Altitude, Mavs & The Mile High City
Written by Crystal Carroll, Wednesday November 03 2010
Is it ironic that the game tonight between the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets will be covered on the Denver station simply called “Altitude”? The Mile High City has always boasted a challenged for Dallas but with each team mirroring one another 2-1, this first regular season match up could help the Mavs to test their fortitude against a worth Western Conference opponent.
Leading the way for Denver will be Carmelo Anthony, Shelden Williams, Nene, Arron Afflalo and Chauncey Billups. Anthony put down 24 points against Houston and has amassed 20 or more in each of the first three games of the season putting an end to his shopping around for another team rumors.
Notably absent from the Nuggets roster are Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen, each of which have had a colorful past with Dallas in recent years. Martin who waged a verbal battle with Mav’s owner Mark Cuban and Andersen (aka BirdMan) whose hair antics have bewildered fans of Dallas, each are strictly cheering from the injured list after knee surgeries forced the change of Denver’s line up.
Dallas leads in the overall series against Denver 74-67, winning the last meeting 109-93 in Dallas. But the road has been a bit more of a challenge for the Dallas teams of the past, falling to a 27-44 record when visiting the higher altitude. Call it a shift in the air supply or just plain road woes, but Dallas has a lot to prove tonight as the Nuggets average 104 points per game to only 96.7 for Dallas with Denver shooting better from beyond the arc and behind the charity stripe than the Mavs.
In fact Dallas leads in only 3 stat points moving into tonight’s matchup as they have shot better from the field, shooting 49.6% over the opening three games, had a better assist rate, averaging 25.3 to only 19.3, and tallied more blocks per game with 6 per game versus only 2.7.
Denver has taken 6 of the last 8 against Dallas in large part due to the efforts of Anthony. Key to tonight’s game will be to slow the roll of Anthony and limit his shooting opportunities which have allowed him to go white hot against Dallas in the past, hitting a series high 43 points in 2009 and holding an average career points against Dallas at 23 points per game. Last season, he averaged 17.5 points per game against the Mavs but was held to just 10 points in the Denver loss to Dallas in March.
Mavs look to hold Anthony by spreading out their own offensive attack with probable starters Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd. Dirk’s role in the game is instrumental for Dallas as he holds an all-time career average of 22.6 points per game, 8.5 rebounds and 3 assists against the Nuggets. Last season he posted a triple-double against Denver and is currently 28-13 overall against the Mile High team. This season, he is shooting .690 from the field.
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