"Surprisingly good Orlando Magic squad comes to town with some familiar faces in tow"
Pre-Game Thoughts: In 2014 Denver and Orlando executed a trade in which Afflalo came to Denver for his second stint with the team, Nuggets' fan favorite (to this day) Fournier went to Orlando, along with the 56th pick in that evening's draft (Roy Marble, picked 15 slots later than Jokic, interestingly) and at the time it was with the intent of solidifying a very good Denver team that was ready to do work in the playoffs. It never really materialized that way, and in February of 2015, Denver traded AAA to PDX along with Alonzo Gee (who would later return to the Nuggets as a free agent, and soon depart), along with Victor Claver & Thomas Robinson (who were both immediately released) and Will Barton, who remains an integral part of today's Nuggets squad, as well as a conditional, lottery protected 1st round pick in either '16 or'17, that would become current Nuggets prospect and rotational player Malik Beasley, with the 19th pick in the 2016 draft. Are you still with me? Good.
Making all of this more confusing but fun, AAA returned to Orlando, the place where he'd had his two best individual seasons, but some of his worst overall team success. He'd later taste more of the same with Sacramento but all in all, he's been a winner from the start on the Pistons championship squad, on some Western conference contenders with Denver and Portland, and has come "home" to help gel (in a leadership/bench role this time around) & provide insurance (ucwidt?) to this very young Orlando team chalked full of lottery picked prospects, that is off to an unforeseen ("No one Knew"-D.J. Trump) excellent start, lead of course by Fournier, the rapidly ascending Aaron Gordon and a staple of young talent that would make most teams envious. They also may be the only team who beats Denver in the variety and creativity in hairstyle department.
As far as the trade(s) is(are) concerned it is still far to early to say who "won" after it all shook out, but the best player at this stage is unquestionably "Never Google", while Barton is amongst the best 6th men in the league (if not the best) and Beasley can be as good as he wants to be, given his talent.
As for tonight, the Magic are an impressive 8-4 good for 3rd in the East, while Denver is an equally if not more impressive 7-5 & 6th in the West and both teams own two game winning streaks, so it should be a fun match-up with lots of familiar (we can't leave out ex-Nugget Augustin) faces.
Denver Roster:
Will "The People's Champion" Barton,
Juancho "Ironically, No Room For A Nickname" Hernangomez
Richard "The Dragon Slayer" Jefferson
Kenneth "The Manimal" Faried
Trey "Bien" Lyles
Darrell "Darth" Arthur
Tyler "Not just Anunobody" Lydon
Nikola "Big Honey" Jokic
Mason "Plumdog Millionaire" Plumlee
Michael "Mr Imagination" Malone
Orlando Roster:
Terrence Ross "Clearance Rack"
Mario "I Wish He Played D So I Could Call Him Before You Know It" Hezonja
Wesley Iwundu "To Under-Perform VS The Nuggets"
Adreian "This SP? Shtick IS Becoming A Major" Payne "To Keep Track Of"
Marreese "Most Massive 2 Guard In The World" Speights
Bismack Biyombo "Bang Ga Dang Diggi Diggi"
Update: Juancho is questionable with "The Kissing Disease" & Gary Harris is out with a sore right shoulder, for the Nuggets. As for ORL, their top two PG's are injured but Payton is likely, though playing with a sore hammy & Augustin is out with ailments of an undetermined nature.
