Denver Nuggets Power Rankings: Week 10
By Jack Malloy
Week 10 of the NBA season was a unique one for the Denver Nuggets. Almost pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the year, but falling short and spiraling down to one of their lowest points.
The bad, and there’s a lot of it, is that they went winless, extending their losing streak to six games with only one victory in their last ten. At over 40 percent of the season done, the Nuggets find themselves with an overall record of 12-23 good enough for twelfth in the western conference.
The defensive woes continued in a major fashion as they gave up at least 110 points in three of the four matchups. Opponents shot nearly 48 percent from the field with an effective field goal percentage of 53 while hitting 35 percent from downtown.
They gave up almost 30 points per game off of turnovers and second chance opportunities. Even with the increase in Nuggets offensive scoring, their defense has made it impossible for them to have a real chance.
In strange fashion, Denver continues to play worse at home than they do on the road. This week, they scored nine less points per game on the road and got up almost 12 more shots per game. The mile high city is supposed to have a built in advantage for the home team, but instead, they are playing subpar basketball at the Pepsi Center.
As far as good, the Nuggets really had one highlight this week, and it came in a loss. Denver fell in overtime on the road to the nearly unbeatable Golden State Warriors. After getting down by 26, the Nuggets rallied to force the game into extra time before losing a thriller. The resiliency shown in this game will hopefully carry over to future efforts from this young team.
Health seems to be on the right path as Danilo Gallinari returned from his ankle injury and Jusef Nurkic made his season debut. Mudiay’s return from his own ankle injury appears to be near as well. After getting taken to the hospital after a neck injury, Kenneth Faried appears to be fine as he played in last night’s game. A fully healthy rotation will be a breath of fresh air to Coach Malone certainly.
This may be the lowest point of the season thus far and hopefully that means there is nowhere to go but up. Let’s take a look to see how other NBA sites around the web feel about the Nuggets to date and their chances going forward.
As you can see, Denver fell across the boards as the 0-4 week takes a toll on the optimism of the analysts. All the good will built up, including peaking at a 21st in week eight’s ranking, has seemingly left their systems. It is now time for them to start the process over again.
While most of the talk was surrounded by injuries and their almost win in Oakland, only Matt Moore of CBS Sports offered any sort of consolation. The Nuggets have faced a brutal schedule the last couple weeks that softens just enough for them to try and salvage some respect before the all-star break.
Three games are on the schedule for week 11. The first two on the road before coming home to begin an eight game home stand spanning through most of January. With two days’ rest before their first game Wednesday and a day rest in between the other two, the Nuggets will have plenty of time to recover and game plan for each matchup.
Wednesday holds the fourth game of the season against the Timberwolves for the Nuggets as they look to build off the two wins they had against Minnesota in December. With a healthy rotation in place, this is a very winnable game if Denver can fix some of their defensive woes.
Then they head to Memphis Friday to take on Marc Gasol and the rest of the Grizzlies before coming home against the surprisingly competitive Charlotte Hornets team. Hopefully a return home rejuvenates the young team and the fan section of the Denver Sidekicks revitalizes some true home court advantage.
It would be great to see the Nuggets go at least 2-1 to get them back on track. It sounds crazy considering our perception of the western conference at the start of the season, but at 11 games under .500, they are still only four games out of the eighth playoff seed.
While some consider this a lost season, there is plenty of time to bring a positive twist come June. Getting Nurkic back in a key role as well as a one two scoring punch in Will Barton and Danilo Gallinari bleeds potential heading in to next season.
This process starts with a solid January. If they can take advantage of the home schedule and prove themselves during their biggest eastern conference stretch, there is still a chance to earn respect around the league. We’ll see if they can take a step forward in week 11.
