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Tag: jamal murray

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

    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.”

    Bennett Durando

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  • Short-handed Nuggets blown out in fourth quarter, lose to Hawks

    The short-handed Nuggets’ silver linings playbook: hang around, drill some timely 3-pointers and control the glass — even without a true center in the paint.

    It worked for three quarters Friday night, but the Nuggets, playing at home for the first time since Christmas Day, simply didn’t have enough talent on the floor to hold off Atlanta.

    The Hawks, taking advantage of 19 Denver turnovers on the night, used a fourth-quarter surge to run away with an 110-87 victory.

    It was Atlanta’s first win in Denver since 2019.

    An eight-point surge, sparked by 3-pointers by Tim Hardaway Jr. and Hunter Tyson, gave the Nuggets a 75-71 lead late in the third quarter, and the fans were blowing the lid off Ball Arena. But Onyeka Okongwu canned a 27-foot, 3-point, momentum-changing jumpshot to cut Denver’s lead to 75-74.

    That was the beginning of the end. Atlanta outscored the Nuggets 36-12 in the final 12 minutes. Plus, the Nuggets’ scrappiness from earlier in the game evaporated, in part because they are a tired team after a long, seven-game road trip.

    “I saw a really, really tired group,” coach David Adelman said. “That’s going to happen in the NBA, (coming back) from a seven-game road trip. They gave it everything they had in the third quarter to get back into it. But it does happen in the NBA. We know that. No excuses, ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ but it does happen.”

    The Nuggets trotted out the unlikely starting lineup of Hunter Tyson, Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes II, Christian Braun and Jalen Pickett. Guard Jamal Murray, who racked up 33 assists in Denver’s two gutsy wins to end their East Coast road trip, was given the night off while dealing with illness and an ankle injury. An injury bug has been running through the Nuggets’ locker room for about three weeks.

    Star center Nikola Jokic was in attendance, dressed nattily in a grey suit. But Jokic, out since Dec. 29 with a hyperextended knee and bone bruise, could only cheer from the bench. The Nuggets don’t want to rush him back, but a return before the end of January hasn’t been ruled out.

    Patrick Saunders

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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  • Grading The Week: Nuggets’ Jamal Murray sure looks like NBA All-Star to us

    It’s Jamal Murray’s Team World. The rest of us are just living in it.

    Or rather, living in the glow of what might be the Nuggets guard’s best-ever start to a regular season — best statistical start, at any rate.

    While the Nuggets themselves are coming off a schizophrenic and inconsistent week, to put it kindly, after home losses to Sacramento and San Antonio, the Blue Arrow has quietly been tying a bow around his most productive November ever.

    Friday night’s 37-point performance against the Spurs at Ball Arena pushed No. 27’s scoring average over his first 12 games of the month to 23.2 per contest — easily his best clip for the month of November since the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Jamal Murray: budding All-Star — A-minus.

    From Nov. 1-Nov. 28, Murray was connecting on 48% of his attempts from the floor and 40.4% from beyond the arc. As of Saturday morning, his November averages were 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 3.0 treys per tilt.

    If that sounds like a healthy jump from a year ago at this time, that’s because it is. Murray in November 2024 averaged 17.8 points, 6.7 dimes and 2.2 3-point makes over 10 games. In November 2023, Maple Curry averaged 12.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.5 treys over just four appearances.

    Given that Murray is a historically slow-(ish) starter, Team Grading The Week (GTW) wanted to pause form stuffing our respective faces with turkey sandwiches and tip some collective caps in the Blue Arrow’s direction.

    For one, Murray promised that a dedicated summer of good health plus a intense workout schedule would lead to a better opening two months of the regular season. He’s been true to that word — so far, so good.

    For another, here’s hoping that yet another tweak in the NBA’s All-Star game format opens up a window for Murray to finally make the cut at age 28.

    Instead of conference-vs.-conference matchups, the main competition on ASG weekend will be a Team USA vs. Team World tourney. Only instead of two teams, there will be three teams comprised of eight players, with no positional restrictions, who will face off in a round-robin format.

    With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.6 points, 6.6 assist per game as of this past Friday) almost a lock to take up at least one Team World backcourt spot, Murray is going to have to keep this pace up to join his fellow Canadian at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., come mid-February. But with each passing week, Murray gets that much closer to crossing the threshold from almost to All-Star.

    Tad Boyle’s still got it — A.

