Denver Nuggets Weekly Recap: Who’s Climbing And Who’s Stuck On The Ground
By Alex Murray
The Scandalous Sunday Display – (100 feet – Barely Out Of Basecamp)
Our beloved Nuggets seemed primed for their ninth straight win after going up 14 points against the Celtics late in the third quarter of their clash on Sunday. Sunday afternoon ball is a lot less common for the Nuggets than it is for, say the Broncos or the Rockies, so this performance (and without Jamal Murray, mind you) seemed like a rare treat for Denver sports fans.
Unfortunately, Nikola Jokic and company started playing like a bunch of jokers—and not in a good way—for the final 15 minutes of the game, allowing the Celtics to go on an unprecedented and completely unacceptable 31-3 run that completely flipped the script and snapped Denver’s winning streak.
Your eyes are not deceiving you: After that Facundo Campazzo three-pointer with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, the Nuggets managed just three points until there were under four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Over 10 minutes of game time with just one bucket.
The Nuggets couldn’t even get a trip to the charity stripe during that mudslide, though Jokic certainly tried his hardest to get a whistle from the refs before eventually retiring to the bench with about five minutes left.
Head coach Mike Malone has been known to blow up from time to time (he was ejected from a game this week against the Spurs), so we can only imagine what kind of volcanic eruption that display caused him to emit in the locker room postgame.
There won’t be many guys getting a ton of altitude on our weekly rankings if our Nuggets continue to play with the nonchalance, subpar hustle, and lack of determination they showed in the fourth quarter on Sunday. A 31-3 run is truly as embarrassing as it gets as far as runs in the NBA go so expect a strong reaction next time out from our Nuggets.