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Regular season game No. 24 | Denver Nuggets (8-15) at Orlando Magic (10-14)
Amway Center, Orlando, Florida | 5:00 PM MST | TV: Altitude
The Denver Nuggets heads to Orlando with their season on life support.
The Nuggets have lost five of their last six games and find themselves looking for answers following defeats against Brooklyn and Washington. This is a crossroads in their season and based on what we have seen through the first quarter of this year, they face a steep uphill climb to get back in playoff contention.
Here are a few storylines to keep track of tonight.
Tired legs, tired minds
The Nuggets will be playing their fifth game in nine days, while the Magic are playing their eighth game in 12 days. Both teams are coming off uninspiring performances in their last game – Denver looks to rebound from their collapse in Washington and Orlando is looking to get back on track following a 30-point defeat to Boston Wednesday night and a 109-88 loss to Charlotte Friday.
With fatigue likely to play a role in this game, it will be imperative for the Nuggets to get production from their second unit. What that unit will look like is in wait and see mode as coach Michael Malone could continue to tinker with his starting lineup as he searches for a spark to ignite his team.
Jamal Murray‘s rise is real
It becomes more and more obvious with each game that Murray is well on his way to establishing himself as the franchise player the Nuggets have been searching for. Night in and night out the rookie from Kentucky makes his mark on the game in exciting fashion. On a roster filled with question marks when plotting the future of this franchise, Murray is proving himself to be one of the few certainties.
As the season progresses look for Murray to get more and more minutes – he’s earning them and it becomes more and more difficult to keep him out of the every night starting lineup when he continues to flash the scoring ability that’s been solely missed from a Nuggets guard in recent years.
This kid is the real deal.
Nugget must learn how to fight
The question must be asked whether or not the Nuggets will fight for their season. In recent games, the lack of effort and focus has been painfully obvious. We’ve seen this team blow huge leads and fall into large deficits against teams they should not be struggling to beat. What’s wrong with Denver? It’s a combination of things but a lack of pride and desire to win have to be at the top of that diagnosis list.
Just two seasons ago the Nuggets seemed to quit on then-coach Brian Shaw in the midst of a tumultuous and frustrating season. Some of the cornerstone players from that team are still on this roster. As the franchise has attempted to recreate themselves following the George Karl era it must be asked whether or not some of those veteran players fully buy into the new direction of the organization.
If the losses continue to pile up, could we see a mass exodus of familiar faces in order to signify that a new day truly has begun in the Nuggets organization? Only time will tell. For now, this team can put to bed all of these theories and wonderment if they will simply come together and play basketball at the level this roster is fully capable of for the rest of the season.
Final Shot
What better place to get back on track and end the horror than in Orlando – where Walt Disney World offers hope of a world filled with joy and excitement. Let’s hope that vibe rubs off on the Nuggets and tonight will mark the beginning of a turnaround before things get any further out of hand.
Orlando is vulnerable as they sleepwalk into tonight’s game. However as we have seen with this Denver team, one can never be certain which version of the team is going to show up on a nightly basis.
