The Denver Nuggets with a solid win.
The Denver Nuggets are steadily showing the NBA world that they are the real deal and true championship contenders.
With the NBA season being 82 games long, it makes sense that wins will be achieved in a variety of ways. In Denver’s last game, the Nuggets won in large part due to their offense.
However, against Charlotte, the Nuggets defense was better. Without further delay, we take a closer look at the reasons behind the Denver Nuggets’ latest win.
Denver Nuggets Key Improvements
The Nuggets’ performance last night was a beautiful sight to witness. Mainly because the Denver Nuggets beat a good playoff caliber team by playing basketball the right way. The Hornets had a whopping 7 players (Kemba, Biyombo, Batum, Monk, Williams, Graham and Willy) score in double figures. This totaled no less than a blistering 99 points between them.
Clearly stopping such a unit was no small feat and it definitely showed as Denver had a hard time keeping the Hornets from scoring under 30 a quarter. Nevertheless, with the final score being 123-110 in the Denver Nuggets favor. It is clear that the team successfully found ways to slow down Charlotte.
Rather importantly, the Hornets only got 82 field goals attempts, making 39. Whilst Denver was 47 of 102 from the field. Additionally, the Nuggets had 64 points in the paint compared to just 48 for the Hornets. In all fairness to the Hornets, last night’s game was a hard-fought contest that remained close until the 4th quarter, where the Denver Nuggets slowed the Hornets down with their defense and put them away with some vintage Denver Nuggets basketball.
Notably, the Denver Nuggets did a great job of looking after the ball, limiting their turnover total to just 8 whilst Charlotte had17 (turnovers).
Whilst it is true that the Nuggets had just 4 players (Craig, Harris, Millsap and Jokic) in double figures compared to 7 for Charlotte, every contribution helped to ensure the Denver Nuggets got the win.
One of the areas where the Nuggets did particular damage was on the offensive glass. Denver had 17 offensive rebounds compared to 12 for the Hornets. Leading the way was Nikola Jokic with 8 offensive rebounds and Paul Millsap with 4. In terms of points scored, Jokic, Millsap and Harris played like a big three for Denver last night
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Jokic put up 39 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists on 16 of 29 shooting from the field and 3 of 9 shooting from 3.
Meanwhile Millsap scored 18 points in 27 minutes, had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals on 7 of 14 shooting from the field and 1 of 3 shooting from 3.
Adding to all of this was Gary Harris, who though recently returned from injury put up 17 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, and a steal in 26 minutes of action on 7 of 15 shooting from the field and 3 of 8 shooting from 3.
However, as the middle clip above showed. One of the main reasons this Denver team are so good is because their is no ‘I’ in this team.
The Nuggets are one of, if not the best, passing team in the NBA. Last night was just the latest example that showed this. With Harris (5), Murray (7), Jokic (6) and Plumlee (5) all racking up the assists like there was no tomorrow.
When the Denver Nuggets are playing like that, with solid defense, they are extremely difficult to beat. Even for a balanced team like the Hornets.
Next up is none other than the Houston Rockets. Led by current MVP and favorite, James Harden.
The Denver Nuggets will need a defensive strategy for James Harden and his crew tomorrow.
Nevertheless, as long the Nuggets stick to their formula above, they have a great chance of winning again.