Will Barton, Denver Nuggets play Chicago Bulls for final time this season

The Denver Nuggets have one game at home before again hitting the road. They played the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake city on Feb. 3 and will head out on a four-game road trip after tonight’s tilt with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have been playing uneven basketball as they are 4-6 in their last 10 games and are coming off a win against the Kings in Sacramento.

Derrick Rose and Company are in the middle of a seven-game road trip where they defeated the Lakers, then dropped their next two at the Clippers and Jazz and were just victorious against the aforementioned Kings. Dealing with a rash of injuries to key players (see below) the Bulls are trying to string together the end of this road trip before returning home to face the Hawks ahead of the All-Star break. The Nuggets stand in their way tonight.

Injuries: 

#Bulls‘ injury report vs. Nuggets: Dunleavy (back) out, Gasol (left hand sprain) and Butler (left knee tendinitis) questionable.

— Chris Kuc (@ChrisKuc) February 4, 2016

Nuggets injury report vs Bulls:

Nikola Jokic (shoulder) probable.
Darrell Arthur (quad) doubtful.
Jameer Nelson (wrist) out.

— Nate Timmons (@NateTimmonsBSN) February 4, 2016

Welcome to the injury plagued NBA, where nobody plays. Joking aside, this is the time of the season where all the bumps and bruises start to catch up with guys. The battle of attrition has taken over to some degree. In Utah, we saw Nikola Jokic start the game with kinesiology tape on his shoulder, but he removed it for the second half. Everybody is dealing with something this time of year.

Match-ups to watch: 

Derrick Rose vs. Emmanuel Mudiay. Different night, new challenge. When these two teams met back on Dec. 2 in Chicago, the Nuggets held a 72-68 lead heading into the pesky-fourth quarter. I say pesky because more often than not, the Nuggets face a scoring draught in one quarter and it was the fourth quarter in Chicago that did them in — they lost the final quarter 31-18 and the game 99-90.

Rose and Mudiay mistook the game for a construction site as the two attempted to build a house made of bricks on the court as they combined to shoot 5-30 or 16.6 percent from the field. Mudiay, who shot 2-13 on the night, was 0-3 in the final quarter, while Rose, who shot 3-17 on the night, was 0-5 in the fourth.

They did combine for 16 assists as Mudiay contributed seven to Rose’s nine dimes, and the two turned the ball over just two times apiece… unless you count all their missed shots.

So, hopefully we’ll see better performances out of the two talented point guards, who both have been contributing more in January and February than they were in December, from a scoring standpoint.

Taj Gibson vs. Kenneth Faried. Some in Nuggets Nation clamor for the prospects of a power forward like Gibson. Defensive minded, hits the glass and can space the floor a little bit with a jumper. Gibson isn’t too dissimilar from Darrell Arthur, but he’s nothing like his counterpart tonight. It’s a match-up where opposites attract and one you should monitor closely.

Pau Gasol vs. Nikola Jokic. The crafty veteran vs. the crafty rookie. There are aspects of Gasol’s game that Jokic possesses with the passing, shooting and disruptive wing span. If Gasol is able to go, this will be a premier match-up tonight on both sides of the ball for Jokic.

Tony Snell vs. Danilo Gallinari. Snell is an all-or-nothing player that can be forgotten about in the Bulls’ offense, but he can be dangerous when he’s shooting well. He’ll find space on the 3-point line where he is shooting 36 percent this season and can do damage on his 2.7 attempts per game. Snell hasn’t had a double-digit scoring night since Jan. 12 against the Bucks (17 points), so while Gallo may look to rest a little on the defensive end, he must be aware of Snell on the 3-point line.

On the flip side, Snell will have his work cut out for him. Gallo hasn’t had a single-digit scoring night since Nov. 18 in San Antonio where he scored nine points on 2-9 shooting. Gallinari has been incredibly consistent this season, even if scoring means getting himself to the free throw line — where he’s averaging a career high 7.9 attempts.

Bench mob: 

Will Barton has been finding his groove once again as he’s scored over 20 points in three of his last six games, and in double digits in five of those six contests. He has also shot over 40 percent in each of those games and over 45 percent in four of those contests. If Baron provides some scoring pop off the bench, at home, tonight — it should bode very well for Denver’s chances of winning the game.

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Should be another fun game as the Nuggets have been stringing together a lot of close games this season, and this one seems like it should be another fourth quarter contest.