Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Bucks make lone trip to Denver to face Nuggets

 

The Rundown

The Denver Nuggets enter tonight’s contest with a record of 3-4. After dropping their first two home games of the season, Denver held on for a 108-104 victory over the Portland TrailBlazers on Monday night at Pepsi Center. Leading the way for the Nuggets was rookie sensation Emmanuel Mudiay and unlikely hero J.J. Hickson. Mudiay, especially, proved to be clutch down the stretch as he out-dueled Portland’s All-Star point-guard Damian Lilliard to ensure Denver’s first home victory of the young season.

The Milwaukee Bucks come into the Mile High City with a record of 4-4. Since dropping their first three games of the regular season, Milwaukee rebounded to win their next three games before dropping last night’s contest at home against the Boston Celtics, 99-83. This will be the Bucks first trip outside of the Eastern Time Zone in 2015-16 season.

When

Wednesday, Nov. 11th at 7:00 p.m. MST

Where

Pepsi Center – Denver, CO

Nuggets Injury Report

Kenneth Faried – Gluteal contusion, Probable

Jameer Nelson – SI joint sprain, Questionable

Nikola Jokic – Low back strain, Questionable

Joffrey Lauvergne – Low back strain, Out

Wilson Chandler – Right hip strain, Out

Jusuf Nurkic –  Left pattelar tendon rehab, Out

Quick Shots – Nuggets

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone went with the starting lineup of Hickson, Faried, Danilo Gallinari, Mudiay and Gary Harris in Tuesday night’s victory over Portland. It was the fourth different starting lineup rolled out by Malone in seven games. However, all of Monday night’s starters with the exception of Hickson (three starts) have started every game this season.

Mudiay played the best game of his young career against Portland. He dropped 18 points to go alongside six rebounds and five assists. Most importantly, he proved to be the Nuggets go-to-man down the stretch and helped seal the victory with a block of Damian Lilliard with under ten seconds to play.

It would not be a stretch to say that Hickson has been the biggest surprise thus far in the season. After barely playing during the preseason many wondered if he would even make the team. However, J.J. has silenced the critics with his strong play in the past few weeks as he’s averaged 10 points per game and 5.8 rebounds. These unexpected contributions have been especially huge considering the Nuggets injury bug issues with big men.

Quick Shots – Bucks

Milwaukee starting point-guard Michael Carter-Williams has been fighting an ankle injury over the past week and has missed the past four games. He is listed as day-to-day heading into tonight’s game. In his absence, former Syracuse star Tyler Ennis has filled in at point-guard. C.F. Garder of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a great article on what Ennis has learned during Carter-Williams absence.

Bucks head coach Jason Kidd has started Jabari Parker the past three games for Milwaukee. Parker missed the majority of his rookie season after tearing his ACL in a game last December. He is yet to play more than twenty-four minutes in a game this season as Kidd has been easing him back into playing shape. It will be interesting to see if Parker remains in the starting lineup tonight against the Nuggets.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is quickly becoming one of the top small-forwards in the NBA. “The Greek Freak” has started his second season in the league by averaging 19 points per game while shooting 57.3 percent from the floor. He will play a large role in determining whether or not the Bucks will return to the NBA Playoffs this spring.

The Nuggets will look to win back-t0-back games for the first time this year. Look for the Nuggets to employ a small-ball lineup and try to get out and run as they Bucks will be playing a back-to-back after traveling from Boston last night. It should be an interesting contest tonight at Pepsi Center.