The Nuggets knew they were in for a serious challenge on Thursday night as they traveled to Cleveland to take on the 19-3 Cavaliers. Denver battled and hung around for a good portion of the game, but in the end, they fell 126-114 to the team with the NBA’s best record.
The Nuggets got a typically great effort from Nikola Jokic, who put up 27 points, 20 rebounds, and 11 assists. It’s already Jokic’s ninth triple-double in just 17 games this season, and his 139th of his career, passing Magic Johnson for third in NBA history.
But Jokic’s brilliance wasn’t enough to overcome a massive discrepancy that has been killing the team for years and has finally reached a boiling point; three-point shooting. The Nuggets don’t take or make nearly enough threes and to compound the issue, they allow far too many.
Nuggets get dominated from behind the 3-point line on both ends
At a certain point it just becomes a simple math problem, and on many nights that problem is too much to overcome. Never has it been more blatantly on display than in this dismal loss to the Cavs on Thursday night.
The Nuggets never had a chance to keep up with the Cavaliers in this game thanks to the difference in 3-point volume. The Nuggets attempted a paltry 24 threes on the night, a number far too low to be competitive in the modern NBA. To make matters worse, they made just six of those attempts on the night.
On the other end of the floor, the Cavs shot the lights out, jacking up 48 three-pointers on the night and hitting 22 of them. Threes alone accounted for a scoring difference of 66-18 in favor of Cleveland. How in the world are the Nuggets supposed to make that up?
The Nuggets need to fix their 3-point problems
The answer is: they can’t. Michael Malone and company need to find a way to fix this immediately. Jamal Murray is struggling mightily but reinforcements aren’t on the way; he may need to just shoot himself out of it. Only attempting three three-pointers in 41 minutes is inexcusable.
Players like Julian Strawther, Christian Braun, and even Micahel Porter Jr. are all going to have to get more trigger-happy as well. There’s no doubt that a Jokic offense can create good looks, his teammates need to confidently take them. These guys can shoot. The shots will fall.
And if they can’t start to close this gap in three-point shooting, they must make roster changes - whatever that means. The Nuggets are dead last in the NBA in three-pointers attempted per game with just 31. The defending champion Boston Celtics are leading the league with 51 per game. This isn’t going to work.