    New DU men’s hoops coach Tim Bergstraser sure got the GTW crew’s attention earlier this month by beating CSU Rams and Ali Farokhmanesh in FoCo. Steve Smiley’s UNC Bears men’s basketball team improved to 6-1 this past Wednesday with a victory at Air Force. Thanksgiving weekend means we’re going to finally get some meaty inter-conference matchups on the hoops front, and no local men’s team has stepped up over the past few days the way GTW’s old pal Tad Boyle has with CU.

    Between Nov. 21-28, the Buffs (7-0) knocked off UC Davis at home by 16, then went to Palm Desert, Calif., for a holiday tourney — taking out a good San Francisco team by 10 and following that up with an 81-68 victory over Washington on Friday thanks to Bangot Dak’s 15 points and 11 boards.

    It’s too early to draw deep conclusions on the men’s hoops front locally, but not too early to dream. As of late Friday night, CU’s good week had moved the Buffs up to No. 65 on KenPom.com’s computer rankings, just ahead of CSU at No. 68. With both rivals needing a “name” win on their respective resumes before Christmas, the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Moby Arena on Dec. 6 figures to be, to paraphrase Russell Wilson, awfully spicy.

    Sean Keeler

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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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    Matt Schubert, Bennett Durando, AAron Ontiveroz

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets ‘testing the refs’ with more aggressive defense, Nikola Jokic says

    That old adage about the NBA being a copycat league has aged into cliché at this point. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

    One variable the Nuggets seem to be copying as a new season nears: Defensive physicality and the art of almost fouling. It’s an art mastered by the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

    “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.”

    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets vs. Raptors preseason takeaways: Beating pressure needs to be Denver’s priority

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets begin training camp with emphasis on defensive intensity: ‘Blow teams out a little more’

    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.”

    Bennett Durando

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  • Renck: No Michael Malone. No MPJ. No excuses for Nuggets, Nikola Jokic to not win another title

    MPJ with a mic is OMG. Michael Malone remains an angry emoji.

    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.

    Troy Renck

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  • Nikola Jokic triple-double leads Nuggets to second straight overtime win on road

    Nikola Jokic triple-double leads Nuggets to second straight overtime win on road

    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.

    Bennett Durando

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  • Renck: Trading picks and a backup for DaRon Holmes and cap space? These can’t be the only moves by Nuggets GM Calvin Booth this offseason.

    Renck: Trading picks and a backup for DaRon Holmes and cap space? These can’t be the only moves by Nuggets GM Calvin Booth this offseason.

    This cannot be it. Otherwise, the Nuggets’ offseason becomes the finale of the Sopranos. Remember, Tony sitting in Holsten’s diner, waiting with his family when daughter Meadow walked through the door as a silent black screen popped up before the credits?

    Please tell me the Nuggets’ plans are not this cryptic, not this vacant.

    RELATED: Nuggets 2024 free agency preview: What Denver needs and why options hinge on KCP

    Following a heart-in-a-blender Game 7 loss to the Timberwolves in the second round, the Nuggets have responded by trading six-second round picks to draft DaRon Holmes and ship out Reggie Jackson to the Charlotte Hornets for $5 million in cap space.

    Nuggets Nation is starting to nibble its fingernails.

    There has to be more. One super-sized move. Two medium-sized transactions. If not? Then pessimism screams that general manager Calvin Booth saved ownership on the tax bill by trading an aging point guard to free up minutes for Jalen Pickett while committing further to young players Christian Braun, Perry Watson and Holmes.

    Those are the types of money laundering moves we expect from the Rockies. Not a title franchise.

    When free agency begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, roster construction will resume befitting a team in a championship window, right? Right?

    If not, the Nuggets are telling their fans that life will never be better than 2023. Talk about a crowbar to the shins.

    A confluence of factors has backed the Nuggets into a corner: a financially top-heavy roster, lacking draft collateral and minimal cap space. And let’s not forget the silly decision to give backup Zeke Nnaji a four-year, $32 million contract. The idea was that he would become a rotational player or perform well enough to offer trade value. He has done neither. He deserves blame for producing underwhelming statistics. And Michael Malone did not help by refusing to use him.

    The disconnect between the front office and the coach’s vision for Nnaji is haunting at a time when the team desperately needs flexibility.

    Booth has talked about winning multiple championships, referencing the San Antonio Spurs’ three titles in five years. It is why I believe last week teed the Nuggets up to make some noise. The alternative is too depressing.

    Troy Renck

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