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Data: Open this link in a new tab for the definition of TPM™
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TPM™ Game 13 ORL
Jamal Murray: +27
Emmanuel Mudiay: +12
Monte Morris: N/A
Gary Harris: N/A
Will Barton: +20
Malik Beasley: +4
Torrey Craig: N/A
Wilson Chandler: +8
Juancho Hernangomez: -7
Richard Jefferson: N/A
Paul Millsap: +15
Kenneth Faried: +7
Trey Lyles: +2
Darrell Arthur: N/A
Tyler Lydon: N/A
Nikola Jokic: +27
Mason Plumlee +9
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Total TPM™ starting Game 1 vs. Uta
Jamal Murray: 13 Games +122
Emmanuel Mudiay: 13 Games +190
Monte Morris: 0 Games +0
Gary Harris: 12 Games +137
Will Barton: 13 Games +133
Malik Beasley: 13 Games +9
Torrey Craig: 0 Games +0
Wilson Chandler: 13 Games +61
Juancho Hernangomez: 3 Games -16
Richard Jefferson: 3 Games -2
Paul Millsap: 13 Games +145
Kenneth Faried: 11 Games +41
Trey Lyles: 8 Games +10
Darrell Arthur: 2 Games -4
Tyler Lydon: 0 Games +0
Nikola Jokic: 13 Games +207
Mason Plumlee: 13 Games +45
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Avg. TPM™ Per Game
Jamal Murray: +9.38
Emmanuel Mudiay: +14.62
Monte Morris: N/A
Gary Harris: +11.42
Will Barton: +10.23
Malik Beasley: +0.69
Torrey Craig: N/A
Wilson Chandler: +4.69
Juancho Hernangomez: -5.33
Richard Jefferson: -0.67
Paul Millsap: +11.15
Kenneth Faried: +3.73
Trey Lyles: +1.25
Darrell Arthur: -2.00
Tyler Lydon: N/A
Nikola Jokic: +15.92
Mason Plumlee: +3.46
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TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through Game 12:
*Credit to DomP on the Spreadsheet. It's as if my (very nerdy) baby (TPM™) is learning to speak
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Analysis:
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Qtr1- With Harris out, there is a slightly different starting five for Denver, consisting of Murray, Barton, Chandler, Millsap & Jokic. I'm a little bit surprised that Malone didn't choose to go with Beasley in order to keep the bench trio of Mudiay-Barton-Plumlee in tact. Often times coaches dig deeper on their sideline for injury-replacement starters for this very reason. ORL goes with a young & talented starting unit of Payton, Fournier, Gordon, Simmons and Vooch. OK... For now the fourth time I must correct this and say Payton is out and Mack is in. That's what happens when you are forced by fake news to rely on the comment sections of blogs to get a straight answer. You don't ever want injuries, but this bodes well for the Nuggets. Vogel and Fournier have the same hairstyle tonight. ORL immediately exploits the absence of Harris with a Fournier three off of a screen. Denver is passing exceptionally well. Both teams are shooting well from distance. It's good to see Murray hit 2-3 from downtown early. The Nuggets lead 15-8 at the first break. All but one of ORL's shots so far have been threes, 7-8. Jokic with a filthy cross-court, volley-ball tip pass to Barton for three. Chandler still can not buy a hoop from distance. Plumlee is in for him at 4:56, along with Mudiay, in for Barton. ORL has cut it to 3 by the time of the 2nd break (4:01) due mostly to Denver TO's, and strong play by Never Google. As per always, Alley looks ravishing when she wears shades of blue. Murray is en fuego for the first time in several games. Atta boy! He and Mudiay are sharing the court and sharing it well, as the Nuggets extend the lead to 15 at 1:52, on the strength of a 12-0 run. Beasley checks in at 0:42. All Nuggets who have played except for Chandler & Beasley (0) have no less than +6 TPM, lead by Jokic +10 and an incredible +17 from Murray, as Denver leads 39-23 after one.
