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Tag: david adelman

  • Nuggets sit out Spencer Jones, play without a power forward in loss to Pistons

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    DETROIT — Both teams playing in the Motor City on Tuesday were maneuvering their rosters as the trade deadline loomed — one of them more quietly than the other.

    The Pistons were hosting, just a few hours after they sent Jaden Ivey to Chicago in a three-team deal that brought back Kevin Huerter, ex-Nugget Dario Saric and a pick swap. The Nuggets had not completed any trades, but they did have a business decision to make. Spencer Jones embarked on their three-game road trip this week with one game of eligibility remaining on his two-way contract and a back-to-back against two of the East’s best awaiting Denver.

    With Christian Braun returning from an ankle injury and supplying David Adelman with another body to work with in Detroit, the Nuggets elected to rest Jones on Tuesday and delay his last game 24 hours until New York, sources said. Jones told The Denver Post last week that the Nuggets’ front office has told him he might have to sit out games even if he ends up joining the 15-man roster on a standard contract this month.

    Without him, the Nuggets clawed back from a 20-point deficit to get within two late in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons held on for a 124-121 win at Little Caesar’s Arena. A fortuitous shooter’s bounce for Tobias Harris with 1:46 left stretched Detroit’s lead to 115-110 as Denver struggled to land the comeback’s final punch. Moments later, Peyton Watson was a millisecond late to block a Cade Cunningham layup off the backboard, a play that would’ve given Denver a chance to tie while down three.

    “The challenge for us right now is with all the things that are happening — people coming back, the minute restrictions — we have to avoid paying attention to that, and we just have to play,” Adelman said. “And deal with it as we go. We’re going to have some clunky moments. The rotation is different. We tried different things tonight. Just trying to fit people into the minutes that can play.”

    “It’s a little bit different for us right now,” Nikola Jokic said, “but I think it’s part of the (league).”

    The healthy scratch of Jones was essentially a money-saving tactic for Nuggets ownership. Players on two-way deals can be active for up to 50 NBA games in a regular season. Jones may be on the verge of a promotion that would dispense with that limit if the Nuggets can balance their books with a trade by Thursday afternoon. But their primary goal, to get under the luxury tax, is evident in that they’ve gone through half of the season with an open roster spot. Nothing in a rulebook would’ve prevented them from converting Jones’ contract on Tuesday (or earlier) if they wanted him available for Detroit.

    Instead, they were operating without a power forward. Aaron Gordon is also sidelined as he recovers from a hamstring strain. Adelman rolled out Braun, Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett in the starting unit alongside his two stars, foreshadowing a night of finagling. He tried everything from four-guard lineups to a jumbo package.

    “I am feeling it out, man. Like, I’m feeling it out every game,” Adelman said. “We walk through stuff in a hotel room, and I pre-suppose lineups and put them out there in their sandals. And then we go play. Then you have to react during the game. And that’s part of the NBA, so there’s no excuses there, either. It’s just, I was trying to find a group that had some rhythm. We found a couple, but the end of the first half just killed us.”

    The Pistons (37-12) swept the season series and got under Denver’s skin in the process. Their frontcourt played its usual chippy style, and Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas caused a brief skirmish in the first quarter by putting Isaiah Stewart in a headlock under the basket. Newly minted Pistons All-Star Jalen Duren exchanged shoves with Valanciunas. Both received technical fouls. Valanciunas also picked up a flagrant for the play on Stewart.

    By halftime, both head coaches and Pistons guard Duncan Robinson had been handed technicals as well. Jamal Murray and Stewart jawed back and forth a couple of times. Cade Cunningham got into foul trouble in the third frame but also earned 11 free throws himself — a stat that agitated Adelman after the game in contrast to Jokic’s three. In search of a bigger power forward, the first-year head coach started playing Jokic at the four in a double-big lineup with Valanciunas to match Detroit’s size and physicality.

    Both centers started the fourth quarter after Denver had trimmed a 20-point deficit back to 13. Julian Strawther chipped in as the rally intensified, lending support on the glass and pushing the pace.

    “He was playing aggressive and trying to force the issue a little bit,” Murray. “It was good to see him just get a flow.”

    The Nuggets couldn’t buy a bucket early. They missed their first seven 3s while falling behind by double digits and shot 31.8% from the field in the first half. But they were able to linger despite a “weird energy” that Adelman wasn’t pleased with, until a disastrous two-minute stretch to end the half. Three consecutive turnovers — two by Jokic — fueled a 10-0 Pistons run that pushed the lead to 69-50. Detroit scored 26 fast break points on the night, a “ridiculous” number, Adelman said.

    “They’re handsy,” said Jokic, who was visibly frustrated by non-calls throughout the night. “They have some really good personnel. … I think the second half was much better for us.

    “We had, I’m gonna say, like a good half of basketball.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets’ David Adelman reacts to Minneapolis unrest, shooting of Alex Pretti: ‘Let’s not shoot each other’

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    David Adelman couldn’t make sense of what he was watching, but he could make out the neighborhood. Minneapolis was his first NBA home. He knew the city well. Just not in this ravaged state.

    “That’s a great community of people,” the first-year head coach of the Nuggets said. “I lived there for five years. And it was just so weird to see exactly where it was in the city, because I knew exactly where it was. And from the drone shot, it looked like a war zone. And that’s the country we live in.”

    Before the Nuggets hosted the Pistons on Tuesday night, Adelman took a moment to reflect on the unrest in Minneapolis and the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents last Saturday.

    “Just as a human being, that’s really hard to watch,” he said. “I’d say beyond that, if you want to look at this in layers, how do you explain it to your kids? It’s tough. My kids are of an age where they know what’s going on. Watching that video and trying to explain it to them makes you realize that I don’t know what the hell is going on either.”

    The NBA postponed last Saturday’s game between the Timberwolves and Warriors “to prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community” after the shooting of Pretti, according to a statement from the league.

    The game was made up on Sunday, with anti-ICE chants echoing through Target Center at the end of a pregame moment of silence for Pretti. The day before Pretti’s death, mass protests had been held in Minneapolis speaking out against the federal government’s deployment of ICE to enforce Donald Trump’s immigration policy. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis amid the crackdown.

    “For the second time in less than three weeks, we’ve lost another beloved member of our community in the most unimaginable way,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said through tears on Sunday. “As an organization, we are heartbroken for what we are having to witness and endure and watch. We just want to extend our thoughts, prayers and concern for Mr. Pretti, family, all the loved ones and everyone involved in such an unconscionable situation in a community that we really love, full of people who are, by nature, peaceful and prideful. We just stand in support of our great community here.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets’ Jonas Valanciunas returns from calf injury for 3-game road trip

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    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas will return from a right calf strain and play in Denver’s game Thursday against the Wizards.

