| 27 March 2009
(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets have an opportunity tonight to sweep the season series against the Mavericks for the first time in franchise history. Denver took the first meeting between these two teams, 108-105, won the second easily, 98-88, and emerge victorious on a controversial call in the third match-up, 99-97, with Chauncey Billups making two free-throws with just two seconds remaining in regulation.
In tonight’s game, the Nuggets need to summon the same kind of team effort as we saw in the New Orleans match-up on Wednesday night. Offensively, Denver had all ten players who saw action scored. Defensively, nine out of those ten grabbed at least one rebound on the defensive glass and six recorded a steal.
That’s a combined effort on both ends of the floor and with the stars of this team continuing to shine there’s no reason why Denver shouldn’t beat the Mavericks again tonight.
The Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki is the player Denver has to be most aware of at all times. Nowitzki’s season averages of 25.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists have bloated against the Nuggets this season up to 31.3 points and 11.3 rebounds combined over three meetings. And in the most recent meeting, Nowitzki scored 44 points while grabbing 14 rebounds.
But here’s where there might be a silver lining to Nene’s suspension…
Typically, the Nuggets will put Kenyon Martin on Dirk. But, with Kenyon’s services tied up handling Erick Dampier and Brandon Bass I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of the Birdman on Nowitzki. The Bird on the Larry Bird wannabe is a match-up that I think will work out well for the Nuggets. Andersen contests every shot, most of the time does a great job sealing his man away from rebounds, and is a better perimeter defender than Nene. With Dirk’s affinity for mid-range jumpers this is going to be an upgrade defensively, by default, with Nene being suspended. So, expect a lot of Bird watching tonight on Nowitzki and keep your fingers crossed that Andersen is up for the task of chasing one of the league’s top scoring talents on both ends of the floor.
The other Maverick to keep close tabs on is Jason Terry. Jason Eugene Terry, AKA “The J.E.T”, has been a steady performer against Denver in all three match-ups so far this season. He’s never extraordinary, but what he does is give Dallas a solid 18-20 points per outing while keeping the opposition’s defense scrambling around the three-point line after sending double-teams at Dirk. And he’s as deadly as anyone launching attempts from downtown. Terry has the uncanny ability of hitting that momentum swinging trey at the precise moment in the game that can kill a teams potential comeback or prolong a team spiking the dagger through Dallas’ heart. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on J.R. Smith’s ability to not get sucked into the middle of the key on midline defensive situations, but I would also not be surprised to see Anthony Carter and/or Chauncey Billups lock onto Terry when they tandem with J.R. at the same time on the floor because Terry is just one of those special guys in the league that you can’t leave alone.
Aside from those two players, Denver has to know Brandon Bass is going to be a handful on both ends on the glass and Jason Kidd is still not a reliable perimeter shooter. Denver’s best bet is to force J-Kidd to try and beat them passing in half court sets versus out on the fast break where he is most dangerous while giving him space to shoot the ball rather than playing to him to tight and giving him the ability to penetrate and dish.
Time to make franchise history - for both teams.
Go Nuggets!
In tonight’s game, the Nuggets need to summon the same kind of team effort as we saw in the New Orleans match-up on Wednesday night. Offensively, Denver had all ten players who saw action scored. Defensively, nine out of those ten grabbed at least one rebound on the defensive glass and six recorded a steal.
That’s a combined effort on both ends of the floor and with the stars of this team continuing to shine there’s no reason why Denver shouldn’t beat the Mavericks again tonight.
The Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki is the player Denver has to be most aware of at all times. Nowitzki’s season averages of 25.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists have bloated against the Nuggets this season up to 31.3 points and 11.3 rebounds combined over three meetings. And in the most recent meeting, Nowitzki scored 44 points while grabbing 14 rebounds.
But here’s where there might be a silver lining to Nene’s suspension…
Typically, the Nuggets will put Kenyon Martin on Dirk. But, with Kenyon’s services tied up handling Erick Dampier and Brandon Bass I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of the Birdman on Nowitzki. The Bird on the Larry Bird wannabe is a match-up that I think will work out well for the Nuggets. Andersen contests every shot, most of the time does a great job sealing his man away from rebounds, and is a better perimeter defender than Nene. With Dirk’s affinity for mid-range jumpers this is going to be an upgrade defensively, by default, with Nene being suspended. So, expect a lot of Bird watching tonight on Nowitzki and keep your fingers crossed that Andersen is up for the task of chasing one of the league’s top scoring talents on both ends of the floor.
The other Maverick to keep close tabs on is Jason Terry. Jason Eugene Terry, AKA “The J.E.T”, has been a steady performer against Denver in all three match-ups so far this season. He’s never extraordinary, but what he does is give Dallas a solid 18-20 points per outing while keeping the opposition’s defense scrambling around the three-point line after sending double-teams at Dirk. And he’s as deadly as anyone launching attempts from downtown. Terry has the uncanny ability of hitting that momentum swinging trey at the precise moment in the game that can kill a teams potential comeback or prolong a team spiking the dagger through Dallas’ heart. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on J.R. Smith’s ability to not get sucked into the middle of the key on midline defensive situations, but I would also not be surprised to see Anthony Carter and/or Chauncey Billups lock onto Terry when they tandem with J.R. at the same time on the floor because Terry is just one of those special guys in the league that you can’t leave alone.
Aside from those two players, Denver has to know Brandon Bass is going to be a handful on both ends on the glass and Jason Kidd is still not a reliable perimeter shooter. Denver’s best bet is to force J-Kidd to try and beat them passing in half court sets versus out on the fast break where he is most dangerous while giving him space to shoot the ball rather than playing to him to tight and giving him the ability to penetrate and dish.
Time to make franchise history - for both teams.
Go Nuggets!
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