The Denver Nuggets will welcome the Orlando Magic to the Mile High city.
With this in mind, which Denver Nuggets player needs to step up? The answer would be Juan Hernangomez.
As Hernangomez continues to fill in for the injured Will Barton, he continues to provide the Nuggets with some valuable production.
So far this season, he is averaging 8.4 points per game on an efficient effective field goal percentage of 59.8%. He is also doing a good job stretching the defense as he is shooting 42.6% from three point range.
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Hernangomez also currently possesses a career high offensive rating of 122 to couple with a true shooting percentage of 62%. However, where he will be truly tested in this match up is on the defensive end.
Juan is only averaging 3.4 defensive rebounds per game along with only 0.5 steals per game and 0.4 blocks per game. Going up against the athletic and high flying Terrence Ross could really bring these weaknesses to light.
Ross has been averaging a true shooting percentage of 54.6% to go along with an assist percentage of 11.1%. He is also averaging 1.8 assists per game which is tied for his highest career mark in this category since the 2016-17 season when he was traded from the Toronto Raptors to the Orlando Magic. Plus, we all know about his dunking prowess.
As a result, Hernangomez is going to have be ready to stay quick on his feet and call out for help if he gets beat. If not, then the Nuggets will start to allow too many points in the paint along with kick outs for wide open three point shots when the other players collapse to help. Not a great thing especially when the other team has a decent three point shooting game with guys like Evan Fournier (former Denver Nugget who is shooting a career three point percentage of 37.4%) on the floor.
All in all, the Denver X factor for this game is going to be the Spaniard, Juan Hernangomez.