The Denver Nuggets lost their first game of the season on Thursday night, falling 96-84 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Cameron Johnson got hurt after playing just over 11 minutes in the game, leaving the game with an ankle issue. And without him on the court for most of the game, a potential Nuggets issue got exposed: Three-point floor spacing.
Johnson is one of the better three-point shooters on the team. Other guys can shoot, but not nearly as reliably as Johnson can. And with Johnson out, David Adelman mostly turned to DeMar DeRozan, who isn’t the best three-point shooter. He’s more of a mid-range guy. And you could feel the lack of shooting on the court.
Denver shot just 8-of-30 (26.7%) from behind the three-point arc, and though OKC didn’t shoot much better, you need more floor spacing when you have a passer as good as Nikola Jokic leading the way.
No Cameron Johnson, no three-point shooting
Jokic is one of the best players in the league. One of the best of all time. And when he has the ball in his hands, he needs to be able to find guys to pass to. Outlet passes.
Obviously, that can work with cuts. Guys like Aaron Gordon and even rookie Trevon Brazile can cut off the ball and get themselves open, running to the basket. But he also needs floor spacing.
Gordon actually shot the ball well on Thursday night. He went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. But nobody else shot well. Gordon was the only Nuggets player who made more than one three on the night.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, most of the players who are supposed to be floor spacers just couldn’t hit their shots. Jamal Murray went 0-for-1 on threes. Jokic himself shot 1-of-7. Christian Braun shot 1-of-6. Brazile shot 0-for-4.
Johnson is the guy who is supposed to carry a lot of weight beyond the three-point arc. As soon as he went out of the game, you could feel the lack of spacing.
DeRozan just isn’t going to replace that. He only attempted one three against the Thunder (0-for-1), instead preferring to work for his shots inside the arc (5-of-8 on two-pointers).
That’s all well and good – a useful skill set to have – but the Nuggets also need players who can space the floor for Jokic. Right now, it looks like they could struggle to find that outside of Johnson.
And as the season gets going, that’s a scary thought.
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