Nuggets Player Grades: Weight of Loss to Lakers Falls on Jokic

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Will Barton takes a shot against the Los Angeles Lakers for the Nuggets

DENVER, COLORADO – DECEMBER 03: Will Barton III #5 of the Denver Nuggets puts up a shot against Alex Caruso #4 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth quarter at Pepsi Center on December 03, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

An unfortunate series of shortcomings by the Nuggets against the Lakers resulted in a loss. Missing shots, lack of aggression headline the struggles.

I’ll divide the Nuggets into three categories for this game: The good, the average, and the bad. There were some pretty decent performances put together, but as a whole, the offense was slow and ineffective. The Nuggets were beat primarily in transition and on the glass. A few players are certainly responsible.

A lot of the critiques aren’t even physical, but mental. As mentioned before, aggression is an issue, especially for Jokic.

As mentioned in the game preview, the defense for both teams was more adequate. The Lakers did adapt to the Nuggets defense better than the Nuggets did to LA. The Nuggets can’t always rely on their defense to win games. At some point, they do have to score, and even if some individual defense is sacrificed, the Nuggets belong as a top ten offense, if not top five. Being 20th per 100 possessions (per Cleaning the Glass), is not ideal for a team with aspirations of a successful post season run.

Michael Porter Jr. & Torrey Craig will not receive grades as they were both DNP-CD’s.

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