The Nuggets head into Wednesday night’s matchup in New Orleans still patching together a rotation that has already been stretched thin early in the season. Denver is coming off a 1-2 start after Monday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, and now it gets a quick shot at the Pelicans after the two teams went to overtime on Saturday.
That earlier meeting ended with Denver surviving a 23-point hole and escaping with a home win in its second game of the year. This time, the setting changes and the injury situation hasn’t improved much for the Nuggets, who are still missing multiple pieces.
Cameron Johnson, Denver’s starting forward, played 11 minutes in the first half of the season opener and has not played since. He is in line to miss a third straight game, and the Nuggets have also ruled out three key bench players. Denver’s full injury report:
Spencer Jones - OUT (bilateral hamstring injury management)
Backup forward Spencer Jones and guard Julian Strawther have not appeared this season, which has already thinned out Denver’s second unit. Alpha Diallo is now expected to miss his third consecutive game as well, leaving the Nuggets leaning even more on the end of the bench.
If Johnson sits again, Bryce Hopkins should be in line for a third straight appearance, while Trevon Brazile is expected to keep bringing energy off the bench in Jones’ absence.
New Orleans has injury issues of its own. The Pelicans will be without starting center Yves Missi for a second straight game, and backup guard Jordan Poole is on the injury report but expected to play. Their full injury report:
Even with the availability edge tilted toward New Orleans, Denver still has the kind of firepower to beat a winless Pelicans team. DeAndre Jordan is expected to fill in for Missi again, and that should set up another big night for Nikola Jokic.
Jokic was brilliant in Saturday’s win, piling up 35 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Pelicans. With the same opponent back on the schedule, Denver should be expecting more of that same kind of control from its MVP centerpiece.
The bigger picture is simple: the Nuggets cannot afford to slip to 1-3. After the Warriors loss, and after nearly getting burned by New Orleans on Saturday, Wednesday offers a clear chance to clean things up and beat a shorthanded opponent.
Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. MT in New Orleans.
In Other News...
Pelicans Trade Talk Just Got Real After New Orleans' 0-3 Start
A winless start has a way of turning every roster decision into a referendum, and the Pelicans are already hearing the noise after opening 0-3. In that kind of early-season slump, teams around the league naturally start probing for signs of desperation, especially when a club has talent but no traction. New Orleans, though, is not behaving like a team ready to tear things down.
Herb Jones is part of the reason the conversation has stayed more measured than the record suggests. Even with his limited playing time, the Pelicans have not shown a willingness to move him, and league interest in both Jones and Trey Murphy III has been treated with a high bar for quite some time. For now, the message out of New Orleans is that the slow start has not changed the value the team places on its key wings, even if the questions around the roster are only getting louder. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Get Immediate Shot To Answer That Denver Collapse
The Pelicans do not have to sit with that Denver collapse for long. After letting a 23-point lead slip away in the previous meeting, New Orleans gets the Nuggets again with a quick chance to show the first game was more of a bad ending than a revealing trend. For the Pelicans, the response starts with keeping Trey Murphy involved on offense, moving the ball with more purpose and protecting possessions a lot better than they did the first time around.
There is also the matter of Denvers new look, because the Nuggets arrive at 1-2 and coming off a loss to Golden State. New Orleans will need to be sharper on the details that mattered most in the first matchup, especially against Trevon Brazile, who was active enough to give the Pelicans trouble inside and on the glass. The first meeting left plenty of room for a reset, but this one will say more about whether the lesson actually stuck. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Slow Start Is Turning One Lineup Flaw Into A Real Debate
The Pelicans slow start has pushed their starting lineup into sharper focus, and the discussion is no longer just about effort or rhythm. Under Jamahl Mosley, the bigger issue has been how the offense is being arranged around its best pieces, with Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III needing cleaner spacing and more reliable touchpoints to get into the game early.
One possible fix has emerged from the way the guards have fit together, with Jordan Poole giving New Orleans a different kind of offensive pressure when paired with Dejounte Murray. The current setup has left room for debate about who belongs in the first group and who might better serve the team in a different role, and that kind of adjustment could become harder to ignore if the Pelicans keep grinding through these early struggles. [Read more 🡒]