I think it’s a big game for Denver for sure because they can pretty much put a strangle hold on the No. 2 seed in the West with a homecourt win over the still underachieving Oklahoma City Thunder. Just look at the Western Conference standings and there you go. This doesn’t require a DaVinci Code savant skill set. The Nuggets are three games up on the Thunder and if they hold home court tonight at the Pepsi Center the Nugs are four full games up on the Thunder with just over twenty games left on the slate.
This is clearly a put up or shut night for the Thunder in the Rockies against a team which has been the polar opposite of the Thunder so far this season. These Nuggets are one of the feel good stories so far this season under Mike Malone. Unlike the Thunder, they have no superstars unless you consider Paul Milsap a superstar. I don’t. What these Nuggets are is a group of nice role players playing within a system of doing little Nick Collison things which don’t win them any individual awards, but as a team gives them a chance every night.
The closest thing to a superstar on this Denver team is Nicola Jokic with numbers of 20.4 pts, 10.8 rebounds, 7.7 asts and a PER of 26.8. I almost and sometimes even do confuse Jokic with Portland big man Josef Nurkic so that in itself says something about the no-name nature of these Nuggets.
Listen to this recent Mike Malone post game interview and notice the emphasis to detail on little things. Things like winning the little one on one battles. Winning loose balls. Winning the boards. Winning the points off turnovers battle. Little things night in and night out. Mike Malone coaches more like a DI college hockey coach than an NBA coach with contractual prima donnas. He got fired in Sacramento and last year his team in Denver faded down the stretch. But if his team wins tonight in Denver you would think they’d be in fairly decent shape for the No 2 seed in the West.
Tell me who saw this coming in September when everyone was drawing up their Daily Thunder Western Conference Seeding Contest bracket. I sure didn’t. I had the Nuggets at the No. 8 slot and barely holding on to a playoff spot
Coming into tonight my Coach of the Year voting goes… 1 Mike Budenholzer, 2 Mike Malone, 3 Dave Joerger and 4 Doc Rivers.
So an interesting matchup tonight in Denver where my son will be sitting low at midcourt with his Russell Westbrook jersey on. I’ll be looking to see if I can spot him. I’ll also be looking to see if the Oklahoma City Thunder can reach deep down and win a big road game which would justify some of the hype being thrown their way with only twenty-three games left in the regular season.
Look at this video. Mike Malone doesn’t even look or sound like an NBA coach. He looks more like your local State Farm agent. But so far this season the State Farm agent has a 2-0 season series lead over the college coach from Florida. Big game tonight in Denver for the Nuggets.
Kudos to Doc Rivers and the LA Clipper fans last night for a classy Dirk sendoff. I hope the Thunder do something like this for Dirk on March 31st.