Kenneth Faried, Nuggets head to Big Easy to face Anthony Davis, Pelicans

The Rundown

The Denver Nuggets enter the contest sitting at .500 with a record of 5-5. After defeating Portland, Milwaukee and Houston to win three consecutive games last week the Nuggets responded with a clunker in Phoenix as they fell by a final score of 105-81 to the Suns on Saturday. After the game head coach Michael Malone voiced his displeasure with his team’s effort and mindset during the blowout loss to Phoenix.

The New Orleans Pelicans come in with the worst record in the Western Conference at 1-9. It has been anything but smooth sailing for the Pelicans this season as they haven given up 100+ points in all but one game this season. This slow start has been most surprising as New Orleans made the playoffs last year and were picked by many to return to the postseason this spring. In a highly competitive division and conference, time is not on the Pelicans side as they struggle to regain last season’s form.

When

Tuesday, Nov. 17th at 6:00 p.m. MST

Where

Smoothie King Center – New Orleans, LA

Nuggets Injury Report

Joffrey Lauvergne – Lower back strain, Out

Kenneth Faried – Back spasms, Day to Day

Jusuf Nurkic – Left patellar tendon rehab, Out

Quick Shots – Nuggets

The Manimal has been dealing with soreness for the past few weeks and was forced to exit the game in Phoenix due to his back issues. Despite the injury, Faried hopes to play tonight. Yesterday he told Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post, “I’m tougher than you think, I don’t let much stuff keep me out.” Look for an official announcement on his status for the game to come closer to tipoff. If he is unable to play, it would be the first game that Faried has not started, let alone played in, this season.

Two bright spots for the Nuggets on Saturday were Kostas Papanikolaou and Will Barton. Papa finished with season high point total at nine and Barton continued his fine play with 19 points of his own. Speaking of Barton, BSN Denver’s very own Nate Timmons wrote a brilliant feature on him that I highly recommend giving a read. Look for it on the website later this morning.

Emmanuel Mudiay has seen his 3-point percentage drop from around 37 percent to 21.2 percent currently. He’s just 2-16 in his last three games from downtown, good for just 12.5 percent. Shooting woes are to be expected from rookies, but it’d be nice to see Mudiay push that average back towards the 30 percent range. Against the Suns, Mudiay recorded his fewest minutes played at just 24 and he had his lowest assist total with just one. Let’s see if the rookie can have a bounce back game against a Pelicans team that’s still without Tyreke Evans (knee surgery), but with Jrue Holiday – who is averaging 23 minutes per game in his last two after sitting out the Nov. 11th contest against the Atlanta Hawks (team is being caution with him in back-to-backs as he’s coming back from surgery to his lower right leg).

Quick Shots – Pelicans

Anthony Davis is having another great season despite his teams early struggles. “The Brow” finished Sunday night’s loss to the Knicks with 36 points and 11 rebounds in 40 minutes of action. On the season Davis is averaging 25.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Jim Elchenhofer of the Pelicans website wrote an interesting piece on Davis’ individual success alongside his teams shortcomings.

Former Nugget and current Pelican Alonzo Gee has recently seen a large increase in minutes due to injuries for New Orleans. Gee has logged 20-plus minutes in each of the last four games while recording starts in each of the past two games. He struggled to find consistent playing time in Brian Shaw‘s rotation last season before being traded with Arron Afflalo to Portland in a deal that brought Barton to Denver in February.

Both teams are needing a win for different reasons. Denver will be looking to respond from their lackluster effort against the Suns while the Pelicans must begin to dig themselves out of the early hole they have dug themselves in the Western Conference. It should be a hard fought and competitive affair in The Big Easy.