After a long seven-game road trip, the Denver Nuggets returned to Ball Arena at a major disadvantage without several important players.
Nikola Jokic, Cam Johnson, and Jonas Valanciunas were of course out, and after catching an illness, Jamal Murray and Spencer Jones joined them on the inactive list. The Nuggets were left with a fairly comprised and tired squad, and it showed up throughout this game in multiple ways.
The Nuggets lost 110-87 to the Atlanta Hawks, a team that has struggled for a while but still has plenty of talent. Led by Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels, the Hawks exhausted the remaining Nuggets with relentless ball pressure and passing lane defense, forcing 19 turnovers (including 12 in the first half).
There was a lot of pressure on Peyton Watson to lead the group offensively as one of the only advantage creators with the ball in his hands. Watson finished the game 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block, playing hard and shooting relatively efficiently from the field. Unfortunately, his five first half turnovers (he didn’t have any in the second half) led to runouts and points for Atlanta that felt backbreaking with Denver struggling so much to score.
The other major issue for Denver manifested in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets made a strong run to close the third quarter ahead of the Hawks. Unfortunately, Onyeka Okongwu hit a buzzer beater three to cut Atlanta’s deficit to one point.
Then, the Hawks won the fourth quarter 36-12. The Nuggets were running on empty on both ends of the floor. Their effort wasn’t high enough out of the break, and getting behind the eight-ball caused the team to spiral for the rest of the game. The Nuggets couldn’t make any threes, and they also couldn’t defend. It was a painful end to a game in which the Nuggets probably would’ve lost anyway due to their compromised rotation, but it spiraled out of control so quickly that it became a blowout in six minutes of game time.
Aaron Gordon had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in 24 minutes off the bench. He was one of the guys to struggle mightily in the fourth quarter despite a strong first three quarters overall.
Christian Braun was also very, very rough. He had zero points and simply looked lost on the offensive end of the floor trying to recover from his ankle injury that kept him out for so long. The burst and explosiveness clearly isn’t there, and it’s causing Braun to think very hard about every move he makes, so much so that he struggles to execute at game speed.
The only potential bright spot for the Nuggets was Hunter Tyson, who finished the game +2 in a 23-point loss (as did Watson). Tyson was on the floor foe the entirety of Denver’s third quarter run, making a kickout three to give Denver a lead briefly. He finished the game with 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in his 27 minutes, shooting relatively efficiently and playing hard.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, basically everyone else had a really rough game. There wasn’t a lot of energy, and while the Nuggets held on for a while, the fourth quarter slipping away as violently as it did was a clear sign of fatigue in an overwhelmed squad.
Is this a bad sign for the Nuggets? Perhaps. No game without Jokic (and Murray) is guaranteed right now. The Nuggets have to play with high effort to make up the difference, and not having either star on the floor caused a bit of an identity crisis for Denver offensively that led to just 87 points and a lot of halfhearted drives and jumpers or leaners outside of the paint.
Here’s to Murray’s improved health and that he was out for a short term illness, rather than something that could linger and seriously affect the Nuggets on Sunday vs the Milwaukee Bucks too.
