At the end of the month, the Pelicans' record is much better than expected, which makes management and fans excited.

But there is another piece of good news.

Jokic has managed to reduce his weight from 133 kilograms last month to 120 kilograms!

He has reached the minimum weight required by the team!

Originally, the team thought that this process would take three to four months, but Jokic proved with hard work that one month is enough to lose weight!

Although most of the fat was lost, only Jokic himself knows how much sweat and effort he put in after that.

Although his weight loss plan will continue, because for him, around 113 kg is the most suitable weight.

But now he has become significantly more flexible on the court, especially on the defensive end, and the idea that his body can keep up with his brain is no longer so easy to pass.

After playing the Spurs before, in order to protect Jokic, the Pelicans did not arrange Jokic to play again, and Evans replaced his previous rotation position.

That kept Jokic in the back for long enough to hold his back in practice, and even had the upper hand against Whiteside for a while.

His talent is really not ordinary.

Williams was also pleased with this and put him on the roster for the next game against the Nuggets.

When Jokic heard the news, a fierce look flashed in his eyes, it was like a beast trapped in a cage, and it felt like it was finally coming out at this moment!

On the last day of November, the Pelicans flew to Denver, where they will play against the Nuggets.

Denver is the league's most notorious highland home stadium, with an average elevation of 1,655 meters.

Living in such a place may not feel particularly big.

But if you do a high and strenuous exercise on this, it won't take long for you to lose your strength and sweat like rain.

Occupying this location, the Nuggets have the highest home win percentage in the league almost every season, which is also the origin of the "Devil's Home Field".

Take the Nuggets' most glorious 2012~2013 season as an example, when they achieved the best 57-25 record in team history.

Their record on the road is 19-22, but their home record is 38-3!

It's an incredible difference, but the statistics don't falsify.

No matter what period this team is in, it will not be easy to take a win from here.

Especially now that it's still winter, altitude sickness will be more pronounced.

The Pelicans are going to be a tough game.

And they'll definitely want to win this game as well.

Not only are the Warriors in hot pursuit, but they also need to make a name for themselves because they lost all two of their games here last season.

Upon arrival in Denver, Williams arranged for habilitation.

From the training, it can be seen that the physical consumption of the players is much greater than before.

The Nuggets players spend most of their time in Denver and are physically used to it, but for a visiting team like the Pelicans, that's what they need to overcome.

"Damn Denver, I hate it!"

After the training, Whiteside couldn't help but curse.

The teammates laughed and said that Whiteside was calling out their hearts.

Tang Tian also smiled at this time, which was a manifestation of the atmosphere of the Pelicans team.

After the training, the team members got on the bus one after another to prepare to go back to the hotel.

Tang Tian found out that Jokic didn't get into the car at this time, and asked Borrego to find out that the guy stayed in the training hall to practice again.

It seems that Jokic hasn't played for half a month, and he's really a little suffocated.

The next night, and the first day of December, the Pelicans-Nuggets game kicked off at Pepsi Center in Denver.

The attendance rate of the fans at the scene was around 7%.

Although the Nuggets are the home court of the Devils, after leaving Anthony in the past two years, the attendance rate of the arena has plummeted, generally only about 50%.

The extra 20% tonight is also related to the opponent being the Pelicans.

Although many fans feel that the Pelicans' record of No. 1 in the West cannot be stable for too long, the Pelicans are now the real No. 1 in the league.

Playing this kind of strong team at home, many fans will buy it.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were released one after another.

The Pelicans still have a regular lineup, with Holiday and Tang Tian on the outside, Ariza and Davis on the front, and Whiteside at center.

On the Nuggets' side, Ty Lawson and Afflalo on the outside, Wilson Chandler and "Orc" Faried on the front, and Mozgov at center.

George Karl brought the Nuggets to the pinnacle of team history in the 2012~2013 season, but after Iguodala left, Karl also left.

His replacement is Lakers and former assistant coach Brian Shaw of Phil Jackson.

Shaw continued Karl's playbook, and the Nuggets continued to focus on offensive team basketball.

The team's current top scorer per game is Afflalo, but he is also averaging only 14.3 points per game.

In addition to him, Lawson averaged 13.9 points per game, Chandler averaged 13.2 points per game, Faried averaged 12 points per game and Gallinari off the bench averaged 11 points per game.

This seems to be an even distribution of points, but because the core of the team is not established, the record is not good.

Even so, they have won far more at home than away wins this season, and they are aiming to make the playoffs and give their all at every home game.

As soon as the game started, Faried jumped to beat Davis, giving the Nuggets the opportunity to attack first.

Lawson burst into the scoring and assisted Chandler for a three-pointer.

The Nuggets are comfortable playing at home and have a lot of self-confidence.

Tang Tian's confrontation layup after the breakthrough also scored 2 points for the Pelicans.

The Nuggets started with a hot start, the Pelicans were stronger, and the two teams started the game equally.

The turning point of the game came when seven minutes into the first quarter saw a noticeable problem with the Pelicans' hand.

And the source of this problem is altitude sickness, they feel that the basketball in their hands is obviously a little heavier than usual.

Under the NBA-level confrontation, one point is a lot, and their offensive efficiency has dropped significantly.

Williams knows what the reason for this is happening, and his approach is to get into the rotation early.

At this time, the advantage of the Nuggets side of the whole team began to show.

Gallinari, Nurkic, Randy Foye and others who came off the bench were obviously playing on the Pelicans' side.

At the end of the first quarter, the Nuggets relied on their play in the second half to lead the Pelicans by double digits at 32-22.

There must be many factors that caused the emergence of one thing, and this game made Tang Tian deeply feel why the Nuggets were able to achieve the best record in team history in the 2012~2013 season.

It's really just on this plateau home field, all the people are soldiers, kill your main force, and then use the substitute to kill you.

At the start of the second quarter, Williams replaced Jokic.

Veterans like Evans react more to the plateau, panting for minutes after a high-intensity confrontation.

Jokic just stood up calmly when he heard Williams call himself.

But from the look in his eyes, he could feel that this guy was now a beast out of the cage.