    Valanciunas, 33, missed 11 games. Starting center Nikola Jokic remains out with a left knee injury, but he traveled with the team for the start of its three-game road trip and went through a pregame shooting routine in Washington with a sleeve over his left leg.

    While the Nuggets wait for Jokic to return, Valanciunas will play limited minutes.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Denver Nuggets finish marathon road trip with another gutsy win over Celtics

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    BOSTON — Finishing their seven-game road trip with a losing record wasn’t what the Nuggets had in mind, but under the circumstances, they’ll happily take 3-4.

    Less undermanned than they were in Philadelphia but still fending without a traditional center, the Nuggets completed their Eastern Conference marathon with a 114-110 win over the Celtics on Wednesday.

    Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, wrestles for the ball against Boston Celtics guard Jordan Walsh, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

    Jamal Murray went for 22 points, 17 assists and only two turnovers. Peyton Watson led the team in scoring with 30 points on a 6-for-7 night from 3-point range. Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji earned another opportunity to play in David Adelman’s closing lineup, fresh off their heroic performances Monday at Philly.

    And Denver assembled a 14-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter for the second straight game, putting away the East’s second-place Celtics (23-13). All three teams the Nuggets (25-12) defeated on their road trip are top-five seeds in the conference.

    Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 33, but on 29 shot attempts against a variety of coverages. Boston kept pressing and fouling in the last minute, shaving an 11-point deficit to three before Murray clinched the game with a late free throw.

    A road trip that seemed doomed after a loss to the Nets on Sunday ended with two straight surprising wins.

    After entering halftime tied at 58 for the second consecutive game, offense dried up for the Nuggets in the third quarter. They missed 11 straight shots during a six-minute scoreless stint and fell behind, 72-63. Then Murray buried a 3-pointer out of a timeout and found Tim Hardaway Jr. for another in transition the next possession. Suddenly, it was a one-score game again, and Denver was on its way to a 13-2 run.

    Anfernee Simons was the Celtics’ antidote. He hit a couple of 3s while Brown was on the bench to take them into the fourth with an 82-79 lead and Denver’s non-Murray minutes looming.

    Pickett, scoreless in the first three stanzas, helped weather the storm with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from Aaron Gordon and a floater in the pick-and-roll. Murray came in for Hardaway after only a four-minute rest.

    The longer the game wore on, the more the Nuggets felt their size disadvantage on the glass. Celtics center Neemias Queta secured 20 rebounds, eight of them in the first three minutes and change of the fourth. Boston compiled 27 second-chance points and won the rebounding battle by eight.

    Like they did in Brooklyn, the Nuggets used Aaron Gordon off the bench in a sub pattern conducive to his minutes restriction that enabled him to be on the court when Murray wasn’t. Gordon said after his return from a hamstring injury that he felt a step slow on defense, and that was the case again on a few possessions in Boston. Still, he left an imprint with 12 points and six rebounds. He played 23 minutes, staying in the same range as last Sunday.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Inside the Nuggets’ most improbable win in years: ‘I was giving MVPs buckets out there’

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    PHILADELPHIA — These are the stories nine Nuggets bench players and their coach will tell decades from now about a peculiar basketball game in Philadelphia.

    It was a random enough game, one of 82 on a Monday in January, that it will fade from collective memory eventually. Just not from theirs. David Adelman will tell the story of “one of the best NBA wins I’ve ever been a part of in my life,” as he described it in the locker room, his stoic demeanor giving way to emotion that might’ve been verging on tears. “That was (freaking) special, man.”

    The final in overtime: Nuggets 125, 76ers 124.

    He’ll reminisce about strategizing for a seemingly insurmountable matchup without seven of his usual rotation players, without his entire starting lineup, without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. He’ll tell the story of his staff’s edict to “keep five guys in the paint and try to win the ball,” because the Nuggets didn’t have a healthy center, and they were playing against one with an MVP trophy. He’ll recount how he urged them to “play fast” and hunt easy buckets to avoid the limitations of a half-court offense. How he had no choice but to use all nine available players, including two who knew only garbage time in the NBA until a few days earlier.

    He’ll compare it to a February 2020 win over Utah, where the Nuggets had only seven guys at their disposal, also on the second night of a back-to-back. But one of the seven was Jokic.

    “This one is different,” Adelman said. “This one is unique, because our best player didn’t play. … When they’re older, 20 years from now, they’ll probably grab a beer and talk about this game.”

    When Nuggets coach David Adelman was 10, Erik Spoelstra knew he was destined for greatness

    Bruce Brown will tell the story of his game-winner that never actually went through the net. It was a fitting climax, first requiring the Nuggets to get a defensive stop while they were down one point with a six-second clock differential in overtime. They collapsed on 76ers rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe in the lane. Peyton Watson disrupted his driving layup. Spencer Jones blocked Joel Embiid’s tip-in attempt, tumbling over Edgecombe. While the bodies hit the floor, Brown was waiting at the free-throw line. The ball caromed to him for a one-man fast break.

    Keep five guys in the paint and try to win the ball. Play fast. “I didn’t have to call a timeout,” Adelman said. Embiid tried to chase Brown down for a block, but the ball had already touched the backboard when the Nuggets’ nemesis got to it. Goaltending was called with 5.3 seconds left.

    “I was in the perfect position,” Brown said. “I knew everyone was in the paint, trying to go rebound. I was just like, I’m going. There was only one person back.”

    He’ll tell the story of human nature. How it worked to Denver’s advantage. How he’s sure that a Philadelphia squad with Embiid, Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George in the lineup overlooked this game after winning four in a row. How Brown could hardly blame them because he’s been doing this long enough to know that it’s almost unavoidable in an 82-game season. He was the most experienced player available for the Nuggets. Their other eight players had combined for 94 NBA starts before Philadelphia, and only 45 before this season.

    “People are expecting us to lose. We have nothing to lose, right?” Brown thought. “Go out there and hoop. We’ve been on the other side before, where other teams sit people out, and the same thing happens. So I knew they were probably gonna take us a little light. … When I’m on the other side, sometimes that happens, right? The other team just comes out playing extremely hard, and you’re like, eh, bench guys; they’re not the starters.”

    Jalen Pickett will tell the story of how he quieted his older brother. “He’s my biggest critic,” the 6-foot-2 point guard said, “so I can’t wait to see what he says tonight.” They don’t get to see each other often during the NBA season. This was an exception, a reunion in Philly. Pickett, who finished his college career at Penn State, scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Nuggets. He added five rebounds and seven assists.

    “He was just absolutely in control of this basketball game,” Adelman said. “With all those great players on that court, he was the guy tonight.”

