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Well, I'll be there, should be a good matchup. Denver's home opener against a Portland team that has one of the top 3 starting back courts in today's NBA. Lilliard and McCollum create a tandem that can shoot the lights out, gave the Nuggets fits in the preseason along with Aminu who will present Jokic with issues tonight. Denver will have the advantage at the C, Nurkic should come out strong again. Gallo and Chandler at SF positions is another strength as well as the depth of the bench, we should be able to out-run, out-gun the Trailblazers.

With the Dikembe retirement part I see the Nuggets hyped up and I'll predict a victory here for the home team by 55pts...jk there, but I do think the Nuggets put up a close victory...111-108

I'll be there as well. Definitely looking forward to the Mutombo festivities. I'm expecting a good crowd and a close game.

Should consider trading high on Mudiay, don't think he'll ever get it.

eathb_au wrote:Should consider trading high on Mudiay, don't think he'll ever get it.

Did you like that hitch reappearing on his first jump shot?
Finished the first quarter with 0 assists and 3 turnovers

Chandler missing TWO free throws that'd ice the game....unbelievable !!

Just GAVE that one away, can't believe it !!

Always tough in Denver. Good game

Not liking what I'm seeing in the season so from Chandler, almost shot us out of the game in NOLA, misses two KEY free throws tonight....pathetic for a veteran of his caliber !

Gallinari obviously fouled on the last possession there and we lose the game.

Can't really be disappointed by that, it's a loss but we can chalk this loss with an asterisk.

That said, I think we are a legitimate chance of winning the NW this season. Need to start winning more games and get some respect from the refs though.

NuggetsWY wrote:

eathb_au wrote:Should consider trading high on Mudiay, don't think he'll ever get it.

Did you like that hitch reappearing on his first jump shot?
Finished the first quarter with 0 assists and 3 turnovers

Well, he did score 18 pts in the 2nd half, spurring the 3rd qtr comeback...

**** that game. I really have no faith in this team on either side of the ball when it gets down to crunch time.


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I like Malone. I think he's done wonders for the culture of this team and I've been very impressed with the player progression that has taken place since he's been here. But he's going to get himself fired if he keeps blowing games by playing a Faried-Gallo-Chandler frontcourt every game. I suspect he doesn't like the Jurkic lineup, as evidenced by his fear of using it at any crucial time in the game, and word has come down from management to play it.

Now here's my conspiracy theory. He might be trying to fight back on the lineup. Why else would he have Jokic guarding the 4s on the perimeter when Nurkic is clearly the more nimble of the two? Maybe he figured if he kept winning games with the small lineup he'd get less push for Jurkic? I don't know. Maybe not. All I know is that Jokic and Nurkic are arguably our 2 best players right now and at least one of them needs to be out there in crunch time. I put this loss squarely on Malone. I'm sure the +/- show how much better we are with at least one of the 2 bigs on the court so hopefully he'll see that and not be stubborn. Frustrating loss.

RRFB wrote:**** that game. I really have no faith in this team on either side of the ball when it gets down to crunch time.


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They definitely need to LEARN how to win, this one slipped through our hands....Malone needs to drop the hammer pretty quick !!

Seems like I'm not alone feeling like Malone still doesn't know what his rotation is? He had the full preseason to figure it out. Harris & Arthur didn't play there either and he more or less knew what his 15 players would be. Yet he played the guys that should have been practice players or minimum time players:

Stokes - 8 games 13 mpg
Beasley- 8 games 13 mpg
Wolters- 4 games 12 mpg
Hummel - 7 games 10 mpg

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Malone went with all of his veterans for most of the fourth quarter, again. Result? Overtime! Then a loss! Notice that when they play that lineup, it includes a lot of standing around and watching on offense, especially when Gallinari has the ball. They just count on him and stop moving so much.

Can you think of anyone that should be on restricted minutes? Maybe a couple of SFs that have a history of injuries and miss loads of games every year? I'll give you a hint: one has not played more than 71 games in his 6 years with the Nuggets and only played over 60 the year he got 71 games. The other has missed one full season, all but eight games in another and forty-three games in a third season with just sixty-two in a fourth just since joining the Nuggets 6 seasons ago. So why have they played 38 & 41 and 30 & 30 in the first two games?

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Did you notice that Faried played 28 & 30 as a sub while averaging less than those last season as a starter?

What exactly are the strengths of a Mudiay/Barton(Harris when he comes back)/Gallo/Chandler/Faried lineup? Shooting? Not really. Defense? Not really. Passing? No. if going small doesn't give you any of the going small advantages, why do it? At least going big gives you a rebounding, interior defense and passing advantage

I had plenty of issues with Malone's rotations last year and I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but as far as I'm concerned, he's 0-for-2 this year when it matters most -- in the 4th quarter of a close game. The Jurkic lineup wasn't super effective tonight, but the Blazers clearly struggled with our size when at least one of them was in the game. Faried has done some great things off the bench already, but lineups with him get exploited so quickly when he's in there for extended minutes, especially on offense when ball movement seems to come to a screeching halt. I really can't think of many scenarios where I'm okay with Faried getting more 4th quarter minutes at Center than Jokic, yet it keeps happening.

Tough loss. That sucks. I thought for sure this one was in the bag.

RRFB wrote:I had plenty of issues with Malone's rotations last year and I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but as far as I'm concerned, he's 0-for-2 this year when it matters most -- in the 4th quarter of a close game. The Jurkic lineup wasn't super effective tonight, but the Blazers clearly struggled with our size when at least one of them was in the game. Faried has done some great things off the bench already, but lineups with him get exploited so quickly when he's in there for extended minutes, especially on offense when ball movement seems to come to a screeching halt. I really can't think of many scenarios where I'm okay with Faried getting more 4th quarter minutes at Center than Jokic, yet it keeps happening.

It's going to get worst. When DA comes back, we will be complaining about DA finishing the game at center, except for the fact that the magnitudes will be a lot worse. I wish I was joking but I am not, we lost many games last year by running DA at the 5 to close games.

Maybe we can trade Nurkic for Foye - Malone surely liked him last year