Blazers @ DEN Game Preview (11/12/14):
Our Last game: 11/11/14. Big comeback from 23 down against CHA at home. Too sloppy, too much bad D early, too much attacking the rim with no fouls called. But a W at the end of the day. LMA with 25 and 14, Damian with 29 and 7 assists, Kaman with 12 and 8 rebounds off the bench and, frankly, not a ton else.
Their Last game: Aldridge put up a season-high 28 points with nine boards and four assists while the Trail Blazers hit 16 of 31 from 3-point range in a 116-100 win over them (1-5), which has been idle after losing its fifth straight game.
Changes to their roster:
Basketball Insiders said:
It’s kind of hard to believe that just two years ago, the Nuggets were one of the league’s most exciting upstart teams, but last season was the first without Masai Ujiri or George Karl, and it should have been obvious that life after losing one of the best execs and one of the best coaches in the NBA would be a little difficult. This year, things should be marginally better, with Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari and JaVale McGee both coming back healthy and Arron Afflalo (who was practically stolen from Orlando around the draft) back in powder blue. Rookie Gary Harris (and to a lesser extent Jusuf Nurkic) add depth to the rotation, making this an all-around better team than it was last year. They maybe aren’t as exciting as they were two seasons ago, but it won’t be anywhere near as painful to watch as it was in 2013-2014. Expect improvement out of the Nuggets this season.
Injury Updates: Nicolas Batum SF - Nov 11: Day-To-Day Denver : Ty Lawson PG - Nov 9: Day-To-Day
Matchups:
PG: Damian Lillard v. Nate Robinson. Krypto-Nate is instant offense, but in his return from injury, he’s not the dynamo we’ve grown accustomed to. That said, Nate always has a contingent down from his Seattle hometown, and his 15.9 ppg against POR in 16 career games is his highest against any team. Damian’s coming off of another Lillard Time Special, 29/7 to bump the Blazers past CHA. After a rough initial 3 games, he’s 17-37--46%-- from 3 and averaging 22/7/6 in his last 5. I think we can stop worrying about Damian right about now.
SG: Wesley Matthews v. Aaron Afflalo/Randy Foye. Both can fill it up if needed, but Foye’s been playing (and shooting) a lot more than you may be used to. Wes has been W3$ so far (last night was his first sub-par game), the most consistent Blazer on both D and O. Still, probably the toughest matchup the Blazers will face.
SF: Allen Crabbe/Dorell Wright v. Wilson Chandler. Chandler’s 10 ppg on 33% shooting isn’t going to scare anyone, but it's only the second start for Crabbe and his first chance at some extended minutes. Chandler's a decent breaking-in matchup for him, but Crabbe's got to do his thing--play great team D and knock down the shots. Check out NateBishop's thread about Wright--
not necessarily a slump, but a decline due to age.
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge v. Kenneth Faried. The Blazers bigs need to ensure they have a body on Faried, who’s been among the best rebounders in the league since being traded from the Blazers on Draft Night so that we could get Nolan Smith and Raymond Felton. LMA has had his shooting percentages down since his hot start to the season, but is still dangerous if left open.
C: Robin Lopez v. Timofey Mozgov. Robin has slowed a bit from his scorching start, but is still averaging 12pt/8reb with awesome D. Mozgov isn’t a slouch, but his 9ppg/5rpg are about his career high and (in a trend) won’t scare the Blazers, though his 16 rebounds against them last game might warrant a bit more attention and/or skill in putting a body on them.
Give-a-Rip (City) Factor—a.k.a. why you should watch: See the Blazers get (hopefully) their first road win. To see a wildly entertaining (hopefully) offensive game. DEN goes a legit 10 (sometimes 12) deep, so there’s some opportunity for the Blazers to make some hay against the Javale McGee’s and Jusuf Nurkics and Eric Greens of the world. I feel like I said "hopefully" a lot there.
Current Power Rankings:
RipCityTwo (PtldPlatypus): (18) Ty Lawson thinking the Nuggets are a top 3 team in the West gives new meaning to the term "Rocky Mountain High"
ESPN: (28)Used to be Denver was the last place you wanted to be on the last stop of a long, rough trip. Used to be. These Nuggets look raggedy and disconnected, Brian Shaw's rotation is all over the place and the Cavs couldn't have been happier to see them before hosting nine of their next 11 games.
Grantland: (Potential Interlopers) Remember when the Nuggets were fun to watch? Kenneth Faried had the occasional highlight, but the Denver offense was otherwise ugly through their first three halves of the season, shooting 19-for-86 (22 percent) from outside the restricted area. They made some shots in the second half in OKC on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to come back from 26 down.
The Nuggets should have more shooting on the wing with Gallinari and Arron Afflalo back, and Ty Lawson is a roadrunner with the ball as long as he can play on a balky ankle. Still: They were below average on both ends last season, and there’s a big jump from that level of output up toward 50 wins.
NBA.com(29) (Pace: 101.3 (2), OffRtg: 98.6 (22), DefRtg: 105.8 (22), NetRtg: -7.2 (26)
More than a year into the job, Brian Shaw is still searching for answers. The pieces are there (and they're healthy this year), but Randy Foye is the only one playing particularly well. The Nuggets can't seem to put a decent game together on both ends of the floor, a problem that will quickly put them in a big hole in a good conference.
Link to Grandpa Blaze's Prediction Game
Link to MediocreMan's Over/Under game
Links to other team’s site(s):
http://www.nba.com/nuggets/ Nuggets’ NBA page
Final ThoughtsBlazers need a get-well game after last night's heroics coming back from the sewer against Charlotte. Too bad it's the 4th game in 5 nights. Look for heavy legs on the jumpers, and DEN to try to run them out of the gym. Hopefully, it's early enough in the year that The only matchup the Blazers are even close on is the SG one (discounting the bench), which the Blazers will take every day of the week.
Blazers 108
DEN 91
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BLAZERS' GAME NOTES 
