WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs. Denver Nuggets WHAT: Basketball back! WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX WHEN: 7:30 p.m. CT HOW: Fox Sports Southwest or NBA League Pass THE STORY: The Mavericks return from the All-Star Break, fresh and ready to....wait, Luka is out???? What did he do, water ski too hard in Cancun? Well, I guess we’ll get to see Dirk et al go up against....ah man, the Nuggets? Okay, well, the good guys probably won’t win this one, but at least it’s Friday. Go Mavs.<doc-sep>The Nuggets won an up and down game, 114-104, over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, taking care of business on the road to pick up their 40th win. The victory all but guaranteed that the Nuggets will finish with a .500 record or better this season, putting them two games away from securing a winning record. Nikola Jokic lead the Nuggets in scoring with 19 points, tied with Millsap and Plumlee with 13 rebounds, and lead the team in assists with eight, picking up where he left off before the All-Star break to guide his team to a win. Luka Doncic sat out for the Mavericks, who were lead by Jalen Brunson and his 22 points, but ultimately were done in by the shocking number of players on their roster that are not capable of successfully putting the basketball through the hoop against a league-average defense. Jamal Murray was blocked on the first shot attempt of the game, but Malik Beasley canned a triple on the next possession to start the scoring. Jalen Brunson initiated the offense with Doncic out, leaving the Mavericks without a scoring option as the primary ballhandler. Dallas went on a 7-0 run that was sparked by a Salah Mejri 3-pointer, a shot attempt that came as a bit of a surprise. The Nuggets took the lead on a Jokic 3-pointer, 18-17, taking advantage of Dwight Powell’s late closeout. Monte Morris and Isaiah Thomas came in as the Nuggets subbed in a three-guard lineup with Gary Harris alongside Jokic and Plumlee. Denver couldn’t stop Dwight Powell, who used his athleticism to beat Jokic to the rim. Mason Plumlee started the second off with a rim-rattling dunk, cutting the Mavericks lead to three. Thomas knocked in a pull-up triple, his first make on the evening. The Nuggets guard followed that up by committing his third foul, and drawing a technical from his outspoken disagreement with that call. Malone promptly pulled him out, having seen enough. Murray started an amazing play by hustling for a steal, whipping the ball to Barton, who no-looked a bounce pass to Millsap, who spun for a reverse layup. Jokic picked up his third foul on the offensive end, and Malone pulled him back to the bench too. Millsap chipped in a couple more points, and helped the Nuggets claim the lead with about two minutes remaining in the quarter. Denver wound up winning the quarter, 27-21, to take a one point lead into the locker room at halftime. The Nuggets came out strong in the second half, getting a couple stops and causing Rick Carlisle to call timeout. They continued to force the Mavericks into missed shots and to commit turnovers, stretching their lead to double digits with about six minutes remaining. A Murray runner gave Denver a 13 point lead, and Dallas had to call timeout again. Seeing the ball go through the hoop helped spark a hot streak for Murray, and he knocked in another 3-pointer after a timeout and the Nuggets seemed to have a swagger about them that was missing earlier in the game. Thomas came back in with about two minutes remaining, and after a Nuggets team offensive rebound, made a 3-pointer to put the Nuggets up by 20 points. Plumlee committed a charge, barreling through Mejri, and Trey Burke hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 15. Denver won the quarter 39-23, and had a comfortable lead going into the fourth quarter. Gary Harris got a couple points in the fourth, getting to the rim for a layup and then swiping the ball from Mejri a few possessions later. Thomas splashed in a triple, talking some trash to Dorian Finney-Smith on the way back down the court, taunting the Mavericks wing into taking a jumper from the corner that he missed. While the multiple guard lineup has defensive issues, when they’re clicking on offense, they’re capable of catapulting up the scoreboard and proving that yes, three is more than two. Jokic and Juancho checked in to get some extra minutes, with the Serbian flicking in a midrange jumper for his fifteenth point in the contest. The refs let things get a little out of control for a stretch, but Jokic took over for a couple possessions and the Nuggets were able to pick up their 40th win of the season. Three things we noticed The small-ball lineup means points, points, points. The Nuggets tried out the lineup of Thomas-Morris-Murray-Juancho-Jokic, and they couldn’t stop anyone on defense, but no one could stop them on offense. That’s just too much spacing for teams to try to guard, while on the other end, they made things easy for the other team too. In order for this lineup to work, Juancho needs to be more active forcing ballhandlers to throw passes through the air, giving the guards a chance to steal the ball mid-air, and he needs to attack off the dribble more often. They had plenty of good looks from behind the arc though, with Jokic sucking in the defense’s attention while the guards ran around. The Nuggets defense was still on break. The Mavericks didn’t exactly roll out the stiffest competition the Nuggets are going to face over the next six weeks. Mejri was launching 3-pointers, Brunson was chucking the ball to the Nuggets guards, and Dallas was able to get a couple uncontested looks at the rim. I’m not sure after watching the game one time if it’s just due to the Nuggets playing so many smaller lineups, or a lack of effort, but they weren’t able to get stops consistently throughout the game. Is Jokic okay? Then we’re okay. There were a few times during the game where Jokic was frustrated with how the game was called by the referees, and it impacted the way he played a bit. But when he was able to not worry about foul trouble, or got angry after a flagrant missed call, he was dominant. He finished just shy of a triple-double, and was just a few missed layups and drawn fouls away from getting his tenth assist. A reminder — if Jokic is healthy, motivated, and feeling good, it’s going to be a good game for the Nuggets.