In the latest edition of the Nuggets Ink podcast, beat writer Bennett Durando and sports editor Matt Schubert reconvene after the first week of the regular season. Among the topics discussed:
Aaron Gordon got the season started with a 50-burger against the Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets forward says he’s not as athletic as he once was, but is he the best he’s been at basketball, as he contended this offseason?
Is Tim Hardaway Jr. going to be the Nuggets’ sixth man all season? How has Jonas Valanciunas fit in with the second unit? Is Julian Strawther going to remain tethered to the bench?
How has new head coach David Adelman fared running the show? His rotations? His adjustments? What’s been different between how he runs things and how Michael Malone did?
Emails and iTunes reviews … would’ve been read had anyone sent them in!
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jamal Murray scored 23 of his 43 points in the third quarter and Nikola Jokic had a triple-double as the Denver Nuggets beat the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves 127-114 on Monday night.
The Timberwolves played without star guard Anthony Edwards, who will miss at least a week with a strained right hamstring after he was injured in Sunday’s game against Indiana. Reserve guard Jaylen Clark also missed the game with left calf tightness.
Jokic finished with 25 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double in three games this season. He now has 167 career triple-doubles, third on the NBA’s all-time list.
Murray made 16 of 29 shots and hit five 3-pointers for the Nuggets, who outscored the Timberwolves 45-29 in the third quarter to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points and Peyton Watson added 12 for Denver.
Jaden McDaniels led Minnesota with 25 points, while Julius Randle scored 24 and Naz Reid had 18.
Minnesota led 65-57 at halftime, but Murray opened the third quarter with five quick points on a jumper and a 3-pointer. His third 3 of the quarter put Denver on top 79-78. Hardaway hit a pair of 3s late in the quarter to stretch Denver’s lead to 102-94 after three quarters.
The Timberwolves cut the lead to 104-101 but Watson answered with eight points in a 10-0 run including back-to-back corner 3s to restore the Nuggets’ cushion.
The Nuggets lost all four of their regular-season games against Minnesota last year, but they clearly benefited from the absence of Edwards, who averaged 31.5 points per game against Denver last season.
Up next
Denver hosts New Orleans and the Timberwolves host the Lakers on Wednesday.
SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Gordon gets hyphy when he’s near his hometown.
His string of exceptional scoring performances at Golden State might seem to defy explanation, but it turns out there is one. Home is where the heart is, or in Gordon’s case, where the ear is.
“Man, the DJ was playing slaps, you know what I mean?” the Nuggets forward said after Denver’s season-opening overtime loss on Thursday. “So I’m vibing the whole game. He’s playing the straight Bay that I grew up with. Just like hyphy music, you know what I mean?”
He’s talking about Oakland-style hip-hop, the frenetic subgenre that emerged in the ’90s and spread across the Bay Area as he was growing up in San Jose in the early aughts. Give Gordon the soundtrack of his youth, and he’ll give you a memorable game.
Fifty was not enough on Thursday night, and that will haunt the Nuggets, even if it was only the first game of the season. It will haunt them in annoyingly sentimental and emotional ways more than it will in the standings, at least for now.
Warriors 137, Nuggets 131 in an overtime opener for the ages.
“I feel awful for Aaron,” coach David Adelman said unprompted. “Aaron had a night that I’ll never forget. I know that he won’t.”
Gordon shone brightest, but Steph Curry got the last laugh in a city that he wields so effortlessly in the palm of his hand, even at 37 years old. His effect on the Bay Area is as timeless as hyphy’s spell on Gordon. When he stepped to the foul line late in regulation for three free throws, he first paused, took notice of a momentary lull and calmly implored Chase Center to get noisier. They couldn’t jump to their feet fast enough.
“He doesn’t need a lot,” Nikola Jokic said. “He just needs to see one ball go in.”
That was the second-most striking crowd reaction of the night, outdone only by the authentic joy when Gordon missed his first 3-pointer. It happened late in the third quarter, on Gordon’s ninth try. He seemed invincible up to that point, and afterward, too. The final stat line: 50 points and eight rebounds on 17-of-21 shooting, including 10 of 11 outside the arc.
“Whoever scores 10 threes in a game,” Jokic said, “it’s easy to play with that person.”
Even after he cashed in a few, the Warriors relentlessly made head-scratching defensive decisions — going under a ball screen, not picking Gordon up in transition as he brought the ball up, selling out to take away the paint from him off-ball instead of the 3-point line, as Draymond Green did with 25 seconds left in regulation.
Gordon’s 10th triple should have been the game-winner.
But…
“He hit a super-tough shot to send it to OT,” Gordon said. “That’s Steph being Steph.”
From 34 feet deep, Curry pulled up and stole Gordon’s moment. The Nuggets were helpless to stop it. They showed him bodies and ran him off the 3-point line effectively early in the game, but steadily, he turned Christian Braun’s sneakers into ice-skates, predicted the beats and rhythms of Jokic’s double-teams, and found the angles that transferred control back to him. He scored 35 of his 42 points after halftime.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors does his “night night” celebration after Jimmy Butler III #10 made a three-point basket against the Denver Nuggets in overtime at Chase Center on Oct. 23, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Nuggets didn’t defend well enough. They relinquished a 14-point lead.
“A few times, we didn’t send him in the direction of the defense,” Adelman said. “If he gets the other way, there’s no one on the other side of that pick. … The shot he made to tie, it’s a shot that only he can make. But obviously you have to be up (the floor) more.”
Denver still had a chance to win on the last possession of regulation. The Warriors had offense-based personnel on the floor from the previous sequence. But Adelman was OK using a timeout and allowing them to substitute if it meant getting organized on the pick-and-roll setup and making sure his players didn’t rush to shoot before the buzzer. They produced a quality shot out of that timeout, but Jokic missed from floater range.
This was a night when plenty of components weren’t good enough around Gordon. Braun struggled at both ends. Cam Johnson was cold from 3-point range and had a minus-17 in his Nuggets debut. The defense was often tangled or disorganized getting back in transition. But Jokic’s individual inefficiency stood out. In one of the lesser triple-doubles of his career, he missed 13 of his last 16 field goal attempts. He was 0 for 4 in the last two minutes of overtime. He was 2 for 13 from three. It was a sobering inversion of Gordon’s hyphy night.
Asked if he could’ve done more to establish an interior presence in lieu of those 3s, though, Jokic played a bit of defense.
“I think I need to mix it up, (but) I’m happy with the 3-point (looks),” he said. “I think I was open. Most of them seemed like they were going in, but they didn’t. So I mean, I’m happy with the shots.”
Just not the results — a beloved teammate’s career night wasted, a homecoming squandered.
“It sucks,” Gordon admitted. “They’re asking if I wanted the game ball. And no, I don’t want the game ball to take an L home with me. No, thank you. So it sucks. But it’s one game. It’s our first game. That’s a good team. It’s a really good team. It’s hard to win on the road. You’ve gotta execute offensively and defensively down the stretch. So we’re gonna reconvene, watch the film, go back home and try to play better in our home opener.”
DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic considers the Denver Nuggets a dark horse in the race for an NBA title.
Technically speaking, of course, they’re not. Far from it, even.
The Nuggets are only slightly behind the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder as a favorite to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the season. One thing’s for sure: There’s plenty of horsepower in the Northwest Division, with Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves a strong contender, too. Portland and Utah are up-and-comers with youthful lineups.
