I've attended many games at The Can where inclement weather was an issue. I don't recall that ever being something I've had to deal with in October. It seems to me that we skipped fall and headed straight into winter, but no matter. That wasn't about to deter me from watching our 3-0 Nuggets take on the high-powered Mavericks.

Let's get straight to my observations!

1. One new feature this season is the ticketing system has changed from Flash Seats to the Altitude Tickets Account Manager. While I'm glad to be rid of the cumbersome Flash Seats app from my phone, the downside is that my tickets are entirely digital now and I no longer get a ticket stub when I enter the arena. I liked saving my stubs and that's my personal preference to do that, but I also understand that it's to each their own. It's likely a non-issue for other fans.
2. Without looking at the attendance numbers, my guess is that The Can was at about 65-70 percent capacity. Not bad for a Tuesday when there's a winter weather advisory telling people not to travel if they don't have to.
3. The offensive production in the first quarter was night and day from the opener against Phoenix. Millsap in particular looked efficient and focused. That's the Millsap we'll need in April, and where having Jerami Grant on the roster will hopefully pay big dividends.
4. Unfortunately, tonight wasn't one of those nights for Grant. He couldn't get his shot to fall and was largely a non-factor.
5. Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis are ridiculously imposing to watch live. That's probably because they are, but it always amazes me how giant these guys look in person.
6. What doesn't amaze me are phantom foul calls by the referees. There were a couple on Millsap where I don't think he even touched the guy he was guarding. Doncic may only be in his second season, but he's already getting superstar treatment.
7. My oh my Will Barton, where have you been all this time, Thrill? In my humble opinion, that was the best game he's played since his injury early last season.
8. With this being the last home game before Halloween, the Nuggets brought out three fans wearing costumes to center court. Each fan received a pumpkin and the contest was to see which one could remove the guts from their pumpkin the fastest, only they were all blindfolded. Rocky seized the moment to play one of his trademark pranks. One guy was dressed up like a cowboy (bad move when the Mavericks are the opposing team) and Rocky made sure that the unsuspecting fan placed all of his pumpkin's guts into his own cowboy hat. Needless to say, Mr. Cowboy was pretty heated afterwards and Rocky kept his distance as the fan left the court. (Are these types of things staged or do they really just let Rocky mess with people at his discretion? If it's all real, are these people compensated or is it just too bad, so sad, go Nuggets?).
9. Perhaps some of the Mavericks saw that scene take place from the locker room and were offended by Rocky's childish, but hilarious, antics. They sure came out shooting in the second half like they wanted to prove a point, especially in the fourth quarter. So many of their players can hurt you from downtown, and honestly I think it somewhat eliminated the Nuggets homecourt advantage when they needed it the most. The air went out of the crowd with each Dallas three-pointer that came raining down.
10. I felt that Malone rode his bench for too long in both halves. One thing I've noticed about him is that he largely favors group substitutions, and likes to keep his bench with his bench and his starters with his starters. I don't like knocking the guy who has improved his win total each year as head coach here in Denver, but this approach kills you when your bench has trouble scoring and the other team has trouble not scoring.
11. It was also the first lousy defensive performance by the Nuggets thus far, and yet people are audibly complaining about the lack of playing time for MPJ after one loss. That's just going to have to be a change that Malone makes at some point this season, here in the next month if possible.
12. The finish was a total heartbreaker. Are we about to embark on another scoring slump for Jokic? It seems like this happens every year, where Jokic has to work himself up to the role of alpha dog (don't get me wrong, he's already racking up the triple doubles, but nights like tonight are when the Nuggets need him to assert himself and take over at the end of the game). I won't speculate on why because there's probably a variety of reasons, but I do think it's part of the enigma that is the Joker. Maybe he'll drop 30 in the next game and make me look like a fool. Or maybe this an annual thing that we'll just have to put up with. If it results in consistent playoff trips and runs at the Finals, I could care less. You do you in October, Jokic.