    Pickett’s first three years of pro hoops have been an emotional roller coaster. Drafted in the second round in 2023, he became a focal point of the tension between former general manager Calvin Booth and coach Michael Malone. Palace intrigue encroached on his confidence at times. But a 7-for-11 outside-shooting performance in Pennsylvania? Three step-back 3s over the 7-foot Embiid? It was the best Pickett has felt on a basketball court since “probably back in college, having the ball every possession.” He’ll tell the story of the Nuggets’ nickname for one night: “We were calling ourselves the Denver G League.”

    Hunter Tyson will tell the story of his go-ahead 4-point play, the crux of a 14-0 fourth-quarter run after Denver trailed 98-89 with 11 minutes to go. He scored half of his 14 points during that run. Perhaps no sequence was more crucial to the momentum than his contested rebound and pull-up 3-pointer in transition, which he buried while getting fouled. “We were just a bunch of dogs tonight,” he said afterward.

    He’ll tell the story of the bench’s comradery and patience. Tyson was drafted five spots after Pickett in 2023. Seven of Denver’s nine available players have suited up for the Grand Rapids Gold, a developmental G League affiliate. Eight of the nine were either drafted by the Nuggets outside of the top 20, or signed by the Nuggets out of college as undrafted free agents. Before this game, Tyson had played 50 total minutes in the first 35 contests of the season.

    “He might be our hardest worker,” Pickett said.

    “We’re blessed with the opportunity to be in the NBA, to be in this position. So I really try to keep a good perspective about things,” Tyson said. “And maybe even if I’m not playing as much as I want, just try and get a little better each day.”

    He’ll tell the story of how that patience was a virtue on the final play of overtime, when Maxey released a potential game-winning floater. It threatened the three hours of maximum effort Denver had devoted. But it rolled off the rim as time expired, igniting a spontaneous celebration of hugs.

    “Dude, I swear it sat there forever,” Tyson said, laughing. “I was really glad it didn’t go in.”

    Zeke Nnaji will tell the story of Adelman’s relentless encouragement, which Nnaji says dates back months before the one game when it was most necessary. “He says that we’re so deep, we’re so talented, that on a random night, it could be anyone’s night. He’s constantly hammering that message home,” Nnaji said.

    “I think it’s really DA. … He believed. And we all believed.”

    Nnaji is the third-longest tenured Nugget behind Jokic and Murray, but his four-year, $32 million contract has been widely ridiculed as a waste of money on a player who mostly rides the bench. For at least one night, none of that mattered. Nnaji was Embiid’s equal, amassing 21 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench as Denver’s fourth-string center. He’ll tell the story of how it felt like a “normal” game, if only because the reserves are so accustomed to playing pickup together on the practice court. They need the reps.

    “We play with each other so much,” he said. “Especially when everyone (in the starting lineup) is healthy, we’re always playing with each other. … Opportunities like this are so rare.”

    Adelman will tell the story of Denver’s pregame shootaround someday, once he can get through it without choking up. “This morning, walking through (the plan) with nine people,” he said, “it was really special.” He had to stop himself there.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Cam Johnson injury: Nuggets say forward out 4 to 6 weeks with hyperextended knee

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    As two Nuggets starters inch closer to a return, another will replace them in street clothes on the sideline.

    Cam Johnson is expected to miss at least four to six weeks after hyperextending his right knee Tuesday in Dallas, the team announced before hosting Minnesota on Christmas. Johnson underwent an MRI that revealed a bone bruise on Wednesday — a best-case outcome after a painful landing that could’ve resulted in structural ligament damage.

    Still, after another day of assessing the severity of the injury, Denver determined Johnson will be its third starter to miss a stretch of four or more weeks this season. Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Christian Braun (ankle) have not played in December, with coach David Adelman eyeing an upcoming seven-game road trip as the earliest opportunity for one or both to return from injuries.

    Johnson, 29, is averaging 11.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his first season as a Nugget. Denver traded Michael Porter Jr. and a future first-round pick for him in June. He started the season in a nasty slump but turned a corner around mid-November, helping the Nuggets to an 10-5 record in games without Gordon and Braun.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets start game on 19-0 run, hold off Utah Jazz in bounce-back win

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    The Nuggets might’ve been guilty of coasting Monday, but they could afford to coast.

    Scoring the first 19 points of the game and leading by 25 after the first quarter, Denver bounced back from its largest loss of the season with a 135-112 blowout win over the Jazz at Ball Arena.

    The Nuggets (21-7) haven’t lost consecutive games yet this year. They’re about to play 10 of their next 13 on the road, including a back-to-back Tuesday in Dallas.

    Jamal Murray led all scorers with 27 on Monday, but this was a comprehensive team win. Peyton Watson added 20 points on nine shots in his return from a trunk injury that sidelined him for the last two games. Cam Johnson made all six of his 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic had a triple-double five minutes into the third quarter, on his way to 14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.

    Utah pushed the deficit inside of 20 points a couple of times, but Denver’s dominant start was more than enough to handle business against a division foe.

    Jokic started the onslaught with a pair of jump shots. Then Murray and Watson joined in. Watson reached double figures about five minutes into the game. It took Utah another three minutes after that to get to 10 as a team.

    Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets makes a three pointer over Keyonte George (3) of the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    The Nuggets scored 15 fast-break points in the first quarter alone. They shot 9 of 14 from deep and assisted on 13 of their 15 total made shots. The Jazz put up nine more field goal attempts than Denver in the frame but still trailed 40-15 when the dust settled.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets’ Bruce Brown, Rockets’ Kevin Durant are former teammates. Now they have beef.

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    Bruce Brown and Kevin Durant probably won’t be sending each other Christmas cards.

    They played together in Brooklyn for two years. They competed against each other in a playoff series in 2023, when the Nuggets eliminated the Suns in six games. Their relationship as former teammates has “been cool,” according to Brown. Until Dec. 20, 2025.

    “I think it’s been cut slow now, after tonight,” Brown said Saturday. “Some words were said that’s a little disrespectful. I can’t wait to see him next time.”

    After verbally sparring throughout a chippy NBA game — the Nuggets lost 115-101 to Durant’s Houston Rockets — they continued to throw jabs in their postgame interviews.

    Brown told reporters that on separate occasions, Durant said something to him and to another Nuggets player that crossed a line.

    “As a man,” Brown said, “there’s certain things you don’t say to another man.”

    Durant agrees.

    “I definitely wanted to cross the line tonight,” the two-time NBA Finals MVP said, smiling. “That’s basketball. That’s in between the lines. Ain’t no respect. Ain’t no love. Nothing. People don’t show love to me. They cross the line a lot with their physicality. It’s just part of the game. Some people can talk and play. Some people can’t. I had to learn how to talk and play as a player. So I think Bruce is probably learning the same thing.”

