The hard-charging Utah Jazz are on their tail, but as they head into the final week before the All-Star break, Johan Petro and the Denver Nuggets sit atop the Northwest Division of the Western Conference by two games.

Denver went through the month of January at a blistering pace with a record of 12-3 in 15 games. Johan saw action in three of those games, totaling 12:43 with three rebounds and a steal.

But since the turn of the calendar to February, the Nuggets met some of their toughest tests. After beating the Sacramento Kings in overtime on Feb. 1, Denver fell to Phoenix for only their second loss in their last 12 contests.

The Nuggets proved their mettle on Friday with a 126-113 victory over the Lakers. But they couldn’t string the wins together, falling to the Jazz the next night in Utah.

Johan played about three minutes in the losses to Phoenix and Utah as Denver searched for an inside presence to slow Amar’e Stoudamire and Mehmet Okur respectively.

NEXT UP
The Nuggets will use their two-day break to muscle up before their toughest three-game stretch of the season. On Tuesday, Denver hosts Southwest Division leading Dallas at 7 p.m. Mountain Time on Altitude. Two nights later, Denver welcomes San Antonio to the Pepsi Center as the Spurs come to town for a TNT game with a 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time tip-off.

That game marks the last before the All-Star Break next week. Johan and most of his teammates will have a full week off. But the tests keep coming immediately upon their return. They’ll open the second half of the season on Thursday, February 18 at 6 p.m. Mountain Time in another TNT game.

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