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Qtr2- Faried is in to start the 2nd. Isaac is about 9 feet tall with all of that hair. He's one hell of a prospect though if he can ever reach his "Ceiling". Jokic and Bismack are getting chippy with their sarcastic slaps on each others chest after Jokic wound up and hacked the bejezus out of Biyombo, clearly frustrated for not getting a call. It should have been a double T. Wowsers! I just witnessed an ESPN #1 highlight worthy half-court alley-oop from Big Honey to Faried, who dunked it it the absolute apex. That could be the best alley-oop in "Intergalactic history", as Marlowe might say. The Nuggets lead is up to 20 at 8:14, due to a 24-7 run. ORL is now ice cold from distance, which has not been the case previously this season. It's been good to see Jokic regain his composure after the dust-up earlier in the period, as he checks out at 6:15. Denver's offense is getting anything they want right now. ORL desperately needs a shot blocker. Maybe that'll be Isaac by season's end. Denver leads 59-36 at 3:22. Chandler scores on a play where all Nuggets got a Hockey assist, some of them, several. No players for either team are in any sort of foul trouble. Murray is still the only Nugget in double figures, with 22 already. Denver is paced in TPM by Mudiay with +12, Jokic with +15 and Murray with +22, and they dominated "Offense, Defense & Special teams" as Marlowe declares. They lead 70-47 at the half.
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Halftime: Smoke break? Don't mind if I do! Hell I'm ahead of schedule. I'll have two.
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Qtr3- Denver needs to put this one away early and rest up their key rotation players in advance of their flight to PDX tomorrow, and game Monday. That's the sort of thing that contenders do, that these Nuggets have failed to in recent years. Jokic has a 2d with 10-12, and Millsap is the third Nugget in double digits. I'm sorry, but somebody buy Chandler a fucking rib-eye! He looks absolutely lost out there. Murray is STILL on fire from downtown. He's now 6-8 (6 being a career high in makes) and the lead is 22 at 8:58. Jokic has a very real shot at his first 3d of the season, shy 5 assists, with plenty of ball to play, though he may not see much action in the 4th if the game is locked up by then. Barton is the 4th Nugget in double figures. Murray has tied his career high at 30, with 7:00 to play in the third. Chandler is now the 5th player in double digits (all of the starters) as Denver is on a 9-0 run. Plumlee and Mudiay sub in for Sap and Chandler at 5:00. The Nuggets bench unit is a tad sluggish in the 2nd half, but Denver still leads by 21 with 2:12 to play. Vooch becomes the first player in foul trouble with 4. D-rating tells us, according to Marlowe, that Jokic leads the Nuggets. That tells you all that you need to know as to why I started TPM. The Nuggets are paced in TPM by Jokic with +20 and Murray with +28, but the lead is down to 21, 98-77 after three.
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Qtr 4- Jokic and several other starters are back in, at least to start the 4th. The 3d for Jokic seems unlikely anyway, since he failed to add to his 5 in the 3rd. Sap actually leads Denver with 6, as he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with his new teammates. The Nuggets are failing to move without the ball as well as move the ball it's self, and the lead is down to 16 at 10:34. It's ok, Rocky sunk his patented half-court, over the head shot, so this game is in the bag; never mind that 22-7 run that ORL is currently on. Isaac is down. Hopefully it's just an ankle sprain, for his and ORL's sake. That's certainly what it looked like, but one never knows. Mudiay becomes the 6th Nugget in double figures. Denver is looking too much like the teams of recent years, and allowing ORL to stay in this, up just 13 at 7:54. I feel like somebody slipped Chandler some Jerky at the commercial break 'cause he looks vastly more focused at this point. Denver goes on an 8-0 run, stretching the lead back up to 21 at 5:10. Did I just hear Malone call the play "Omaha" from the bench? Murray has a new career high 32. Something tells me he'll eclipse this at some point down the road. Jokic and Sap have combined for 16 assists! JUANCHO IS BACK! Great to see. Lyles is in as well. Denver is paced in TPM by Mudiay with +12, Millsap with +15, Barton with +20, & Jokic & Murray each at +27, as The Nuggets win 125-107.
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Final Thoughts- I'd have much rather seen the Nuggets put this one away earlier and coast for the first time this season, but I'll take the W. Happy veterans day! Thank you for your service to all of our vets, past and present.
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