“They are definitely the hunted one and they’re playing good,” Jokic said of the Thunder. “Hopefully we can be the — how do you say it? The silent knight? Silent horse? Dark horse.”
In the league’s annual preseason polling of general managers, three of the top four seeds in the West are expected to come out of the Northwest (the Houston Rockets were the exception, as the third seed). All paths to the NBA title, though, lead through Oklahoma City, where NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates aren’t ready to hand over anything.
“It would suck to lose the NBA championship in 2026,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That’s the new focus. That’s the new goal. … Hopefully we look up and we’ve accomplished the same thing we just accomplished.”
One of the summer’s highlights for Gilgeous-Alexander was taking the NBA trophy back home to Hamilton, Ontario, where he received the key to the city.
“I couldn’t imagine as a kid the Larry O’Brien coming to Hamilton,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was voted the NBA Finals MVP after the Thunder beat Indiana in a thrilling series that went seven games. “It was special.”
Here’s a look at each Northwest Division team in a predicted order of finish:
Oklahoma City Thunder
The defending champions might be even better this season.
Oklahoma City signed stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to extensions in the offseason, positioning the Thunder to be title contenders for the foreseeable future. Gilgeous-Alexander is just hitting his prime at age 27.
Nearly everyone returns from the team that went 68-14 in the regular season before winning the championship. That includes defensive stoppers Lu Dort, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace, rebounding machine Isaiah Hartenstein, proven scorers Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe and all-around energy players Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets will have a new look after losing to the Thunder in a second-round series that went seven games. They traded Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson and orchestrated another deal with Sacramento for big man Jonas Valanciunas. Denver also added Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown, who was a key piece when the Nuggets won the title in 2023.
They also have Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP who averaged a triple-double last season.
And perhaps less theatrics after letting go of coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with three games remaining in the regular season.
“We hope we’re going to stay healthy and we hope we’re going to figure out the playing with each other,” Jokic said. “I think we’re going to be good.”
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves stayed as committed to their current core as any team in the NBA over the summer, re-upping with Julius Randle and Naz Reid to run back the squad that reached a second straight Western Conference finals. Seven of their top eight players have returned, with elevated backcourt roles coming for recent first-round draft picks Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark. Everything goes through Edwards, who focused during the offseason on rounding out his game with an eye toward improving his ballhandling and defense.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers have worked hard to develop their young core, including Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara. It was partly in interest of that group’s development that the team pushed for a possible play-in spot last season rather than tank in favor of draft position. They fell short, but now Portland looks to take that next step.
The team traded away Anfernee Simons and Deandre Ayton, and brought in steady veteran Jrue Holiday and a familiar face, nine-time All-Star Damian Lillard, who spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Blazers. There’s a catch, though. Lillard is recovering from an Achilles tendon injury and won’t play this season, so he’ll serve as more of a player-coach. One intriguing addition is draft pick Yang Hansen, a 7-foot-1 center from China who has turned heads with both his height and passing ability.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz are going through a rebuild that requires patience.
They do have Lauri Markkanen — for now, anyway. Markkanen, who agreed to a five-year, $238 million contract renegotiation and extension in August 2024, continues to be the subject of trade speculation.
First-round draft picks Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr. will learn on the fly. The Jazz, who turned in the worst record in the NBA last season at 17-65, lost three of their top scorers in John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton.
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AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt, Dave Campbell and Anne M. Peterson contributed to this report.
In one of the most peculiar sights of the decade so far for hard-core Nuggets fans, Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas played hot potato.
It was Sunday in Los Angeles, in the middle of Denver’s third preseason game. Peyton Watson was having trouble feeding Jokic in the high post, so Valanciunas flashed to the top of the key to give Watson an outlet.
The Lithuanian center collected the ball and quickly passed it to the Serbian center — the original intended target. But Jokic had limited options with both Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac sitting back in the paint, unconcerned by the 3-point threat of Valanciunas. Jokic immediately passed back out to the open Valanciunas, who reluctantly fired away.
Yes, the Nuggets were playing two centers together, as first-time coach David Adelman promised before training camp. Their 102-94 win over the Clippers marked the preseason debut of their new double-big look, with the three-time MVP center Jokic essentially playing power forward.
And yes, the floor spacing looked a little funky at times. Adelman could only chuckle about it later.
“I thought it was hilarious to watch it on tape,” he said Tuesday before the Nuggets hosted the Chicago Bulls. “We haven’t had a ton of time (practicing with) those guys. They’ve scripted together, but they haven’t played together. But it’s kind of like, rip the Band-Aid off and just see what happens.”
That’s precisely what preseason basketball is for, Adelman will attest. Denver played only five offensive possessions with Jokic and Valanciunas on the floor together that night, scoring four points for an offensive rating of 80.
But again, note the minuscule sample size and the lack of practice time devoted to this particular lineup so far.
“If they end up playing together a lot, we’ll slowly but surely add a package for those two guys,” Adelman said. “And not just for them, but to make the other three guys comfortable. I’ve made this point about Houston. Offensively, with the two bigs, (Alperen) Sengun was the point person, and (Steven) Adams just crushed the glass. So it’s like, our personalities are a little bit different. Val can crash the glass, but he’s also skilled. So I have to find a way to get those guys comfortable in space so they’re not right on top of each other.”
It wasn’t all bad on Sunday night, either. A timeout was called in the middle of the short stint, allowing Adelman to draw up a set “ATO” play using both big men. Jokic set a screen to bring Christian Braun up to the ball, then a second screen under the basket to get Valanciunas coming across to Braun’s side of the floor. Los Angeles switched that second screen, making the entry pass to Valanciunas difficult but allowing Jokic to flash to the foul line. He knocked down an open jumper from there.
“The ATO was great,” Adelman said. “We got them organized with the high-low, and that’s gonna be effective. I don’t know how people will handle that. I’m sure they’ll come up with something.”
The Rockets are a nice template to study after they discovered resounding success with Sengun and Adams last year, but double-big lineups have been a growing trend around the league for longer than that. Adelman is nothing if not an experimenter, and he has expressed an earnest curiosity all preseason about how opponents will guard Denver’s version of the twin-towers look.
The problem might be at the defensive end. There, too, Adelman is drawing inspiration from Houston by trying a zone scheme with both centers next to each other at the bottom. On Sunday, he placed Valanciunas in the middle and Jokic on the edge, forcing him to defend from the corner to the wing on a couple of possessions.
Adelman pointed out on Tuesday that he put Jokic in that same location in the zone a few times during the 2025 playoffs, which allowed Aaron Gordon to play the middle and defend pick-and-rolls.
“I thought we did a really good job as a team defense behind him. … You tilt a little bit more,” Adelman said. “If he ends up with a quality offensive player, wing player, you bring that second defender over a little bit more, as opposed to if it was, I don’t know, Peyton Watson down there. So a little bit of a difference, but not much. And he’s just so smart with his angles, he’ll always force the ball back to where we want it to go.”
The lineup around Jokic and Valanciunas prioritized length: Watson, Braun and Julian Strawther. Whether that’s the best combination remains to be seen. After all, Denver was just ripping the Band-Aid off.
And there’s still time to tinker more — 82 games of it.
“I’m not saying it’s going to be the perfect thing,” Adelman reiterated, “but I definitely want to try it.”
The Nuggets improved to 2-1 this preseason with a 102-94 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night at Intuit Dome. Here are our three initial observations.
