Denver Nuggets goes into action, rested and ready for the last 27 matches in the regular season. Charlotte Hornets is not as fresh for Thursday night’s matchup in Denver.
Charlotte was in action Wednesday in the first NBA game since All-Star Weekend and will meet a Nuggets team that has not played in a week. However, Hornets comes in with speed, after turning off the Lakers in Los Angeles 100-97.
Wednesday’s game was originally scheduled for January 9 but was postponed due to the fire fires in the Los Angeles area. It also meant that Mark Williams met the team he was distributed at the trade deadline, just to get it canceled when he failed with a physical.
Wednesday was his first game since the aborted trade. He had 10 points and nine returns in 29 minutes.
“I mean, it’s crazy,” Williams said before the match. “Your mind has to switch from you who have been traded, you have to go to LA and then you have to switch back from not coming to LA so it is definitely different.”
Before Wednesday night, Hornets fought over the past month, lost 11 out of 13 and fell out of the hunt for the season. Charlotte has no player who has appeared in all 53 matches this season, which does not help continuity.
Hornets is led by Lamelo Ball, which entered all-Star Break on average 27.3 points and 7.2 assists. Brandon Miller is second in points (21.0), followed by Miles Bridges (19.5) and Williams (15.6).
Thursday evening will be the second and final meeting of the teams. Visiting Denver won the first meeting 107-104 on February 1, behind a triple siblings from Nikola Jokic. The victory was the second in Nugget’s current winning line that has arched them to the third at the Western conference.
After an uneven start to the season-Denver was 11-10, the nuggets were played well despite handling injuries.
Russell Westbrook has missed the last seven matches with a hamstringstam, Michael Porter Jr. Put out the last three matches due to hamstring density and Aaron Gordon has missed a total of 23 matches, mostly because of a right veal.
It has forced coach Michael Malone to use various starting lineups, and he will have a decision to make with Westbrook, Porter and Gordon listed as likely to play Thursday evening.
“All I say is that it is fantastic to have alternatives,” Malone said Wednesday. “We have a healthy team, and obviously Russell Westbrook has done fantastic things for us. Christian Braun, the last eight-game distance, only plays incredible basketball.”
At 15 points one game, Braun is one of six Denver -players on average doubles in points. Jokic leads the road with 29.8 points, 12.6 points and 10.2 assists per match, which puts him in the top five in the NBA in all three categories.
Jamal Murray (21.0) and Porter (19.0) are next in points and Westbrook is on average 13.0 ppg.
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