The Denver Nuggets will have their entire lineup back in action tomorrow night when the team returns home in a revenge game against the Minnesota Timberwolves who have already beat the Nuggets once this season at the Pepsi Center. This complete lineup is something they undoubtedly wish they would of had available in last nights 102-100 road loss to the Sacramento Kings, and the team will be looking to rebound and not start a new losing streak.
Carmelo Anthony sat out his fifth straight game last night with his knee contusion and Ty Lawson missed his second consecutive game after spraining his ankle in last Tuesday’s win over the Golden State Warriors.
The return of Melo and Lawson will do wonders to further bolster the Nuggets team that was recently lifted by the return of Chauncey Billups, who missed the better portion of three weeks after suffering a groin injury. Chris “Birdman” Andersen also returned to action in last Friday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he didn’t miss a beat after sitting out just one game with what was thought to be a somewhat severe ankle sprain.
With Anthony expected to be back in the lineup, Joey Graham will return to his spot on the bench, but, after solid play in Melo’s absence, he may have earned himself some more playing time in certain situations like when the Nuggets get into foul trouble.
Kenyon Martin may have benefited with Melo nursing his injury- he has scored 19+ points in three straight games (after not scoring that many in a game during his first 30 games this season) and he has averaged 17.5 points, nearly 12 rebounds and around 2 steals over his last six games. He has clearly shown that he is fully recovered from all of his knee injuries of the past and is playing perhaps at his highest level since joining the Nuggets in 2004. If Martin continues to play at this pace, even after the return of Melo, and Nene continues to continually improve, then head coach George Karl has to be encouraged with his team’s big men and what they have a chance of doing to help the Nuggets get deep into the post-season.
With Lawson set to resume his role as the backup point guard, Anthony Carter may once again find himself on the outside of Karl’s eight man rotation. However, it was clear that Karl was once again impressed by the hard defensive play of A.C. as he has been leaving him in at valuable times in games for his defense, despite the struggles the Nuggets offense may have been facing.
Lawson thrived in the starters role, before hurting his ankle, and he gained valuable experience that will certainly help the Nuggets and their young guard later in the season. Luckily for the Nuggets, Billups was able to return just a game after Lawson’s injury, and now Lawson is ready to go again he will return to his spot, coming off the bench in relief of Billups, and he will bring with him the know-how and swagger of a starting point guard of a quality NBA squad. His jump-shot has vastly improved in just a few months time and he is beginning to look as comfortable behind the three-point line as Billups himself.
After going through this rough stretch of injuries, the Nuggets can come away with nothing else but enthusiasm that the team is back to 100 percent and that bench guys like Graham and Lawson got such valuable experience working with the teams top unit. Coach Karl has to be very pleased that, despite a rough last few weeks, his team is still on top of the Portland Trailblazers in the Northwest Division.
Now Nuggets fans just have to keep their fingers crossed that they have seen the worse of the injuries.