David Adelman takes off training wheels
The Nuggets have reached the phase of the preseason where they feel ready to try more stuff. After using a full-bench lineup for the majority of second-unit minutes in the first two exhibitions — and subsequently struggling against ball pressure — they went to a Jamal Murray stagger Sunday.
Notably, that meant taking out Murray for Tim Hardaway Jr. as their earliest substitution, a sign of David Adelman’s trust in Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon to initiate offense without a traditional point guard on the floor. It could be a sensible rotation template. Hardaway seems best suited to share most of his minutes with Jokic and benefit from the resulting open 3-point looks, while Murray’s ball-in-hand burst and authority are qualities the second unit needs. The star guard has also been highly engaged at the defensive end this preseason.
Adelman also briefly went to a double-big lineup with Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas for the first time. They screened for each other off the ball in a couple of actions and played at the bottom of a zone together on defense. Schematically, Denver did a lot of stunting, tried out some zone looks and defended the ball more aggressively. (The last part landed the Clippers in the bonus regularly.)
Rookie extension candidates showing out
With less than two weeks left to sign rookie-scale extensions with Denver, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson are both making their presence felt this preseason. Braun followed up an 8-for-8 shooting performance by contributing 11 more points and three assists in Los Angeles.
He went 4 for 5 from the floor and registered the best plus-minus in Denver’s starting lineup (plus-nine). Not only does Braun’s spot-up 3-pointer look more polished than ever, but he continues to hint at new layers to his game. In the first quarter Sunday, he drove for a contested layup as a pick-and-roll ball-handler with Jokic.
Watson is also on the ball way more frequently than he was in his first two years, bringing it up and running some pick-and-rolls with Valanciunas. He’s always been an underrated passer, but that skill has mostly functioned as connective tissue on the baseline. His play-making could be central to the second unit this season.
Two-way watch
Adelman has given every indication that he wants to use the regular season to experiment and exhaust all stylistic options. That could include using two-way players (especially considering the 15th roster spot will likely remain vacant). One of his most telling rotation decisions so far has been his deployment of Spencer Jones ahead of certain players on the active roster, including DaRon Holmes II and Zeke Nnaji.
Jones has provided some excellent defensive possessions this month. But another two-way youngster who shares his last name stole the show Sunday. In a preseason game characterized by unusually high competitiveness from both teams, the score remained deadlocked with starters long gone in the fourth quarter. Then Curtis Jones went off for 11 points (three 3-pointers), allowing Denver to run away with the win. The Iowa State grad’s eye-popping range should make him useful for occasional regular-season minutes.
“We are trying to be aggressive,” Nikola Jokic said Friday at Ball Arena. “We’re trying to be, like, close to a foul — testing the refs to call the fouls. That’s something that we’re gonna try to do. That was the emphasis of the practice.”
The most accurate term for it is probably the one used by coach David Adelman this week: “junking it up” on defense. In two consecutive postseasons, Denver has been vexed by an opponent’s ability to junk it up and unable to return the favor. Minnesota implored Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to devour Jamal Murray in 2024.
OKC took the principle to another level last season, collapsing into the paint and recovering to the 3-point line as efficiently as any defense in recent memory. Alex Caruso was the ace in the hole, pestering and prodding Jokic to death in Game 7.
The Nuggets are searching for ways to renovate their defense after it ranked 21st in the league. Junking it up more is one way to start.
“Just different ways to shrink on better players. Zone. Working all that kind of stuff, and then when we do zone, who’s on the court, what their responsibilities are at each spot,” Adelman said. “And we’ll continue to work on it. I don’t know if we’ll throw it out there in the preseason, but it’s something we have to continue to improve on, because I feel like in the past, a lot of times you’re trying to get so many things done on the checklist that you kind of tell yourself you’re gonna get to that eventually. And I think if we’re actually gonna do that successfully, we have to work on it daily.”
Adelman has alluded to zone defense a handful of times this offseason, after deploying it regularly during the playoffs as interim coach. He and his players have also described a structure that’ll be more heavily based around Jokic’s IQ and matchup-dependent decisions. Some games might call for Jokic to be “up to touch” against a ball-handler. Others might be more suitable for various levels of drop coverage.
“It’s something new, so we are kind of trying to adjust,” Jokic said. “But I think we see that it’s going to be really good, and it could help us a lot.”
The ideas are complicated, but the overarching theme is that Denver’s scheme will be less rigid than before. Regardless of how it looks in action, peskier ball pressure is a foundational tenet. To put it another way, better effort than last season.
“There’s gonna be mistakes in this, when we’re not all the way up (the floor) like we’ve been, where the rotations are kind of starting from the get-go of every play, which we were really good at for a long time,” Adelman said. “… We just think this group has the capability of doing some different things, giving different looks, which gives us more flexibility on the defensive end, both man and zone.”
The end goal is to close the gap, at least marginally, with Oklahoma City — a heavy favorite to repeat thanks to its ability to overwhelm with defense.
“Hopefully we can be the silent — how do you say it? — the silent knight,” Jokic said. “Silent horse. Dark horse.”
Gordon’s status
Aaron Gordon didn’t play Monday in the Nuggets’ second preseason game, but Adelman has no concern about the power forward’s health. Denver visits the Clippers for another exhibition on Sunday.
“I think Aaron, Jamal, guys that have had those minor lingering injuries (in the past), we have to get ahead of that,” Adelman said. “So it just felt like the right time for him to take a two-day break, and now he’s back at it.”
Gordon spent most of last season dealing with a calf strain, then he also suffered a hamstring strain in the second round of the playoffs.
Instant observations as the Nuggets defeated the Raptors 112-108 in their second preseason game Monday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
More like it
Denver’s starters looked a little rusty as a unit in their first preseason minutes together Saturday. Two days later, the rust was gone for the most part. Turnovers still piled up — Nikola Jokic committed six — but ball movement was generally more fluid and crisp.
Peyton Watson and Christian Braun made smart reads as connectors (Watson started for Aaron Gordon, who took the night off for maintenance). Cam Johnson played on the ball a bit more than he did in the first exhibition. On an early possession, he recognized that no entry pass to Jokic was available, used his dribble to put pressure on the rim instead, kicked out to Watson, then relocated for an open catch-and-shoot 3-pointer.
And Jokic was in full experimentation mode. One of his most avant-garde passes was a side-armed, no-look fastball curling around the baseline to successfully reach Johnson in the corner. (He missed the 3.) Another was a reverse over-the-head attempt to find a cutter in stride, but that one was nowhere close to a completion. That’s what the preseason is for.
Pressure release search
The Nuggets finished at an extraordinary clip in Vancouver. They were shooting over 60% from the floor for most of the game, including an 8-for-8 performance from Braun (19 points, three 3s), a 5-for-5 night from Jokic and a mini-collection of tough 3s off the dribble from Jamal Murray, still the preseason MVP so far.
Starting plays, not finishing them, is the tricky part right now. Especially when Murray isn’t on the floor.
Toronto showed full-court pressure most of the night, and Denver’s backups often struggled to get the ball up the floor and initiate offense cleanly. Five bench players turned the ball over multiple times, led by Bruce Brown’s four. He might just need some time to reacclimate to his point guard role with the Nuggets, but handling intense ball pressure has been a collective issue for the bench so far. Can Jalen Pickett be a consistent answer? Julian Strawther? Even Peyton Watson is handling the ball more than ever through two games.
Bench notes
With Watson sliding into the starting lineup, David Adelman played a four-guard bench lineup around Jonas Valanciunas in lieu of slotting in a more size-appropriate backup four like DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji or Spencer Jones. (The main second unit was made up of Pickett, Strawther, Tim Hardaway Jr., Brown and Valanciunas.)
