The Denver Nuggets are looking to rebound after a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
They’ll have their opportunity against the Dallas Mavericks tonight. The Mavericks have got back to their winning ways after outright tanking the end of last season.
Currently they are in the third seed in the West and superstar Luka Doncic is having an MVP caliber season Unfortunately for Dallas, they also come into tonight without their full roster.
Kyrie Irving, Maxi Kleber & Dereck Lively have already been ruled out while Richaun Holmes is a game time decision. The injuries haven’t slowed Dallas much thus far, but without their full compliment of bigs one does have to wonder how they will approach Nikola Jokic.
The Nuggets meanwhile have a chance to bring their full lineup tonight, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the only one with a designation of questionable for the evening.
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Denver Stiffs does not condone piracy….unless it’s the romanticized 18th century type. Altitude TV where available (Altitude TV is available on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream & Fubo TV). NBA League pass for those not in the Nuggets market. Altitude Radio 92.5FM. Show up in a monocle, top hat and a cane, claim to be a Comcast big wig here to make a deal.
Rival Blog: Mavs Moneyball
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Mavericks | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Luka Doncic | Mavs |
| SG | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | Dante Exum | Even |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Derek Jones Jr. | Nuggets |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Grant Williams | Even |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Dwight Powell | Nuggets |
| Bench | Reggie Jackson, Julian Strawther, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, DeAndre Jordan | Markieff Morris, Tim Hardaway Jr., Seth Curry, Richaun Holmes | Even |
Injury report: Jamal Murray – probable (ankles), Aaron Gordon – probable (heel), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – questionable (concussion), Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), Jay Huff – out (G-League), Braxton Key – out (G-League), Jalen Pickett – out (G-League), Hunter Tyson – out (G-League); Richaun Holmes – questionable (illness), Josh Green – out (elbow), Kyrie Irving – out (heel), Maxi Kleber – out (toe), Dereck Lively II – out (ankle)
The Three Things
The Thing to watch for: KCP vs Luka Doncic
This is of course based on KCP playing but I like his chances given the questionable designation.
The Last time these two met it was Luka who had the better performance but KCP who got the win. Hopefully he’s not too rusty from a week off because as always Luka will be looking to score and often. In some respects, you just have to let Luka get his as a player of his talent isn’t going to be slowed by many if any, but that doesn’t mean the Nuggets won’t sic Kenny Pope on him and try to lock him up as much as possible.
Expect lots of scoring from the wings tonight. The offensive load is essentially entirely on Luka and Tim Hardaway Jr. with the rest of the team chipping in where they can. Don’t be surprised as well if Luka finds Peyton Watson on him for stretches of the game.
The thing to remember: Markieff Morris is in town
This will be the first meeting where Markieff Morris will see Nikola Jokic on the court since their infamous event in Miami. For anyone who doesn’t remember, back when he played for the Miami Heat, Markieff F’d around and found out when he took a cheap shot at Jokic mid court and Joker retaliated with a shoulder to the back.
Markieff got whiplash, milked that for months and used the altercation with Jokic to cling to relevancy for a little while longer in what is otherwise an unforgettable and unremarkable NBA career that no one will remember within ten years. Of course, when Jokic was putting together championship campaigns and Markieff was sitting on his ass racking up DNPs he needed to get some relevancy back so in April Morris went on the All The Smoke podcast and said about Jokic “he’s going to get his.
” I guess tonight would be the night for Markieff to put up, but we all know he’s nothing but talk and a dude who takes cowardly cheap shots and then goes full shocked Pikachu face when the reaction he gets isn’t the same as when he used to bully kids in prep school (or “the hood” as Morris calls it).
The thing to bet: Aaron Gordon over 0.5 blocks (+155)
AG isn’t guaranteed a block by any means but I do think he gets switched onto some guards tonight who will look to drive to the basket and that could result in a swat or two from Gordon.
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