The Brooklyn Nets and the Denver Nuggets, leaders of the Western Conference, meet in prime time this Sunday, live on Sky Sports Arena and on the free Sky Sports YouTube live stream from 7:30. p.m
When these two teams last met, the Nuggets were in good shape while the Nets struggled to put together an efficient offense.
Fast forward to a week later, the tables have turned. It’s Michael Malone’s men who find themselves in a troubled place, while their opponents have won four of his five games since.
Maybe it’s nothing to worry about, every team goes through ups and downs during the season. Losing three games in a row isn’t such a concern when you’re sitting atop the Western Conference with a four-game lead in the loss column.
There is one more alarming trend that deserves a mention. In all three losses, they were outplayed by their opposition despite leading by a wide margin.
The Nuggets have not only lost their dominance position in these matchups, but they also haven’t been able to rely on their secondary support unit to instigate comebacks.
So who can get them out of this depression? Well, the man to go to is usually Nikola Jokic. But there’s not much the MVP contender can do, particularly when all he needs is to be off the court for nine minutes before the opposition has scored another 16 points.
No crosses on the court usually mean trouble is ahead for Malone and company. They won’t want a similar situation to unfold this Sunday, but the Nets will be happy to dish out some other fun.
Jacque Vaughn’s team has been in a good mood since their comeback against the Boston Celtics, and very few teams have been able to disempower them.
In fact, the only team to do it in their winning streak was the Milwaukee Bucks, who recently became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. That, however, coincided with the Nets resting four of their top six players.
When everyone is back on the roster, the Nets are a force to be reckoned with. Last weekend’s decisive win over the Nuggets certainly proved that.
It was his most offensive performance to date without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant in the starting five (122 points on 94 possessions) and included eight of the nine guys who played with at least nine points.
The most impressive stat lies in his defense. Facing the second-ranked offense in the league may seem sinister, but Dorian Finney-Smith made it look easy.
Brooklyn Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith.
With the 31-year-old in charge of all five, the Nets were able to hold the Nuggets to just 23 points on 24 possessions, as well as forcing Malone to make a tough decision about when Jokic would stay on the floor.
Will this second clash end differently, or the leaders of the west will face another defeat? The Nets have a bye advantage, but it’s likely that with Jamal Murray gone, the Nuggets will look to roll the dice on their offensive starters.
Find out how it all unfolds this Sunday with Sky Sports streaming the game live on their YouTube channel.