That might say more about the current pecking order than anything else. Back from his torn Achilles tendon, Holmes seems to understandably be a work in progress rather than an instant plug-and-play rookie. He did check in and knock down a couple of huge 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter as Denver held off a late comeback, though.
Also somewhat worthy note: Hardaway has been Adelman’s first sub into the game in both exhibitions so far (with Watson on Saturday, alone on Monday).
SAN DIEGO — Aaron Gordon telegraphed the prevailing ethos of Nuggets training camp the day before it began.
Prompted about balancing his focus between offense and defense after a breakout year shooting the 3-pointer, Gordon volleyed back a counterpoint: There will be no balance.
“I’m gonna just turn up on defense,” the power forward said. “We have so much talent on the offensive side, I’m not even really worried about it.”
Defensive intensity has since developed into the defining characteristic of Denver’s first two days together as a team. The first play of the first practice Tuesday resulted in a collision that forced two-way wing Spencer Jones to get stitches. Jamal Murray told reporters Wednesday that turnovers have been an obstacle while trying to get into an organized half-court offense. Bruce Brown said he and fellow bench player Peyton Watson have been picking up full-court to wreak havoc on the starters.
In the modern NBA, defense is vegetables. Especially for a team that has grown overly dependent on its effortless scoring efficiency over the years.
The Nuggets are eating their vegetables this week. Keeping the diet for a full season will be the tough part.
“I think defense sometimes in our league is so hard that it’s not how you drill it,” first-year coach David Adelman said. “It’s just, do you want to do it? It really is. … I would love to see our defense get better. If our offense takes a little step back, we’ll be fine. To have the depth we have, there’s no excuse (not) to play extremely hard. Put your hands on people. Not worrying about being in foul trouble like we’ve had to do in the past. So it’s a different way of looking at the game, and we have to demand it every day.”
Adelman was primarily responsible for Denver’s offense before his promotion this year. The Nuggets ranked no worse than seventh at that end of the floor during his eight seasons as an assistant coach.
But his emphasis has been on defensive accountability and schematic variety since he took over for Michael Malone. The Nuggets ranked unusually low in defensive rating for a championship-winning team back in 2022-23 (15th in the NBA) and regressed to 21st last season — their first as a bottom-10 defense since 2017-18. That was the year before their first playoff appearance with Nikola Jokic.
“Better communication between the players right now, just trying to focus on rotations and everybody covering for each other,” Murray said. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, but as long as guys are talking and trying to put themselves in the right spots, that’s what it is. Defense is reactionary.”
“I think we’ve always had a good frame for defense,” said Christian Braun, who will match up against star guards when Denver plays within that man-to-man framework. “We’ve always had a good idea. … If we can get to a point where we’re playing at the playoff level every single night, we’re not trying to outscore teams, I think that’ll be good for us. Try to blow teams out a little more this year.”
The “frame” involves Jokic playing up the floor against pick-and-rolls while a “low man” rotates from the weak-side corner to prevent the roller from scoring an easy layup or dunk — at its best, setting up a series of high-energy help rotations around the perimeter. Problem is, the scramble mindset can grow exhausting, and Jokic isn’t always effective enough at deterring the ball-handler at the level of the screen. When Adelman took over as interim head coach in April, he started making adjustments more frequently, such as stationing Jokic farther down the floor or zoning up.
Now Jared Dudley has been hired to run the defense, and even if the base scheme remains the same, Adelman has labeled himself a believer in zone. He thinks if the Nuggets work at it more consistently, they can use it more often during the regular season.
“(Dudley) kind of started talking to me in the summer about the defense,” Brown said. “We’re just being more physical, picking up (the ball-handler at) three-quarters court, depending obviously on who you are. Just being more physical and being more assertive.”
Indeed, Nuggets role players have been venturing into the backcourt at training camp to apply extra pressure, to ratchet up intensity. Pressing consistently throughout an 82-game regular season is unsustainable — Adelman knows that — but the concept has its merits in a low-stakes preseason setting.
“It’s good in a competitive way, and I think if guys can do it, they should be doing it, if you’re not playing a lot of minutes,” Adelman said. “But I also think because we have so many lead ball-handlers on this team — not just Jamal — they’re going to get picked up. So it’s great practice for a guy like Peyton Watson who can initiate offense. Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, Jamal, Jalen (Pickett). All these guys.”
The number to beat is 115.1. That’s how many points Denver allowed per 100 possessions last season.
Gordon has a more ambitious goal in mind, one that would require shaving three points off that number.
“If we get to around top-10 defensively,” he said, “it’s going to put us in a position to win it all.”
And without these two, the Nuggets are no longer bitter and a whole lot better.
This is not a reset. It is a cleansing of negative vibes, paranoia and a bench that was thinner than Flat Stanley.
When last season ended, there was a feeling the Nuggets were going to run it back, throwing their arms in the air and asking coach David Adelman to sprinkle pixie dust on an aging roster increasingly defined by injuries and a lack of versatility.
Four months later, that’s all changed.
The Nuggets hired two general managers, Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer, who made a trade that immediately restored title expectations. Those have only grown stronger with the unfortunate season-ending injury to Houston’s Fred VanVleet, the possibility of mental and physical fatigue in OKC, and the inclusion of six Nuggets on ESPN’s NBA Rank Top 100 released this week.
This is the deepest team Jokic has ever played with, and it’s the best chance he will have to win another title in Denver.
Sure, Jokic, who was No. 1 on the aforementioned list, has four more years left of his prime. But he will never have another prime opportunity like this.
He has Jonas Valanciunas, ESPN’s No. 87, as his backup. Are you kidding me? Valanciunas will deliver double-doubles. The previous backups for Jokic were lucky to deliver double-figure minutes. Jokic, yes, Jokic, will be fresh for the playoffs.
Everything has fallen into place this offseason as the Nuggets prepare to hold their media day on Monday, starting with the subtractions.
Multiple things can be true when discussing Michael Porter Jr. and Malone.
MPJ was candid, accommodating, and earned high marks for playing through three back surgeries and assorted other ailments. He won a ring, but wanted an offense to run through him. His departure has featured a series of revelations about his off-court life, former teammates and, this week, an admission that he is unsure if he wants to play beyond this year.
What does it say about the Brooklyn Nets that they are trying to tank and want the 2018 first-round pick to set the culture for their battery of younger players? Wish MPJ nothing but success, but if this deal nets another Nuggets title, Wallace and Tenzer will deserve a statue.
Malone deserved a news conference and a proper goodbye upon his firing. He also deserved blame for helping create the heavy pall that hung over the Nuggets last season because of his distrust of former GM Calvin Booth. It permeated the organization and oozed into the locker room as players tuned out an increasingly irritable Malone.
Porter and Malone are what the Nuggets needed two years ago. Cameron Johnson, ESPN’s No. 67, and Adelman are what they need now.
Johnson is not the floor spacer that MPJ was. But he is smarter and more equipped to contribute defensively. There is a selflessness about his game that has drawn comparisons to Aaron Gordon, No. 40 in the rankings. Durability is a question. Nothing else is. He is exactly the type of player Jokic makes better.
As for Adelman, the players like him — and not just because he is not Malone. Will his meritocracy and message work on the second night of a back-to-back in Dallas on Jan. 14? Not sure. But the players’ loyalty to him gives it a decent shot.
