Nuggets look to fix home woes with Phoenix in town

Regular Season Game No. 11 | Phoenix Suns (3-8) at Denver Nuggets (3-7)

Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado | 7:00 PM MST | TV: Altitude

The Denver Nuggets are on a four-game losing streak but thankfully have come to a four-game homestead starting against the Phoenix Suns. The Nuggets still lack a victory on their home court and are in need of a bounce-back victory.

WILL WE SEE JOKIC FINALLY BREAK OUT?

Nikola Jokic, fresh off of a zero point outing against the Trailblazers, has yet to assert himself on the opposition and has thoroughly underperformed so far this season. Jokic’s numbers are down pretty much across the board. He is scoring less per game, shooting worse percentages from both the field and from three-point, rebounding and assisting at a lower rate, and turning the ball over more often while only playing a little more than a minute more per game.

It seems that Jokic is uncomfortable with playing the power forward position and playing alongside another big man. Hopefully, now that the Nuggets have returned home for a longer stretch Jokic can begin getting back to how he played in his rookie season. Going up against the much younger and less experienced front court of the Suns will hopefully start Jokic on the path of rediscovering himself and setting him on the path to get back to the player who was third in Rookie of the Year voting just eight months ago.

The talent and skill-set still remain. The Nuggets and Jokic need to find a way to bring back a level of confidence. Jokic is the player with the most upside on the current roster and if the Nuggets are to make noise in the regular season and playoffs they will need a productive Jokic.

YOUTH VS YOUTH

Both the Nuggets and the Suns come into the game with some of the better young players in the NBA. Between Mudiay, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Juancho Hernangomez, Devin Booker, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender, and Alex Len whoever is watching will get a great glimpse into the future of the NBA.

Booker going at Mudiay will be a fun matchup as will Alex Len’s sheer size up against the savvy play of Jokic. At some point Hernangomez may be matched up with Bender or Chriss and all will likely play extended minutes. For a basketball nerd, tonight’s matchup will be fun and chaotic. The Suns have been an extremely explosive offense, scoring over 100 points in all but two games, and the Nuggets have been as inconsistent as a team gets. The only true fact of tonight’s game is that the younger generation of players will get their opportunity to shine at the Pepsi Center.

INJURIES CONTINUE TO PLAGUE THE NUGGETS

Harris is now set to miss two weeks due to a mid-foot sprain of sorts that was originally thought to be an ankle sprain. A mid-foot issue, which can tend to be a longer stay on the injury report, is bad news for the young guard who just returned to the court after partially tearing his right groin. Harris has constantly shown that he is one of the better defenders on the Nuggets team and was showing quite a bit of development as a ball handler. Barton is still out with his ankle sprain and his return is still up in the air as well.

With the injuries to the backcourt, look for Jamal Murray to get his same extended minutes he has been seeing for most of the season and the potential for newest Nuggets, Alonzo Gee, to see some court time and begin getting acquainted with this teammates.

There is good news in that Darrell Arthur looks ready to play tonight against the Suns. Malone had said today that he had a good practice and looks ready to play. His shooting in combination with pick and roll defense has been missed greatly from the power forward spot.