Game 43: Denver Nuggets (29-13) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (15-27) - 8:00 PM ET

[ducler]

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[THE J0KER]

Minnesota at home, finally healthy and in full force, vs Denver without 3 starters. 50-50 chances.

Key matchups:

Towns vs Jokic
Malone vs himself

[skywalker33]

Malone vs himself

Malone isn't the problem, do you think you could do better ?? Unlike you (and the rest of us) he doesn't have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

Good effort by this team, could've easily gone south. Porter exerting his talents, showing he is steadily becoming the second best player on this team !!

[THE J0KER]

Surprising man of the match Porter played almost 30 minutes, but I will not give Malone any credit for that, because of:

- MPJ didn't start the game even despite 3 starters are out and Craig (and Juancho) are in a slump
- after 10 minutes playing in the 1st half (before 'one-man show' magic started), MPJ was just 1-4, nothing special, and the only reason he is still on the floor is not Malone vision and belief, but Plumlee injury scare. Without Plumlee and Millsap Nuggets was badly undersized at that point, so Malone is forced to prolong MPJ playing time, and in that extra time he exploded
- Malone didn't start with MPJ even in 2nd half, despite what happened in the 1st, because he realizes that Plumlee can play in the 2nd

Don't make me wrong - because of precautions reasons I'm actually against MPJ playing 30+ minutes this season, but at least 25 minutes should be mandatory from now. In long terms, the guy is pure gold, but we need to make him very useful already for this 2020 playoff, and 1st half of the season is already wasted. He is improving with every game he gets the real chance.

[NuggetsWY]

Teams have injuries and while the Nuggets are clearly a better team than Minnesota, losing three starters isn't just about the stats but it's about the chemistry. This game was a close game from start to finish and the Nuggets prevailed at the end. That's the important number: a win!

Minnesota averages 111 ppg and we held them to 100. That is the most significant stat of this game IMO.

Let's look at "Malone's Nine" - since he seems to prefer a nine-man rotation.

As many have said, "starting the game is not as important as finishing the game". If you look at Craig's numbers, he's not getting a lot of minutes even though he's starting. I'm not a fan of him as a starter but coach seems to like him there and truthfully, the last couple of games the Nuggets have started out fairly well.

Grant is showing why the Nuggets wanted him. He's scoring, although he's been inconsistent so far, with more minutes he is becoming more consistent. He's also rebounding well and he always brings energy to the game - especially on defense.

Jokic is playing more low-post lately and he's hard to stop down there. It hurts his assist numbers but it seems to help the team.

Plumlee is consistently Plumlee. He brings energy and effort with some points and boards and defense. What more can you ask of a backup center?

Morris does not begin to replace Murray's game but he is a nice consistent player who does what it takes on both ends of the floor.

Barton is still being himself; lots of good, too much bad but contributing nicely overall.

Porter's game is showing a whole lot. More rebounding than I ever expected and his defense is improving and he does hustle. He's getting a lot of minutes right now and it's going to be hard for Malone to keep him on the bench. We all know Malone likes to use his veterans but Porter is ... well, he seems to be what we expected (or hoped for).

Beasley is keeping a good attitude and hustling and like Grant and Porter, the more minutes he gets, the better he looks. Deep teams can be tough on bench players.

Dozier is a rookie who hasn't had much of a chance but he's showing why I was wrong when I wondered why we signed him. Clearly his minutes will drop when Murray and Harris are healthy, but he's going to make Morris and Beasley have to work hard to keep him on the bench.

[TunaFish]

Good effort by this team, could've easily gone south. Porter exerting his talents, showing he is steadily becoming the second best player on this team !!

I can't think of a better prospect on the Nuggets, even from the Carmelo years. David Thompson was shortly before my time.