Who knew that Wallace’s return to the organization would have such an impact on Jamal Murray? With Wallace in Murray’s corner, while also challenging him, the guard has enjoyed a tremendous offseason. He is in great shape and has had a positive effect on team chemistry because of the way he has communicated and hooped with the young players.
Who knew that Tim Hardaway Jr. would sign a veteran minimum deal after starting 77 games for the Pistons last season? For all of the legitimate handwringing about bench scoring, Hardaway is one of the league’s most underrated signings. He profiles perfectly for the spot-up 3s created by passes from Jokic and Valanciunas.
And who new that Bruce Brown would want to come back? OK, we all did. Brown is not the player he was two years ago due to injuries. But he is a trusted reserve and creates a fight for Adelman’s up-for-grab minutes between Jalen Pickett, another player expected to take a big step forward, Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson.
It is impossible to look at the Nuggets and not think of a championship.
There is no guarantee that Denver will beat the Thunder or solve the Timberwolves. But they match up as well against the champs as anyone, and the shiny offensive options give them different ways to counter Minnesota.
No one in the East is beating them — or anyone else who advances out of the West.
If the Nuggets had kept the band together, Jokic would have given them a puncher’s chance. But last season, one in which he averaged a triple-double, showed he needed help. The Nuggets have better shooters, more depth and less drama.
Jokic turns 31 in February. He will not be the best player forever. That honor could belong to Victor Wembanyama as soon as this season.
Of all the problems the last two years — exhaustion, tension, lack of 3-point shooting — there are none left. Jokic is still here. Still in his prime. And he has teammates and a fresh voice from a coach worthy of his talent.
Now is the time for him to get another one. Likely his last in Denver.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — To get their first win of the season, the Nuggets almost had to sacrifice their second.
Michael Malone knew the risk he was taking. It narrowly paid off Monday night in Toronto with an overtime breakthrough. But the physical strain on his starters was visible 24 hours later as they instantly struggled to defend the perimeter against a team widely projected to be the worst in the NBA.
The Nuggets allowed 40 first-quarter points and fell behind by as many as 17 in the second before they revived themselves again for a 144-139 win over the Nets on Tuesday — again, in overtime.
Nikola Jokic lifted his team with another masterpiece: 29 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists on 9-of-16 shooting. In a deja vu sequence down by three at the end of regulation, the Nuggets opted to go for two points with 33.8 seconds left. Malone called for a Jokic post-up, like Monday, which Jokic easily executed, like Monday. Then, like Monday, the Nuggets’ opponent missed a free throw, allowing them a chance to tie it in the final seconds without needing a three. Again, Denver dialed up a Jokic post-up.
“We are trying to get there to see, are they gonna double?” the center said.
Brooklyn didn’t. The three-time MVP backed his way to an effortless baby hook with nine ticks left.
“They doubled him a lot tonight,” Malone said. “This was more, they waited for him to dribble the ball and then the double came. I’m so happy I get to coach Nikola because I can’t imagine game-planning for guarding that guy.”
The only difference between their back-to-back magic acts: This time, the Nuggets left enough time to give up a wide-open corner three as time expired. Dorian Finney-Smith clanked it.
And again, the starting lineup found itself logging extra hours at the office. Malone had already gone to an eight-man rotation in the second half of the Toronto game.
“Obviously we found ourselves in a game last night that we kind of shortened our rotation up a little bit in the second half, feeling the pressure of trying to get the first win of the season,” he said before opening tip at Barclays Center. “And when you look at the box score after the game, especially going into the second night of a back-to-back in Brooklyn, you have your starters all at or near 40 minutes. And that’s not sustainable. We can’t do that. Game three, it was cool, man. Let’s get our first win, kind of take a deep breath. But that’s not sustainable.”
His foresight was probably more immediate than he hoped. The Nets shot 12 of 24 from beyond the arc in the first half. When they weren’t launching, Denver’s defenders took the bait anyway, allowing drivers to get behind them and playing catch-up on rotations. After another rough bench stint, Brooklyn led 47-30 with 9:42 remaining in the half.
The Nuggets’ collective redemption arrived in the form of a snarling, sharpshooting Russell Westbrook about an hour later. He had already been the best version of himself in the first half, zipping brilliant entry passes to Jokic and bullying his way to the foul line with the second unit (then converting the free throws). But on the last possession of the third quarter, with Denver trailing 99-93, he stepped into just his second 3-point make of the season. On the first possession of the fourth, he drove and kicked to Peyton Watson for a corner three. Tie game.
His next pull-up 3-point attempt, ill-advised or not, gave him 22 points on 12 shots and capped a 13-2 run. It was 106-101, Denver.
Russ giveth and Russ taketh. He shanked an uncontested dunk with his left hand during a quick 5-0 answer from Brooklyn, setting the stage for Denver’s second consecutive suspenseful finish.
“It’s hard to win in this league,” the backup point guard said. “People think it’s easy, man. It’s hard. Especially when you’re a team that’s won year after year and always been in the running for NBA championships. It’s hard. We’ll get everybody’s best shot. We’ve gotta be prepared for it. However we’ve gotta get wins right now, we’ll take them.”
Michael Porter Jr. bounced back from his inefficient first week of the season, shooting 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Jamal Murray added 24 points. Aaron Gordon contributed 22. Denver quickly pulled away in the extra period after Jokic scored or assisted on its first six points.
“I’m glad we had the momentum going in, and I think we controlled the overtime, so that is a good thing,” Jokic said. “We found baskets when we needed it.”
The Nuggets remain winless in preseason play with one game remaining after a 124-94 blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Ball Arena. The last chance to earn a win is Thursday in Minnesota.
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook were out this time for the Nuggets, leaving them with a cast of role players to fend off Oklahoma City’s full starting lineup — an inverse of Sunday’s game, when Denver ran the starters for three quarters against Phoenix’s bench.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he had planned to rest Murray for this game even before his knee started bothering him Sunday while warming up.
What awaits Strawther after outstanding preseason?
Denver’s clear standout performers this preseason (other than the three-time MVP) have been Michael Porter Jr. and Julian Strawther, both of whom continued to carry the offense during the first-half minutes Tuesday. Strawther made his first five shots, including 3-pointers in rhythm, a driving floater and a couple of buckets in the lane, where he used his footwork or body to go up strong through traffic. He finished with 12 points.
Most importantly in these four games, he is 8 for 18 from distance, where his teammates have struggled. Christian Braun, who’s expected to start at shooting guard over Strawther, is 1 for 13. That probably won’t change how the rotation will shake out, though.
“Obviously it’s never going to be just about who’s playing better in a vacuum,” Malone said when asked about the position battle. “It’s always going to be about, yes, who’s playing well, but also who complements that unit. And right now to be honest, I think C.B. and Jamal and Michael and Aaron (Gordon) and Nikola, that’s a group that really complements each other well. I think (Russell Westbrook), when we get Peyton Watson back — and that’s been really hard for us, not to have Peyton — but I think Russ, Julian, Peyton, Dario (Saric) and whoever else, I think that’s a really good complementary group as well. But I will give Julian some more chances to get out there and start and play with that (starting) group.”
Watson (hamstring) still hasn’t played this preseason, but Malone says the plan is to have him ready for the season opener next Thursday at Ball Arena.
Nnaji puts together consecutive good games
As frustrated as Malone was with his team’s collective performance against the Suns on Sunday, he pointed to Zeke Nnaji’s fourth-quarter minutes as one of the few positives.