    Denver Nuggets guard/forward Bruce Brown (11) and Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) get chippy during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    With 2:40 to go in the third quarter of a tight game between Western Conference title contenders, Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and made a floater. It cut Houston’s lead to 69-62 and prompted a timeout from Rockets coach Ime Udoka.

    Brown immediately located Durant, who wasn’t involved in the play, and stared him down.

    Both players declined to share the specifics of what Durant had said that offended Brown, but the Nuggets wing claimed Durant’s offensive comments had been ongoing “before and after” that moment.

    “He said it before to someone else, and then he said it to me,” Brown said.

    “Nothing that should be told to the media,” Durant added. “He knows. He understood. I understood. We know what that is. We don’t need to tell you about it.”

    The Rockets pulled away for a 16-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Durant amassed 31 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win, shooting the 3-pointer at a 5-for-6 clip. Brown compiled 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for Denver.

    “We’re coming in here and playing a championship organization with arguably, in my opinion, one of the top 10 players, five players that I’ve ever seen play basketball, you know?” Durant said, referring to Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. “That’s how much respect I’ve got for these dudes, that I want to get up and bring that energy. Bring that fight. It might go across the line. But that’s basketball sometimes. So Bruce will be all right.”

    Durant continued to relish his role as the antagonist throughout the fourth quarter at Ball Arena. He and Tim Hardaway Jr. picked up matching technical fouls after Durant buried a three over the Nuggets guard. A few minutes later, Durant taunted Nuggets coach David Adelman when Adelman was ejected for arguing with the referees.

    Then with about six minutes remaining, the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history made another 3-pointer, this time over Jamal Murray. It gave Houston a 98-81 lead. Durant pointed an imaginary gun in the direction of Murray and the crowd then danced down the court.

    Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) celebrates a three-pointer during a 115-101 win over the Denver Nuggets during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
    Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) celebrates a three-pointer during a 115-101 win over the Denver Nuggets during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    “Somebody in the crowd was talking crazy to me right before that,” he said. “So everybody enjoyed it. People in the stands enjoyed the game. Bruce and Tim Hardaway probably didn’t enjoy it. But I enjoy when we go back and forth. That’s basketball, you know what I’m saying? A lot of people say that’s missing from the game. When I do it, it’s a problem. But it was a fun game. Glad we got the win. I’m not celebrating like it’s the championship, but we lost two in a row (before Saturday). We wanted to win tonight.”

    Adelman said he had no issue with how Durant made fun of him after the ejection. Jokic also weighed in on the chirping.

    “They can do whatever,” he said. “I think some people like to do that. Some people don’t care. I think some people get their energy from that. So I’m OK. I don’t care.”

    Durant has long held deep admiration for Jokic, but he also bickered with Nuggets fans on social media for being too devoted to him during the 2024 Paris Olympics. People from Denver who were rooting for Jokic’s Serbian national team to beat Team USA in the semifinals of the basketball competition, Durant asserted, were “lame.” No basketball player in history has won as many Olympic gold medals as Durant, who has four.

    “A lot of people may disagree with me right now, but I feel like (Jokic and I) have a similar mentality with how we approach the work, just the game itself,” he said Saturday, smirking as if he recognized the comparison might irritate Nuggets fans. “And I can sense that from afar. So I always have respect for him. … But when we’re playing against each other, once again, we might cross the line.

    “So if that offends you, that’s on you. Next game, I’m sure Bruce will be better from that. But I crossed the line tonight.”

    When they were Brooklyn Nets teammates in 2022, Durant got annoyed at an unfiltered comment Brown made to the media about the Boston Celtics, saying that Brown’s blunt criticism gave Boston bulletin board material in a playoff series between the two teams. Brooklyn got swept.

    Durant has since been traded twice, going to Phoenix and now Houston. Brown, who won an NBA championship in Denver, reunited with the Nuggets last offseason after two years away.

    The Nuggets prevailed in overtime when they hosted Houston last Monday in another emotionally charged game, adding to the tension surrounding the Saturday rematch. Udoka was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his postgame comments about the refs after Monday’s contest, while Adelman also felt the whistle had disadvantaged his team. Jokic and backup big man Jonas Valanciunas both fouled out in the eventual win, leaving Adelman without a center at the end of overtime.

    Denver still leads the season series 2-1 after the loss on Saturday. One more regular-season meeting remains on the schedule, but it’s not until March 11, 2026.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nikola Jokic passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most assists by center in NBA history as Nuggets beat Magic

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    For his latest trick, Nikola Jokic dribbled into oncoming traffic and escaped unscathed.

    Sometimes after he reels in a defensive rebound, the Nuggets center prefers to launch an aerial attack with one of his long outlet passes. This time, he brought the ball with him up on his usual route up the middle of the floor. Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. trailed him by a step. Up ahead, Tyus Jones veered into his lane from the left, sensing an opportunity to pick the pocket of a lumbering big man.

    But Jokic is nimble. Before Jones could cut across his front side, he anticipated the attempted swipe and transferred his dribbling hand with a behind-the-back move that shouldn’t have looked so graceful. Jones whiffed. Carter caught up, but Jokic decelerated to allow him to pass. Then the newly minted best passing center of all time went behind the back again — this time, a dime to Jamal Murray, who finished the play with a lefty floater.

    Denver’s stars were just showing off at that point in the third quarter of a 126-115 win over the Magic that wasn’t always so smooth-sailing.

    DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets passes behind his back as Tyus Jones (2) of the Orlando Magic watches during the third quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    It was a monumental night. At 30 years old and 302 days, Jokic passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Thursday for the most assists by a center in NBA history. Coming into the game, all he needed was six to match Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 5,660. He finished the evening with 13, highlighting a 23-point, 11-rebound triple-double.

    “For those of us that love the history of the game, that one should be wrote about and talked about, and that should be a national story,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Because that’s passing a guy that you could argue — if you just want to go by generations and not, ‘Who’s the best player of all time?’ and all the talk-talk stuff — Kareem is in the conversation. Look at his MVPs. Look at the winning. And our guy tonight from Denver just passed him in a category.”

    “This is a time that I can be able to look back and appreciate all the years I’ve had to play this game with him,” Murray said. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool. So I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”

    Jokic has also passed other Hall of Famers including Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson on the all-time list this season, now ranking 50th overall in career assists. Next up for him to catch is another legendary passer, Larry Bird. Jokic is 28 away from tying him.

    “I always say the assist makes two people happy (instead of one). My coach ‘Deki,’ he always said that,” Jokic said Thursday, paying homage to the late Golden State Warriors and Mega Basket coach Dejan Milojevic.

    “Maybe it’s not a splashy pass or whatever,” the three-time MVP continued, “but I think when you make the right play, you’re going to feel good about yourself.”

