Kenyon Martin and the Nuggets will look to rebound in 2010-2011 after injuries wrecked the latter half of last season
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The Denver Nuggets will open next season at home versus the Jazz and finish in Utah against that same division nemesis. With the release of the Nuggets’ 2010-2011 schedule on Tuesday, we see a clear focus on Northwest Division games when it counts.
Carmelo and the boys welcome the Jazz to Denver on October 27th to kick off Redemption Year in Nuggetsland. After injuries (Kenyon Martin, Chris Andersen & Ty Lawson) and coach George Karl’s battle with cancer derailed the Nuggets’ 2009-2010 campaign, this team is bound to come into the new season with a chip on its shoulder. A home opener versus the same Utah Jazz that rocked the Nuggets right out of last season’s playoffs is the perfect place to start.
Couple that with a regular season wrap-up in Utah on April 13th exactly 24 weeks later, and we get an idea of how the NBA expects this Northwest Division battle to shake out.
But to add both clarity and confusion to this picture, the NBA’s scheduling czars threw the Nuggets a curveball with two games versus the rising Oklahoma City Thunder in the stretch run.
Denver will welcome Kevin Durant and the Thunder to town on April 5th, travel to Oklahoma City on the 8th, and return home to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on the 9th before finishing in Utah. That’s four of the Nuggets’ final six games against Northwest foes.  Even through the long NBA season, that final stretch will likely determine the division winner. The rapidly-improving Thunder are the early favorites to come out on top.
More on the Stretch
Two of three games versus the NBA Champion LA Lakers will be played in Denver. That’s good news. The one road game in LA comes two days before the final six-game stretch mentioned above. That’s bad news.
After their only trip to Los Angeles to face the Lakers, Denver will sandwich a trip to Dallas between those two OKC games.  A trip to Sacramento, where the Nuggets have always struggled, and a home game versus the high-scoring Golden State Warriors round out the Nuggets’ eight-game April schedule.
Just to re-cap, Denver will play five of its eight April contests on the road. Four of those will pit the Nuggets against divisional competition, and three of those four come versus the two teams that Denver will most likely be vying with for the division crown.
The moral of this story? The Nuggets will need to be playing hot or have a bit of a lead going into April if they want to be a top seed come playoff season.
The Best of the Rest
The Nuggets will have a chance to get off to a hot start with their biggest home stand of the season just 15 games in.
After hosting Chicago & Phoenix on November 26th & 28th, Denver gets the road-weak Bucks, Clippers & Grizzlies on December 1st, 3rd & 5th. The only elite road games preceding that home stand come back-to-back at the Mavericks on November 6th and at the Bulls on November 8th. (Make special note of that visit to an increasingly dangerous Chicago team that added old Nuggets nemesis Carlos Boozer in the offseason.)
Kobe and the Lakers come to town early (Game 9) on Thursday, November 11th. LA visits Denver again smack in the middle of the season on January 21st. Both games are nationally-televised on TNT and ESPN respectively. Altogether the Nuggets will play 25 contests before a national television audience in 2010-2011.
If you’re looking to catch the suddenly Champion-favorite Miami Heat, grab your tickets early. We’ll know a lot about the playoff potential of James, Wade & Bosh by the time they visit Denver on January 13th. Last year’s Championship runner-up, the Boston Celtics (plus recent FA acquisition Shaq), will head to Denver on February 24th. Both games are part of TNT Thursday night showcases.
Link to the Nuggets’ 2010-2011 Schedule
Download a PDF of Denver’s 2010-2011 Schedule