Nnaji earned a starting nod Tuesday and built on his productive outing with 11 points, three rebounds, two steals and three blocks, including one against Jalen Williams in space. There were occasional lapses, too — a ball-screen miscommunication leading to an easy dunk in the first half, a ball fake getting him to leave his feet for a blow-by in the second half — but the highlights should be a welcomed confidence boost. Nnaji’s form has looked smoother, too. He buried a couple of 3s Tuesday.
Before opening tip, Malone gave a candid answer when asked if he believes Nnaji is better at the four or the five, speaking to the general skill set the coach wants to see from Nnaji.
“I don’t get into all that. I think that’s a bunch of malarkey,” Malone said. “‘Are you a four or are you a five?’ In today’s NBA, you’re a big, you’re a small. … This is not 1980s where it’s three-out, two-in. Zeke’s a big. So go out there and play your game. I mean, is Dario Saric a center in anybody’s eyes? Well, he is for us. So yeah, the whole four (or) five thing, I just don’t really understand.”
Two-way guard sneaks up depth chart
Without Murray and Westbrook, this exhibition offered a glimpse of other ways the Nuggets can initiate offense. They used a variety of players to bring the ball up, from Aaron Gordon to Strawther to Braun. And notably, in Malone’s nine-man rotation during the early stages of the game, two-way player Trey Alexander made an appearance over Jalen Pickett, who checked in during the third quarter and played most of the second half.
If there’s anything definitive from Denver’s 0-4 preseason start, it’s that the end of the bench just doesn’t have much to work with. Malone has turned red in the face during the second halves of every game so far. The Nuggets held up pretty well against a mismatch in the first half without Jokic — it was after halftime that they fell apart again.
The Timberwolves, meanwhile, received 22 minutes and 11 points from Naz Reid, a stretch-4-type post who gave Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic more real estate to defend. Nickeil Alexander-Walker played 17 minutes.
Hindsight makes geniuses of us all, granted. But while Jokic huffed and Gordon puffed Sunday, Peyton Watson became more noticeable — by his absence. As Minnesota chipped away at a 20-point Nuggs lead, one of the best defenders on the roster was nowhere to be found.
Now in a do-or-die, win-or-else Game 7, you could understand Malone’s reluctance to trust his second-year wing in a pinch. P-Swat was 0-for-7 from the floor in this series going into Sunday night. The Nuggets lined up the chess pieces as if they could afford only one true defense-first option down the stretch — and again, Braun brought plenty of juice.
Malone said before Game 5 that this was about matchups, and that Minnesota’s defense demands shooters at every spot. That’s not in P-Swat’s arsenal right now, and Holiday brought flashes of brilliance, on the road, when Denver needed it most.
Because as the eulogies are read and ballads sung and postmortems written about where a repeat run at an NBA title went sadly off the rails, P-Swat feels like something of a nexus point. Not just for what happened. But for where the Nuggets go from here. And how.
Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth raised eyebrows this past October when he told The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor that he “want(s) dudes that we try to develop, and it’s sustainable. If it costs us the chance to win a championship (in 2024), so be it. It’s worth the investment. It’s more about winning three out of six, three out of seven, four out of eight than it is about trying to go back-to-back.”
Booth walked back those comments (among others) later, but it sure did very neatly explain an off-season of attrition — no more Bruce Brown or Jeff Green, thanks CBA — that came on the heels of the first title in franchise history. If ’22-23 was the masterpiece, then ’23-24 would be the experiment. Namely, can we replace Brown and Green with kids and still reach the NBA Finals?
Well, no. Heck, no. Not this year, at any rate.
Booth’s stated masterplan was also curious given that Malone, a stickler for eternal verities such as defense and selflessness, suffers neither fools nor rookies gladly. If Malone doesn’t trust you, you don’t play. Period. The Minnesota series, which started with the Nuggets dropping Games 1 and 2 at home, threw development out a 35-story window.
I’m not suggesting Malone and Booth aren’t on the same page here, although it’s fair to wonder. However, I would humbly advise the powers that be to pick a lane and stick with it going forward. For the window’s sake. For Joker’s sake.
The MVP needs help. Now. Jokic, owner of the greatest hands in modern NBA annals, snatched 15 boards in the first half. He finished with 19. Following one misfire in the third quarter, what looked like four Minnesota bodies went up for the carom while No. 15 was stranded at the top of the arc. The Joker seemed positively crestfallen.
Since April 1 through Game 7, the Big Honey logged 732 minutes in 19 games, or 38.5 per game. From April 1 through the end of the Suns series last spring, he’d played 467 minutes in 13 appearances (35.9 per tilt).
The Nuggs danced with history last week. And landed on the wrong side of it, face-first. Malone’s had better days. He’ll have better ones in the future. But Game 7’s epic collapse felt an awful lot like coaching not to lose. Which, more often than not, gets you beat on this stage.
The Wolves, meanwhile, were built by Tim Connelly to dethrone the dynasty he’d started in Denver. See KAT? See Ant, waving and mugging for the cameras? They’re the bar now.
It’s on Booth and Malone to volley Connelly’s serve. Together. Because the Joker has a ton of MVP seasons left in him. But only so many springs of what-ifs. And only so many summers of doubt.
DENVER — In typical fashion, Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić had the absolute best explanation for a string of rare slam dunks in the Nuggets’ series comeback against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jokić threw down a pair of dunks as part of his 40-point performance in Game 5. In the first quarter, he drove from the perimeter past multiple Timberwolves defenders before cocking the ball behind his head and throwing down a two-handed flush. In the fourth quarter, Jamal Murray found The Joker for a breakaway slam.
Jokić dunked over Minnesota standout Anthony Edwards in Game 4.
He was asked about incorporating the dunks into his repertoire, and whether it was an adjustment to Minnesota’s aggressive, rim-protecting defense.
His response couldn’t have been better:
“I had an open lane…And I’m a freak of nature,” Jokić said with a chuckle. “Why not show my athleticism?”
Jokić attempted just 17 dunks this season, according to Basketball-Reference, which accounts for just over 1% of his shot attempts on the year. For comparison, Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert tried 248 dunks, good for 44% of his shot attempts in 2023-24 – the second-highest percentage in the league.
Denver Nuggets Western Conference Semifinals schedule:
Game 6: Nuggets @ Timberwolves, Thursday, May 16 (6:30 p.m., ESPN)
Game 7: Timberwolves @ Nuggets, Sunday, May 19 (TBD, TBD) *
* if necessary
Watch more Denver Nuggets videos in the playlist above. For full coverage of the team, go here.
Revenge games provide a platform for players to show why they should have won MVP honors. Nikola Jokic staged a revenge game to show why he did win MVP honors.
The premise was that the Minnesota Timberwolves were trying to reconnect in this series after getting skunked twice at home. They exuded confidence, convinced Tuesday would be different.
Then it became Jokic vs. Everybody. Everybody Lost. The Nuggets won because he is him. Avs stars Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy delivered multiple titles. Rockies greats Todd Helton and Larry Walker remain forever immortalized in the Hall of Fame. And Alex English could slinky his way to 28 points a night.
“He was special. I have to give him his flowers,” Edwards said. “He was that guy.”
The only thing missing from one of the top five performances in his career was Jokic talking like Liam Neeson in his postgame presser about his “particular set of skills.”