    Adelman was especially adamant about the historical significance of the occasion. He gave Jokic the game ball in Denver’s locker room after the win.

    “It’s such a cool thing, because it’s Kareem, who was passed by LeBron (James) as the all-time leading scorer, which puts in perspective who Nikola passed,” Adelman said. “So it’s a celebration of both people. It’s somebody that completely changed the game. The sky hook. The longevity. … I feel like in the modern era, we talk about Tom Brady and all these people. But go look at Kareem. The guy changed his name while he played. The guy plays 20-plus years and, until the very end, was impactful on teams that went to the Finals. So for Nikola to pass him, I think, says a lot. And if we’re going to celebrate what LeBron did, (we should celebrate this also). And I know it’s a different kind of thing because it’s a center, it’s a position. I’ll just keep saying it. Just don’t get tired of this, because it’s unique.”

    Jokic is also closing in on Oscar Robertson for second all-time in triple-doubles. Thursday was his 177th, bringing him within four of the iconic guard. He became the first center in league history to average a triple-double last season, and he’s on pace to do so again this year with 29.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game.

    Orlando called a timeout after Jokic and Murray combined for that saucy transition bucket in the third quarter. As they sauntered to the huddle, Nuggets assistant coaches Ognjen Stojakovic and JJ Barea could only laugh at the duo’s skill and panache.

    DENVER , CO - DECEMBER 18: Assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic laughs as the Orlando Magic take a timeout during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' 126-115 win at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
    DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic laughs as the Orlando Magic take a timeout during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 126-115 win at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    “That’s how kind of we made our staple in that second unit growing up, was just the give-and-go,” Murray said of Jokic’s passing. “… A lot of give-and-go, and you could see his court vision and his fluidity.”

    The Nuggets did most of their work Thursday during an astonishing second quarter. They flipped a 47-33 deficit with a 35-7 run that only took the last 6:26 of the first half. Murray scored 20 of his 32 points in the frame. Reserve point guard Jalen Pickett ignited the comeback and was a plus-26 in eight minutes of playing time that quarter.

    Both teams were short-handed at Ball Arena. Orlando was fending without Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs. Denver was down three of its best defenders with Peyton Watson (right trunk contusion) ruled out shortly before tip, joining Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon on the shelf.

    In Watson’s place, Bruce Brown started his first game as a Denver Nugget since April 9, 2023. David Adelman used 10 of his 11 available players, including Julian Strawther, who was cleared to play earlier this week after missing a month with a back injury.

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  • As Nuggets offense thrives, Jonas Valanciunas quips: ‘Setting a good screen is selfish’

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    To screen or not to screen is not a question in Denver.

    To roll and perchance to score, now there’s the appeal.

    First-year coach David Adelman doesn’t deal lightly in superlatives, so it was notable when he recently described Denver’s roster as “the best Nuggets screening team we’ve had in a long time.”

    But he and one of his most prolific screeners did have an amusing difference of opinion about the nature of setting a good screen — the implication of it.

    “Guys (are) giving themselves up. … Making the effort to get a hit for somebody else to allow them to have success,” Adelman raved last week. “Sometimes the assist total, 30, is great. But you look back and you look at the screen-assist numbers and what creates offense behind that, it’s an unselfish thing that guys in the NBA don’t all want to do.”

    Adelman listed names, crediting almost half of Denver’s roster for contributing: Bruce Brown, Peyton Watson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Spencer Jones. Centers Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas. The biggest bodies, obviously, are often the heftiest screeners.

    “Our team, for whatever reason this year,” Adelman said, “has been very successful at doing it.”

    Valanciunas has a reason.

    “You know, setting a good screen is selfish,” he said. “Because you’re gonna be open. I’m a selfish guy. Setting good screens.”

    Disclaimer: At least half of what the Lithuanian big man says is tongue-in-cheek to some extent, and he even laughed at his own comment in this case.

    But the humor in his voice didn’t take away from the sliver of truth to his words. Adelman agreed on Monday night before the Nuggets hosted the Houston Rockets.

    “I think it was (Hall of Famer) Chris Mullin that said, ‘I want to be the best screener on the team because I want to shoot the most shots.’ It makes a lot of sense,” Adelman said. “If you (set a) rip screen correctly and you cause confusion, you get to shoot. If you’re a big that sets screens, you create the pocket. The ball finds you (in the pick-and-roll).

    “Same thing with a guy like Jamal (Murray). If you set a flare screen, a lot of times, two (defenders) are gonna go with him. And that means you’re the guy that benefits. Peyton gets dunks every other game that way. So yeah, there is something to that.”

    The Nuggets have long been particularly adept at using their guards as screeners. Christian Braun, who didn’t make the list of shoutouts from Adelman in his initial comment, has mastered the art of when and how to release from a screen. He often reads the defense and slips to the basket for easy layups and dunks, courtesy of assists from a distributor like Jokic, Murray or Aaron Gordon.

    Hardaway has frequently benefited from being the “weakest” link in three-man actions with Jokic and Murray, stepping out to the 3-point line after setting a screen and launching open shots when the defense fixates on Denver’s stars.

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  • As Aaron Gordon seeks second opinions on hamstring injury, Nuggets brace for impact

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    That shadow over the court was Aaron Gordon’s. Suddenly, the Nuggets felt his absence as painfully as their opponents usually feel his presence.

    He would have been perfect for a crunch-time possession late Saturday night and the unenviable task of guarding DeMar DeRozan with a game on the line.

    David Adelman instead asked for one stop from Spencer Jones, the eager 24-year-old wing who has prospered as a defensive specialist on a two-way contract.

    He had started the game in place of the injured Gordon as well, but this was a step up in stakes. The Nuggets trailed 123-120 after a successful two-for-one bucket with 29 seconds to go, allowing them to play out a defensive possession instead of fouling. They had no margin for error, but they had a chance.

    Jones does have one glaring flaw in his defensive game: He’s foul-prone. And against a savvy veteran scorer like DeRozan, discipline with hand placement is especially vital. Jones didn’t pass the assignment this time. He reached into the cookie jar, and DeRozan immediately drew the contact while burying an improbable midrange jumper. Ballgame.

    Gordon and the Nuggets are seeking second opinions on the severity of his right hamstring strain before determining how much time he’ll miss, Adelman said Saturday, 24 hours after Gordon slipped on a drive to the basket in Houston and then gingerly walked off the court. The injury could result in another prolonged absence for a Nuggets starter, with Christian Braun already on the shelf for the next five weeks.

    “We’re trying to make sure we get the correct answer to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Adelman said. “… Obviously, that was concerning last night with Aaron.”

