As the NBA world recovers from an absolute earthquake of a trade involving Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, the Denver Nuggets will play host to the New Orleans Pelicans for two games in a row. Tonight and Wednesday, the Nuggets and Pelicans will face off in a rare respite in the NBA schedule. Denver’s month of January was exhausting to say the least with 17 games played in 31 days. Denver went 11-6 and possibly gassed out at the end of a long month of basketball.

Can they finish the pre All-Star break portion of their schedule strong? There are six games left for Denver, including two matchups against New Orleans and two matchups vs the Portland Trail Blazers, all four at home. Of course, the Nuggets have already lost to each of those lower tier West teams, so clearly, nobody is safe until the buzzer sounds.

Let’s delve back into the New Orleans Pelicans matchup:

Denver Nuggets vs New Orleans Pelicans

Projected Starting Lineups

Denver: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic

New Orleans: Jose Alvarado, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy, Zion Williamson, Yves Missi

Key Bench Players

Denver: Jalen Pickett, Julian Strawther, Zeke Nnaji maybe?, DeAndre Jordan perhaps?

New Orleans: Jamal Cain, Brandon Boston Jr., Javonte Green, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Karlo Matkovic

Notable Injuries

Denver: Russell Westbrook – OUT, Peyton Watson – OUT, Vlatko Cancar – OUT, DaRon Holmes II – OUT

New Orleans: Dejounte Murray – OUT, Herb Jones – OUT, Zion Williamson – OUT, Brandon Ingram – OUT, Jordan Hawkins – QUESTIONABLE, Daniel Theis – QUESTIONABLE

Key for the Nuggets – Stay glued to Trey Murphy

It was absolutely horrible to hear about the Dejounte Murray torn achilles injury. Murray has already suffered a torn ACL in his career, and now a torn achilles will be extremely tough to recover from as well. On top of all of the injury issues the Pelicans have faced in their franchise history and especially in recent years with Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, they now have Dejounte Murray go down. Heinous stuff.

In response to the absences, Trey Murphy has grown as a player. He scored 40 points in New Orleans’ last game against the Boston Celtics, and he’s averaging 25 points per game in his last 10 games. Whoever guards Murphy will have to stick to him like glue, because he can rain hellfire from three-point range. Christian Braun will probably spend the most time on Murphy, but Denver will have to be disciplined on switches as well.

Important Matchup – Nikola Jokic vs Yves Missi

The most important Nuggets matchup can often be categorized as Jokic vs the opposing center. Jokic and Missi have matched up once before, and while Jokic had nearly a 30-point triple double as he always does, Missi stayed productive and efficient with 21 points on 9-of-12 from the field to go with nine rebounds, three blocks, and two steals. It was a big moment for Missi, and he hasn’t scored that many points in a game since.

Can the Nuggets cut off the easy points? Some of those easier buckets are for centers around the rim when they get into the paint against Jokic. The Pelicans will try to fee the big man when they can or lob the ball over the top of Jokic for dunks behind his head. Can the Nuggets mitigate some of those while Jokic continues his normal dominance on the other end of the floor against a rookie big man?

Number of the Day – 1

That’s the number of first round picks the Dallas Mavericks acquired when trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The last time the Lakers made a big move like this, they acquired Anthony Davis from the…New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans got Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and three first round picks when they dealt Davis.

The Mavericks, in dealing megastar Luka Doncic, got back Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first round pick.

Madness.

Nugget who should have a good game: Jalen Pickett

I’m calling my shot here. The Pelicans don’t have a lot of great defenders on the perimeter outside of Jose Alvarado, and I have him starting. If Pickett matches up with Jamal Cain and Brandon Boston Jr., even Jordan Hawkins if he plays, I think Pickett has a surprise outing. Russell Westbrook remains out, and the Nuggets need a backup point guard out there. If Michael Malone needs to stagger Jamal Murray, that’s fine, but Pickett can play some minutes next to Jokic and set the table for the big fella.