Nuggets look to split six-game road trip, keep momentum going versus Mavericks

[Elite_video_player id=”33″]

Regular season game No. 25 | Denver Nuggets (9-15) at Dallas Mavericks (5-18)

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas | 6:30 PM MST | TV: Altitude

What a difference a week makes.

On December 4, roughly one week ago, the Denver Nuggets, losers of five of their last six seemed to be teetering on the edge of disaster just over a quarter of their way through the NBA season and staring at a daunting six-game East Coast road trip.

Now, winners of two of their last four, the Nuggets have a chance to split their six-game roadie with a win over the Dallas Mavericks Monday and get to five games below .500 on the season.

Here’s what to watch for:

Winning the first quarter

Over their first 20 games of the season, the Nuggets were one of the worst first-quarter teams in the league. Denver was a -64 plus-minus over the game’s first 12 minutes and held a -11.9 NetRtg, the fifth-worst mark in the league.

However, against the Washington Wizards, Michael Malone made the first significant change to his starting lineup since he inserted Kenneth Faried for Nikola Jokic prior to Denver’s loss to the Detroit Pistons back on November 12. Malone went with Darrell Arthur at the four-spot in place of Faried and the Nuggets have won both of their most recent first quarters by 29-18 and 32-29 margins, and their +14 plus-minus in the first quarter over those two games is fourth-best mark in the league during that span.

It’s a small two-games sample size but Arthur’s impact with the starting unit, along with Jameer Nelson‘s, who started Thursday’s game against Washington with Emmanuel Mudiay sidelined with an ankle injury, is clear.

The Nuggets should settle in with Arthur at the four for the time being and are likely to stick with Jusuf Nurkic at the five, who has come on in his few games posting three-straight double-digit scoring lines and shooting 18-23 over his past three games, including 13-16 from the restricted area.

Containing Barnes

After Harrison Barnes was jettisoned from the Bay this summer, the 24-year-old has found a home in Dallas.

Barnes is coming off a 20-point effort in the Mavericks’ 109-87 loss in Houston and is quietly one of just 30 players in the league averaging more than 20-points per game this season.

After averaging 11.7 points for the Golden State Warriors last year, Barnes has seen his role increase and has also had to pick up much of the scoring slack for the Mavericks. Dallas is without Dirk Nowitzki, who’s out indefinitely with an injured Achilles, Wesley Matthews got off to an inconsistent start this year but has been coming on as of late with three 26-point outings in his last five games, and starting point guard Deron Williams has struggled to shoot the ball this year.

The Nuggets will call on Danilo Gallinari to defend Barnes to start Monday’s game, while Wilson Chandler, who’s listed as questionable with a sore right hip, will draw Barnes often if he is available to play.