The Denver Nuggets kicked off their season on Wednesday night with an extremely impressive win 105-85 over the Houston Rockets. The Rockets are expected to contend for the Western Conference Championship this year, and although they were without Dwight Howard it was still a nice win for the Nuggets, especially when you consider they were without a key player as well in Wilson Chandler. Chandler is dealing with a hip injury and might miss two weeks, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post.
Chandler's injury is considered a hip strain and he doesn't think it is very serious, but he also doesn't want to rush back and make the injury worse. The fact that the Nuggets looked so good on Wednesday night will probably ease their minds a little bit and allow them to be even more cautious with Chandler, but they do need him back and at 100 percent moving forward, as he is a big part of the team.
Chandler is not expected to start when he comes back, as Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried are locked in at the forward spots, but his return will strengthen the bench. The 6-foot-8 forward will likely be Faried's backup at power forward and give the second unit another option that can score the ball. As it stands, the Nuggets have Jameer Nelson, Will Barton and Randy Foye to score off the bench, but adding Chandler to that will only help going forward.
Chandler is entering his fifth full season with the Nuggets, and he has been a pretty good player for them so far. In his time there, the 28-year-old has averaged 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds while providing solid defense and making 35 percent of his threes. Based on the first game of the season, this young Nuggets team looks like it has a shot to surprise some people, and the fact that they should be getting Chandler back within a couple of weeks should only make them even better.
