The Denver Nuggets picked up their first home win of the season with a 120-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns last night. Denver controlled the game from the beginning and never trailed against the Suns.
Here is a look at the good, the bad and the questionable from Wednesday night’s win.
The Good: Breakout Performances
Denver played their best game of the season Wednesday night by far. The Nuggets scored 56 points in the paint, even though their starting center, Jusuf Nurkic, didn’t score a single point. Emmanuel Mudiay didn’t have his best game, but it was a massive improvement from his play in Portland, and he didn’t turn the ball over all night.
As a team, the Nuggets only committed 14 turnovers. Denver’s defense was good all night, especially in the first quarter when they held the Suns to just 17 points to gain control of the game. Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried also combined for 48 points and 26 rebounds.
The Bad: Attendance
The attendance at Pepsi Center was appalling. It was a Wednesday night, it is early in the season and Denver came into the game just 3-7, but that does not justify only 10,247 fans at the game — and that number seemed generous.
The Nuggets have struggled the last three seasons, but people really do have short memories. It was just back in 2013 that Denver had the second longest postseason streak in all of the NBA.
The Questionable: Why isn’t Wilson Chandler starting?
Wilson Chandler is playing too well to be coming off the bench. The question is: Should Michael Malone put Chandler in the starting lineup.
There are two primary concerns for Malone in doing this. First, Chandler off the bench fits nicely with what Malone is currently doing with his rotation. Denver seems to get a nice burst when Chandler enters the game alongside Faried and Danilo Gallinari. Second, Chandler has been very injury prone over the past few seasons and Malone is trying to manage his minutes.
Chandler says he can handle any amount of minutes on the court.
“Yeah of course”, Chandler said. “I’ve got to take care of myself and my body. It shouldn’t be a problem at all.”
We will see what Malone decides to do with his best player so far this season.
Next up: The Toronto Raptors come to Pepsi Center on Friday night. This was one of those games that the Nuggets should have won earlier this season but failed to close out a late six-point lead in the fourth quarter.
