Last week: Lost at Philadelphia 97-92, beat Portland 114-99, beat Oklahoma City 110-102
This week: Sunday vs. New York, Wednesday vs. Orlando, Friday vs. Minnesota
After losing three straight games and five of six, the Denver Nuggets got the wheels back on the road with wins over the Trail Blazers and Thunder to close out the week. Their win over the Thunder Saturday night was particularly impressive for their sputtering offense. Denver handed out 30 assists on 43 made field goals, their sixth game this season with at least 30 dimes.
Not surprisingly, the Nuggets are 5-1 in those games. Nikola Jokic also showed signs of life this week, averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists in 33.2 minutes per game while shooting 56.5 percent overall and hitting 38.1 percent on 5.3 3-point tries a game. Jokic had his third triple-double of the season Saturday — 28 points, 14 boards and 12 dimes.
Last week: Lost to Sacramento 119-118, won at Cleveland 116-110, won at Orlando 130-107, lost to Detroit 115-107
This week: Monday vs. San Antonio, Thursday at Clippers, Saturday at Phoenix
What a weird week for the Houston Rockets. A pair of road wins coupled with two inexplicable losses at home to sub-.500 teams in the Kings and Pistons. The Rockets are 8-5 on the road, which is very good. They are now 9-4 at home with three losses in their last six games at Toyota Center.
James Harden continues to be ridiculous, averaging 43.8 points over the four games, along with 8.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks in 39.0 minutes per game. He hit 52.1 percent overall and 48.2 percent on 14.0 3-point tries a game. The week included a pair of 50-point games, 55 at Cleveland on Wednesday and 54 at Orlando Friday night.