The Rundown

The Denver Nuggets (4-4) welcome the Houston Rockets (4-4) to Pepsi Center this evening in the second matchup between the two teams. Denver is looking to push their wining streak to a season-best three games after their 103-102 win at home Wednesday against Milwaukee. The talk leading up to the game, and rightfully so is about Ty Lawson‘s return to Pepsi Center for the first time after his six-year stint in Denver to begin his career. The public fallout between Lawson and the Nuggets this past summer, which put the final nail in the coffin on his career here in Denver, is sure to be echoed in a chorus of boos when he takes the floor tonight.

“I don’t know [about the reception] I’ll get tonight,” Lawson said at this morning’s shoot around. “Who knows? We’ll soon find out.”

Nuggets Injury Report

Jameer Nelson – SI joint sprain, Questionable

Joffrey Lauvergne – Low back strain, Out

Wilson Chandler – Right hip strain, Out

Jusuf Nurkic –  Left patella tendon rehab, Out

The Rockets started the season at a snails pace, dropping their season opener to Denver in Houston 105-85, but this is a different Rockets team even though the injury bug hanging over the team hasn’t left them for good.

All signs point to Dwight Howard suiting up and starting for the Rockets tonight after not playing versus Denver in the opener and logging 37 minutes Wednesday night versus Brooklyn. Howard hasn’t been playing in the first half of back-to-backs, but will play tonight in Denver and sit out Saturday’s game at home against Dallas.

Even though Howard is being nursed back from a back injury, he’s still an imposing force in the paint and can dictate a game on the defensive end when he wants to.

“Defensively he’s a guy who’s going to protect their rim and be a tremendous rim presence,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “So obviously much different animal with Dwight in the game than not in the game like he was in game one.”

The Rockets come at you from all angles. Houston leads the league in 3-point attempts per game, shooting two more per contest than Golden State, but hasn’t had a ton of success on them. They have converting just 28.4 percent of those attempts, good for 27th league wide.

“They haven’t shot it well [from the three point line] knock on wood,” Malone said. “But they’re taking a lot of threes per game.”

Limiting Houton’s success from long range like the Nuggets did in the opener when the Rockets shot just 8-35 (22.9 percent) from 3-point land will be key, but also keeping the Lawson, Patrick Beverley and James Harden attack out of transition could determine the outcome tonight.

“This team is scary good in transition,” Malone said. “They can run [on] makes, misses, turnovers, any chance they get. They have not shot the ball well so if you can get back, protect the paint. They lead the NBA in paint points per game so you have to be able to take pride in guarding your man because each of those perimeter players is live when they have the ball to make a play. You have to gang rebound and the last thing you have to do is defend without fouling James Harden is No. 1 in the league in free throw attempts per game as a team they’re over 26 per night.”

Aiding the Rocket’s resurgence of late is guard Marcus Thornton, who didn’t play in Denver’s opening night win and who’s also having a resurgence himself since he arrived in Houston this season.

Thornton is averaging 17.3 points and shooting over seven threes per game. Malone coached Thornton in New Orleans and Sacramento and knows he could be the X-factor in tonight’s game.

“He’s a mini-microwave,” Malone said. “He’s a guy that can get it going in a hurry, scoring has never been a problem for Marcus Thornton. He has a knack for it.”

Pair him with Harden, Lawson, Beverley and Howard inside, and Houston has the makings of one of the best small ball units in the league. They’ve slid Trevor Ariza over to the four spot in the starting lineup and most likely will tonight, forcing some potential matchup issues.

The Nuggets started Faried and J.J. Hickson in the front court together each of their last two games, and the continuing chemistry on the offensive end that’s forming between those two and Mudiay is something Malone and the rest of his staff surely want to keep evolving. However, it’s going to be tough tonight against such a versatile roster to start a Faried, Hickson front court especially when one of those guys, likely Faried, would have to start on Ariza. Malone hasn’t been afraid to alter his starters based on who the Nuggets opponent is and may think about inserting Barton, who started when the Nuggets went to a small ball unit in Golden State.

Whatever Malone decides to ultimately do, Denver will surely have to be locked in on the defensive end against one of the most offensively versatile and free-flowing teams in the league.