Key game tonight for the Blazers as they travel to the Mile High City to face off against the Nuggets. It’s the beginning of an odd back-to-back, home-and-home series for these teams as they will play again tomorrow as well. It may only be the month of December but in the grand scheme of things this game has some nice sized importance to it. 33% through this season it’s clear that the Western Conference is 9-deep and the drop off is huge after that. Denver is one of those teams the Blazers are going to have to fend off both in the division and conference race. With the strength of the Southwest, it’s going to be mighty tough for all three Northwest Division teams to get in. Put your bright’s on and look down the road and you can see that having the tiebreaker over Denver would be a nice ace in the pocket. Have to start it off with a win though.
If you know anything about me, you know I’m bringing history in my thoughts. I do call them pre-thoughts for a reason. I won’t be going on an emo rant about the Blazers struggles in Denver because…well….it doesn’t really matter. We won the last time in that building so there. And it’s two completely different teams..so there. Yeah. No Debbie Downer today baby. But ya know…I can’t resist…if you’re interested…the Blazers are 2-15 in Denver since 1999. Just throwing it out there…..*ducks*
(Sidenote….Denver has my favorite mascot, Rocky. Portland has my least favorite mascot, Blaze. Blaze is like the red-headed stepchild of Rocky’s family. Google image them both it’s eery.)
This is the Blazers first battle with Denver this year and thus we get our first look at the Nugs with Chauncey Billups. To say Denver transformed when Chauncey came aboard would be like saying Eva Mendes is cute. They won 17 of their first 22 games with him in uniform before dropping their last 3. Just an all-around huge move for the Nugs as they plugged up their main problems: lack of a point guard, lack of leadership and lack of a defensive mindset. Chauncey brings all that to the table and more. He’s practically resurrected Nene’s career. Not only that but he resurrected Denver’s chances of making some noise in the post-season. They will be in the mix for sure come spring time.
With that being said, coming into tonight’s contest Denver is struggling. They’ve lost three straight contests, at Houston, at home to Cleveland and at Phoenix. None of been particularly pretty especially the Cleveland drubbing. In these three games, Carmelo Anthony has been nowhere to be find. M.I.A. His shot’s been off but not only that…he just hasn’t done much. He has three rebounds in his last three games. To put that in perspective that’s just as many as Sergio has had in the past 2 games. When your 6-8 superstar is rebounding as well as a Spanish backup PG you know things are not going well.
Looking past Carmelo and Chauncey, Portland has some work to do. On paper they may not look like much but Denver has some capable players. Nene has looked great this year, something I was never sure I’d be able to say about him. JR Smith can get hot, ditto for Linas Kleiza who is on a hot streak. 7-for-12 from 3 in the past 4 games. Anthony Carter continues to be su
Keys to success:
- Win the turnover battle. Denver averages 16 turnovers a game which is good for 25th in the NBA. They also force just about 16 (15.8) which puts them at the top of the league. Portland has to win this battle. Obviously with the slower pace of the Blazers, Denver probably won’t cough it up 16 times but Portland can’t be sloppy with the ball. And they tend to do that when they play in Denver.
- Go inside, go inside, go inside. Big men are chewing the Nuggets interior D up as of late. Let’s keep that trend going. LMA has to be in attack mode, if the Blazers can get the inside game going good things will follow. K-Mart has one knee, the Birdman only blocks shots and Nene…yeah. Don’t believe me here are the facts:
12/16 @ Houston – Yao Ming: 32 pts, 7 rebounds, 13-19 shooting.
12/19 vs. Cleveland – Ilgauskas: 23 pts, 6 rebounds, 9-14 shooting.
12/20 @ Phoenix – Amare: 27 pts, 10 rebounds, 11-17 shooting
Shaq: 19 pts, 9 rebounds, 7-14 shooting
- Dictate the pace. This is one of those games where Portland having a defensive identity would be wonderful. If this turns into a half-court battle the Blazers should win that battle. Denver gets stagnant in the half court. I like Denver being stagnant.
- Let Carmelo shoot. Don’t shoot me. It sounds silly and well all know he could hot and torch the Blazers, but I’ll take Melo jacking up jumpers over Melo attaking the basket, posting up and getting to the line any day of the week.
- Win the bench war. If Denver gets production from their bench they will be in good shape. Do not let JR Smith or Kleiza get it going, and come on now don’t give Anthony Carter buckets or Chris Andersen offensive rebounds. Our benches better is much better than their benches better but they have to prove it tomorrow.