Nuggets position battles take center stage in preseason matchup versus Lakers

After defeating the Lakers on Tuesday, the Denver Nuggets face the same Los Angeles squad for a second consecutive preseason game, this time in Ontario, Calif (8:00 p.m. MST, ALT).

Here are three storylines to watch for in the Nuggets’ push for a third-straight win.

Point guard battle

The Nuggets’ point guard battle is still wide open and with Michael Malone wanting to have his rotation largely locked prior to Denver’s fourth preseason game, the pressure is on for someone to show out and win the job.

Emmanuel Mudiay was given the opportunity to start against the Lakers on Tuesday after a great week of training camp and a solid game against the Warriors, putting him in a terrific position to win the Nuggets starting point guard role but instead, he committed four turnovers to go with six points and four assists.

Jamal Murray hasn’t separated himself either. He was given the starting point guard duties against the Warriors but Murray was surprisingly passive and differed to his teammates far too often. That trend continued against the Lakers.

Just to throw another wrench into the equation, Jameer Nelson is off the Nuggets injury report after dealing with a sprained toe and it looks like he’ll play Wednesday night. Nelson was Denver’s starting point guard for 33 of the last 39 games a season ago and is a player Malone trusts to produce if called upon.

Who proves that they deserve to be the starting point guard? That’s the looming question throughout tonight’s matchup. Neither Murray nor Mudiay seem to have much of an edge and whoever plays better against the Lakers could put themselves one step closer to being the Nuggets’ opening night point guard.

Power forward rotation

While the point guard battle is still wide open, it seems that the backup power forward battle is gradually coming to a close. Trey Lyles and Kenneth Faried have been fighting for reserve forward minutes off of the bench and, now that each has played a game, it seems Lyles has a leg up thanks to his fit with the bench unit and chemistry with backup center and Mason Plumlee. Lyles has played well throughout training camp and against the Warriors giving him the slight lead for reserve minutes at power forward.

“The battle between Kenneth Faried and Trey Lyles is a great one to watch,” Malone said during camp. “Two completely different players. It’s not just the one person, it’s the fit on the floor with the players around them.”

Heading into Denver’s second matchup against the Lakers, Millsap won’t play meaning both Lyles and Faried will get steady minutes in one of their last chances to earn minutes as the backup.

Faried fits well alongside Jokic so it’s possible that he gets the starting nod while Lyles continues to build his cohesion with Plumlee off the bench. Keep an eye on which power forward not only produces the most but also fits best with the players around them.

Disruptive defense

The largest philosophical change surrounding the Nuggets so far this preseason is their shift towards playing a more aggressive brand of defense. Instead of dropping Jokic into the paint when covering pick-and-rolls, Denver is playing all of their bigs up, hedging and hounding ball handlers to slow down the ball at the point of attack.

So far, the defensive change have paid dividends.

“We made a decision as a staff this summer in regards to our pick-and-roll defense, we wanted to simplify it and most importantly, we wanted to be more aggressive,” Malone said following Denver’s win Monday in Los Angeles. “And I think you saw some examples, we were able to get stops and run off of our defense. I know our guys, our guards especially like that because now that big is up the floor giving them help on that screen.”

Keep your eye on if Denver is able to consistently give maximum effort on defense because it’s required for this new system to work. If one link in the Nuggets’ defensive chain breaks or falls out of line on defense, their entire defensive system can collapse. It’s the Nuggets’ largest defensive goal for the 2017-18 season and getting the entire roster to dedicate themselves on the defensive end of the floor will be a year-long challenge.