Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder: Main takeaways
By Peter Hooper
Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder: Main takeaways.
The Denver Nuggets ultimately deserve a lot of credit for beating one of the best teams in the NBA. Despite a few struggles from Nikola Jokic and an injured Gary Harris. The point must be made that this game could have been a lot tighter had OKC made more of their free throws. (They were 15 of 23).
Turnovers, Free Throws and the 3rd Quarter
Denver’s 7 point win margin came from an additional field goal, made 3 pointer and 2 free throws. Seen from that angle, the game looks a lot closer, considering the Nuggets led all the way through. The 3 main reasons why last night’s game was that close were turnovers, the number of free throws given up and the Nuggets 3rd quarter performance. All things well within Denver’s control.
The 3rd quarter performance is just something for the Nuggets’ players to be aware of and mentally prepared to change. Similarly, coach Mike Malone does need to strategize with this in mind as well as challenge the Nuggets to do better going forward. Similarly, continued improvement of Denver’s team defense should help the Nuggets give up less free throws as the season progresses.
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However, with a better performance as far as turnovers, last night’s game would have been a blowout. Last night, Jokic (4) and Jamal (3) had the most turnovers. However, with Jamal perhaps having a breakthrough night last night as far assisting the ball, (Jamal led the Nuggets in assists with 8) it is plausible that Jamal’s continued development as a play maker this season will be part of the Nuggets’ improved performance as far as turnovers. So far this year, Jamal is averaging a career high 4.6 assists per game compared to 3.4 last year. After all, the Oklahoma City Thunder (according to the NBA’s advanced stats for general defense) is the 6th best defense in the NBA.
In other words, not only can we comfortably predict sunny weather in Denver, Colorado.
Next. Assigning the Nuggets as Infinity War characters. dark
But we can also expect less turnovers and more wins. Denver Nuggets fans, hope you like the sound of that.