The Nuggets are back on track against sub .500 teams by winning their last two contests in encouraging fashion. The Nuggets took the will out of the Timberwolves early and that’s exactly how you need to handle teams that on paper you should be drubbing.
Nene has quietly been playing some very good basketball. A lot of talk around the Nuggets centers around Melo, Billups and Ty Lawson, but a somewhat forgotten man has been Nene. Going into tonight’s game the Brazilian was averaging 14.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1 block.
In Nene’s last five games he’s averaging 16.2 pts, 9.3 reb, 3.2 ast and 1.3 blks. Tonight Nene had a very impressive stat line of 17 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast and 3 blks in just 24 minutes of action. Like the rest of the starters (sans Double-A) Nene was only used for three quarters as the Nuggets basically ended the game after the third quarter up 102-79.
Nene has looked extremely aggressive this season attacking the rim, especially of late as he has been spending more time on the rim than a guy who eats nothing but enchiladas. The team has been playing some nice team basketball and Melo has been enjoying feeding the bigs with some pretty passing that is resulting in very easy looks for the big men.
Denver has been giving up some points like they did tonight, but the Wolves were not getting a lot of easy buckets. Instead, Minnesota enjoyed some hot shooting from Ryan Hollins and Corey Brewer and they virtually kept the Wolves in the game … to a degree.
When Denver’s bigs get involved on the offensive end it just opens up so many things for the team. Billups enjoyed some wide open looks from deep and capitalized on those looks by scoring 12 straight points to end the third quarter (3-3 from deep and 3-3 from the free throw line as he was fouled on another three ball).
The Nuggets improved to 11-4 with their 124-111 victory and earned their 10th straight win over the T-Wolves. All the Denver starters scored in double-figures tonight and Bird and Swish added some nice points off the bench with 15 and 14 respectively.
This was yet another win that Denver was supposed to win on paper. The fashion in which they won it should give fans some comfort as the team never let the Wolves into the game.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone … we’ll see y’all on Friday for some more Nuggets action.
Random notes:
- The Nuggets are now 2-1 while wearing their navy blue alternate uniforms. I wonder what their record would be in the Rainbow throwbacks? Sadly, we will not find out this season.
- Arron Afflalo has been wearing the classic Adidas Superstar shoes at this year, but since the game was not broadcast in HD I could not tell what kind of black sneakers he was wearing tonight. It's my theory that Double-A might be even better in some better shoes … Melo needs to hook him up with some Jumpman kicks.
- Nathan Jawai is a BIG BOY. We are talking soon to be Oliver Miller big. (Click the link to see what I'm talking about.)
For a different take on what the Nuggets have been doing … be sure to check out Nuggets' Nuggetz.
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Photo courtesy of: AP Photos David Zalubowski
