(Denver-CO) The Nuggets have packed their bags for a season long six-game road trip which starts tonight in Indiana. The Pacers are winless (0-2) so far this season, but should have a sense of familiarity with the Nuggets after seeing them twice in Asia this preseason.

I’m not going to look too deep into either of those two games mainly because George Karl played such mind-boggling rotations all preseason long and playing abroad puts a lot of outside stress on players.

What I will look deeper into is how these two teams stack up statistically in regular season action and when doing so the numbers seem to be wildly in Denver’s favor. For starters, the Nuggets are averaging 114.7 ppg through three games compared to just 96 ppg for Indiana. This is skewed slightly due to Denver pasting Memphis with 133, but my underlying feeling is the Nuggets will definitely be somewhere near 110 points per game by midseason, whereas Indiana is probably close to or perhaps a bit shy of their realistic output.

The second statistical category that has me beaming is turnovers. The Nuggets are currently the top team in the NBA at taking care of the ball with a mere 33 turnovers through three games. This is a huge improvement from last season’s mark of 15.3 miscues per game and this preseason where they average a whopping 21.1 turnovers per contest which ranked them second to last in the NBA. With that in mind, it should also come as no surprise that Denver is allowing their opposition the fewest steals per game in the league. Taking care of the ball has been one of Denver’s Achilles heals in the past, but as long as guys are not forcing things to happen this number should stay low and give the Nuggets a tremendous advantage over teams that consistently stub their toe.

Another area in which the Nuggets have reestablished their dominance is getting to the free-throw line. Last season, the Nugget were the top free-throw shooting team by volume and this season have improved that mark to an astounding 38.7 free-throws attempted per game of which they are making 30.3 per, both tops in the NBA. This is an amazing stat because Denver is a team that would ideally like to get the ball up and down the floor with a slew of fast break opportunities, but as long as the numbers keep hitting the scoreboard at a dizzying pace it doesn’t make a bit of difference whether they happen with the clock stopped.

Here’s a couple of more things to keep an eye on in tonight’s game:

- Chris Andersen still hasn’t had what I would call a signature game. Sure, he did score a dozen points against the Grizzlies in his last outing, but that’s not why Denver resigned the Birdman. The Nuggets need Bird to spread his wings on the defensive end swatting/changing shot attempts. So far this season, the Birdman has not recorded a game with multiple blocked shots.

- Reaching back as far as last season, when  Chauncey Billups reaches 10+ assists the Nuggets are 11-1. Billups’ first game reaching that mark came against the Grizzlies in Denver’s last outing. Mr. Big Shot has also scored 20+ points in each of the first three games and when doing so the Nuggets are 25-9. Given a choice, I’d much rather see Chauncey hand out 10+ assists than score 20 points, but when he does both the Nuggets are essentially unbeatable.

- Denver had huge problems defending Roy Hibbert in the preseason. Hibbert averaged 20.5 points, ten rebounds, and six blocks per game over two games in Asia. I’d like to think these two games were anomalies for Hibbert and that tonight he will not be such a force in the middle.

Go Nuggets!

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