    The Nuggets are bracing for impact. Hunter Tyson played first-half rotation minutes in their 128-123 loss to Sacramento. Zeke Nnaji started last Wednesday at New Orleans when Gordon’s hamstring sent him a warning sign. DaRon Holmes II was called up from the G League on Saturday.

    And Jones was a major variable in the defensive equation of replacing Gordon during Denver’s back-to-back this weekend. He was impressive in Houston, matching up on a full range of players from Reed Sheppard to Alperen Sengun.

    On Saturday, he was a minus-18.

    “I’m concerned about anybody guarding DeRozan,” Adelman said when asked whether he was concerned about the foul potential of the Jones matchup. “He’ll learn from that. He got his hand in there. That’s what DeMar does. He’s always been an artist with that. He’s one of the best scorers in the modern era. A lot of it is because of that, and of course, it comes at a really key time. So Spence will learn from it. I have nothing but full confidence in him.”

    Baptism by fire is the only way sometimes, in Adelman’s view. After spending weeks lauding his team’s depth, the injury bug is forcing him to use it even more.

    “We’re going through this process with a couple of guys out, really three guys out,” he said, referring also to Julian Strawther’s recent back pain that has kept him inactive the last four games. “So we want to see what each guy can do. We played Jalen (Pickett) a little bit. We started him (against Indiana). Zeke started in New Orleans. We wanted to give Hunter a little bit of run.

    “As we go through this time, if guys are out — and some are, as you know — we’ll try different lineups to see what we can do. … I can’t play an eight-and-a-half man rotation every night. So I’ll get creative with it as best I can.”

    Denver’s three healthy starters showed out on the second night of the back-to-back. Nikola Jokic amassed 44 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. Jamal Murray continued to be a steady source of offense, with 23 points and nine assists to just one turnover. Cam Johnson continued to do all the little things that prompted Adelman to defend him when he was slumping — and also went for his first 20-point game as a Nugget.

    But with Peyton Watson and Jones slotted in as starters, the bench got outscored 48-20. In a home loss to the Bulls last Monday, the margin was an even uglier 66-9. That happened with Gordon in the lineup.

    “I think 12-4, it’s not the real picture. I think we are not that good,” Jokic said Saturday, laying it on perhaps a little too thick. “I think we need to be much better if we want to do something big. Yes, we’ve played better. We look better. But I think we need to consistently, every night, every possession.”

    “Those guys are really important to what we do. They’re very talented players, CB and AG,” Johnson added. “Very gritty guys. Contribute a lot to the game. But it’s part of the league, you know? It’s part of the game. Eighty-two games is a long season. Sometimes, things happen. I think we have the depth that we can (trust the) next man up and rally and find ways to maximize the guys available on the floor.”

    If Gordon sits out an extended period that corresponds with Braun’s recovery, getting stops will be Denver’s biggest bugaboo. The team’s defensive rating when those two players share the floor is an elite 109.5 in 241 minutes. It’s 118.9 when they’re both off the floor. The Kings turned the ball over only six times on Saturday. Russell Westbrook scored 15 fourth-quarter points to fuel their win, which snapped an eight-game skid.

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  • Nikola Jokic is done yelling at refs: ‘I don’t even think about them. It’s great.’

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    HOUSTON — Nikola Jokic is determined to make this his season of zen.

    No more animated arguments with the officials. No more pleading for calls. No more of those exasperated full-body reactions to the whistle, those classic images of a 285-pound man tightly wound up, his arms and neck shrinking into his torso, his palms facing the ceiling in bewilderment, his eyes bugging out.

    Nope, no more of that. Jokic is chill with the referees now. He’s a go-with-the-flow kind of guy.

    “That’s my new thing this year,” he says. “I’m not gonna get stressed or yell at the refs or whatever. I’m just gonna try to comport my energy to the basketball place.”

    Jokic has waged a few wars against NBA officiating crews. He has 46 career technical fouls and nine ejections. He has made it clear in the past that he believes smaller players are allowed to get away with grabbing and shoving him an inordinate amount. He once received a rare one-tech ejection in Chicago for uttering a profanity that is considered fairly mundane in the context of professional sports — an incident so unusual that the opposing fans jeered the refs for depriving them of a superstar performance.

    But the three-time MVP claims to be turning over a new leaf now.

    “I feel so much better out there,” he said this week. “I don’t even think about them. It’s great.”

    An exception to the rule: Jokic is not forbidden from gesturing to Nuggets coach David Adelman when he thinks a challenge is warranted. If a tangible and productive result can be achieved by refuting a call, then it’s not a waste of energy, in Jokic’s view.

    He even signaled for a challenge one second into Denver’s game in New Orleans this week, after the opening jump ball was batted directly out of bounds by the Pelicans but was initially ruled to be last touched by Jokic.

    Other than that, he’s trying to shut up and play the game.

    Unfortunately for his new coach, that could mean heightened responsibility as a surrogate agitator.

    “Yeah, he’s in a better mood, and I’m in a worse mood, and it cost me whatever it cost me the other night,” Adelman joked, referring to a technical foul he picked up Monday when the Nuggets hosted Chicago.

    “I actually think it really is interesting how you approach that. … I do think certain guys, the way they react to the officials can help them, the way they interact. … In other ways, it hurts you. So if that’s the approach he’s taking, I trust him that he feels like it puts him in a better mental state. If it helps how he plays, how he feels daily, it’s a good thing.”

    One more exception to the rule: Jokic made sure to get in a full season’s worth of opinions on officiating back at Nuggets training camp, when he held court for at least 15 minutes with a trio of NBA referees brought in by the team to officiate a scrimmage.

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  • Without Aaron Gordon, Nuggets escape New Orleans with win in Zion Williamson’s return

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    NEW ORLEANS — Life was detected in the most cavernous building in the NBA for a few minutes on Wednesday, as the Pelicans flew to an early 13-point lead over their lethargic visitors.

    Life was briefly detected again toward the end of the proceedings, when the Pelicans sliced a 19-point deficit to six after Nikola Jokic fouled out. There might have even been noise from the uninhabited upper deck.

    But the Nuggets escaped Smoothie King Center in the end with a 125-118 win, buoyed by a mostly solid night of defense and Peyton Watson’s career-high 32 points.

    In his second game starting for Christian Braun, Watson finished with a 13-for-19 double-double. Jokic added 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists on another night with two starters missing.

    And Denver (11-3) finished the game with a frontcourt of Zeke Nnaji and Jonas Valanciunas after Jokic’s disqualification. Valanciunas knocked down a pair of clutch 15-footers to fend off a late comeback from the Pelicans (2-13).

    From the start, this was a game layered with more intrigue than the records indicated. Zion Williamson, the Pelicans’ explosive but aloof star forward, was cleared to play after missing the last eight games. Denver’s Aaron Gordon was a last-minute scratch from the lineup for hamstring injury management, which sidelined him for one other game earlier this season.

