The Denver Nuggets will look to get back on track as they battle the Houston Rockets.
The Denver Nuggets are going up against an under achieving Houston Rockets squad in the Pepsi Center. Both teams have been struggling as of late.
While this is a perfect opportunity for Denver to get back on track, it would also be the most Nuggets thing ever if they somehow lost this game, marking the return of the unfortunate “Nugg Life.”
With all of this in mind, there are a couple of things which one should keep an eye on in this match up at home.
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First of all, the team will be debuting their iconic city jerseys this game! The ones which will result in the return of the rainbow skyline. I mean, which Denver fan is not excited to have these type of uniforms back?! It is a trivial thing to be excited about, but it is still something to look forward to as well.
Second of all, Denver’s defense will be something to pay attention to as well. As of right now, the Nuggets are ranked 5th in general team defense. They also possess a defensive rating of 104.1 so far which has them ranked 5th in the league as well, a slight drop from their 3rd place ranked a couple weeks ago.
They are also averaging 5 blocks per game to go along with 12.2 points per game on opponent fast break points which ranks 9th in the league in this particular category. Denver’s defense will have a challenge keeping up with this high-powered Rockets’ offense.
The final thing to watch in this game is how well the back court of the Denver Nuggets bounces back after they have been struggling as of late. Jamal Murray shot only 43.8% from the field in the loss against the Milwaukee Bucks and Gary Harris shot only 35.7% from the field.
In this match up, Murray logged a player differential of -4 while Harris tallied a differential of a very underwhelming -17. To say they will have to play better against the star-studded back court of Chris Paul and James Harden would be the understatement of the year.
If the young guards can play well, then the Nuggets’ chances of winning will increase 10 fold.
Chris Paul and James Harden are not going to make lives easy for the Nuggets, but this Denver squad is much more capable than they have been the last couple of seasons.