Hopes for Denver’s In-Season Tournament hinge on a strong road performance on Black Friday.
The Denver Nuggets (10-5) will play their last Group Stage matchup against the Houston Rockets. With a record of 2-1 versus other Group B teams, the Nuggets are tied for the best record in their group with the New Orleans Pelicans. The LA Clippers, who have won their last three games, are still ahead of New Orleans in their series. Therefore, the team that wins on Friday will probably move on to the NBA’s new tournament’s Knockout Stage.
The Rockets served the Nuggets their second loss of the season the last time these two teams met up. Quite a bit has changed since then. Houston lost three straight games before taking down the injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. This brought their record to 7-6 overall.
Friday’s game will wrap up a five-game road trip for the Nuggets. They’ve lost three of their four away games thus far, with the sole victory occurring against the 2-13 Detroit Pistons. Granted, Nikola Jokić and head coach Michael Malone were both ejected against Detroit, so it showed the team’s poise and character in the face of adversity.
Alperen Şengün will undoubtedly be atop Denver’s scouting report on Friday. The 22-year-old Turkish center is an early candidate for an All-Star berth and is averaging 20.2 points on 58.1 percent shooting to go with 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists. He put up 23 points on 9-of-18 from the field, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists against Denver earlier this month.
That needs to be tightened up because he and Fred VanVleet’s pick-and-roll maneuvers caused a lot of problems for Denver’s defense. On November 12, Houston had an advantage in bench scoring as the Rockets backups outscored the Nuggets by 23 points.
In this sense, Christian Braun’s recent comeback may be beneficial. In five straight games coming off the bench, the 21-year-old has scored at least 10 points; his career-best 25 points against the New Orleans Pelicans was the top point total.
For Denver, this game on Friday will probably be a make-or-break affair, so every little thing counts. If the Nuggets triumph away from home, they should go to the Knockout Round and maybe win the inaugural In-Season Tournament. If you lose, there is always another year.
