Denver Nuggets extend win streak to five games amid trade rumors
By Andrew Dill
The Denver Nuggets have been active on the phones over the past week, reaching deals with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics as they shipped out center Timofey Mozgov (Cleveland) and point guard Nate Robinson. Denver did receive point guard Jameer Nelson in the trade with Boston to shore up the back-court. Nelson didn’t play in Denver’s 114-107 win over the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, but plans to be in the lineup Friday against Dallas.
Anyways, the trade speculation surrounding the Denver Nuggets over the past few weeks hasn’t phased the teams play. Denver racked up their fifth-straight victory Wednesday night behind big performances from Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. Lawson scored a game-high 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting, adding another double-double to his credit with 12 assists and 5 rebounds. Faried on the other hand dominated the glass, collecting 14 rebounds to go along with 22 points.
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With Timofey Mozgov out of the picture, Denver shifted their focus to rookie center Jusuf Nurkic to fill the role as the teams starting center. Nurkic hasn’t disappointed one bit. Over Nurkic’s last five games, the ‘Bosnian Bear’ or ‘Bosnian Beast’ if you will, has been a stat sheet stuffer. He is averaging 11.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, and 1.4 steals over an average of 22.8 minutes of action. Tim Connelly is looking like a genius trading the 10th overall pick (Doug McDermott) for Nurkic (16th overall) and Gary Harris (19th).
According to RealGM, the Denver Nuggets are reportedly shopping forward Wilson Chandler ‘hard’. However, head coach Brian Shaw refuted the report prior to game-time, saying the team wasn’t looking to deal guard Arron Afflalo and Chandler.
The Denver Nuggets (18-20) return to action Friday night on the road as they take on the Dallas Mavericks yet again. Tip-off from American Airlines Center is scheduled for 8:30 PM EST, 6:30 PM MST.