The Heat. Luminous. Walking, talking corporations. The best forward in the game. Arguably the best guard in the game. A No. 3 who would be many teams’ No. 1. Swagger on swagger.
The highest-scoring team in the NBA.
The Nuggets. Anonymous. An eclectic mix of nationalities and personalities. A different No. 1 each night. Pass-first. Team-first. Swagger-in-progress.
The second-highest scoring team in the NBA.
The teams with the top-two point averages are as different as “Days of our Lives” and “Knight Rider.” But the Heat and Nuggets are finding ways to win. Tonight, the teams will play for the lone time this season in a chemistry experiment of a basketball game — two different makeups and styles inside the petri dish of the Pepsi Center.
“You could laugh about that a little bit,” Nuggets coach George Karl said of the contrasting makeups, “but I think there’s not one guy on Miami that doesn’t understand that team is going to win championships. They’re a talented bunch of guys who have to commit to playing as a team and they have.
“From a basketball standpoint, they know that Dallas probably played better as a team and that’s why they won the championship — and I think that only helped Miami become a better team.”
The Nuggets (7-4) will start Danilo Gallinari on forward LeBron James but also will have Arron Afflalo and reserve Corey Brewer spend time guarding James, whose 29 points per game are second to Kobe Bryant (30.3) in NBA scoring this season.
Gallinari has had some breakout games offensively this season, but also defensively, including stints in which Gallo rattled Bryant.
“He’s got probably better feet than we thought he did,” Karl said of the 6-foot-10 forward obtained from New York last February. “And with his length, he understands that he can stay away from guys but still bother them.”
Afflalo said he’ll likely start out on Dwyane Wade, the Miami shooting guard. The former Finals MVP scored 34 points Tuesday at Golden State but missed some key shots Tuesday and Wednesday against the Clippers; Miami (8-3) lost both games in overtime.
“There will be some personal, individual matchups that we’re going to have to take pride in,” said Afflalo, who is finding his offensive rhythm, too, after missing much of training camp because of contract negotiations. “But the way they push the ball, it’s going to be a team effort regardless. …
“We have to do a good job getting back and helping each other on penetration — but also having the awareness to get out on shooters. If you’re not back on defense, you’ll either be scrambling to guard layups or scrambling on a 3-ball. They really excel at that.”
Nuggets guard Ty Lawson said tonight’s game is a way to see if Denver “matches up” to mighty Miami. Afflalo said it’s just as big as any other game — or, at least, that Denver should have a must-win mentality every time the ball is tipped.
And while it’s a litmus-test game, sure, it’s just a snippet game during the midst of a wacky, condensed season. But the Nuggets are 5-1 at home this season.
“I think it comes at a good time for us, though I’d rather have a few more games (under our belts),” Karl said. “There are always those 8, 10, 12 games a year that have a little more value than every other game. There’s no question we think Chicago’s and Miami’s from the East, you want to play well against them.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
MIAMI AT DENVER
8:30 p.m. Friday, ESPN, ALT, 1510 AM
Spotlight on Udonis Haslem: A sparkplug in the playoffs last season, the veteran big man is attacking the boards like he’s 21, not 31. Haslem leads Miami with 10.1 rebounds per game, doing so while playing with a cracked rib. For his career, Haslem averages 8.1 boards per game. He has been consistent this season. In only one game did Haslem grab fewer than eight rebounds, and his rebounding average ranks eighth in the NBA.
NOTEBOOK
Heat: The makeup of both teams has changed drastically, but the Heat has lost nine consecutive games at the Pepsi Center, the Nuggets’ longest home win streak against any team from the Eastern Conference. … Miami has not lost three straight games all season. It enters tonight on a two-game losing streak. … Juwan Howard, 38, is still around. He’s on the Heat roster though he plays sparingly. He averaged 17.8 points per game with Denver from 2001-03 and in snippets in 2008-09.
Nuggets: All of the key Nuggets are expected to play. Ty Lawson (right foot sprain), Nene (left heel strain), Danilo Gallinari (right ankle sprain) and Rudy Fernandez (right Achilles tendon strain) are all listed as probable. Seldom-used forward DeMarre Carroll (left hamstring strain) does not have a timetable for return. … Denver scored 123 points in Wednesday’s win against New Jersey, thus improving to 4-1 this season when scoring 110 or more points. Denver is second in the league with an average of 103.6 points per game, trailing only, yes, Miami (106.4).
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
