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Game 68: Denver Nuggets Vs. Houston Rockets Preview

By Brian K. Patterson

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Thank goodness the Houston Rockets didn’t embarrass themselves against the Orlando Magic the other night.

Although the game was close throughout, they did what they needed to do to close out the game with a admirable 10-0 run in the last four minutes to take the lead for good.

But now that’s all over, it’s time for team to focus on their next opponent, the 26-42 Denver Nuggets for the last time this season.

These teams last faced each other March 7, where the Rockets had a fairly easy time defeating them 114-100.

The Rockets own a 3-0 head-to-head lead in the season series.

The Nuggets are another team that is destined for a high draft pick at the end of the season to which I’m sure they’ll use to continue to rebuild their team to the status of what they once were just a few seasons ago.

It’s going to be awhile for them so if you’re a Nuggets’ fan, patience will be an important virtue.

Interim head coach Melvin Hunt has compiled a 6-3 record since he took over for Brian Shaw so it obvious their guys are responding to a new voice in the locker room.

For the Nugs, Ty Lawson leads the team in scoring (15.9 PPG), assists (9.7 APG) and steals (1.30 SPG) while Kenneth Faried is the lead board-getter at 8.9 RPG and Jusuf Nurkic is their top shot-blocker at 1.30 BPG.

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But let’s talk about what the Nuggets do well.

This team loves to run and have the ball in their hands.  The Nuggets are ranked 6th in the league as far as PACE, averaging 98.4 possessions per game.  Hunt likes to run and his players have responded well as this stat continues to increase for the team in the past nine games.  This is stark contrast on how Shaw wanted to run the offense using more half-court sets than anything else.

They make good decisions with the basketball.  The Nuggets are ranked 8th in the league in turnover ratio, with only 12.6 of their possessions ending in a turnover.

Here’s the Rockets’ injury report courtesy of the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen:

Feigen just recently added that Jason Terry will be out tonight but back Saturday against the Phoenix Suns:

As far as match ups to keep your eye on, definitely watch Donatas Motiejunas and Faried go at it.  Faried is averaging 19.2 PPG and 10.8 RPG in the last five games but D-Mo lead the team with 23 points and seven rebounds against the Magic Tuesday night.

Randy Foye had 20 points and seven assists in their last meeting and he’ll be going up against James Harden, so it will be interesting to see if the Beard can contain a bit better than last outing.

And don’t discount the match up of Terrence Jones and Wilson Chandler.  Chandler led the team in scoring with 26 points when they last met while Jones had only seven points off 3-for-12 shooting.  Let’s see if Jones can get a defensive edge over Chandler and snag boards in the double-digits along the way.

The Rockets should have a moderate challenge in defeating this team tonight and should have a win the double-digit margin.

This is also a special night for the Rockets organization where the franchise will be commemorating 20 years since the back-to-back championships throughout the game with a ceremony at half time.  Many of the greats of those teams will be there so it will be one to remember.

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Three Things to Watch:

1.  Faried vs. D-Mo

2. Foye vs. Harden

3. Chandler vs. TJones

Prediction:

106-95 in a Rockets’ win!

The Rockets take on the Nuggets tonight at Toyota Center.

The game will be televised on ROOT Sports Southwest and broadcast on SportsTalk 790 AM (KBME).

Go Rockets!

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