(Boulder-CO) I can not, in good conscience, be too excited about the Nuggets chances tonight at home against the Utah Jazz. The Nuggets’ injury report is astonishingly long and the characters on it are all too important to this team’s chances of victory. For starters, Kenyon Martin (staph infection on the buttock) is not going to be able to go tonight. Nene (testicular tumor) and Chucky Atkins (sports hernia) are both going to miss quite a substantial amount of time, and Eduardo Najera is reportedly still not able to use his right arm completely with a hyper-extension of the elbow. Now, Steven Hunter is allegedly available for action after being cleared from knee surgery, but who knows if he will actually play tonight leaving the Nuggets in quite a quagmire as to how they are going to match-up with the Utah Jazz.
Furthermore, and to compound things, the Jazz are a big team. Their front line of Carlos Boozer (6’9” and stout), Mehmet Okur (6’11”), and Andrei Kirilenko (6’9” and lanky) alone are going to dwarf the Nuggets presumed starting frontcourt of Camby, Anthony, and Eduardo Najera. Add in the fact that starting point guard Deron Williams is a solid 6’3” and shooting guard Ronnie Brewer is a full 6’7” and you can see the Nuggets are looking physically outmatched.
On top of all that, the Nugget morale is dangerously low while the Utah Jazz have won six of their last seven games (including four straight) since trading Gordon Giricek for three-point shooting specialist Kyle Korver. And what worries me about a guy like Kyle Korver coming to town is the Nuggets are currently ranked 23rd in the NBA in opposing three-point percentage surrendering 37% from around the land of plenty.
And the statistical bad news doesn’t stop there.
The Nuggets are the sixth worst defensive club in the NBA allowing over 104 points per game while the Jazz are just barely allowing the opposition to hit the century mark while holding their opponents under 90 points three times during their four-game win streak.
So, now that the stage has been set there is a way that the almost overwhelming odds can be beaten by the Denver Nuggets. Simply stated: AI, Carmelo, and Camby have to play at the top of their respective games.
Denver will need AI to have at least ten assists while scoring somewhere in the range of 23-27 points. Carmelo will have to score close to 30 points while finding a way to record his fourth double-double in the month of January. And Marcus Camby couldn’t find a better game to have another 20/20 effort. In addition to Denver’s big three needing to muster up an unbelievable effort, guys like J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza need to step up their games too. Otherwise, I’m afraid this one could get ugly.
I’ll be at the Pepsi Center hoping for the best, Nuggets Nation, but I’m also preparing for the worst. You should also prepare by heading over to My Utah Jazz for easily the best Jazz-centric site in the game. Trust me, as much as I dispies the Jazz, these guys are doing it big!
Go Nuggets!
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