The Denver Nuggets are heading into the stretch run of the season facing some stout competition and none more stout than tonight. The Nuggets are hosting the Western Conference leading and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in what many view as a matchup between the top two title contenders in the NBA. Neither team comes into the contest with a clean bill of health, but the Thunder will have Alex Caurso available this time around whereas Denver will have Christian Braun & Cameron Johnson back but now are missing Peyton Watson (among others). The Nuggets lost that first contest so they’re looking to keep the pace with OKC and even up the series while also building on a defensive win against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (37-22) at Oklahoma City Thunder (45-15)
When: 7:30 MST
Where: We’re one step away from making all of human resources AI…center. Oklahoma City, OK.
How to watch/listen: ESPN, Altitude TV. Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival blog: Daily Thunder
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Thunder | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Thunder |
| SG | Christian Braun | Isaiah Joe | Even |
| SF | Cameron Johnson | Luguentz Dort | Nuggets |
| PF | Spencer Jones | Chet Holmgren | Thunder |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Isaiah Hartenstein | Nuggets |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Julian Strawther | Alex Caruso, Jaylin Williams, Aaron Wiggins, Jared McCain, Kenrich Williams | Nuggets |
Injury report: Julian Strawther – probable (great toe), Jamal Murray – questionable (illness), Spencer Jones – questionable (shoulder), Jalen Pickett – questionable (knee), Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Peyton Watson – out (hamstring), Tamar Bates – out (foot), Curtis Jones – out (G-League); Jalen Williams – out (hamstring), Branden Carlson – out (back), Ajay Mitchell – out (abdominal/ankle), Thomas Sorber – out (knee).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: who’s starting
Lately, David Adelman has gone with a smaller starting lineup, inserting Julian Strawther (who’s played well) where Spencer Jones would normally have been the bench player to fill in for an injured Aaron Gordon (or Watson). This approach shifts Johnson to the four and gives Denver a plethora of shooters to put around Nikola Jokic. It makes sense and has yielded decent results. However, the Thunder start two legitimate seven footers in Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren and asking Johnson to cover Holmgern is a recipe for disaster. My expectation is that Jones is re-inserted into the starting lineup tonight and he will get the unenviable task of defending Chet. Braun also draws the most difficult assignment tonight in SGA so if Jamal Murray ends up not playing (questionable with an illness) then it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Nuggets put both Jones and Strawther in the starting lineup and just play without a true point guard for the majority of the game. Look for Bruce Brown to get lots of run on Shai as well when he is in the game.
The thing to remember: We are down at Number 38 tonight
We’ll be hosting a watch party tonight with Mile High Sports down at our home away from home at Number 38 in RiNo. Great drink specials, great food, a massive bar with an even bigger outdoor patio, live DJ and a meeting of the minds in a pregame podcast with MHS Nuggets guru (and Stiffs emeritus) Ryan Blackburn and myself. Come hang out, watch the game on one of the two massive screens (or the bajillion other ones), say hi, grab a local brew and lets take down the Thunder!
The thing to bet: Denver +7.5 (+100)
This spread has already slipped a point since last evening. It is certainly possible that the Nuggets go into OKC and lay a dud, but I have a feeling this is going to be a very competitive contest. The Nuggets are going to be looking for some payback after the previous loss to the Thunder and the lingering sting of being eliminated from the playoffs last season. Yes, the Thunder have SGA this time around but it’s his first game back in a bit and will probably be a bit rusty. Denver rarely doesn’t play this team tough (game seven aside), they are fairly rested and have had a longer runway to re-integrate the fulcrum of their offense. They may not win this game (though that +250 money line is enticing) but I do think it will be close. Of course, I’ve been flat out abysmal on TTB this year so maybe you should just fade this section.
