Nuggets at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets have not won back-to-back games since early December and missed out on another chance to do just that with a loss at the NBA-worst Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. The Nets will try to take advantage of the road-weary Denver Nuggets and at least pick up two wins in three games when they play host on Monday.
Brooklyn cannot be accused of tanking since their first-round draft pick belongs to the Boston Celtics this June, but the recent results on the court have it tumbling toward the bottom of the East. The Nets, who fired coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned general manager Billy King last month, are reportedly beginning to take steps toward correcting their future with general manager interviews scheduled for next week. The Nuggets managed to provide the Denver area with some good feelings in advance of the Super Bowl on Sunday by taking down the New York Knicks 101-96 hours before the game on Sunday. The Nuggets have won their last two games, and each of their last six victories have come against Eastern Conference opponents.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (21-31): Denver rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay has come on of late and is doing his best work late in games. Mudiay scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter during Friday’s 115-110 win over the Bulls and nine of his 15 in the fourth against the Knicks on Sunday. The 19-year-old failed to reach double digits in scoring in either of the first two games this month but picked it up along with the rest of the offense in the last two games and added nine assists and no turnovers on Sunday.
ABOUT THE NETS (13-39): Denver assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas is one of several NBA executives reportedly set to meet with Brooklyn owner Mikhail Prokhorov and other members of the search committee over the next few days. On the court, the Nets scored 128 points in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday but failed to force a similar pace against one the NBA’s worst-scoring defenses in a 103-98 loss to the 76ers on Saturday. Veteran swingman Joe Johnson went for 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting in Friday’s victory before slumping to nine points on 2-of-8 the next night.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets F Thaddeus Young is averaging 17.3 points and 12.7 rebounds in three straight double-doubles.
2. Denver F Darrell Arthur (quadriceps) sat out the last three games and remains day-to-day.
3. Brooklyn has taken the last three in the series.