| 2012/2013 NBA Regular Season: Game 13 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
vs |  |
| November 23rd, 2012, 7:00 PM (MT) | ||
| Pepsi Center – Denver, Colorado |
||
| TV Altitude / 950 AM / 104.3 FM The Fan | ||
| Probable Starters | ||
| Stephen Curry | PG | Ty Lawson |
| Klay Thompson | SG | Andre Iguodala |
| Harrison Barnes | SF | Danilo Gallinari |
| David Lee | PF | Kenneth Faried |
| Festus Ezeli | C | Kosta Koufos |
| Notes | ||
| Golden State Of Mind | Blogs | You’re here! |
| Brandon Rush (out) Andrew Bogut (out), | Injuries | Julyan Stone (out), Wilson Chandler (out) |
| Harrison Barnes is averaging 17 points and 9 rebounds in his last four games | Stat | Kenneth Faried is averaging 15 points and 12.6 rebounds in his last ten games. |
*Burp*.
Excuse me, had to get that out. After a Thanksgiving full of peach cobbler, pecan pie, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, strawberry walnut salad, pigs in a blanket and green bean casserole, I felt so sluggish I could barely move.
Hopefully, that’s not what we see out of the Nuggets tonight.
After getting completely drubbed by the San Antonio Spurs, the Nuggets dug deep and turned two deficits on the road into wins. Down 92-88 with 2:14 to play at the Memphis Grizzlies, the Nuggets went on a 9-0 run to close the game. Down by as many as 17 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Nuggets turned a cheap technical foul into a surge of energy and went on a 51-34 run over the third and fourth quarters to victory. The Nuggets could easily have rolled over and exposed their Mozgov, but instead they grit their collective teeth and showed they wouldn’t back down. For a team that’s played the most road games of any team in the NBA, that was definitely heartening.
Now that the Nuggets are back at home for 2 games they should win, I’d like to see them get out to a better start than they have in recent days. While I certainly appreciate the opportunity to disturb my neighbors with loud victory exultations when the Nuggets pull off another amazing comeback, I’d like to revel in the warm glow of a blowout win. The Nuggets have beaten only one opponent by more than 10 points this year (a 20 point victory against the Utah Jazz at home on November 9th), but this contest seems primed to be a high-scoring affair. If the Nuggets can simply get both their offense and defense in sync, we could definitely see another blowout Nuggets victory.
In order for the Nuggets to do so, however, they must have better production from starting point guard Ty Lawson. It's oft been said that as Ty goes, so go the Nuggets, and the fact that Ty is shooting career lows across the board coinciding with the team's struggles is no coincidence. Ty's looked like he's been full of turkey himself lately, unable to penetrate the lane with the characteristic quickness we've all come to expect from him. He does appear to be gaining confidence in his shot, but I'd like to see Ty take it into the defenders in the paint with more regularity.
For the Golden State Warriors, they’ve ridden the silky-smooth shooting of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and the hustle of David Lee to a 7-5 start to the season – with one of those 5 losses being a heartbreaking double OT loss to our Nuggets. While they’ve been disappointed by the ongoing injuries to Aussie center Andrew Bogut and Brandon Rush, they’ve been able to use the excellent play of rookie Harrison Barnes to lift them. Barnes’ offensive repertoire is nasty, and both Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee will have their hands full tonight.
This is a game the Nuggets should win, and they need to use these next two home games to continue their momentum heading into another difficult road trip. Let's go Nuggets!
