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Denver Nuggets: The good, the bad and the MVP on opening night

By Andrew Phipps

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) moves the ball against Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) in the second half at Footprint Center on 20 Oct. 2021. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) moves the ball against Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) in the second half at Footprint Center on 20 Oct. 2021. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder (99) and Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (50) are both called for technical fouls in the second half at Footprint Center on 20 Oct. 2021. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder (99) and Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (50) are both called for technical fouls in the second half at Footprint Center on 20 Oct. 2021. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports) /

Austin Rivers was the ideal replacement guard at the end of last season when Jamal went down. Before the season started, he recognized that this is his “last shot” to stick in the NBA and can’t underperform.

Playing Rivers makes their backcourt a bit undersized, especially when next to Campazzo. While Austin plays hard on the defensive side of the floor, he’s not a good enough on-ball defender to lock up the team’s best guard option, opening up holes.

He still made plays for his teammates during the opening game and showed an ability to put the ball on the floor and get into the teeth of the defense. He is a very capable floor spacer and knows how to play off the ball very well, let’s hope he can pick up in the following games.

Monte Morris looked lost on the defensive side of the floor multiple times. He got killed on screens and did not recover well.

His inability to fight over or under screens put the Nuggets in multiple bad defensive rotations, especially early in the first half allowing Devin Booker to heat up. Denver Nuggets fans know too well how quickly a game can get out of hand if Booker heats up.

While Monte is still a capable scorer, he needs to develop quickly as a defender, or the Nuggets might be forced to look for moves to get a better defensive guard to play with Murray when he comes back.

Aaron Gordon made a lot of great plays from his athleticism on the defensive side of the floor. He had an impressive chase-down block late in the game that seemed to put a halt on the Phoenix Suns’ momentum.

However, he still has no mid-post-game and looks uncomfortable when the defenders beat him to the spot and do not allow him to get to the rim. His ball-handling skills still haven’t made the leap he needs to routinely attack the basket and turn the corner on defenders, especially in the half-court.

Another major point of influence has to be the inability of the team to box out. There were too many instances where the team wanted to get a full-court dime from Jokic rather than boxing out and securing the rebound. They still ended up leading in second-chance points (13-11) and rebounds (46-45) however this will not last against bigger teams. The Nuggets will likely have one of the most undersized backcourts going forward and the wings and forwards need to work on securing the boards.

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