Wolves vs. Nuggets Gameday

Final 106-97Nuggets
Billups sat out most of the final quarter after he led the Nuggets to their eleventh victory of the season. For the second time this year, Billups helped Denver defeat Minnesota with 27 points and four assists. Anthony finished with 25 pints on a sub-par shooting night, 9-for-23. Jefferson recorded his eighth double-double of the year with 20 points and 13 boards. Love also earned his first career double-double as the Wolves dropped to 4-11 on the season. More postgame coming soon…

Third Quarter 87-80 Nuggets
The Nuggets owned the third quarter. Anthony started to put his stamp on the game with six points and Denver increased the lead with easy baskets on the fast break. The Nuggets hold a 19-5 fast break point advantage. Billups leads Denver with 27 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 12-12 from the free throw line. The Wolves will need a heavy dose of Foye and Jefferson for the stretch run of this game. Denver received too many easy looks inside the paint and is now in complete control.

Halftime 60-54 Nuggets
The Nuggets jumped out to a 7-0 run to start the second quarter. Kleiza and Anthony Carter contributed off the bench with a combined 14 points. Minnesota continued to play aggressive with production from Kevin Love and his ten points. Foye is the star for the Wolves with 12 points but could not avoid a third foul in the first half from a veteran strong move from Billups. This is the match up to follow the rest of game for Wolves fans. Foye is a mirror image of Billups from a physical standpoint and should aspire to have the same type of career. Speaking of Billups, the former Colorado guard leads the Nuggets with 17 points and Anthony finished the half with 12. Denver is shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line even with its best shooter, J.R. Smith only playing four minutes with zero points.

First Quarter 31-25 Wolves
The Wolves enjoyed a nice start to the contest with a 9-0 run to begin the game. Denver relied on outside shooting and hit its first basket at the nine minute mark. Billups would then spark a 10-0 run for the Nuggets as they grabbed the lead at 7:52. Foye displayed an aggressive start with ten points in the first quarter but had to sit on the bench with two fouls. The flow of the game would change with Telfair replacing Foye. Billups instantly posted up Telfair to try to use his size and strength. The Wolves are clearly playing with a purpose this evening and shooting a better percentage from the field than the last loss to Phoenix in Minnesota. Billups leads the Nuggets with ten points and Anthony chipped in six. The Wolves are led by Foye and Jefferson added six points with the team compiling 12 points in the paint.

On a side note, the Nuggets are the third team to wear its alternate uniforms at the Target Center. Denver is sporting the navy blue jersey and teams are 1-1 with the alternate against the Wolves. Obviously a worthless statistic but nevertheless, interesting.

Nuggets Pregame Audio
George Karl

Wolves Pregame Audio
Randy Wittman

Scouting Report
The Wolves enter the contest on Saturday night riding high after a narrow victory over Oklahoma City while the Nuggets head into town following a close loss to New Orleans on Thursday night.

Denver once again revamped the roster this season with a trade that sent Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups. Since the two Northwest teams met on November 16, the Nuggets compiled a 4-2 record and seem to feature a more confident team with the leadership of Billups. The Nuggets rank ninth in scoring at 100 points a game and just outside the top ten in field goal percentage. Under head coach George Karl, Denver has been considered a high octane offensive team that tried to outscore its opponents. With Billups protecting the basketball and Carmelo Anthony accepting a role as a defender and rebounder, the Nuggets hold a 10-6 overall record, good for sixth in the Western Conference.

The backcourt match up with the Nuggets will be a difficult challenge for the Wolves. Billups scored 26 points and J.R. Smith came off the bench for 14 points, including eight in the 4th quarter in the last meeting between the two teams. Randy Foye possesses a similar body frame as Billups and scored 18 points in the loss over a week ago. Wolves head coach Randy Wittman has used Sebastian Telfair off the bench to give Minnesota a different look on offense with his incredible speed and ball handling skills. Foye will be a better match up against Billups because of his size and strength. The interesting twist to the Nuggets line up is the shooting guard position with Karl electing to start former Duke guard Dahntay Jones instead of Smith. Rarely will a bench player provide the type of scoring output as Smith as seen in the contest against New Orleans where he scored 32 points and grabbed five rebounds. However, Smith can provide the Nuggets second unit with a spark and may have less pressure by coming off the bench. In order for the Wolves to gain the advantage in the backcourt, they will have to reverse the result of the previous meeting by getting outscored 40-26 and committing 19 turnovers in the loss.

Anthony is the star of the team and is one of the most dangerous offensive players in the league. His scoring average has dipped this year at 20 points per game. With the loss of Iverson, there is no question that Anthony is the go-to scorer on this Nuggets squad. Anthony has made recent comments to the press that he is focused on becoming a well-rounded player along with leading Denver out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since he was drafted in 2003. Anthony scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds in the win over Minnesota on November 16. Ryan Gomes will need to pressure Anthony on the offensive side of the floor to take advantage of his lack of defensive quickness. Anthony does most of his damage from the outside; Gomes will hope to take the All-Star out of his game by contesting those jumpers. Kenyon Martin starts at the power forward position and is a threat on the boards and in the open floor. Al Jefferson scored 20 points and snagged 14 rebounds in the last meeting with a decided advantage over Martin. Look for Jefferson to try to establish low-post position early in the contest to get Martin in foul trouble to put a dent in the Nuggets frontline.

The two teams will rely on their bench production tonight. As stated above, Smith will play a bulk of the minutes at the shooting guard position. The Wolves utilize Telfair and Craig Smith off the bench and the team seems to find the win side of the column with a big game from C. Smith. In the victory over Oklahoma City, C. Smith scored 23 points with eight rebounds in 34 minutes of play. The last time C. Smith scored 20-plus points, Minnesota defeated Philadelphia at home over a week ago. His size and intensity with the second team is a key for the Wolves inside the Target Center tonight at 7 PM.

Projected Starters
Denver
Chauncey Billups, PG
Dahntay Jones, SG
Carmelo Anthony, SF
Kenyon Martin, PF
Nene, C

Minnesota
Randy Foye, PG
Mike Miller, SG
Ryan Gomes, SF
Al Jefferson, PF
Jason Collins, C