Nuggets vs. Pistons: Takeaways and Player Grades
By Tim Hart
The Nuggets need to prepare for pick and rolls and stop praying for misses.
The emerging defensive weakness for this Nuggets squad seems to be reacting/adapting to pick and rolls. While watching this Nuggets game, it felt as if every other pick and roll resulted in an obvious mismatch somewhere on the court. Pick and rolls and of the most basic offensive game-plans. The Nuggets simply must be better prepared to handle them. Assigning and carrying out the appropriate switches needs to be a defensive priority. This could be a result of lineups, or maybe its just an overall team issue. Either way, fixing it will start with practice, and defending pick and rolls has to be on the top of the Nuggets’ priority list.
On a similar note, the Nuggets need to start showing more respect for their opponents. Particularly against shooters, the mentality seems to be playing conservatively and hoping for misses. This has helped the Nuggets secure defensive boards, but it has also caused them to give up A LOT of easy shots. Every game seems to hot handed guard who simply has their way with the Nuggets. Against Detroit, it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He was hitting just about everything, and even then he was getting relatively uncovered shots. There needs to be an injection of energy into this Nuggets defense.
At the moment, Kenneth Faried looks like their best defender, as one of the few bringing energy and effort into every defensive match-up. Will Barton brought a similar caliber of defensive energy onto the court, and he was sorely missed against the Pistons. Gary Harris looked rusty, and Jamal Murray played like a rookie. Much of basketball is mental, and if the Nuggets continue to give up the space that players need to feel confident in their shots, then the shots will keep falling. Nuggets defenders need to make shooters feel the pressure, and second guess their shot selection. Handing confidence to shooters on a silver platter is never a good idea, and KCP got to feast.
Andre Drummond was simply unstoppable. He clearly took the loss to Brooklyn (just before this Nuggets match-up) quite personally. He was on a mission of redemption, and he accomplished it, backed by the support of a home crowd. The Nuggets tried to contain him, but Drummond would simply not be stopped. He went 7-11 from the line. That alone should tell you that the basketball gods were smiling upon Andre Drummond last night.
Even with their unimpressive defensive effort, the Nuggets had a chance to close in on Detroit’s lead, but blew it with alarmingly poor offensive execution.