The Denver Nuggets were no match for the San Antonio Spurs Saturday Night, losing 121-97.
It doesn’t matter that 9 out of 10 of the Nuggets are nursing injuries. It doesn’t matter that they played a back-to-back against the number 2 team in the league on the Spurs home court. It doesn’t matter that they played 4 games in 5 nights. Expect them to win. No excuses.
After each NBA game there are summaries, opinions and analyses to remark on the reason for the outcome. The usual conversation revolves around the statistics. It’s as though teams focus on data, not people. Machines, not humans.
Who got the most points and rebounds? Was there a triple double? How did the stars play? Did someone foul out? Percentages, number of shots, etc., etc.
Then there might be comments on why the team played one way or another.
Let’s examine this scenario:
if the Denver Nuggets win by one, the conversation is largely on how hard someone played, how the offense or defense was and most importantly, who got the most points and/or rebounds. Assists, steals and blocks are important, but it’s mostly about who got the most points.
If the Nuggets lose by one point, it’s largely because they didn’t play defense, they let the guards get around them, they couldn’t stop the threes or there were too many turnovers.
One basket may determine the entire perspective and review of the game and how to address it.
If in 47 minutes and 55 seconds the game was played the same in both scenarios except for those last 5 seconds, whether it is was good or bad is determined by who wins.
Maybe scoring points should not be the focus of the game. Maybe neither should playing defense. Maybe there is something more important.