Game 54: Nuggets @ 76'ers

Records:
Denver: 36-17
Philly: 27-25

GAME ON: Let the roadtrip continue

Well, the All-Star break is over. The West cruised to an easy victory over the East 146-119. Chauncey Billups played just over 19 minutes and recorded 5 points and 3 assists in the win.

The Nuggets get back to work tonight against the Philadelphia 76'ers, led by forward Andre Iguodala who is averaging 17.9 points, 6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. Andre Miller is the vocal leader of this team, as reported by philly.com, and he is being the vocal leader now that the Nuggets were in search of when he was in Denver.

Miller is the second leading scorer for Philly averaging 15.8 ppg and their leading assist man with 6.5 apg. The point guard once again finds his name swirling around in trade rumors, but with the 76'ers posting a 14-5 record in their last 19 games, according to philly.com, they find themselves in the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference (currently tied with the Detroit Pistons for the sixth seed). Miller will most likely remain with the team with their recent success (27-25 overall).

In the offseason Philly acquired free agent Elton Brand and his arrival was supposed to push Philly into contention in the East along with the Celtics and Cavaliers. Brand suffered a dislocated right shoulder that required surgery and will miss the rest of the season, so the 76'ers have been trying to find ways to win without their big time acquisition.

These two teams met back on December 26th at The Can, Denver won the game 105-101 behind the efforts of JR Smith and Billups. Melo sat out that game because of his sore elbow, but JR made up the difference going 7-11 from three point range and finished the night with 27 points as Billups piled up 26 points himself.

The Nuggets should be refreshed and at full strength as players had time to heal over the extended break. I hope the Nuggets come out and play like they did defensively against the Magic and bring some offense with them to the city of Brotherly Love.

Opposition: Liberty Ballers

Pregame Notes:

• Denver continues the 8 game roadtrip tonight and sit 4-1 thus far
• Nuggets are 8-2 in the last 10 games
• The 76'ers are 6-4 in their last 10 games, but 4-1 in their last 5 games
• Essentially the Nuggets acquired Chauncey Billups for Andre Miller via Allen Iverson