The Denver Nuggets look to wash the taste of a poor loss out of their mouths as they host the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night at Ball Arena in Denver. Both teams are coming off a loss, with Denver hoping for a better effort than they mustered in a 20-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. The Lakers are on a 3-game skid, their most recent defeat also a 20 point loss against the Milwaukee Bucks last night despite 45 points from newly-acquired star Luka Doncic. The Lakers haven’t ironed out all the kinks yet but their prior 8-game win streak was not a fluke and they absolutely handled – or manhandled – the Nuggets back on February 22nd. Denver has both revenge and reclamation on their minds as they try to get back on the horse and maintain a top-3 seed. There should be fireworks aplenty at Ball Arena tonight.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (42-24) vs Los Angeles Lakers (40-24)
When: 7:30PM MST
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV (now on Comcast!), Altitude+, NBA TV, Altitude Radio 92.5FM.
Rival blog: Silver Screen and Roll
Injury report: Nikola Jokic – probable (elbow/ankle), Jamal Murray – probable (knee), Zeke Nnaji – probable (ankle), Christian Braun – probable (foot), Aaron Gordon – questionable (ankle), Julian Strawther – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (Achilles rehab); Luka Doncic – questionable (ankle), LeBron James – out (groin), Rui Hachimura – out (knee), Jaxson Hayes – out (knee), Maxi Kleber – out (foot surgery)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Who can impose their game?
Both teams are beat up. Denver has most of its core available however, with the exception of Aaron Gordon, while the Lakers are likely missing LeBron, Rui, and Jaxson Hayes. That gives Denver the size advantage but also takes away their key defender for slowing Luka Doncic. Against the Timberwolves, Denver’s guards struggled with turnovers and in the first half Jamal Murray was essentially a blank. The length and speed of the Minnesota defenders kept Denver from running the way they wanted – and after two intense back-to-back games against the Oklahoma City Thunder the Nuggets just didn’t have enough in the tank to do it all again versus the Wolves.
Will they be better tonight? If I’m Coach Malone I want to punish the Lakers inside and run at every opportunity. Transition offense is how the Nuggets get Christian Braun his points and with the players LA is missing the Nuggets shouldn’t have to overcome the exact same swarming defense the Lakers deployed against Jokic last time. But taking away entry passes to the MVP and forcing the offensive construction to hinge around someone else is how the Lakers demolished the Nuggets in their last matchup, and neither team can have forgotten that. If the Lakers can turn Denver over and play keep-away from Nikola the Nuggets may get some moments of deja vu – here’s hoping the have a better Plan B than last time.
The thing to remember: Even without Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets have available Luka defenders
Earlier in the season if I told you Zeke Nnaji would likely be a key player in Denver’s plan to limit Luka Doncic, I’m not sure if I would be believed. But Nnaji truly has come on since the new year and his wingspan and footwork can at least make life difficult for the amazing player from Slovenia. The Nuggets also have Peyton Watson, a skinnier version who moves a little better, and between the two of them and Christian Braun the Nuggets should be able to put together a defensive attack that can get the ball out of his hands at least. If you want to beat the Lakers in their current injured state, you can either let Luka try to beat you or make everyone else do it. The Nuggets will have to decide on their approach, but stopping something is the first step and the Nuggets do have the pieces to make it a fight on that end.
The thing to bet: Jamal Murray over 19.5 (-105)
The Nuggets are currently 13.5 point favorites, and that seems high – but also I don’t bet against the Nuggets because I don’t like bad karma. Since it’s the Lakers I would bet on Jamal Murray having a scoring outburst, especially if the Lakers try to deny Nikola Jokic again in the paint. Murray has played some brutal pressing defenses lately with serious wing defenders, and if he’s going to be allowed to flow with the offense because of the all-out blitz on Jokic then I expect him to handle it better this time. Murray Flurry for the win, and the money.
