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Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder: What to Watch For

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Oct 16, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Will Barton (5) drives to the basket past Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) and guard Damian Lillard (0) during the first quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

After an impressive win against the Portland Trailblazers, the Denver Nuggets travel to Chesapeake Energy Arena to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

We are closing in on the end of the preseason, ladies and gentlemen. The Thunder will be hosting the Denver Nuggets in our second-to-last game of the preseason. Denver improved to 3-3 with their last win and hopefully they can finish strong before the regular season starts.

The past two games Denver has faced a divisional rival and this game will be no different. The thunder may have lost Kevin Durant in the off-season, but they also added Victor Oladipo and rookie Domantas Sabonis.

The Thunder are also coming off a 112-94 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home.

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Speaking of home games, this will be the sixth road game the Nuggets have played, thus far, out of seven games total. Even when the regular season starts, the Nuggets will play six of their first seven games on the road. Hopefully being away from the Pepsi Center will toughen the team up!

This Thunder team is not the same as the one who took 3 of 4 from the Nuggets last season. This game will be interesting and here is what you should watch for.

What are you excited to watch for in the upcoming Nuggets game? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter what you think!

Oct 16, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23) is fouled by Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) and forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) during the first quarter at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

Jurkic

I know that we talk about the combo of Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic a lot, but it has been such a fun ride.

Earlier in the year, there was an article on our site about putting Nurkic in the starting lineup in place of Kenneth Faried. One of the reasoning’s in the article, in defense of Nurkic starting, was based on Oklahoma City’s lineup’s success against the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs.

The Thunder used length against the Warriors to push themselves to a 3-1 lead. Granted, the Thunder blew that 3-1 lead, but it showed how good lineups with length can be.

Now the Nuggets are using that lengthy lineup and the Thunder have lost Kevin Durant, who was a big part of their length. The tables haven’t necessarily switched, but the Nuggets starting lineup is much bigger than it was last year.

Also, the Thunder no longer have Serge Ibaka. Instead, they now have Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova playing at the power forward position. Meanwhile, the Thunder have Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, and Joffrey Lauvergne (the former Nugget) playing at the center.

Adams is a great center who will test Jokic on both sides of the court. Kanter is also a force on offense, so we will see how the Jurkic duo handles the Thunder bigs.

Oct 13, 2016; Tulsa, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) points into the stand in game against the Memphis Grizzlies during the first quarter at BOK Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Stopping Russell Westbrook

Russel Westbrook is scary good. In his last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves he scored 26 points and dished out 10 assists. Westbrook is a one-man wrecking crew.

With Gary Harris, the Nuggets best perimeter defender, out, it will be up to the rest of the team to try to limit Westbrook. If Emmanuel Mudiay is still out with an ankle injury, that task will fall on Jameer Nelson, Will Barton, and the rookie Jamal Murray.

The Nuggets gameplan should be to keep the ball out of Westbrook’s hands and force their other players to beat us. Luckily, Murray has stepped up on defense as of late.

It’s probably not possible to shutdown a player like Russel Westbrook because he is going to get his points one way or another. The real focal point is to limit the amount of damage he can do. This will require tight and deny ball defense on him the entire game.

Oct 12, 2016; Lincoln, NE, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone watches during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

What Will Mike Malone Do?

Since it is coming down to the end of the preseason, Mike Malone has to choose what he wants to do with many of his players. We may see him opt to rest some of the starters and key players or he may want to continue to work on some things before the regular season starts.

If he chooses to continue to play many of the players up until the season, it puts the players at risk of getting an injury like Harris’ groin injury or Mudiay’s minor ankle injury.

If Malone chooses to rest more of his key players, we will see more play from players like Nate Wolters, Robbie Hummel, and Jarnell Stokes. These three players are also competing for the final Nuggets roster spot. Also, if players sit we will see a large increase of minutes for our rookies.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing to see Jamal Murray pull it all game:

It all depends on Malone’s perspective of the preseason. Some coaches would rather save their players for the games that matter. On the other hand, if Malone thinks the Nuggets have kinks to work out before the season, he doesn’t want to waste free scrimmage games to do so.

All-in-all, this should be a great game against another division rival. Whether you watch to see Jurkic or Russell Westbrook, fans all around should be thrilled to see the preseason winding down and the regular season being soon upon us!

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