DENVER (KDVR) — Game six: Two words that mean very different things to the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
Both teams will be feeling the pressure, albeit in separate ways.
The Nuggets will look to close the series out and avoid returning to the Mile High City for Game 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers. On the other hand, the Avs love the sound of a Game 7, as they look to pull one back on the Dallas Stars and avoid an early playoff exit.
Both teams are in a championship window, and anything less than a championship will sting.
Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murral — If the Nuggets star can replicate his radioactive Game 5 performance, the team will feel a lot more comfortable in walking away from this series in six games.
Murray went for an easy 43 points in Game 5 and moved above the other half of his dynamic duo, Nikola Jokic, for the most 40-point playoff games in franchise history with six.
Jokic himself had a quieter game by his standards, but was still a positive influence, finishing with 13 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal. In Jokic’s world, a smaller statistical triple-double, but Joker getting a triple-double really isn’t news anymore.
Interim coach David Adelman will look toward Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun to continue their prototypical 3 and D play to help lengthen his coaching audition.
Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook and Michael Porter Jr will look to keep in good health after missing time due to injuries. Porter Jr. had a game-high +/- of +34 in Game 5, chipping in 14 points with three 3-pointers. Westbrook scored 21 off the bench.
Out of all Nuggets players that shot the ball in Game 5, only Jokic failed to shoot above 50%, but with a regular-season 57.6% FG percentage and 41.7% 3-point FG percentage, don’t expect back-to-back poor shooting nights from the center.
The Nuggets face the Clippers at 8 p.m. in the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Colorado Avalanche
Kudos to anyone who can accurately predict the final of this Game 6 on Thursday.
Home ice advantage has meant very little to these teams during the series, with each stealing road games, but if, like most sports storylines, the home advantage does hold up, the fans at Ball Arena will be able to energize the Avs players to a win and force a Game 7.
In this series, the Avs lead by a total margin of goals 15-13, but still find themselves down by a game. If the team doesn’t beat Dallas in a blowout, they are going to have to learn how to pull off a tight one for the first time this postseason.
If history is any indication of how the game will go, the Stars find themselves in a strong position.
When the Stars are up 3-2 in a series, they have a record of 21-3 overall, and 13-1 when they began the series at home, which they did this year. Conversely, the Avs are 2-15 when trailing in a series 2-3, and are 0-7 when they begin on the road.
While the stats for historical Game 6s don’t lean towards the Avs, the Stars are by no means a dominant Game 6 team. The Stars are 25-21 all-time in Game 6s, which includes being 12-8 on the road.
The Avs are 17-19 all-time in Game 6s and hold a 6-8 record at Game 6s at home.
One factor that must always be accounted for is championship DNA. This team has won a Stanley Cup and knows exactly what goes into that journey. They will fight until the last second, and scrap for every single loose puck in hopes of taking home Lord Stanley for a second time.
Ball Arena will be a tense place on Thursday night when the Avs host the Stars at 7:30 p.m.
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