Denver Nuggets face surging Houston Rockets for third time this season

For one half of Friday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, many inside the Pepsi Center were more fascinated by what was happening some 2,000 miles away in Boston as the Celtics and Warriors were engaged in an overtime thriller, which pushed Golden State’s record to 24-0 on the season, than the Nuggets and Timberwolves middling tilt.

Little did the 12,533 in attendance know, they had their own overtime thriller developing right before their eyes.

The third quarter of what turned out to be a 111-108 Nuggets win surprisingly deviated from Denver’s usual second half demise and correlated with rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay not returning to the game with a right ankle sprain. Denver outscored Minnesota 32-22 in that third quarter behind 14 points from Jameer Nelson, who ended up playing the entire quarter and 20:57 out of a possible 24 second half minutes.

In the fourth quarter it was Will Barton who scored nine of his 13 points and in overtime, Danilo Gallinari who was responsible for nine of Denver’s 11 points in the overtime session as Denver got revenge on a Minnesota team who handed them a 95-78 loss in the Nuggets’ home opener.

The tables will be turned tonight at Pepsi Center as the Nuggets welcome in James Harden and the Houston Rockets who are looking for revenge of their own.

Denver has already handed Houston two losses this season; one suffered opening night in Houston where the Nuggets trounced the Rockets 105-86 and the other coming Nov. 13 when Denver handled Houston rather easily once again to the tune of a 107-98 performance.

Nelson’s turn to run the show

As previously mentioned, Mudiay injured his ankle during the first half of Friday’s game against Minnesota and will not be available tonight when Denver hosts Houston, so the point guard duties will be turned over to veteran Jameer Nelson – full-time for the first time all season.

Nelson was strong in the Nuggets win over the Timberwolves, especially in the third quarter when Denver caught fire from deep and for at least one period, the spacing struggles which have marred this team all season were no more.

The lane was suddenly wide open for Nelson and he made Minnesota pay by both converting from the perimeter and penetrating and finding teammates for threes. Nelson will look to keep that momentum going as he will be matched up against Patrick Beverley, a pesky defender.

Harris vs. Beard

Gary Harris returned to the lineup Friday for the first time in six games and was able to get his feet wet and acclimated to playing again before tonight’s matchup, where he will be tasked with slowing down the scoring blitzkrieg that is James Harden.

In the two matchup versus Denver this year, Harden’s percentages haven’t been pretty, but he’s still producing from a sheer volume standpoint. The beard is averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5.5 assists, but shooting just 27.5 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from three in those two games against the Nuggets.

Harden’s efficiency is down to 41.1 percent shooting on the year, but is trending upwards to 44 percent in his last seven games, much more in line with his career numbers. Harden is becoming more dangerous and returning to the form that nearly won him the league MVP a year ago and it will undoubtedly be up to Harris to slow him down.

Lawson still lost

In Houston’s first visit to Denver, former Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson was the main attraction, but the 28-year-old had one of his worst games of his career scoring zero points on 0-7 shooting in 34 minutes. Lawson’s game was a microcosm for not just his first season in Houston, where he’s already been the subject of trade rumors, but also the Rockets season as a whole.

Lawson is averaging just 6.6 points on the season and after starting the year as the Rockets starting point guard, has since been moved to a bench role. Lawson is still not putting up significant statistics and has seen him minutes reduced but what’s more important is that Houston seems more conformable and is playing better since the lineup switch.

Since the Rockets fired head coach Kevin McHale, which also coincided with Lawson moving to the bench, Houston is 8-5 and have found themselves back in the playoff hunt in the Western Conference. They’ve also enjoyed an increase in production from their bench, including Donatas Motiejunas, who is working himself back into the rotation after  back surgery forced him to miss the start of the season. The Rockets bench combined for 55 points in their 126-97 victory over the Lakers, including five points and eight assists from Lawson, who’s seen his role shift from scorer to distributor.

The new age twin towers

For a team predicated on the new age pace and space philosophy of the modern day NBA, Houston would probably be one of the last teams you would think to go with two near 7-footers in their starting lineup.

Yet, after a disastrous start resulting in the firing of coach McHale, interim coach J.D. Bickerstaff was searching for answers and the Clint Capela, Dwight Howard pairing has ironically been the quick-patch solution to Houston’s struggles.

Together, the pair has played in just eight games together and totaled only 79 minutes of court time, but are registering a 10.2 net rating when they share the court. They’ve been able to patch a hole in Houston’s save-like defense which ranks in the bottom five of the league, but has improved to rank in the 20’s throughout those past eight games.

It’s a new look Denver hasn’t seen from Houston in the two previous meetings, so it will be interesting how coach Michael Malone handles his rotations with an increased big man presence inside.