    These developments were related. Gordon has been described by Nuggets coach David Adelman as one of “only a few human beings walking around that can deal with Zion Williamson.” Adelman mirrored their minutes when the Pelicans visited Denver three weeks ago, determined to force Williamson to play against that matchup.

    Without Gordon, Nnaji was enlisted as the starting power forward. He had been out of the rotation entirely to start the season.

    The idea had a sound precedent, though. Gordon was out when the Nuggets hosted New Orleans in February, and former coach Michael Malone also started Nnaji for the occasion. Williamson scored an inefficient 14 points on 13 shots that day, as Trey Murphy III had to shoulder more of the Pelicans’ offensive burden. As a team, they went 4 for 11 on shots defended by Nnaji.

    This time, even with two rim protectors on the floor in Nnaji and Watson, the Pelicans scored 18 points in the paint (and 23 total) in the first eight minutes. It didn’t help that Jokic committed four turnovers before he made a shot, surrendering easy transition opportunities to a struggling team that has played faster since firing coach Willie Green last week.

    Out of an early Adelman timeout, the Nuggets gave up two consecutive fast breaks that ended with New Orleans missing the initial layup only to score on a second chance.

    “They had a coaching change,” Adelman said pregame. “New energy. … So this is a totally different challenge.”

    Jokic finally kick-started the Nuggets with five straight points after they fell behind 23-10. He was on his way to a triple-double by the end of the third quarter — those are the norm when he faces New Orleans — but the upstart Pels showed him multiple defenders and made him work all night. On offense, he finished with nine turnovers. On defense, rookie Derik Queen wasn’t afraid to attack him off the dribble.

    Drafted 13th overall after a controversial trade in June, Queen is the latest new-gen prospect whose play style is clearly in Jokic’s lineage. He was responsible for Colorado State’s heartbreaking NCAA Tournament loss at the buzzer last March. Now, a franchise desperate for future answers wants to develop him into a hub of half-court offense. He paced the Pels on Wednesday with 30 points, nine boards and four assists.

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  • Nikola Jokic dominates in Nuggets’ 122-112 win over Heat — Denver stays perfect at home

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    Altitude might be regaining its status as a safe haven for the Nuggets.

    Obliging Miami’s invitation to play fast-paced, somewhat chaotic basketball, Denver held off the Heat for a 122-112 win Wednesday and improved to 4-0 this season at Ball Arena. They were a lackluster 26-15 at home last year.

    Nikola Jokic had a triple-double by the end of a bizarre and experimental third quarter, en route to 33 points, 15 rebounds and 16 assists. He and his teammates benefitted from the departure of Heat star Bam Adebayo, who suffered a foot injury early in the game. With Kel’el Ware and Keshad Johnson splitting minutes at center, Denver out-rebounded Miami 68-44 for a 22-8 advantage in second-chance points and 62-42 edge in the paint.

    That and the tempo at which Miami plays helped the Nuggets (5-2) pile on 68 first-half points despite shooting only 43% from the floor and 6 for 23 outside the arc. They also added 12 points in the first minute and 46 seconds of the third quarter, briefly flirting with a 150-point pace.

    But every time the Nuggets threatened to blow the game open, they started to get messy. Miami shaved a 17-point deficit back to 10 with seven minutes to go, causing David Adelman to call timeout and retrieve his security blanket from the bench. On a sloppier night for the Jamal Murray-led second unit, Jokic steadied the ship. Denver won his minutes by 18 and lost those without him by eight.

    Murray struggled to make his shots for the second consecutive game, going 4 of 15. But he accepted a pick-me-up from Aaron Gordon, who scored 24 points and was on the emphatic receiving end of a few Jokic dimes. Tim Hardaway Jr. also added 18 points on a 4-for-9 night from 3-point range, continuing his hot start to the season.

    The 33-year-old guard, who signed a veteran minimum contract with the Nuggets, is shooting 44.7% from three after seven games. He’s playing more minutes than anybody else off Denver’s bench.

    The Nuggets have now won nine consecutive regular-season home games against Miami. Other than Game 2 of the NBA Finals in 2023, their last home loss to the Heat was Nov. 30, 2016.

    Miami did, however, hand the Nuggets their first deficit at Ball Arena this season when Norman Powell buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key against their zone on the first possession of the game. He went for a team-leading 23 points, but the Heat did most of their leading in the first quarter. Denver trailed by more than seven and never trailed after halftime.

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  • Jared Dudley has played with and coached countless superstars. His mission in Denver? Protect Nikola Jokic defensively

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    Jared Dudley’s second career had already started before his first one was over. He just needed time to realize it.

    Winning a championship with LeBron James helped him get there. By then, Dudley had been bouncing around the NBA for more than a dozen years. The LeBron- and Anthony Davis-led Lakers were his seventh team. “When you can sit in a room and watch film with LeBron, AD and (Rajon) Rondo and call them out,” he says, “it’s something that very few coaches have the guts to be able to do, the credibility.”

    Dudley felt perfectly comfortable doing that. Enough to begin to recognize a knack for leadership that could serve him beyond his playing years, which were numbered anyway. “It’s like I’d been coaching my last four or five years in the NBA,” he realized.

    In 2021, he was planning to prolong his time on the Lakers’ roster as a veteran bench presence — he and James had developed a close friendship — but a new opportunity beckoned. Former Lakers assistant Jason Kidd took over as head coach of the Mavericks, and he had a staff opening ready for Dudley.

    The beloved longtime role player took the leap directly into coaching. Four years later, he’s ascending the ranks. Nuggets coach David Adelman kicked off his regime this summer by hiring Dudley to oversee Denver’s defense, which ranked 21st in the league last season.

    “Word of mouth,” Adelman said. “A lot of people told me great things about him, and in this league, sometimes it’s not who you know; it’s what you hear from other people you respect and trust.”

    A coaching lifer, Adelman wanted to make sure he built a staff that included former players to introduce a healthy range of perspectives. In the 40-year-old Dudley, he landed someone who brought not just schematic creativity, which has already been on display early this season, but a candid demeanor and clear understanding of NBA locker room dynamics.

    “Just because you were a player doesn’t mean you can relate,” Dudley told The Denver Post in an interview this week. “It takes all those different experiences on my journey as a player to be able to know how to talk to them, when to talk to them, when to come at Jamal (Murray), when to come at (Nikola) Jokic, when to call other players out.

    “… That’s what I’m trying to do (for) a team that struggled on defense but has a historically good offense. Make this team above-average defensively to give us a chance to win a championship.”

