| 23 February 2009
(Denver-CO) You'll have to forgive me for not posting a preview for the last couple of games. The East Coast start times in combination with being slammed at work the last few weeks have left me with a shortage on time. Now that the Nuggets are back at home this week, I can give you a full pre-game glance at the competition starting with tonight's hosting of the Boston Celtics.
First off, the Celtics are without KG. Second, the Nuggets are going to have K-Mart back in the line-up. The problem is Nene is out after suffering a deep contusion in his surgically repaired knee. As of right now, Nene is having the knee looked at by team doctors today and there is no timetable for his return. Chris Andersen will start in his place tonight against the C's.
In case you've forgot, the Nuggets have already beaten the mighty Celtics once this year. That win, and I quote (myself) was the,"First true feather in Denver's cap this year."
This time around, the Nuggets need another feather.
After losing their last two games to Eastern Conference teams on the cusp of the playoff picture, Denver needs to knock off the East's best team.
Both the Nuggets and the Celtics can call themselves elite in the following categories of which they currently rank in the NBA's top ten: Points per game, assists per game, steals per game, turnovers forced, field goal percentage, free-throws made and attempted per game, and field goal percentage allowed. With that being said, these two teams couldn't be more different. The Nuggets, like the Celtics, score a lot of points, but unlike the C's, the Nuggets give up more than 100 points per game compared to the Celtics nightly allotment of 92.2 ppg. Another way these two teams differ is in their offensive styles. The Nuggets have been prone, especially as of late, to fall into stagnant stretches of "me-first" basketball. The Celtics never do this. Only Paul Pierce averages more than 20 ppg, but as a team the Celtics have nine players averaging more than five points per game. And within that nine players who all get into the offensive act, the Celtics have had five different players lead them in scoring in separate games throughout the year. Rondo is a killer per his team-high 32 points scored in the Celtics last outing. Paul Pierce has led the team in scoring in three of the last four games since losing KG. Ray Allen still has the smoothest stroke on the planet and Eddie House can explode if left forgotten around the three-point line.
What has me concerned about tonight's game without Nene is the Nuggets have no inside scoring presence. And against the Celtics' stiff defense, not getting easy buckets is going to make winning very difficult. The Nuggets are either going to have to shoot a very high percentage from the field and/or three, or play lock down defense to win. At this point, I'm thinking the defensive order is a long shot so the time for Linas Kleiza, J.R. Smith, and Chauncey Billups to start hitting their three's is now. Over the last five games, Denver is a combined 27-81 from long distance which is below their season average of 37%.
Aside from the numbers this game is also a test of resolve. The Nuggets are on the verge of sliding into a three game losing streak for only the second time this season and a win tonight would greatly improve the outlook of this week's murder's row of games. The Hawks (32-23) are coming to town on Wednesday and have beaten the Nuggets in the only meeting so far this year, and on Friday the Nuggets are hosting the NBA's top team; The 46-10 Lakers of whom haven't lost to the Nuggets in what seems like an eternity. So, if the Nuggets can pull together sans Nene tonight and get this win against the Celtics it could very well stop the season's worst losing slide.
Go Nuggets!
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