Toronto Raptors vs. Denver Nuggets: Back at home against the reigning MVP

The NBA’s reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and his Canadian running mate Jamal Murray make their one and only trip into Toronto tonight to face the Raptors.

The Toronto Raptors are back home hosting the reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and his Denver Nuggets tonight, but the once almighty opponent doesn’t look quite so hot to begin the year.

Jokic picked up his third MVP trophy for his performance in the 2023-24 regular season, becoming only the ninth player in NBA history to win the award three or more times. As impressive and dominant as Jokic is, the team around him has struggled since winning the 2023 NBA Championship.

Young players like Christian Braun, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson were brought in to fill the role player gaps that the Nuggets lost after winning their franchise’s first championship, which hasn’t worked out as planned. Veteran guard Russell Westbrook was then brought in this past offseason to help relieve Jamal Murray with some backup ball handler duties, and its exposed some deep flaws with Denver’s roster construction in the past few seasons.

Nearly half of their rotation cannot make a three-pointer consistently, and it’s been killing the team early this season. Westbrook and Murray aren’t fitting well together, and neither are Westbrook and Jokic. Denver dropped their home opener in a lacklustre effort against the OKC Thunder, followed by a home loss to the Kawhi Leonard-less LA Clippers, despite Jokic putting up 41 points.

Coming in to Toronto, Denver is desperately seeking a get-right game, and they’ll certainly look to pick up their first win of the season against a struggling and depleted Raptors squad.

For the home squad, it’s been a rough start to the season, amongst a bad opening night loss and injuries upon injuries. However, there are bright spots and lots to root for as a Raptors fan at the moment. Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo have gotten some extended looks as surprise second-round rookies, and the bench unit has been fun and leading the way scoring wise. Scottie Barnes has rebounded after a tough first game and Gradey Dick is showing he is much more than just a three-point shooter.

Will it be enough to take down the reigning MVP and the struggling Nuggets? Honestly, it just might! Despite missing four main rotation players, the Raptors pushed back against the Minnesota Timberwolves in enemy territory and on the second half of a back to back with travel.

The Nuggets are not up to par with Minnesota defensively, and Denver has had their fair share of offensive struggles to start the season. As depleted talent-wise as the Raptors are, you can never count out their hustle and heart. You know Darko will be bringing the energy, and so far this season, so have the young players.

Whether the Raptors take down a supposed championship contender or the Nuggets right the ship with their first win of the season, tonight should definitely make for an interesting matchup.

Here are the game details:

Time: 7:30 pm ET

Where to watch: TSN

Lineups:

Raptors: Davion Mitchell, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl

Nuggets: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Micheal Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic

Injuries:

Raptors: RJ Barrett — shoulder (OUT), Kelly Olynyk — back (OUT), Bruce Brown — knee (OUT), Ja’Kobe Walter — shoulder (OUT), Immanuel Quickley — pelvis (OUT)

Nuggets: Daron Holmes II — achilles (OUT)

Clog the Paint

Denver’s three point shooting has been abysmal to start the season. Only Jokic, Murray and Strawther are shooting above a 25% clip from deep. The gameplan against the Nuggets this season has been simple – clog the paint, let them shoot. Good thing Jakob Poeltl and Scottie Barnes are still healthy, as their defensive prowess on the inside is going to be necessary against a team that is having a tough time scoring the ball off of jump shots.

MIP Gradey

What an exciting talent Gradey Dick has been to watch early this season. Amongst Toronto’s injury issues, Dick has been forced into becoming the team’s second scoring option and has taken the second most shots through their first three games. Notching over 16 points per night, Gradey is doing more than just letting it fly from deep. He led both teams in scoring against Minnesota, and made some impressive mid-range shots after getting ran off the three-point line due to his efficiency knocking down the deep ball. Dick certainly wasn’t expecting this much of an elevated role to being the year, but he’s flourishing in it currently.

Backup Bigs vs Jokic

The prime target for Nikola Jokic and Michael Malone tonight should be Bruno Fernando and Toronto’s backup bigs. Even with Kelly Olynyk healthy, the backup center position is fairly weak defensively for the Raptors this season. Now with Olynyk out, it’s ripe for the picking. Slowing down Jokic against the bench unit is going to be a team effort, but if there’s one way to give your team the best shot at winning, it’s actually by letting the three-time MVP score. It happened already this season against the Clippers, where Jokic’s top talent is taken away – his exceptional passing ability. You certainly don’t want Jokic putting up 40+ points again, but the Nuggets are most lethal when the Serbian is scoring AND dishing out insane passes to his teammates. Take away the rest of the roster, and you’ve given yourself an advantage.

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