Strike 3: The last offseason and the current preseason for the Denver Nuggets – hoping to contend for their second NBA title in three seasons – has been about one thing: Building depth behind a very solid starting five. Adding Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric should allow Nuggets head coach Michael Malone to trust his bench at least a little bit more. Malone doesn’t have much choice. There’s no way Denver can go through another season with Nikola Jokic and company playing 35 minutes a night because that’s the only way the Nuggets can win. And make no mistake, they need to win. A lot. Regardless of what some pundits have been saying, just accepting some additional losses so Malone can rest players for the postseason and going into the playoffs as the fourth or fifth seed in the west is a terrible idea. When the Nuggets had home court all through the playoffs in 2023, they won the NBA title. When they haven’t had home court, they haven’t won anything. Home. Court. Matters. A lot.
There IS another adjustment that Malone could make, however, that might help the bench unit – in fact the entire offense – be more productive: Let ‘em shoot. Actually, MAKE ‘em shoot. Three-pointers. Lots of them.
This might sound kinda dumb for a team that runs its offense through three-time MVP Jokic in the high post on most trips down the court. The Nuggets vaunted “two-man game” doesn’t necessarily include a lot of 3-point attempts. Denver’s version of the nearly indefensible high pick and roll is something more NBA teams are trying to emulate. For it to work, you need to have tandems like Jokic and Jamal Murray running it. Nonetheless, coaches see it as an offensive system they want to employ.
But can they, or should they? Maybe Boston’s way is better?
Remember, nearly every team in the NBA has more than one sharpshooter who can fill it up from behind the arc. Launching from 3-point land is a favorite go-to for most of the players in the league who aren’t named Jokic. And last year’s NBA champs, the Boston Celtics, have made it their go-to as a team.
The last two NBA title winners met last week for a pair of exhibition games in Abu Dhabi. The Nuggets used the long trip to get a lot of playing time for guys they want to look at to see if they’ll be contributors this season. The starters played decent minutes in the first half of both games, but spent the second halves watching the Celtics launch 3-pointers from everywhere but the hotel lobby.
In the first game, which Denver led up until the very end, Boston took an incredible 61 3-point shot attempts to Denver’s 32. They made 20, which isn’t a high percentage, but which did result in the guys in green outscoring Denver 60-36 from behind the arc. Boston won 107-103.
In Game 2, the Celtics opened up a big lead in the third quarter and cruised to a 130-104 win. In that one, Boston toned down the 3-point attempts a bit, taking ONLY 47 and hitting 18. The Nuggets were a mere 8-34. Do the math. From behind the arc, the Celtics outscored Denver 54-24. Pretty much the margin of victory.
These are meaningless exhibition games of course, but this is the same way Boston played a season ago, and it won them an NBA title. It’s a trend worth keeping in mind.
Malone’s Nuggets aren’t going to drastically change who they are. This is Jokic’s team – Jokic’s offense – until he retires. But Denver needs to find a way to get more quality 3-point attempts for players like Michael Porter Jr and Julian Strawther in particular, plus getting more good looks for Murray and newcomer Saric. Teams are going to let the other newbie, Westbrook, take a 3 any time he wants, given his career-long struggles from behind the arc. He made three out of six in his first game with Denver, so perhaps that’s a good sign.
If Denver – which attempted the second-fewest three’s in the NBA last season (Boston was tops in the league) – suddenly became just average from three point land, parade planners could get busy right away.