<doc-sep>DALLAS — The Nuggets went on a 20-8 run to open the third quarter in Dallas on Friday, turning a one-point halftime lead into a 114-104 win against the Mavericks in Denver’s first game after the All-Star break. The Nuggets (40-18) poured it on in the third quarter, outscoring Dallas 39-23 to put the game out of reach in the fourth. But it was all set up by the defense’s response after a poor start to the game, coach Michael Malone said. “Hell of a win. Guys were finding their teammates,” Malone said. “It’s a great way to start the post-All-Star break push with a road win here in Dallas.” Dallas (26-32) was without rookie guard Luka Doncic, who sat out with a sore wrist. Doncic, just 19, came into the game averaging 20.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Will Barton was one of the Nuggets’ role players who sparked the decisive run in the game, hitting a 3-pointer on the wing to force the Mavericks into an early timeout with the Nuggets up, 57-51. Out of the Dallas timeout, Malik Beasley hit an open 3 after the play broke down to put Denver up 60-51. Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 19 points and 13 rebounds in the win. But in true Nuggets form, Paul Millsap (17 points, 13) boards, Isaiah Thomas (16 points), Beasley (13), Jamal Murray (12), Mason Plumlee (12) and Barton (10) also finished in double figures. Seven Nuggets came into Friday’s game scoring in double figures. Jokic, Millsap and Plumlee each notched double-doubles in the win. “We really wanted to pound the glass,” Plumlee said. “Extra possessions were big for us, and most of the time on the kick-outs, we hit the three, too, so that was great.” And pound the glass the Nuggets did. Denver out-rebounded the Mavericks, 63-42, with both Millsap and Jokic pulling down five offensive boards apiece. “They have three phenomenal rebounders with Jokic, Millsap and Plumlee, and they just beat us to death there,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “I thought defense, overall, was really good tonight,” Malone said. “That first quarter, they scored 30, hit four threes. After that, much better job, obviously.” Malone credited guard Jamal Murray’s tenacity on the defensive perimeter as one of the things that helped turn the game the Nuggets’ way — rattling off hustle stats that included the Nuggets’ 18 perimeter ball deflections, 11 steals and grabbing 5 out of 7 of the game’s 50-50 balls.<doc-sep>
After going over a week without basketball, the Nuggets are back in action tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. While the Nuggets coaching staff was busy over the break at the All-Star Game, with Jokic appearing in the Skills Challenge and the actual game (JOKIC ALL-STAR WOOO), the rest of the team had a chance to rest and recover for the final 25 games. If you missed basketball, join the club. Our long midseason nightmare is over, and for the first time in years, it looks like a lock that the Nuggets season won’t end after 82 games. The Basics Who: Denver Nuggets (39-18, 14-14 away) at Dallas Mavericks (26-31, 20-9 home) When: 6:30PM MST Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas How to watch/listen: Altitude TV, AltitudeNOW.com, the AltitudeNOW app and Altitude Radio 92.5 FM Rival Blog: Mavs Moneyball Projected Lineups POS DEN DAL EDGE POS DEN DAL EDGE PG Jamal Murray Luke Doncic Mavericks SG Gary Harris Tim Hardaway Jr Even SF Will Barton Dorian Finney-Smith Nuggets PF Paul Millsap Maxi Kleber Nuggets C Nikola Jokic Salah Mejri Nuggets BENCH Monte Morris, Isaiah Thomas, Malik Beasley, Torrey Craig, Juancho Hernangomez, Mason Plumlee, Jarred Vanderbilt Jalen Brunson, Devin Harris, Justin Jackson, Dwight Powell, Courtney Lee, Trey Burke, Dirk Nowitzki Nuggets INJURIES - Trey Lyles (out - hamstring), Michael Porter Jr. (out - redshirt) Three things to watch Don’t let Luka catch fire. Doncic is a problem, even as a 19-year-old rookie. His stepback 3-pointer is one of the most difficult shots in the league to defend, and at his size, he can create a shot opportunity against nearly every defender in the league. Sounds like a great matchup to bring Gary Harris back against! In all seriousness (the aforementioned idea is not a good one) this is a matchup that screams Torrey Craig. Craig has the size and determination to stick to Doncic’s hip, and with the Nuggets able to sag off Dorian Finney-Smith, they’ll have the freedom to double Doncic once he drives into the paint. Let Finney-Smith shoot all the jumpers — just don’t leave Kleber or Hardaway Jr. open on a rotation. When the Mavs go small, embrace the chance to switch a big onto Doncic, forcing him to drive and score. Get into transition. The Mavericks are a good home team, but they’re not a team that scores a ton of points. That usually results in Rick Carlisle putting smaller lineups on the court, with his German bigs taking turns at the center position. With that many small guards, there are opportunities for the Nuggets wings - Harris, Craig, Barton, but especially Beasley - to get into transition and finish over smaller defenders. If Plumlee or Millsap can get a head start down the court, they should have easy post-up opportunities against guys that can’t stop them near the rim. The Nuggets halfcourt offense can cook with the best teams in the league, but getting easy points in transition should help finish the Mavericks. What is the rotation? Michael Malone announced that Gary Harris and Paul Millsap would be available tonight, sneaking in a mention that the team considered shutting Harris down for the season. I don’t know how he can go from “missing the rest of the season” to “healthy to play tonight,” but that makes me think he shouldn’t be playing more than 15-20 minutes for a few weeks. Isaiah Thomas is back, but now Trey Lyles is out. Lyles, despite his struggles, was a consistent member of the rotation, and now his minutes need to be filled by ... someone? Many people might want to see Juancho Hernangomez. Others may want to see Jarred Vanderbilt. I’m sure there are some that think those minutes belong to Craig. It would be nice to see them establish a rotation that they can stick to down the stretch tonight against the Mavericks. Prediction Just like 2013. Oops, wrong sport .. eh, you get the idea. Nuggets win.