nuggets in their last meeting (a 108-105 loss in Minnesota on December 12) with Nikola Pekovic basically having his way inside no matter what the Nuggets did. This was a tragic episode that I'm sure no Nuggets fan want's to see repeated, particularly since the Wolves are a tired team coming in to Denver. I hate to say it, but it's take care of business time.
Rick Adelman is a great coach, and I am sure the Wolves will come in prepared for the Nuggets, and since this is now the THIRD meeting of the years between these two teams, well, there’s no much mystery left between them. Just throw the ball up and let’s get started.
Nuggets of Wisdom
I guess I should put forth my thoughts on the whole “team looking better with Andre Miller” thing. You know, the appearance that Miller ran a better half court offense than Ty Lawson does (in the Clippers game) and maybe this is a sign that Ty has underpreformed. Well, yes AND no. Let me explain.
No matter what Andre Miller does, or how he looks, Ty will be “the man” regardless, unless Ty is suddenly traded to another team … and that possibility is so slim it’s negligible. Whereas the JaVale McGee contract was paid out strictly on potential, Ty was awarded with his new extension because (by and large) the Nuggets believe firmly in him. This will not change.
However, it must be pointed out that Miller's forte seems to be more of a half court set. The Nuggets players seemed to know their rotations better, and Miller made sure to get them the ball in places where they could score. Ty has yet to gain the confidence to run a half court set, and struggles against physical defenses. One hopes that Lawson learns and takes notes from Dre Miller on how to adapt to the half court so the Nuggets are that much more dangerous.
At this point we don’t know if Ty will play or rest his Achilles tendon another game. If Ty sits out again, it will be up to Andre Iguodala and Evan Fournier to step up their games and distribute the ball with alacrity.
Go Nuggets!!
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Twitter: @jmorton78 https://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
