The plan made sense — rest Chauncey Billups during Denver's back-to-back games earlier this week, take four days off, and by Saturday, he'd be back.
Not so fast.
On Wednesday, when Billups was asked about playing at Utah on Saturday, he said softly: "I don't know man, I really don't know, to be honest."
Billups' groin strain remains a pain on the court.
"It doesn't hurt to walk around or even jog — I feel good — it's the cutting, trying to get by a defender," he said. "That's my problem most of the times."
The all-star point guard has missed five of Denver's past six games. He played one half at Portland and has since determined he tweaked the groin and "kind of weakened the muscle."
The lingering injury for Billups has led to the Nuggets (20-12) losing five of their past six games.
The Utah game is a big one, since the Jazz is also in the mix for the Northwest Division title, which the Nuggets won a season ago.
If Billups doesn't go, Ty Lawson will have his toughest matchup yet as a starter — Utah's Deron Williams, third in the league with 10 assists per game. As for the rookie Lawson, he averages 3.4 assists and had six against Sacramento.
"I thought Ty in the Sacramento game had a very good passing game. He could have had a big number (of assists)," Denver coach George Karl said. "I think you should give a guy an assist if he's fouled while shooting. He had 4-5 plays where he delivered to the guy that was fouled. I thought it was a 10-assist-type night."
Lawson is known for energizing a game off the bench with his speed, but he explained that as a starter, "I am more of a facilitator. I got to get Carmelo (Anthony) going, Nene going. Starting off a game, everyone's trying to get warmed up."
If anything, Lawson's extended playing time has given him an opportunity to expand his game. For instance, Lawson has developed a nice little pick-and-roll play with Nene.
"When Nene sets the screen," Lawson said, "I can get him assists a lot on the pick-and-roll because I can dump it into him and he's so long that he can dunk it."
Even while out of the lineup, Billups continues his contributions as Lawson's mentor. One key piece of advice he's given Lawson is how to defend a guard who isn't a "shoot first" player. He told Lawson to stay "under" the pick-and-roll while on defense to help clog the dribbling lane, opening up space to shoot.
Opponents have been doing the same to Lawson, letting him fire away from deep but clogging up the lane.
In the deciding fourth quarter at Sacramento, Lawson missed all three of his jump- shot attempts, including two 3-pointers.
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