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No matter on current records and own injuries, we should beat Portland without McCollum and Nurkic.

Strange 1st half, with Denver wasting 1st quarter double-digit lead despite limiting Lillard on just 5 points and making Covington, Hood, Simmons, and Little scoreless. But right from nowhere Melo, Kanter, Jones, and Trent are all in double digits already on halftime (including Anthony's 19 points) with shocking good shooting (21-30, including 7-12 for 3pt).

Jokic and Murray started with bad shooting but at least Joker didn't give up and continued to take shots again and again, so he ended 1st half with impressive 23 points, while Murray stays at 5 (fg 1-5). Malone finally give up on the ridiculous decision to limit radically MPJ playing time despite Millsap and Green are out and Barton playing SG instead of injured Harris. So, Porter played this time 18 minutes already in 1st half.

Much needed win here, Murray came alive in the 4th after an Abysmal start. Zeke starting to find his path. Jokic is a stud workhorse, absolute stud.

A good win at the end. Even with a couple of injured important players, Portland is still a better team than many which beat us already this season. Murray was awful in the offense first three quarters, but bubble-Murray in the 4th scoring 19 of his 24. This is the 4th Jokic 40+ game in the past 11 games (just 4 in an entire career previously), seems that he finally realizes that for a player with his TS% shooting more is always good for his team. Jokic has only 2 defensive rebounds today, and that is why Porter playing more minutes is so important for Denver. MPJ scored 12p in 1st quarter and was scoreless in the rest of the game despite playing 40 minutes, but he was useful all the time as our best rebounder and with a good job in defense making Covington scoreless. Nnaji's defense on Melo was not good in 1st half but much better in the 2nd, he well deserved his minutes. Morris and Campazzo are just 3-13 today, so maybe Malone should give RJ Hampton a chance? Barton was 4-11 but I like his game today with a low usage rate and zero turnovers, and his defense on Trent in 2nd half was much better than in 1st, which was very important because Lillard after a very silent 1st half (5p) played in 2nd on MVP level finishing game with good 25-7-13 numbers. BTW the Nuggets offense once again collapsed in the 3rd quarter, but this time Denver played very good defense, so it was finished 21-21, not something like 20-35 we often see this season as fatal.

The next three games are vs non-playoff teams (WAS OKC CHI), if we win all three, the 20-14 record will put us in a way more comfortable position than were we yesterday.

BTW, Portland has better FG% and more rebounds and blocks, so how on Earth Denver won this game?

Thanks to one historic achievement!

I had a strange thought during this game - it almost felt like a rebuilding team. A couple of solid veterans, two or three good bench/role players, some young players being inconsistent - and a very disjointed defense with an ISO-type offense.

I really hope we can finish our games strong before All Star weekend, If I remember correctly we are playing
WAS
OKC
CHI
MIL
IND
3/5 would be nice
4/5 would be good
5/5 would get us back where we should be I hope, closer to TOP4 contention.
You guys think Malone will keep MPJ as starter @PF if he keeps playing good there, or he brings him from the bench as SF again when everyone is healthy?

Wow, one turnover for whole game! Had no idea that is NBA record, too.

Another positive for me is (again) Facu. Man he is a pest on defense. He has no fear. I seriously can imagine him trying to get charge on Shaquille. It's mixed feeling because Facu playing well at PG moves my other beloved Nugget Morris to more off-ball catch'n'shoot SG.

I don't know it is me being too old school but I wish someone's told Zeke if his threes not falling, try to drive to the basket, earn some fauls and free throws, get your shooting confidence back. In his 172 minutes he shot only four FT and it was in one game.

Btw streak ended against Hawks but still Jokič hit 50/51 last free throws. Incredible for Center.

Anyone know where RJ was last night?

DaFan334 wrote:Anyone know where RJ was last night?

I have wondered about that as well. This team is banged up, so its possible RJ is one of the walking wounded. It could also be because Malone doesn't trust him enough to have him guard Lillard. I vote for banged up.

TunaFish wrote:

DaFan334 wrote:Anyone know where RJ was last night?

I have wondered about that as well. This team is banged up, so its possible RJ is one of the walking wounded. It could also be because Malone doesn't trust him enough to have him guard Lillard. I vote for banged up.

RJ is the fastest player we have, who better to try and guard Lillard ?? Banged up (and Malone) seem like most likely reasons.