Denver Nuggets need new goals to fully unlock potential
By Peter Hooper
Room for improvement for the Denver Nuggets.
So, as you probably know, the Denver Nuggets won their 3rd game of the NBA’s preseason. That is the bottom line, for which Nuggets fans ought to be grateful.
However, as mentioned in my last article, this game would reveal a lot about Denver’s mentality. Would they display a killer instinct and thoroughly dominate the Perth Wildcats, or be complacent and under perform? Whilst the Nuggets ultimately got the win and kept their winning streak going. It was arguably more of the latter than the former.
This reveals a golden nugget of truth for Denver. The importance of being mentally prepared to compete at a high level. Friday’s game was evidence of the Denver Nuggets getting in their own way, executing poorly, in a way that was uncharacteristic of their usual standards.
When looking at the statistics of Friday’s game, a stat that jumps of the paper relates to the battle of the 3 point line. Surprisingly, the Denver Nuggets lost that war. Shooting 31% from deep compared to the Wildcats 35.5%. A lot of Denver’s shooting woes are rooted in the fact that Denver’s starters e.g. Jokic, Millsap and Murray have been struggling.
However to be fair, it is unclear whether their recent poor play has been caused by poor health or absent-mindedness.
Moreover, against a team that plays in Australia’s NBL, the Nuggets should have seized the opportunity to dominate defensively. With Bryce Cotton having scored 17 points in the first half,
stopping him from eventually getting a game high 33 points should have become an individual or team objective.
Additionally, the Denver Nuggets still have a turnover problem. While there was an improvement compared to recent performances, there were still too many. With the Perth Wildcats scoring 24 points off of 17 turnovers.
Based on Denver’s relatively poor performance from 3, as well as their turnover problem. A case can be made that Denver’s problems are mental more than anything else. Even their failure to dominate the Wildcats defensively can be pointed to as further evidence of this.
Although, health issues could at least partially explain Denver’s performance on defense.