Denver Nuggets need new goals to fully unlock potential
By Peter Hooper
Enter the Jazz.
Interestingly, before the Perth Wildcats took on Denver, he Utah Jazz played them, giving Denver the precise formula for victory against the Wildcats. That formula consisted primarily of, you guessed it, defense. With the game’s outcome pretty much decided by the end of the 2nd quarter with the Wildcats only managing to score 34 points by then, compared to Utah’s 75.
On the other side of the court, Utah’s bigs Favors and Gobert had a field day. Barely missing from the field, using their length and athleticism to the Wildcats detriment. Grayson Allen 5/9 and Alec Burks 4/6 were the only Jazz players to catch fire from 3 with the Jazz’s mid range game featuring heavily in this contest.
The point being made here? The Denver Nuggets are capable of the same, if not better than what the Jazz did. Which begs the question, what was stopping them from doing so?
Denver Nuggets
The short answer to that question is, themselves. While, Denver’s poor defense may have been expected by some, the surprising thing was Denver’s relatively poor performance on offense.
That is a sure sign that the Denver Nuggets were collectively off their game. A stark contrast from the Utah Jazz’s performance. Obviously, it’s possible, that we’re guilty of exaggerating here. To that, we’d simply reply better safe than sorry.
Moreover, we’d argue that the mental game is always where the real game happens. As virtually every serious NBA fan knows, last season ended very differently for the Jazz and the Nuggets.
The Utah Jazz led by then super rookie Donovan Mitchell and anchored by (D.P.O.Y.) Rudy Gobert, lost a competitive series in the second round against the Houston Rockets. Whilst the Denver Nuggets cruelly (by one lost game) were left outside of the playoffs looking in.
Obviously, the sample used (one game each against the Perth Wildcats) is really small. Nevertheless, with the regular season only just about here, it’s all we have to go on for now. Moreover, so far, that sample is showing us that the Denver Nuggets could do better. The fact that the season is brand new is great because it means the Denver Nuggets have ample opportunity to improve their mental game.