The Denver Nuggets five-game road trip concludes on a trip to Dallas facing the MVP-tier Luka Doncic and the best offense in the league.
Witnessing Nikola Jokic take full advantage of a porous defense and a team with Alex Len as its starting center made Denver Nuggets fans around the world rejoice. However, the offensive onslaught Trae Young dished out caused a closer contest.
Unfortunately, the five-game road trip doesn’t end on an easy note. Wednesday’s contest presents itself as a final boss of some sort. Luka Doncic and the highly efficient offense of the Dallas Mavericks pose a threat to Denver as a playoff contender.
Nikola Jokic’s career-high scoring performance in Atlanta has a chance to carry over versus a Dallas team, which suffers from protecting the rim with Kristaps Porzingis out of action the past four games.
The Denver Nuggets backcourt, somewhere licking their chops, find themselves in a favorable position as the Mavericks defensive rating ranks 17th in the league. However, although overall a middle-of-the-road defensive squad, Dallas employs a few pestering defenders.
Typically, teams who experience injuries to its two core players around the same time, don’t win games against elite-level opponents. Luka Doncic missed four games after suffering an ankle sprain in only 1:40 of action. Dallas beat the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers on the road with its franchise player on the sidelines.
The injury bug didn’t stop at Doncic. Porzingis miraculously missed only one game before the nagging foot soreness. Once again, despite Porzingis’ missing presence, the Mavericks went 2-2.
Although Porzingis’ game availability yet determined, expect the Mavericks to battle regardless of the void in the lineup. The Denver Nuggets chances of victory increase if it considers these three points of emphasis.