On Sunday night, the Denver Nuggets lost 125-120 vs the Indiana Pacers, their fourth loss in a row.
This time, it came in a clutch situation. Denver had opportunities to tie and take the lead down the stretch, but a Nikola Jokic turnover caused by Christian Braun bumping into him and sending an errant pass to Russell Westbrook effectively sealed the deal with 20 seconds to go.
Jokic and Braun were each great throughout the game. Jokic had 41 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists, generating a ton of offense for his team while cleaning the glass and making the occasional defensive play. Braun had 30 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, shooting 12-of-16 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range.
Unfortunately, as is the story for much of the season, the Nuggets didn’t get enough from their supporting cast or on the defensive end. Michael Porter Jr. had 15 points but on 14 shots, including 1-of-9 from three and with three turnovers. Aaron Gordon and Jalen Pickett, starting in place of the injured Jamal Murray, had eight points combined. Russell Westbrook was pretty good off the bench tonight with a 16-5-4 stat line, but the Nuggets defense simply didn’t do enough to make up for any possible weaknesses on the offensive end.
It’s a running trend that the Nuggets are starting to see. Jokic and one or two other players have great games offensively, and only one or two players have impactful games defensively while the rest of the roster gets caught lacking. Denver as a team forced just six turnovers against the Indiana Pacers tonight. Despite Tyrese Haliburton scoring just nine points, the Pacers got good shots consistently and made just enough of them to stay ahead of Denver.
So, are the Nuggets sticking together and holding each other accountable in this stretch? To be determined.
“It’s really easy to be together and say family when you win, but when you’re losing games can you stay together?” Michael Malone questioned after the game. “Do you have the balls, do you have the courage to go home and look in the mirror and say, ‘What could I be doing better to help this team?’”
Before the game, Malone appeared resigned in his discussions about the defense and what could be done. The message has been delivered. It’s been delivered multiple times. The bigger question is whether it’s being received anymore.
“It seems like everybody had one or two, ‘It’s my fault, it’s my fault,’” Jokic shared postgame, indicating that the Nuggets were consistently making mistakes in the defensive scheme. “That’s 10 ‘my-bads’ and that’s basically 20 points or even more. We all need to be better in the little extra effort or just one more thing, make them do one more thing.”
Malone and the Nuggets have harped on multiple efforts all season. Jokic and Braun aren’t immune to this. Both made active choices to not close out on corner three-point shooters at various moments tonight. They’re certainly not the only ones, but it’s those plays that others watch, and if one or two players are willing to not close out, then others will be too when it’s their turn to make the extra effort play. The Nuggets simply haven’t had the same culture of accountability defensively this season, and that’s an unfortunate place to be as a team with three games to go in the regular season.
So, are the Nuggets cooked? Is the season over and we just don’t know it yet?
It might be.
Pregame, Jamal Murray’s injury status came up as something the Nuggets were being cautious over. Malone denied that, saying Murray is really hurt and following up with some uncertainty over his health status for the playoffs.
“This has been a weird one. It was day-to-day, day-to-day, then next thing you know, it’s not day-to-day.”
Denver’s clutch time issues on the offensive end in some recent games can be attributed in part to not having Jamal Murray. He hasn’t played the last five games, four of them being losses, and the team’s decision making in that stretch has certainly been suspect. If he’s able to get back on the court, Denver should be better when it matters.
But then again, Murray may not actually be healthy when he’s back on the court. Hamstrings are tricky, as are most soft tissue injuries. If the Nuggets rush him back before he’s ready, he’s likely to re-aggravate it and make it worse.
Also, there’s three games until the end of the regular season so it’s not like he has a ton of time to improve either.
So, the Nuggets are now in a place where they’re injured, unrested, bad on defense, and sliding in the wrong direction at the wrong time. It’s extremely possible that the Nuggets will end up in the Play-In Tournament when this is all said and done, despite their current seeding at the fourth in the West due to playing more games than other teams.
It’s difficult to know just how much the Nuggets have left to give this year. How much better can the defense get if the Nuggets put together a rousing speech and try hard? Have the improvements around Nikola Jokic actually meant anything on the offensive end if teams are familiar with the game plan against Denver? Are all of the takes meaningless if Jamal Murray can’t be Playoff Jamal Murray when the time comes?
All of the warning signs are showing. All of the sirens are going off. The Nuggets aren’t dissuading anyone from saying that the team is secretly cooked before the playoffs even begin.
Is it reasonable to believe that Jokic is good enough to make some of this meaningless? Of course. Is he so good that he can rise above the difficulties the Nuggets have faced and simply put the team on his back?
Well, I’d be more confident in that strategy if he hadn’t already averaged 45.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game in three straight losses to playoff teams.
The Nuggets are going to have to do better than ‘Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world’ as their personal playoff war cry in the weeks (or days) to come.
Is the Denver Nuggets season actually over? Mile High Sports.
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