Calling All Shooters, Nuggets Need an Answer
By Geoff Graser
A rude awakening greeted the Denver Nuggets and fans at Ball Arena Thursday night. The seemingly depleted Philadelphia 76ers delivered a 103-89 underdog punchout to make Rocky proud.
Without Joel Embiid, Danny Green and Ben Simmons, the sweet sound of swishes from Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and Seth Curry stood in high relief against the clangers the Nuggets tossed against the rim.
Was the resounding loss just an off-night shooting for the Nuggs or does it highlight the team’s glaring Achilles heel — a lack of sharpshooters?
On a night many expected the Nuggets to get right after the loss to the Mavs on Monday, only Nikola Jokic and Will Barton, the Nuggs’ two best players this season, could deliver from deep.
As with the game against the Mavs when Barton didn’t play, Jokic tried to superhero through the rest of the team’s shooting woes in the first half. This time, at least, he had Barton pitching in. It just couldn’t outlast a 76ers team that shot better than 50% from the floor and ganged up inside on Jokic in the second half.
For the game, Jokic and Barton shot 17-31 FG (54.8 percent) including 7-10 on 3-pointers (70 percent), while the rest of the team shot 15-58 FG (25.8 percent) including 5-26 on 3-pointers (19.2 percent).
Nobody besides Jokic and Barton had a good night shooting and players who’d recently been a strength off the bench offered almost nothing, including Bones Hyland, Facundo Campazzo, P.J. Dozier, and Jeff Green. They were 0-14 shooting, scoring four points total on free throws.
Was it an aberration? A strong case can be made this was just a horrendous night in which the team pressed on their shots after falling behind a team they outclassed on paper. The Nuggets shot well during the 5-game streak on the home stand, which included stellar bench play.
Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again. If the Nuggs can bounce back quickly, meaning a win tonight against the Chicago Bulls who they’ve beaten 9 times in a row, the shooting nightmare might be forgotten.
Yet Chicago has started strong. And if the Nuggets shooting woes weren’t an aberration, then what?
We know Jamal Murray (career 44.6 percent FG and 36.7 percent 3-pt FG) isn’t coming back until spring-ish or later.
Here are three options for solving the shooting woes in a hurry.