    Dudley didn’t always have the “guts” to speak up as audaciously as he did late in his playing career. But that’s how it should be, he thinks. Confidence and privilege come with age in a league where status matters. When Dudley was young, observing and adapting meant survival.

    “My mom always taught me a good player is one that listens. So I never had a problem,” he said. “Steve Nash told me one time, ‘When I pass you the ball, I’m passing you the ball with an advantage. So if you don’t have an advantage, pass me the ball back.’ When he says that, OK, I remember that. I believe in a hierarchy where there’s different levels, and superstars get different treatment and can say different things. I believe in that.”

    Few people in the league today have worked alongside as many superstars as Dudley. He was traded to Phoenix in 2008 as a second-year bench player, teaming up with Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal. He played with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin on the Lob City Clippers, then with a young Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, John Wall in Washington, Devin Booker in Phoenix, LeBron and AD in Los Angeles. He coached Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson and Kyrie Irving in Dallas.

    He tried to absorb something from each experience. Nash’s instructions on what to do with the ball as a role player were a north star. Dudley also partially attributes the length of his career (14 years) to lessons learned from Nash about taking care of his body — “all the stuff he did pre and postgame: IVs, acupuncture, working on your core.” O’Neal taught him in those early years how to balance seriousness and light-heartedness.

    Jared Dudley (3) and Steve Nash (13) of the Phoenix Suns during Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs at US Airways Center on May 5, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

    Dudley built a reputation with his IQ despite his awkward body type. He played a bit of power forward at Boston College, was drafted as a small forward, then he transformed himself into a starting two-guard with the Suns. He monitored league trends, such as the emergence of Draymond Green and downsized lineups. In Milwaukee, he asked to play the four after Jabari Parker tore an ACL. “I saw the defenses weren’t evolving fast enough for the small-ball four,” Dudley recalled. “I got ahead of it. … You have to evolve — 90% of the league is role players.”

    That’s the ethos he’s trying to bring to the Nuggets, a team with a similarly heady identity. Aaron Gordon, in particular, outfitted his game to complement Jokic in 2021 when he was traded to Denver — a reinvention that echoes how Dudley changed his game to function with an all-time great passer in Phoenix.

    When Dudley traveled to Denver for his interview in July, he arrived with a film project, exploring zone options and how the staff could limit Jokic’s defensive workload this season. “Even though it might be word-of-mouth,” he said, “you’ve still gotta impress.” He and Adelman had dinner together for more than four hours, talking scheme for about 35% of it (in Dudley’s estimation) and life for the other 65%. Adelman didn’t need much time to deliberate.

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  • Nuggets Podcast: Jamal Murray goes off, Christian Braun gets paid and Aaron Gordon goes hyphy

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    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:

    Subscribe to the podcast

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    Producer: AAron Ontiveroz
    Music: “The Last Dragons” by Schama Noel

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  • Aaron Gordon didn’t want game ball after Nuggets lost season opener despite his 50-piece

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    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.

    Fifteen fourth-quarter points to pilot an epic comeback and set up the shot of Nikola Jokic’s life. A 38-point throwback to carry a short-handed team without Jokic, Jamal Murray or darn near anyone else.

    A bittersweet 50-piece.

    “I was just up there getting hyphy,” he said.

    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.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • David Adelman after Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier arrests connected to sports gambling: ‘Just hoping for the best for everybody’

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    SAN FRANCISCO — In his first pregame news conference of the season, and his tenure as a full-time NBA head coach, David Adelman didn’t hear as many basketball questions as he probably would’ve liked.

    That’s because a somber cloud hung over the league on Thursday, after the arrests and federal indictments of an active player, Miami’s Terry Rozier, and a sitting head coach, Portland’s Chauncey Billups, in a wide-ranging FBI gambling investigation.

    “It’s tough,” Nuggets guard Bruce Brown said Thursday morning before the team’s season opener. “I know Chauncey’s a great guy. I’ve hung around him a little bit. It’s just unfortunate.”

    The indictments — particularly Rozier’s, which involved NBA players and coaches divulging nonpublic information to associates for the purpose of placing bets — raised another round of questions about the spread of such information and, more generally, the potential for corruption associated with the proliferation of online sports betting.

    “It’s new, so it’s like anything else. When the world changes, there’s gonna be hiccups,” Adelman said Thursday evening. “People get themselves in tough situations. I think all you can do is just keep pounding the rock and just (emphasize), ‘Hey, you’ve gotta be careful and understand what this is.’

    “(Betting) is such a part of our culture now and community, it’s not going anywhere. … You have to bring it up maybe more. Have more meetings about it. Mention it more throughout the year. Because you care about your players and you care about your staff, and you just don’t want to see them get in a tough situation.”

    Rodney Billups, who is Chauncey’s brother, is an assistant coach on Adelman’s staff and remained with the team Thursday. Adelman declined to specify whether they had a conversation about possibly stepping away from the team for personal reasons, but he stressed the importance of supporting his coworkers.

    “Whatever Rodney needs for his family is all I care about,” Adelman said. “The situation itself, I only know what I’ve read. You guys know what I know. When your family member is affected by something, you have to support that person. Rodney has been nothing but great for us since he’s been here.”

    Adelman and Warriors coach Steve Kerr both explained that the NBA facilitates meetings with each team about gambling and information disclosure. One example in Thursday’s indictment alleges that a co-conspirator told a bettor several Portland players would be sitting out a March 23, 2023, game as the Blazers were tanking for a better draft pick, allegedly leading to more than $100,000 in wagers that Portland would lose.

    “They give us the guidelines of what it is,” Adelman said. “Obviously, a tricky situation with some of the ‘don’t text, don’t talk,’ that kind of stuff. You’ve just gotta be careful in casual conversation with what you say. That’s the only level of it I know. They give us all the advice about it.”

    “I feel very comfortable sharing details because the league is really adamant about this stuff,” Kerr said. “Every team has to listen closely and hear everything, and a big part of that meeting was, (if) you tell one of your friends that ‘so and so is not playing’ and then that person tells someone else, you are liable. We know this.”

    Players also deal with an increased proximity to emboldened, aggressive fans on the internet stemming from the gambling industry.

    “Obviously, after every game, we get DMs about not hitting people’s parlays,” Brown said. “… There’s been games where I’ve been called every name in the book, just because I didn’t hit a 3 or two. I mean, that’s just the state of the game we’re in, since sports betting (became) legal. So I mean, just kind of deal with it. Not think about it. Don’t check your DMs after games.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • David Adelman on Nuggets’ debut of Nikola Jokic-Jonas Valanciunas lineup: ‘It was hilarious to watch it on tape’

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    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.”

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  • Nuggets vs. Clippers: Christian Braun, Peyton Watson adding to their game in preseason

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    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.

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    Bennett Durando

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