Having finally shrugged the Ant-less Wolves off their backs, the Nuggets roll into Wednesday’s home game against the 0-3 Pelicans expecting more than just a win.
Jamal Murray has been the most consistent starter through three games, averaging 30/5/6 and looking the best he ever has to start a season. But the rest of the starters have been a mixed bag. Jokic has filled up the stat sheet with three straight triple doubles, but his 2/13 three-point shooting in the OT loss to Golden State, including a missed floater to win in regulation, seems to be affecting the confidence he has in his shot. Cam Johnson and Christian Braun are also off to slow starts, particularly on offense, where neither has had a net-positive impact, and Cam is now hampered by a shoulder. Even beast-mode Aaron Gordon had a 41-point drop in his scoring total from game 1 to game 3 and looked checked out during stretches in his latest stint.
Despite these aberrations, the Nuggets still have the best offense in the NBA, which should scare a Pelicans team that has yet to notch a W and could be without Zion Williamson in addition to their other injuries.
The Basics
Who: New Orleans Pelicans (0-3) at Denver Nuggets (2-1)
When: 7:00 PM MDT
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
How to watch/listen: Altitude/ + / Radio. Eat a large, unhealthy Cajun meal before or during the game to empathize with Zion Williamson
Rival Blog: Pelican Debrief
Injury Report | Nuggets: Cameron Johnson, Questionable (right shoulder inflammation)
Pelicans: Zion Williamson, Questionable (bone contusion on left foot); Dejounte Murray, Out (Achilles rupture); Kevon Looney, Out (left knee sprain); Derik Queen, Out (wrist)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Will Christian, Cam, or Bruce have a breakout game?
All three players came into the season facing high expectations. CB signed a deserved by hefty $125m deal right before the season started, indicating the teams’ confidence that his offense will continue to improve, which hasn’t shown up on the court yet. Our Prodigal Son, Bruce, rode back into Denver as an all-time local favorite, but he also hasn’t shown the same level of timely production and disruption that endeared him to Nuggets fans the first go-round. And Cam has underwhelmed as a scorer and defender while carrying the weight of “The Guy MPJ Was Traded For.”
It’s far too early for any of these criticisms to be fair. It was always going to take 10 games, maybe even a month or more, for the team to fully adjust to a new starter and reworked bench rotation. But this is the kind of early-season home game against a banged up, less talented roster that provides an opportunity for everyone to find their rhythm and get the ball poppin’.
Unfortunately, Cam may be unavailable due to a tweaked shoulder, which would be a shame since he’s probably in search of a strong showing more than anyone else on the roster right now.
The thing to remember: The Pelicans are an NBA team
New Orleans has been more competitive than their record would suggest. They took the stampeding Spurs and their freshly-anointed BITW giant to overtime, coming up just short of the upset. If Zion is able to go, he’s been off to a great start, averaging 27/9.5/6 before sitting with a foot during a blowout loss to the Celtics. Even if he is out, the Pelicans have enough defense and shot-making potential to keep the game closer than the Nuggets will be comfortable with if they don’t continue to play with urgency, a tendency we’ve seen before from this team in the fall.
The thing to bet: Jokic getting his 4th triple-double in a row
Unless Jordan Poole adds to the fluky scoring flurries we’ve seen to start the NBA season, Jokic probably isn’t going to be needed as a high-volume scorer in this one. But that should mean he’ll be freed up to be a distributor, the primary role he prefers anyway. With Zion likely out again, it’s hard to imagine that the Joker won’t also eat on the glass, which he does routinely against superior interior competition. It’s not quite a lock because four triple-doubles to start a season is historic—and the Nuggets could have the route on by halftime—but as a risk/reward play, more Jok stat-padding seems as good a bet as any.
