Denver Nuggets NBA Power Rankings: Week 13
By Jack Malloy
Each week Nugg Love takes a look around the web to see where the experts rank the Denver Nuggets on their versions of the NBA Power Rankings
A tough week 13 in the NBA season brought the Nuggets a 1-2 record, but we saw some seriously entertaining basketball. In the first seven games of their current home stand, six of them have been within three points, and the outlier was a mere six.
Their run against tough playoff teams continued taking on the Thunder, Grizzlies, and the Pistons, but the Nuggets continued their solid play against some of the league’s best.
While the Thunder’s 110 points represent the least in their three meetings with the Nuggets, Denver still had no answers to stop the dynamic duo of Durant and Westbrook who each grabbed double-doubles.
Still, they put up a heck of a fight with Gallinari scoring 27 and Faried putting in 17 of his own to go with 15 rebounds. They’ll have one more shot this year to take the team down. Hopefully Nurkic, who sat out, will be at full health in that one.
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Against the surging Grizzlies, the Nuggets overcame an 18-point first half deficit to take the lead in the game. This really came down to needing one stop on the defensive end, instead, they gave up an and-one layup to Marc Gasol to go down two points with just a couple seconds left.
This game represented a nice welcome back for Will Barton who had cooled down after scorching through the end of 2015. His impact on this team is so important, they need him to be the player that compliments Gallo when it comes to scoring the ball.
It was great to end the week on a win as the Pistons came into town. Down again in the first half, the resilient Nuggets made their near patented come back as Gallo iced the game with a ridiculously clutch shot. The Italian wing man ended with 30 to keep his hot streak going. If the Nuggets were taken seriously at all in the west, he would have a legitimate all-star shot.
While defense has not been the Nuggets forte, holding Andre Drummond, a man averaging over 17 points and 15 rebounds, to just 4 points and 6 rebounds was incredible to see. That is all about effort. Boxing out and outhustling. Got to love to see that.
So they didn’t get the wins to show it, but this still looked like a week of progress. Gary Harris continues to build a rhythm, Jokic has somehow become the featured rookie in the lineup, and the energy has been much more consistent than we saw early on this year.
Let’s take a look at the latest NBA power rankings around the web to see how the internet perceives the Denver Nuggets’ performance to date:
A slight step back is probably the best way to describe the current rankings. After a unanimous rankings of 23rd overall, the Nuggets give way to the streaking Pelicans to take a couple steps back to sit at 12th in the west.
The talk is still about them sticking in the playoff race out in the west, but once the Pelicans pass them in the standings, that ship will pretty much have set sail. I think the experts are all well aware of this scenario.
Bleacher Report chose to focus on the Nuggets first rounder, Emmanuel Mudiay, as they noted his change in shot selection. The rookie is working to get to the basket more where he shoots 49 percent, compared to 27 percent from outside of three feet.
No doubt Mudiay has an offseason full of shot adjustments ahead of him, but for now, it’s great to see him try and develop in different areas. All of that will pay off as the game slows down for him.
Week 14 offers no love for the Nuggs. They have their first four game week in a while including a back-to-back Wednesday and Thursday. Their long home stretch came to an end Monday night as well as they prepare to head out to the east coast for the rest of the week.
Their matchup against the third seeded Atlanta Hawks Monday was a brutal start and end. A terrible start of the week and a horrible way to end your home court advantage. The last seven games were real grit and grind types of play and all the close battles just took it out of them, coming to a screeching halt at the Pepsi Center as they got blown out by 20.
Their inability to handle skilled interior big men shone through as Horford and Millsap picked them apart. They need to tighten up that defense if they want any shot at the games this week.
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Wednesday brings them to Boston to face the Celtics for the first time this season. Boston is coming off three straight road wins to face the Nuggets at home. This could be a showdown of stars off the bench as Will Barton takes on Isaiah Thomas, both having ridiculous season. The other matchup between Danilo Gallinari and Jae Crowder could also decide the fate of the game.
Immediately after, Denver heads to the nation’s capital to face off against the Wizards. With Bradley Beal injured, they might catch a break, but Mudiay and Harris will be tasked with slowing down a relentless John Wall. This is a wild card type of matchup that will likely go to the team with the most intensity. We’ll see if the Nuggets can find that on back-to-back nights.
Saturday, the Nuggets get a rematch against the Indiana Pacers after their 45 point fourth quarter to win a thriller just two weeks prior. Denver can’t bank on those types of number again so they need to figure out a way to slow down Paul George and Monte Ellis.
With the Nuggets being favored in exactly none of these games, the threat of a 0-4 weeks looms large, but the past two weeks have shown Denver competing in games nobody thought they would. Even with the home stand ending, I expect to see this same fight.
In a likely pivotal inflection point for their season, we’ll see how they respond to the adversity. This may not be a playoff team yet, but they still have a lot of time to grow as a group heading into the all-star break and through the rest of the season. Their standings in the power rankings are in direct correlation with this.