Denver @ Utah

[corona]

Key Matchup:
v.
In the past 12 games Jr's averaged nearly 18 points while shooting 49% from 3. With a struggling Kleiza, Denver will need his contribution off the bench on the second night of a back to back.

Last Meeting: February 6th, 2008
118-115 Utah victory
'Melo missed a wide open jumpshot from 20 feet that would have won the game at the buzzer.
Williams tallied 29 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds
Boozer scored just 8 points on 3/15 shooting
Iverson was 5/7 from 3 for 34 points
Kenyon Martin committed a flagrant foul on Ronnie Brewer that sidelined him for 2 games

Denver: 37-24
Rank 11th in offense and 5th in defense
This will be the second game of a back to back, on the road.
Nene is recovering from a single session of chemotherapy. He's already started working out at the pepsi center and should return in a couple more weeks.
Linas Kleiza has struggled with an ankle/foot strain in the past few weeks but will play.
Carmelo tweaked his ankle late against San Antonio but will play.

Keys to winning:
Maintaining a consistent sense of urgency to get into the playoffs and win the division.
Making the extra pass on a consistent basis.
Defending the pick and roll and making quick rotations out of it.

Last 5 Games:
W San Antonio
W Phoenix
L Houston
W LA Clippers
W Seattle

Utah: 41-22
Rank 2nd in offense and 11th in defense
Utah is 23-6 sine trading Gordan Giricek for Kyle Korver
Played in Phoenix on Friday night.
Andrei Kirilenko is likely out with a hip injury caused by a Dirk Nowitzki Flagrant foul.

Last 5 Games:
W Phoenix
W Minnesota
W Dallas
W Memphis
L New Orleans

Game Chat:
http://www.nuggets.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=nuggets&action=chat

Game Notes:
http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/notes.pdf
http://www.nba.com/jazz/news/notes.pdf

Playoff Picture:
1 game behind Golden State for 8th seed
3 games behind Utah for the division lead (4th seed)

[Powder Blue]

Utah battled the Suns tonight just like we battled the Spurs so fatigue will be a factor on both benches. Yet another big game for the Nugs

[corona]

need more mariah

[jazzfan1971]

Very nice game thread. I thought that I'd add in that Utah has the best home record in the league. But, you just took down San Antonio, so it looks like your team is clicking.

Should be a very physical dog fight of a game. There will be blood.

[Powder Blue]

need more mariah

That's what I was thinkin, I like where your head's at....

[el loco]

Very nice game thread. I thought that I'd add in that Utah has the best home record in the league. But, you just took down San Antonio, so it looks like your team is clicking.

Should be a very physical dog fight of a game. There will be blood.

I know the Jazz played tonight, but I wonder what time they will get in from Phoenix compared to us arriving in Utah. We had such a late start.

As far as the game goes, it will be a tough game for us because we are not the same team on the road that we are at home, but we look a lot more determined these past couple of games. I hope it carries over on this road trip. Looking ahead, the Spurs play in Phoenix on Sunday, so we catch them on the back end of a back to back again.

[DNIsLeGiT]

Fatigue will be the biggest differences here, both team play yesterday and got solid wins against good teams, which team show up with more energy and the disire to win will get this game imo. There very good at home so i hope we win this game.

[Duiz]

Very very nice thread corona.

Tough and very very much vital important game for the Northwestern conference. A loss could mean a lot to any of the teams and this might be the most important game in the Northwestern division in the whole year.

Unfortunately the Nuggets will face a really really tough hill... 17 straight home court wins for the Jazz, a 27-3 blistering records at home. Tough stuff.

Will be looking forward for Chucky Atkins...

[EMB6903]

Very nice game thread. I thought that I'd add in that Utah has the best home record in the league. But, you just took down San Antonio, so it looks like your team is clicking.

Should be a very physical dog fight of a game. There will be blood.

we have been clicking at home all season....


on the road in Utah on a back to back is a different story....

[Don_eMOCION#31]

i guarantee a win! we are the better team

[bleu]

i guarantee a win! we are the better team

If the Jazz blow you guys out tonight this is gonna be in my sig for a little while.

Very nice thread corona. Always fun to play a division rival. Best of luck to y'all tonight.

[goldenkarrrlll]

Well here it is...the Northwest Division is on the line tonight! We lose we are down 4 games with 20 to play, we win, we are within 2 and if you have seen the Jazz last five games on their schedule this could get very interesting..We need that #4 spot, it would be nice to play Houston or NO as opposed to Lakers and Spurs. HUUUUGGGGE GAME. THe key in my eyes is rebounding and energy. I hope we are not to happy that we won last night and don't realize the importance of this game. Utah is #6 in Percentage Rebounding Diff and we are #22. Utah fouls like crazy we will get to line, can we knock them down? I think we match up good with them on defense, we just must move the ball on offense(limit TO's) we can score on these guys. One positive is that Camby got a lot of rest, with Najara playing like a beast last night only 30 mins he could have a big game, Chucky could be big tonight with the 3 ball. If we win, it is ON for the rest of the year and we can back in the mix with the rest of the West, PHX and DALL are going in the wrong direction and can definitely be caught. WE NEED #4 or #6 seed. Gotta either catch Utah or catch PHX and Dallas and GS of course. Should be fun. Go Nugs.

Hey Corona,
Where did you get the news that NENE could be back in a few weeks?

[yunggunz]

As long as Melo doesnt let Harprings sorry ass get in his head, he should have a huge night. Miles/Brewer arent anywhere near strong enough to defend him, and Harpring is way way way too slow. This is one game where having Artest to punk Harp around would hvae been nice, but Im sure that Kmart will have Melo's back.

As long as we come out focused and play our game this is winnable, even if it is on the road against the Jazz. Aside from Boozer, all our match ups are favorable.

[MHZ]

I don't see us winning this one. It seems like a typical Nuggets letdown game. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[bleu]

Guys, we need some trolls over on the Jazz game thread to get it rolling. Any volunteers???

[Nuggetsfanduh98]

Hey Corona Nice Game thread jsut seen one tiny mistake. Denver is 37-24 not 36-24. I think we win this one should be though. They have confidence at home. Look @ the teams we beat the last 2 games we got confidence to. Lots and lots of it!!

[el loco]

I like the way we put Kmart on Okur and Camby on Boozer the last time we played them. I know they won that game by 3, but Camby seemed to cause Boozer some problems in that game.

Somehow we need to take Okur out of the game. I think we can do this by not allowing him to take wide open 3's. IMO the biggest missmatch for us will be Brewer, he likes to find the open spots along the baseline and we don't have the size to defend him down on the block with our starters.

[Don_eMOCION#31]

Hey Corona Nice Game thread jsut seen one tiny mistake. Denver is 37-24 not 36-24. I think we win this one should be though. They have confidence at home. Look @ the teams we beat the last 2 games we got confidence to. Lots and lots of it!!

i'm somehow dissapointed. i can't see any major differences there to my game threads and i see everybody praising corona for what a great thread he made. there are even the graphics that i always make. really, it's not that i want to blame someone or something like this but i somehow fell kidded by everybody.



i really like that corona does them again, because it saves me sooo much time to only make the graphics (like in the old corona and don_iggy preview game-thread days ). i only want an explanation for all this

[EMB6903]

ya Utah on the road..... this one is a loss tonight.

[pickaxe]

We beat the Suns, Utah beat the Suns, we beat the Spurs, both teams are tired, with Utah being slightly more tired. Sounds about even since it's on the road. It's a 'don't let the crowd crowd your head' night for the Nuggets.