Denver Nuggets don finally see all their main players return to court after one season wey full plenty injury wahala. For this season, dem don miss big players like Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson, Christian Braun, and Cameron Johnson for long time. In fact, Sunday match against Portland Trail Blazers na di first time since November wey all Denver starters play full game together.
Peyton Watson wey just return from six-week hamstring injury talk say di tough period don help di team. “I think it’s good to get punched in the mouth sometimes. I think we needed that,” Watson yarn. “That gives us a different level of grind, a chip on your shoulder, and it gave us some humility too.” Watson make him return Sunday against Trail Blazers and score 14 points, six rebounds, with three assists even though dem limit him minutes.
Di hamstring injury wey Watson get come at bad time because he dey play him best basketball before di injury. For di 18 games before he get injured, Watson dey average 22.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists while he dey shoot 45.7% from three-point line. Watson talk say di coaches never forget about am even when he dey injured. “They always, every day, asked me how I felt. They talked to me about ways they couldn’t wait to implement me when I got back into the lineup,” Watson add.
But di coaching staff no dey rush Watson back. He no go play Tuesday night against Phoenix Suns because di team get back-to-back games. Dem go play Dallas Mavericks di next day Wednesday. As playoffs dey come near, Nuggets roster don finally complete and dem dey look like dem dey get better at di right time.
For Phoenix side, Suns dey get one key player back tonight against Denver Nuggets. Royce O’Neale wey miss last three games with left knee soreness don change from probable to available for tonight match. O’Neale don play di first 69 games of di season, start 64 of dem, before dis injury. He dey average career-high 9.9 points while he dey shoot 40.3% from three-point line plus 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals for 29.1 minutes per game this year.
Suns wey get 40 wins and 32 losses still get plenty injury report apart from O’Neale. Dillon Brooks (left hand fracture), Mark Williams (left foot third metatarsal stress reaction), Amir Coffey (left ankle sprain) and Haywood Highsmith (right knee injury management) dey still out, and Ryan Dunn (right groin soreness) dey also injured. Coach Ott talk about O’Neale before Phoenix 120-98 win over Toronto Raptors on Sunday: “If you look at our injury report, there’s a lot of size on our injury report. He’s one piece to that. I think he does rebound well for his size, it’s not only his size, it’s his leadership, it’s his spacing ability, it’s his end-of-game play. We need all of those things at this point.”
Nuggets wey get 44 wins and 28 losses no go get Peyton Watson (right hamstring injury management) against Phoenix. Suns don lose five games straight before di win Sunday over Toronto and now dem wan bring O’Neale back into di lineup. Suns don dey use very small starting five since Brooks go out with him fractured hand and dem likely go put O’Neale back into starting group alongside Collin Gillespie, Devin Booker, Jalen Green and Oso Ighodaro.
Phoenix defense go be di biggest key tonight as dem go face Nuggets wey get di number one-rated offense for NBA. O’Neale go be important piece for dis because he na di primary defender for dis starting lineup. O’Neale don see more space offensively playing next to both Booker and Green, wey make am shoot better from three-point line. He don shoot 19-for-39 (48.7%) from deep for him last five games wey he play.
Suns need every win wey dem fit get at dis point of di season because dem dey 3.5 games back of di sixth seed for West with only 10 games remain. Dem dey hope say O’Neale return go help dem as dem dey prepare for postseason and try to make all players come back healthy before den.
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