Rockets, Nuggets face off in nationally televised affair

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Regular Season Game No. 19 | Houston Rockets (11-7) at Denver Nuggets (7-11)

Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado | 8:30 PM MST | TV: ESPN

After dropping a very winnable Wednesday night contest to the Miami Heat, the Denver Nuggets look to capture some momentum against the Houston Rockets before setting out on a six-game, ten-day road trip.

What to watch for:

Containing Harden

When going up against other teams with superstar-level players, the Nuggets haven’t been shy about letting the opposing team’s best scorer get his.

50 points for Anthony Davis on opening night. 37 three days later for Damian Lillard. 33 for DeMar DeRozan. 32 for Karl-Anthony Towns and the list goes on. Don’t be surprised to see the Nuggets try and contain Harden, but maintain their focus on limiting Houston’s role players.

It’s a dangerous strategy but one Michael Malone has stuck with to this point. Harden is putting together and MVP-caliber season, averaging 28.7 points to go with 7.6 rebounds and an astonishing 12.0 assists, 4.5 assists per game more than his previous career high.

Mike D’Antoni deploying Harden at point guard for large stretches so far this season has proved lethal for the Rockets’ offense which ranks fourth in the league, scoring 109.6 points per 100 possessions. However, Houston is coming off a 132-127 overtime win over Golden State Thursday and fatigue could be a factor in Denver.

The Nuggets will have to contain Harden from three, where he’s attempting 8.3 threes per game alone, and the Rockets as a team, who shoot the most threes at 36.6 attempts from distance per game in the league.

Luckily, defending the three-point line is one area where Denver has been solid on defense this season, only allowing the opposition to hit on 34.0 percent of their shots from distance, the ninth-best mark in the league to this point in the season.

Nelson steadying the ship

After a 2015-16 season where he only was able to play 39 games due to injury, Jameer Nelson has been a crucial piece for the Nuggets this season.

Denver is 3.2 points per 100 possessions better with Nelson on the floor on offense and the veteran is scoring 9.7 points per game, his highest total since the 2013-2014 season when the point guard was still in Orlando and shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from three. Both those percentages represent Nelson’s highest conversion rates since his career-year in 2008-09.

Nelson has been asked to take on a larger role in the offense this season as a steadier ball handler next to Emmanuel Mudiay in the starting lineup as of late and while he’s been dealt his fair share of criticism for his high usage percentages on offense, he’s been there at times when the Nuggets have needed his scoring.

With Will Barton potentially returning to the lineup Friday against Houston, Nelson’s role could be dialed back, along with the continued emergence of rookie Jamal Murray.