The Denver Nuggets are back out on the road again. That might be just what the doctor ordered after the Nuggets, a curiously strong road team while underwhelming at home, lost their marquee matchup at Ball Arena on Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Denver gets to put the tough loss in the past but the future looms menacingly. Tonight the Nuggets find themselves in Detroit to take on the Eastern Conference leading Pistons. These teams saw each other in Denver just a week ago when the Pistons sealed a late victory, but Nikola Jokic was also out for that contest. In addition to Jokic being back, the Nuggets may also have Christian Braun return tonight, giving another boost to their slowly returning to health roster.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (33-17) at Detroit Pistons (36-12)
When: 5PM MST
Where: Who knew putting cheese food and tomato sauce on carboard could be so profitable…arena. Detroit, MI.
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV and Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival blog: Detroit Bad Boys
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Pistons | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Cade Cunningham | Nuggets |
| SG | Jalen Pickett | Duncan Robinson | Clippers |
| SF | Peyton Watson | Ausar Thompson | Clippers |
| PF | Spencer Jones | Tobias Harris | Clippers |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Jalen Duren | Even |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr., Christian Braun | Isaiah Stewart, Ronald Holland II, Caris Levert, Jaden Ivey, Daniss Jenkins | Even |
Injury report: Christian Braun – questionable (ankle), Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Cameron Johnson (knee), Tamar Bates – out (foot), Curtis Jones – out (G-League); Caris LeVert – questionable (illness), Wendell Moore – out (G-League), Tolu Smith – out (G-League), Chaz Lanier – out (G-League), Bobi Klintman – out (G-League), Isaac Jones – out (G-League).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: All eyes on Christian
With Braun being officially listed as questionable for tonight’s game after being listed as doubtful for the last contest it would appear he will play tonight. It’ll be CB’s first game since January 9th when he first attempted to return from his injury but lasted just three games. Prior to that stint, Braun hadn’t played since November. His failed first attempt to return from the injury has been chalked up to not being there with the trust level in his ankle. Three weeks later we can only hope he’s regained that trust. In his January games it was clear he wasn’t ready and without his explosiveness his game was severely muted. Here’s hoping Braun is out running and dunking from the jump.
The thing to remember: Caris Levert could be back too
Levert has been dealing with an illness that has kept him out for two weeks, so he too was absent from the last Nuggets/Pistons tilt, but he is also listed as questionable tonight. Caris has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Nuggets in past years with multiple 20 point or more performances against them since 2021. He brings a necessary scoring element to an otherwise underwhelming (at least on offense) Pistons bench. With Levert and Jaden Ivey, Detroit has a potent backcourt combo off the bench. Given Braun would be making his first game back from injury, and that the Pistons might bring a lot of perimeter scoring pressure with their bench unit, I won’t be surprised if CB comes off the bench himself tonight.
The thing to bet: Denver Nuggets ML (+180)
The Nuggets came within two points of beating the Pistons without Nikola Jokic and Christian Braun. In that game Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 16 rebounds. Jalen Duren is a fantastic player and earned a well-deserved all-star bid this season, but he’s giving up some serious beef matching up against the likes of Joker. I think Nikola tips the scales in Denver’s favor tonight.
