Preview: Boston Celtics at Denver Nuggets

There is a reason why Denver is 11 games under .500, hopefully this isn’t a trap game.

The Boston Celtics started out the post-all star part of their schedule with a flop. They fell to the Utah Jazz, 111-93 on national TV. To make it worse, it seemed like they were never fully connected into the game and had a different feel. The Celtics are still third in the East at 32-24, despite their loss. The Denver Nuggets have not been as fortunate this season, owning a 22-33 record.

The Celtics will be without Kelly Olynyk once again, after news broke he will be sidelined for three weeks.

The Nuggets’ point guard, Jameer Nelson, was out on Friday, although reports have not said if he will be active on Sunday night in Denver. Denver did trade Randy Foye at the deadline and D.J. Augustin was part of the package that came back to the Nuggets.

The Nuggets don’t have an identity, which has caused them a lot of problems this season. They rank near the mid-bottom in points per game (100.7) and points allowed per game (103.7). With that being said, this should be a very fast-paced, high scoring game.

The Celtics lead the league in shots per game, while Denver ranks 12th. Both teams don’t shoot the ball particularly well, which means this game could get sloppy but a lot of points could be put up.

A big reason for the Nuggets struggles this season is they don’t have many scorers on their team. Danilo Gallinari averages 19.9 points per game, and is clearly the team’s best player, although only shoots 41.1 percent from the field. He’s been able to stay relatively healthy this season, a big positive for the team. Will Barton, a fourth year player out of Memphis, has had a career year this season. He is averaging a career high 15.5 points per game off the bench.

Those two have to carry the scoring load for Denver. Gary Harris has yet to develop into anything in the NBA, and rookie Emmanuel Mudiay is a turnover machine and shoots a terrible 33.9 percent from the field.

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The X-Factor for the Boston Celtics tonight is Tyler Zeller. His minutes have increased more and more over the past month, and should continue with the Olynyk injury. Amir Johnson is nearly out of the rotation at this point and Zeller is the only seven-footer left on the team. There are a lot of games where he only attempts a couple of shots a game, but he needs to be more aggressive. Zeller is one of the few players on the team who has a decent shot and inside game, therefore, he needs to use that to his advantage. Having him see close to 20 minutes again is not out of the question, but this time he needs to have a bigger impact.

The X-Factor for the Denver Nuggets is Nikola Jokic. The rookie out of Serbia is very raw still, but has shown a lot of potential this season. Jokic averages 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game. He does shoot 52.6 percent from the field, showing offensive potential. At 6’10” he rebounds at a solid rate, at this point in his career, and has also shown the ability to shoot from outside. He is a 39 percent three-point shooter, although, attempts less than one per game.

Jokic has eight double-doubles this season, and has put up some monster numbers in those games. He isn’t well-known around the league yet, but his 27 point, 14 rebound game against the Toronto Raptors, a couple of weeks ago, shows his ability. Kenneth Faried may get the headlines in Denver, among big men, but Jokic can have a huge game as well.

Next: Kelly Olynyk's Absence Could be Bigger Than Expected

Both these teams take a lot of shots, but not at a very efficient rate. Brad Stevens should have his team’s mind in a better place this game, and as a result should leave with a victory. The Nuggets’ defense isn’t going to be able to stop Boston, however, the Celtics have the ability to shut teams down. There’s a reason Denver is 11 games under .500, hopefully this isn’t a trap game.