He schooled Karl-Anthony Towns, worked over Naz Reid, and held a Roast of Rudy. Rudy Gobert owns four defensive player of the year trophies, a testament to his size, strength and length. Jokic turned him into a one-legged air dancer greeting customers at a used car lot. He converted 8 of 9 shots with Gobert as his primary defender.
I cannot fathom how any current or former NBA player can watch Jokic and not believe two things: that he is the best in the world and that this series is over.
Jokic scored 16 points in the third quarter Tuesday. He scored 16 in the fourth quarter in Game 4. The Timberwolves felt like they were frequently in the right position, and it did not matter. When Jokic gets this hot, this aggressive, there’s little the opponent can do. Nothing screams MVP like making the competition feel powerless.
“He was in the zone. I mean a couple of shots I think I actually blocked and the ball went in,” Gobert said. “He put his team on his back in the third quarter. It was definitely one of those stretches that we are going to have to watch the film. I think there are things we should have done better, but there’s also plays he made that I think are tough to overcome.”
The Thunderwolves began the playoffs with six straight victories, and now have dropped three consecutive games for the first time this season. Minnesota features two coaches – boss Chris Finch and assistant Micah Nori – who spent time on the Nuggets staff. They possess institutional knowledge. And they have no answer for the Nuggets’ basketball Einstein.
Jokic leads by example, not intimidation.
The Nuggets players do what he does out of respect, mirroring his unselfishness. What made Game 5 different and why the Timberwolves will lose Game 6 is because Jokic has solved their Rubik’s Cube. Minnesota finished the season with the league’s best defensive efficiency rating. Following their dominant first two wins, there were comparisons to the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
Time to throw those in one of the state’s 10,000 lakes. Jokic has rendered them worthless. He dropped 40 points. Jokic in the paint was Beethoven at the piano. He bullied Gobert with his forearms, sinking spinning fallaways and left-handed hooks. He sank a 3-pointer in Kyle Anderson’s face, beat Towns on a back cut for a layup, and dunked multiple times.
“I am not entirely sure what I just watched,” forward Aaron Gordon said. “It was ridiculous.”
Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets shoots over Rudy Gobert (27) of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
When the Nuggets dropped the first two home games, the Timberwolves annoyed Jokic. He made 16 of 38 shots (42 percent) with 11 turnovers and a minus-28 rating. In an off day before Game 3, he was named MVP for the third time, only the ninth player to accomplish the feat. With the national media saying the Nuggets were cooked, it threatened to tarnish his accomplishment.
“Nikola is very relaxed. He is passionate, but he doesn’t show it,” backup center DeAndre Jordan said. “When we went down 0-2, I think a switch kind of flipped for him and our entire team.”
The three games since have been the Revenge of the Serb. Jokic has made 40 of 65 shots (61.5 percent) with seven turnovers and a plus-54 rating. Find a better postseason stretch for a Colorado professional athlete. I dare you. Maybe the Broncos’ Terrell Davis in the 1997 and 1998 playoffs when he put his foot in the ground for 5.52 yards per carry and 11 touchdowns. Or Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez in the 2009 playoffs (10-for-17 with three extra-base hits).
For the Timberwolves to even this series, they must either stifle Jokic or match him. That is the evil of two lessers. There is no chance this will happen.
Truth is, we will not see his like again. Except on Thursday in Game 6.
DENVER (AP) — Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone says it’s about time his team snaps out of its slow starts. The reigning NBA champions have fallen into deep holes early in each of their six playoff games. They trailed by double digits to the Lakers in the first four games of their series with Los Angeles and by nine in the fifth game. And in Round 2 they watched the Minnesota Timberwolves get off to an 18-4 start. Although they quickly recovered, it was a harbinger of the Wolves’ terrific play down the stretch as they pulled off a 106-99 upset in Denver.
Denver 7+ Colorado News Latest Headlines | May 6, 7am
DENVER — Jamal Murray’s 32 points – including the go-ahead basket in the final seconds – lifted the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers in a back-and-forth Game 5 Monday night at Ball Arena, and the Nuggets are headed to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Murray, who was a game-time decision with a left calf strain, hit a 14-foot pull-up jump shot with four seconds to go to put Denver up 108-106. Murray’s 32 points led all scorers.
“The kid’s a warrior,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said of Murray after the game.
Game 5 saw eight lead changes and six ties in the fourth quarter alone.
Nikola Jokic finished with 25 points, 20 rebounds and 9 assists for Denver. Michael Porter Jr. added 26 points, including five 3-pointers. Lebron James had 31 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds for LA. Anthony Davis scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Denver shot just nine free throws in the game, hitting eight of them. The Lakers shot 27 free throws, missing nine, including several untimely second-half misses.
Denver trailed at halftime for the fifth consecutive contest, thanks in part to nine first-half turnovers. For the first time in the series, though, the Nuggets led after the first quarter and never trailed by double-digits in the game.
Both teams battled the injury bug Monday night. Murray, of course, did yeoman’s work in the win despite playing through a calf injury. Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed part of the game after rolling his ankle in the first quarter. For the Lakers, Davis appeared to injure his shoulder in the second half and was in visible discomfort.
The Nuggets will play the No. 3-seed Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals after Minnesota swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round. Game 1 will be played on Saturday at Ball Arena, with time and TV information to be determined as of Monday night.
LOS ANGELES — They showered Darvin Ham with boos as the coach was introduced before opening tip. They bombarded him with more pointed chants before time expired in an otherwise lifeless building.
“Fire Darvin!”
But is this Ham’s fault? D’Angelo Russell’s? The bench’s? All of the above? The Nuggets have infiltrated Los Angeles and sowed instability within an American institution. The Lakers’ superstar foundation is crumbling under the overwhelming pressure of Denver’s starting lineup, which is on the verge of securing a second playoff sweep of Los Angeles in as many seasons.
“To beat a team like that in the first round, who I think if seeded differently, they could make it to the Western Conference Finals or something like that, it’s definitely a challenge,” Peyton Watson said. “But we’re up to it every time, and we love going out there and winning games.”
With every successive win — every identical win — the unthinkable becomes closer to reality. The Nuggets might just own the Lakers.
If they finish the job Saturday in Game 4, they’ll accomplish what not even the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Warriors could, eliminating LeBron James via sweep two years in a row. Golden State needed five games in 2017.
“They do not have a weakness offensively,” James said. “… Definitely one of the better teams that I’ve played in my career.”
Maybe Denver will need five games in 2024. But if there’s any reason to believe that now, it’s this: The Nuggets are clearly a danger to themselves in this matchup. They are prone to stretches, even entire halves, of complacency against an opponent that can’t hold a lead against them. The ongoing 11-game win streak features six double-digit comebacks.
“I think in this job as a coach, you always have to put on the hat of, ‘We have to fight human nature.’ And how do you do that when you’ve beaten a team 10 times in a row?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said before Game 3, a 112-105 victory. “… Well, we’ve been down 12, we’ve been down 20. We’ve lost the first quarter of both games. We’ve been down at halftime in both games. That’s cool in your home building when you have that crowd behind you, but now it’s just us.”
Those turned out to be hollow words. Denver spotted Los Angeles an 8-0 lead that grew to 12 before everyone other than Aaron Gordon decided to take Game 3 seriously.
What followed was a 24-point swing between the second and third quarters. Like clockwork.
“To be honest, I think every game is tougher and tougher,” Nikola Jokic said. “You can see, they were up 20 in Denver, in Game 2. They were up 12 today in the first half. But yeah, I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over and over again. You kind of get bored with the style of the play or whatever. So you just need to — especially for us, because we won the last three — just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success. Because it can (go) wrong really quick.”
Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets knocks down a mid-range jumper over Anthony Davis (3) of the Los Angeles Lakers during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 112-105 win at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Nuggets are so bored of this matchup that they’ve inadvertently become thrill-seekers, dangling a win in front of the Lakers every night only to pull it out of reach at the last second when Anthony Davis tries to snatch it.
Moments of redemption for the Lakers are short-lived against Denver. Davis’s dominant first half against Jokic in Game 2 was forgotten because he didn’t score in the fourth quarter. Russell’s 23-point bounce-back was superseded by his scoreless Game 3. In the first and third games, he combined to shoot 6 for 27.
The variations of a Los Angeles second unit have failed to take any advantage of Jokic’s rest minutes. Before Game 3, Taurean Prince was the only Lakers bench player who’d scored a point in the series. Nothing from Spencer Dinwiddie. Nothing from Gabe Vincent.
They finally contributed more offense in Game 3 — but the bench was still an inefficient 8 for 19 en route to 19 points.
Davis has been the Lakers’ best player according to the box scores. Los Angeles is plus-25 points with him on the floor in the first halves of these three games — and minus-41 with him on the floor in the second halves.
“This team’s been having the type of run they’ve had against our ball club; I think it’s just a lot of disappointment,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Have to do a better job of staying focused, staying positive throughout it all, because again, you have those disappointment moments, what we call disappointment lags — that disappointment can spill over two, three, four possessions. And you see that someone makes a mistake, drop our heads, and we start jogging back instead of sprinting. But we have to fight through all of that. This is a hell of a team. … They push you to the limit in order to try and beat them.”
Moreover, the Nuggets push themselves to the limit in order to beat the Lakers. Not because they have to; because they can.
DENVER — The Denver Nuggets used a dominant third quarter to build a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round Saturday night, beating the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-103.
Three Nuggets posted double-doubles in the game. Nikola Jokic scored 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jamal Murray had 22 points and 10 assists, and Aaron Gordon added 12 points and 11 boards in the win.
Michael Porter, Jr. scored 19 points and secured eight rebounds.
Down by three at the half, Denver returned to the Ball Arena floor with a vengeance, building a lead as large as 14 in the third quarter and going into the fourth with an 11-point lead.
The Nuggets, who last played six days ago in the regular season finale, got off to a slow start. They fell behind by 12 through 20 minutes of game action, but erased the entire deficit in just over three minutes during the second quarter. Denver trailed 60-57 at the half thanks to a 32-foot Lebron James three-pointer in the final seconds of the second frame.
James finished with 27 points on the night. Anthony Davis added 32 of his own for Los Angeles.
The win marks the ninth consecutive win for the Nuggets over Los Angeles, including the sweep in last year’s Western Conference Finals.
Nuggets fans riding high after Game 1 win over Lakers
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic pulled up to Game 1 looking like Gru from ‘Despicable Me’
6:28 PM, Apr 20, 2024
Denver Nuggets first-round schedule
Here’s a look at how you can watch all of Denver’s first-round playoff games against Los Angeles (all times MT):
Game 2: Lakers vs. Nuggets; Monday, April 22 (8 p.m., TNT)
Game 3: Nuggets vs. Lakers; Thursday, April 25 (8 p.m., TNT)
Game 4: Nuggets vs. Lakers; Saturday, April 27 (6:30 p.m., Denver7)
Game 5: Lakers vs. Nuggets; Monday, April 29 (TBD, TBD)* – if necessary
Game 6: Nuggets vs. Lakers; Thursday, May 2 (TBD, TBD)* – if necessary
Game 7: Lakers vs. Nuggets; Saturday, May 4 (TBD, TNT)* – if necessary
SAN ANTONIO — To hold serve at the top of the Western Conference standings, the Nuggets had to weather one last Wemby storm.
They couldn’t.
In what might have been the last game of Victor Wembanyama’s Rookie of the Year-destined season, the Nuggets kept him flustered for one half before he turned into a flamethrower in the other. Denver couldn’t survive the surge, losing their seeding on a Devonte’ Graham transition floater with 0.9 seconds remaining for a 121-120 defeat Friday night at Frost Bank Center. It was Denver’s only deficit of the second half, right after Nikola Jokic missed an open foul line jumper.
“We had our chances,” Jokic said. “I missed an open look on the last shot. It’s something that I need to make. I missed, and they had a fast break.”
The Spurs scored 71 points in the second half.
“We didn’t defend at all,” coach Michael Malone said. “… The very few times they did miss in the fourth quarter, we gave up eight offensive rebounds for 13 points. So give San Antonio a ton of credit. They stayed with it. We were up by 23 at one point, and just, too many blow-bys, too many 3s, too many leaving our feet on shot fakes. Just a lot of things that I would say did not go our way down the stretch.”
The Nuggets (56-25) will now finish in third place via a three-way tiebreaker if Denver, Minnesota and Oklahoma City each win their finales Sunday. The Nuggets play in Memphis.
To get to this point, a 23-point lead in the third quarter had to be sliced to six, setting up a frantic fourth in which the clutch Nuggets finally wilted against the worst team in the West. It was 81-60 with 8:16 remaining in the third frame. Then Wembanyama buried a pull-up three. During a 26-9 Spurs run over four minutes and change, he scored 17 of 19 San Antonio points, including a trio of consecutive 3-pointers. The third was enough to finally warrant an aggravated Malone timeout. Reggie Jackson entered and turned it over on an eight-second violation.
Malone would take one more rage timeout in the quarter. The Nuggets responded to that one better, scoring the last six of the period. Role players were mostly solid in Jokic’s rest minutes, but the starters were lackadaisical on defense and missed open shots. Jamal Murray was Denver’s most consistent source of offense throughout the game, scoring 35 on 5-of-11 shooting beyond the arc. Jokic scored 14 in the first quarter and eight the rest of the game.
“If you remember last year, we did a kind of similar thing,” Jokic said. “We lost to a couple teams (at the end of the regular season; three consecutive on the road). So it seems like we didn’t learn our lesson. But maybe the year needs to be repeated, the same thing happens and hopefully we’re gonna win a championship again.”
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Friday, April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Before the opening tip, Malone made an astute point about facing the lowly Spurs right after surviving Minnesota on Wednesday for arguably the defining win of Denver’s regular season. “Do you kind of let go of the rope a little bit and say, ‘OK, San Antonio’s got eight guys out with injuries?’” he pondered. “Well, they have one guy playing.”
It went without saying which player Malone was referring to. It wasn’t Sandro Mamukelashvili, whose nine first-quarter points gave San Antonio the edge despite 14 from Jokic on perfect shooting. In a classic Jokic half, he didn’t attempt a shot in the entire second quarter, which the Nuggets won by 19. They thrived by bottling up Wembanyama, who went into the break with 15 points on 14 shots, four turnovers and his first career yapping-related technical foul.
Aaron Gordon defended him well and built up frustration. Before a Spurs baseline out-of-bounds play, the two got tangled up and Wembanyama fell. With Gordon standing over him, no foul was caused. Gordon absorbed a Wembanyama push-off in the post after the ensuing inbound and the possession ended in a turnover. By the end of the half, the rookie was visibly riled up, due for a big half.
“I think we just took our foot off the gas in terms of intensity,” Peyton Watson said. “I feel like we felt like we were gonna win no matter what and there was no possible way that we could lose this game, which I don’t understand.”
