Monday, February 10, 2025
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NBA Preview: New Orleans Pelicans (12-37) vs. Denver Nuggets (30-19)

The Western Conference postseason race experienced a major shakeup with the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, but the rest of the conference continues its grind for playoff positioning. This includes the Denver Nuggets, who entered Sunday in fourth place, just a game ahead of Doncic’s new team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver has a chance to create some separation when it hosts the New Orleans Pelicans twice in three days, starting Monday night.

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The Nuggets, despite dropping the first three games of a five-game road trip, managed to squeeze out wins in the final two, including a nail-biting 107-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. They played without Russell Westbrook (hamstring) and Peyton Watson (sprained right knee) and are likely to miss their services again on Monday.

Denver had to dig deep into its bench against Charlotte, giving opportunities to seldom-used Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji, while moving Christian Braun back into the starting lineup. Braun responded impressively, scoring 24 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He currently ranks fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game.

Leading the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic recorded his 22nd triple-double of the season on Saturday, with averages of 29.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game. Jamal Murray (20.4 ppg) and Michael Porter Jr. (18.0 ppg) also contribute significantly to Denver’s offense.

Westbrook and Watson’s return is anticipated soon, but the Pelicans are not as fortunate. New Orleans has played most of the season without power forward Zion Williamson and recently suffered another blow with guard Dejounte Murray tearing his right Achilles in Friday’s 118-116 loss to the Boston Celtics. It marked their fifth consecutive defeat.

Murray, who leads the team in assists (7.4) and steals (2.0) while averaging 17.5 points per game, has already missed 17 games earlier this season due to a broken hand. His injury is one of many that New Orleans has contended with. Williamson has been limited to 13 games due to multiple ailments, Brandon Ingram has missed 26 straight games with a sprained left ankle, Herb Jones (right shoulder injury) has played only 20 games, and CJ McCollum missed 13 consecutive games with an adductor strain.

When healthy, Williamson leads the team with an average of 23.6 points per game, followed by Ingram (22.2 ppg), Trey Murphy III (22.1 ppg), and McCollum (21.9 ppg), all averaging over 20 points per game.

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