The Denver Nuggets are fighting to keep pace with the Oklahoma City Thunder atop the Western Conference standings, and get a chance to improve their middling 4-3 road record when they take on the lowly Washington Wizards on Friday night. The Wizards have struggled to do much of anything well in the first few weeks of the season, and currently hold the league's worst record, but they have notched their only two wins at home.
The Nuggets want to push the pace with Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari, and everything indicates that John Wall and company will allow it to happen. The good news for Denver is that the are far superior in their efficiency on the run, and should be able to build a comfortable lead converting Wizards misses and mistakes into transition opportunities.
A recent article over at SB Nation's Washington Wizards blog, Bullets Forever, suggests fans are growing restless with GM Ernie Grunfeld and his reluctance to surround John Wall with smart and savvy players:
Ernie's vision for the team has been often described as five guys who can jump out of the gym but can't play professional basketball. It's been debated, some of us contend that Ernie swung for the fences drafting Andray Blatche, Oleksiy Pecherov, Nick Young, and Javale McGee, and with three of those players being important cogs for the current Wizards isn't that a fairly impressive batting average? And currently? Trevor Booker, Chris Singleton, and Jan Vesely have all shown ability and basketball IQ, not project players drafted more for upside than skill.
Here is some information to help you find the game:
Game date, time: 5:00 p.m. MT, Friday, January 20th, 2012
Location: Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
TV: Altitude
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more in-depth coverage of the Nuggets, visit Denver Stiffs. News and analysis on the Wizards is available at Bullets Forever, And for more news and notes from around the NBA, head over to SB Nation's NBA news hub.