Preview: Nuggets vs. Heat
After three scrimmages against the Wizards, Pelicans and Magic, Denver starts off the month of August and their first of eight seeding games against the Miami Heat.
Nuggets basketball is officially back!
The Nuggets faced the Heat just once before the season was suspended, and Denver won 109-89 at the Pepsi Center. Will Barton finished that game with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, but the Nuggets will be without his services on Saturday.
Barton, Gary Harris and Vlatko Cancar will all miss Denver’s first seeding game, and Jamal Murray is listed as questionable.
Missing Cancar is not significant, as he played just 14 games for the Nuggets this season, but Barton and Harris are both integral parts to the Nuggets’ starting lineup.
Barton leads the Nuggets in minutes per game (33.0) and his 15.1 points per game is third on the team and the second-highest mark of his career. He was recently ranked Bleacher Report’s ninth best small forward in the NBA, and Denver will have to compensate for his shot creation and facilitating prowess.
As for Harris, he has had a down year offensively, averaging the lowest points per game and worst field goal percentage since his rookie season. But matching up against likes of Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson throughout the game would have been valuable for the Nuggets’ fellow perimeter players.
With Denver being so hampered, there is a strong possibility Troy Daniels and Torrey Craig get a healthy dose of minutes.
Daniels was the leading scorer in Denver’s first two scrimmages, averaging 25.0 points per game and shooting 50 percent from the field. He knocked down 11 threes in those two games, and his floor-spacing ability will be vital alongside Denver’s front court players.
Craig was one of Denver’s unsung heroes of last year’s playoffs, routinely defending the best opposing perimeter player during the Nuggets’ two series against the Spurs and Trailblazers. Without Harris, Craig could be tasked with trying to contain any of Miami’s top scorers.
Two keys for a Nuggets’ win is running Miami off the three-point line and getting production from the Nuggets’ bench.
The Heat are the most accurate three-point shooting team in the league, and they have players who can stretch the floor at every position. The Nuggets did a good job of this the first go-around, limiting Miami to just 31 percent shooting on 29 three-point attempts, they will need a similar effort to come out on top.
Denver’s bench also came through during the first match up, as Nuggets’ reserves Monte Morris, Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee combined for 36 points in the win. Someone like Michael Porter Jr., who had 19 points off the bench during Denver’s scrimmage against Orlando, will need to keep the team afloat while Denver’s starters are resting.
After the Clippers’ loss to the Lakers Thursday night, Denver is just one game back of Los Angeles for the second seed in the West. The Nuggets are also just one game ahead of the fourth-seeded Utah Jazz following their win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Denver does not have much room for error in this Western Conference playoff race. The game is set to tip-off at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, August 1.