Barton feeling better after flulike illness
Will Barton put the hood up on his sweatshirt and faced reporters Wednesday night, clearly drained after playing through a high fever and other flulike symptoms in a 134-111 home win against Phoenix.
By Friday morning, Barton’s jovial energy had largely returned. After a day of rest, drinking liquids and taking medication, the Nuggets guard went through a shootaround getting ready for the game against Utah and said he was feeling “much better.”
Barton and forward Juancho Hernangomez have gotten sick within the past week, partially a result of the winter season and the grind of the NBA schedule. Still, the Nuggets are taking precautions to prevent the flu bug from spreading. Coach Michael Malone said hand sanitizer and Emergen-c supplement packets that boost the immune system have been distributed.
“I’m not shaking anybody’s hand. Stay away from me,” Malone said with a laugh. “But it is that time of year. Guys are getting sick. And if you can do anything to kind of control it and not let that spread throughout the locker room, it’s really important. Because it can wipe a team out pretty quickly.”
Lyles, on facing Jazz. Before every Nuggets-Jazz game, Trey Lyles has been peppered with questions about his time in Utah and the trade that sent him to Denver.
That’s typical in the first sea- son after such a move. But Lyles said matching up against the Jazz now feels “normal.”
“I don’t carry grudges with me,” Lyle said. “It’s fine. It’s a business. I realized that at an early stage in my career, and I’m fine with that. I’m just looking forward to my future and what I have to do.”
Also becoming normal for Lyles? Strong performances as the first post player off the bench. Lyles has averaged 16.6 points and 7.1 rebounds over his previous 12 games.
“My confidence is at an alltime high right now,” Lyles said. All-star voting. The NBA released the first returns for allstar fan voting Thursday, with the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris sitting outside the top 10 in the frontcourt and guard categories, respectively.
Malone made a pitch for his two standouts. Jokic entered Friday averaging 16.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists, while Harris ranked fifth in the NBA in steals (1.9 per game) and averaged 16.6 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 49 percent from the floor.
“If you just look at the raw numbers,” Malone said, “you could make a great case for both Nikola and Gary to be allstars (because of) what they do, how efficient they are and the impact that they have on our team every single night.”