Portland also has a game before this one: Saturday at Utah. The result matters less than what it shows about health. It will reveal whether Morant can go, who handles the ball if he can't, and how much Nori leans on Lillard and Jrue Holiday with a day off before the trip to Denver. Write any read on the Blazers in pencil until the Jazz game is done.
Denver's start has been all over the place. The Nuggets dropped 141 on New Orleans and beat the Pelicans again on the road. They also scored 84 in a loss at Oklahoma City and got run off their own floor by Golden State, 134-114. As of Saturday they had won 2 straight, most recently a 127-120 win at Phoenix built on the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and they did it shorthanded.
Shorthanded is the theme in Denver. Alpha Diallo missed the Phoenix game with personal and wrist issues, Spencer Jones is out with a hamstring injury, and Julian Strawther has a left knee sprain with a 6-week re-evaluation timeline. That's 3 wings out, and it puts more of the load on the starters around Jokic. Portland's guards will test exactly that depth.
So this comes down to two things. Can Portland's new backcourt actually be on the floor, and can Denver's thin wing group survive 48 minutes against it? Tipoff is 7:00 PM MT. If Morant is cleared, this is one of the better watches on Monday's board. If he isn't, Portland's guard depth has to cover for him at altitude against the best passer in the league.