The Denver Nuggets will be hoping to pick up their first win of the NBA pre-season when they take on Oklahoma City Thunder at Ball Arena on Wednesday morning.
Denver lost their two Abu Dhabi games to the Celtics at the start of pre-season and fell to the Suns on Monday morning, while the Thunder have split their two pre-season games so far.
Match preview
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In their first home game of preseason, the Nuggets suffered a 118-114 defeat to a short-handed Phoenix Suns on Monday, and fair to say, head coach Michael Malone was far from impressed with his side's performance.
The Nuggets led 60-51 at halftime but were outscored 67-54 in the second half, as the Suns' 15-4 fourth-quarter run, capped by a Ryan Dunn three-pointer from a Collin Gillespie assist, put Phoenix ahead 115-106 with 1:43 left.
One of the major issues the side has faced over the early stages of the preseason has been their three-point shooting - the Celts made 38 threes to the Nuggets' 20 across the first two games, while Phoenix made 23 on 50 attempts to Denver's 12 off 36 attempts in the last match.
In terms of player stats, Nikola Jokic put in a solid performance on Monday, scoring 21 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and one steal over 29 minutes, while Croatian Dario Saric had six points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal in 17 minutes.
However, as a team, the Nuggets committed a massive 14 turnovers in Monday's loss, six of which came from the Joker, though they did largely dominate the match inside the paint and on the glass.
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Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Thunder will be returning to the hardwood after a four-day break since beating the Rockets 122-113 last Thursday after downing the Spurs 112-107 in their opening pre-season match on October 8.
So far, the Thunder have looked in great nick, boasting a deep roster with little to no weaknesses on paper, and they are already showing up as the favourites to win the Western Conference this season.
Despite losing to the Rockets last week, the Thunder dominated the majority of the game, largely thanks to an early surge of three-pointers, going eight-for-19 from beyond the arc in the first half alone.
Additionally, it is worth noting that Mark Daigneault sat his starts for the second half against Houston, though the one standout off the bench was Jaylin Williams, who is already receiving huge praise and is being tipped to make the All-Stars this season.
Williams finished his half of play with 15 points, shooting three-for-six from beyond the arc, compared to last season, when he averaged just three three-point attempts per game.
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Team News
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Russell Westbrook had an impressive debut for the Nuggets, finishing the match against the Suns with nine points and six assists, and he should be part of the lineup again on Wednesday morning.
While Julian Strawther had a strong performance, Christian Braun still stands as the best choice for Denver's starting shooting guard. Braun made four of nine shots, finishing with 11 points, while Strawther scored 21 points on 12 shots last time out.
Kenrich Williams and Jaylin Williams were the first to appear on the injury report for OKC this season, with the former undergoing a knee procedure before training camp, which has ruled him out until at least the regular season.
J-Will sustained a hamstring injury during camp and was expected to miss the preseason tune-up games, though he he returned ahead of schedule and does not seem to be suffering any effects of his prior injury.
Denver Nuggets possible starting five:
Gordon, Porter Jr, Jokic, Braun, Murray
Oklahoma Thunder possible starting five:
Dort, Williams, Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander, Caruso
We say: Oklahoma Thunder to win by 3+ points
The Nuggets have not found top gear as yet this season, and are coming into this match off zero days rest, while OKC last played on Thursday and have had time to refine their tactics.
With a few new faces in the squad, there are a few growing concerns around the Nuggets' pre-season performances which may take some time for them to address, so we are going for the Thunder to edge the result in this one.
Devesh Jaganath
