When the word “inexcusable” is used in a press conference, I perk up.
The Denver Nuggets lost 117-108 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Sunday matinee matchup this afternoon. It was a game in which Nikola Jokic was pretty strong throughout the contest and Jamal Murray had some moments, but the larger collective struggled to maintain any semblance of momentum and ultimately let the game slip away in the fourth quarter once again.
But it was the beginning of the second quarter that clearly caught Adelman’s attention and ire.
“We let offensive struggles, missed shots and turnovers, turn into horrendous defense. That two-minute stretch was inexcusable, and against a really good team that can lose you the game.”
Inexcusable. The implication there is of course that it is unacceptable and cannot happen again.
However, the same exact thing happened last Friday in Denver’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Nuggets, led by 12 Jokic minutes, had great moments in the first and third quarters, generating leads and then getting some needed rest. When the bench came in, those leads evaporated.
Today, it was exactly the same. The Nuggets led 31-22 after the first quarter only for the Timberwolves to erase that good work in two minutes.
On the floor for that run were Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Cam Johnson, Zeke Nnaji, and Jonas Valanciunas. Nnaji got cooked defensively by Bones Hyland, who had an excellent game. Nnaji also got blocked at the rim unceremoniously by Rudy Gobert to force a shot clock violation. Johnson missed every shot he attempted including a three during that stretch. Valanciunas set a hard screen with some extracurriculars that turned into a flagrant foul. Then, Bruce Brown committed a turnover for an Ayo Dosunmu layup on the other end. 9-0 run. Timeout Denver.
“I thought we were competitive most of the night, but not during that stretch. To me, that was the game, and it’s something we have to learn from.”
The learning? That Denver needs Aaron Gordon and/or Peyton Watson back to help rectify this mess.
In addition, the Nuggets cannot simply hold their hats on an entire game due to a 9-0 run in the second quarter. There were other parts of the game when they lost the flow, and Jokic did a good job of dispelling the notion that one stretch lost them the game afterwards.
“We still had 24 minutes to do something. Yes, they had the run. It felt like even in the second half and third quarter we kind of had momentum, but they still made a play and scored when they needed to, and they kept the lead the whole time.”
This was a poor outing from the Nuggets bench, but the starters still had an opportunity to right those wrongs and were unable to. Once again, it was the missed opportunities after a good defensive stop, an untimely turnover, a poor missed rotation, the details that continue falling through the cracks in the midst of a larger narrative that may or may not be true.
Nikola Jokic had 35 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists tonight. He had some breakdowns, but by and large, he was excellent throughout the game. Jamal Murray was solid, but 25 points on 22 shots isn’t a stat line he will write home about. The dunk over Rudy Gobert was tremendous though.
Jokic and Murray combined for 8 of the Nuggets 14 total turnovers tonight. Minnesota scored 22 points off turnovers and punished every Nuggets mistake. On the other end, the Nuggets forced 14 turnovers but only scored 11 points off those miscues. Minnesota made Denver pay in those situations while the Nuggets couldn’t capitalize at enough points when they created a positive opportunity.
“We might struggle to get a stop… then we make a run, get a stop, and turn it right back over,” Murray opined postgame. “It’s frustrating. Uncharacteristic.”
Uncharacteristic is a good word for it. The Nuggets aren’t used to this, though they’ve made these kinds of mistakes enough times that it should be familiar. Murray isn’t ducking the criticism here because it does have to get better in his eyes. He also sees an opportunity when the Nuggets get their reinforcements.
“We haven’t had our starting five for a really long time…mixing different lineups…it’s just a different read of what we need each night.”
“It’s been tough…but once we get healthy and get back to the base of who we are, we’ll be fine.”
The Nuggets still believe they can beat anybody. They believe they’re the best team in the NBA when healthy and that health is the biggest thing that’s holding them back. When looking at the numbers it’s a fair assessment. The Nuggets are an elite team when Aaron Gordon plays and a solid team when he doesn’t. Once they get him back, a lot of things will figure themselves out.
But Gordon isn’t the savior of all ills. Putting that pressure on him to be that kind of savior is irresponsible and dismissive of what’s manifested without him. The Nuggets do not defend at a high enough level consistently. They burned the candle at both ends in Jokic’s absence in January, but now that he’s back, there can’t be this level of expectation that he’s simply going to solve world hunger either. Jokic hasn’t fully been himself, and while he’s slowly but surely returning back to his normal self, he’s not going to save the minutes when he’s not on the floor either.
Simply put: Cam Johnson has to step up here. He’s averaging 10.0 points and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 31% from the field and 27% from three. The Nuggets need more, and zero points in a game while the team is asking you to captain the second unit isn’t good enough. Clearly, there’s an ankle issue that he’s dealing with that might hold him out of tomorrow’s back-to-back vs Utah. If he’s out, he must rest up and prepare himself for a higher level of aggression and consistency whenever he does end up returning.
The Nuggets cannot be beholden to how good or bad Johnson is though. They’re talented enough around those guys to make it work. Adelman also has to be better. Just 16 minutes for Julian Strawther on a night when he knows Johnson is hurting (and also bad) is inexcusable too. Strawther was good defensively and a +8 in those 16 minutes. There was no reason for him to get benched and Johnson to still be playing.
If it is actually inexcusable, then the Nuggets won’t roll out the same bench rotation tomorrow night. Removing Zeke Nnaji is an easy answer, but figuring out what to do at the forward spots is more challenging, especially if Gordon, Watson, Spencer Jones, and now Johnson are all out.
Clearly, something needs to change for Denver. The process is better at times, but they’ve been incapable of maintaining a high level of effort and high level of execution at the same time. They did so once post All-Star break, and it led to a 54-point win (the Boston win was more about Boston than Denver).
Can the Nuggets clean things up? Are they capable of rising to another level even when Gordon and Watson return? Hopefully so, because as I see it right now: they’re in the danger zone in a difficult Western Conference.
