Stick a fork in ‘em.
Turn out the lights; this party is over.
Goodnight, Nuggets. So long, playoffs.
Memphis? The same team that just lost 19 straight? A team devoid of a single superstar? And who the hell is Dillon Brooks anyway?
Rattle off the clichés, spew the hyperbole, get it off your chest. It’s all fair game at this point when it comes to the Denver Nuggets, who lost Saturday night to the lowly Memphis Grizzlies.
At least last year the game that spelled their doom came against Portland, another squad vying for a playoff spot. In their last seven games, Denver has lost three times to sub-.500 teams (and two who have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs).
The Nuggets, who currently sit in ninth place in the Western Conference Standings, are far from mathematically eliminated from the postseason, but to say they’ve got a daunting task in front of them would be a gross understatement. Of their 12 games remaining this season, eight of them are on the road. Other than the Chicago Bulls (March 21 @ Chicago), every team on the Nuggets schedule currently holds a playoff spot. All of them are unquestionably better than Memphis. According to analyst and former Nugget Bill Hanzlik, Denver, in his opinion, needs to go 9-3 to get in.
Go ahead and bet the farm on the under.
If that sounds harsh, it’s meant to be. Regardless of the team’s relative age or the injury bug that’s bitten this season, they’ve underperformed. Plain and simple. The Nuggets have solid talent, enough to go toe to toe with Golden State more than once this season, enough to beat LeBron James on the road, enough to make the postseason.
It’s what they don’t have that’s troubling.
After the loss to Memphis, Head Coach Michael Malone cited “effort” as the culprit. Effort? It’s mid-March and a playoff spot is well within reach. If effort is truly the problem, then one of two possibilities exist: The Nuggets either have too many of the wrong kind of players, or they’ve got the wrong guy coaching them. Scarier yet is the idea it could be both.
Over the next 12 games, Nuggets General Manager Tim Connelly will have to do some serious soul searching. In Connelly’s defense, he’s assembled an excellent roster, one capable of making the playoffs even at its tender core age. But what can Connelly do from behind a desk now? Should Denver fail to make the playoffs, he’s got plenty of questions to both ask and answer.
Is Michael Malone the coach of the Nuggets’ future? Malone hasn’t been a disaster by any means, but at this point postseason expectations are more than reasonable. Malone was supposed to be a defensive head coach, and defense still eludes the Nuggets far too often (see Dillon Brooks, 24 points). Malone’s postgame assessments, the rattling off of telling stats, are starting to sound like a broken record. A team capable of beating the Warriors, but one that regularly loses “must have” games to the likes of Memphis, has a fatal flaw. Is Malone that flaw?
Another question: Should Nikola Jokic truly be the centerpiece of the Denver Nuggets? The talent is there. The stats are impressive, even if they’re somewhat inconsistent. But is Jokic a “really good” piece, or is he the piece? A superstar wills his team to wins against the Grizzlies and Lakers of the NBA. Where does that leave Jokic, who’s done more flopping and pouting than winning of late? It’s obvious that he has trouble playing alongside Paul Millsap, who was supposed to help get the Nuggets over the hump this season. That hasn’t happened. Is that Millsap’s fault? Jokic’s fault? Malone’s fault?
Do the Nuggets still need what every championship team has – a real, tried and tested superstar? Or, do they have one on the roster in Jamal Murray or Gary Harris? Harris is incredibly consistent, but it might be Murray who’s shown flashes of being capable of filling that role. Yes, he’s young, but next season will be his third. It’s fair to say the Nuggets should know by then. Oddly, Murray has found himself on the bench in a lot of key moments of late. Why? Is that a Murray issue or a Malone issue?
Come to think of it, there are issues in Denver. Far too many of them, which is why the Nuggets will be sitting at home come playoff time.
Here’s hoping that prediction is wrong, but it looks as if this leopard has shown its spots.
They’re toast.
Finished.
Finito.
Or whatever other cliché you prefer.
