From the very first day when the season opener opponent was released, the Nuggets knew that they would be starting off with an incredibly tough game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then the Isaiah Hartenstein injury occurred and it looked like Denver might have gotten a huge break. Unfortunately, this first loss showcased the absolute floor of the unproven bench unit.
The Nuggets got off to a hot start, opening up an 18-10 lead over the Thunder, leading to an early timeout by OKC coach, Mark Daigneault. Sadly, that was the high point of the night as the Thunder took a 23-21 with 3:25 left in the first quarter and never trailed again. Denver went on to lose 102-87 as Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander obliterated the Nuggets.
When trying to point fingers at who is responsible for this loss, there is a lot of blame to go around. Outside of Nikola Jokic and Christian Braun, who both played well, and Aaron Gordon who had an average game, no one else played well. Both Jamal Murray (4/14 shooting) and Michael Porter Jr. (5/17 shooting) were very poor, but the bench unit was arguably even worse.
The Nuggets bench lacks an identity, defensive versatility, and shooting
For the last three seasons (if not longer), the biggest concern about the Nuggets has always been the dreaded non-Jokic minutes. GM Calvin Booth tried to address the bench unit this offseason by bringing in veteran PG and former MVP, Russell Westbrook, as well as veteran backup PF/C Dario Saric.
At the moment, neither move is looking very promising through one game. Both free agent signees looked lost at times on the defensive end, getting blown by or back cut by OKC role players. Additionally, when the two shared the floor together, the offense looked cluttered and unorganized. Westbrook especially couldn’t find his rhythm as he shot 2/10 overall (1/6 3FGs).
To be fair to them, the young guns off the bench both had issues too. While Peyton Watson had a few nice blocks and has historically been a huge plus defensively, he was absolutely dreadful offensively shooting 1/7 from the field and 0/4 from beyond the arc. What made it worse was that all of his three-pointers were wide open practice-caliber shots that he could not make.
Julian Strawther was the best bench player of the night recording 6 points on 3/6 shooting, in addition to an assist and a steal in 17 minutes. Still, he failed to connect on either of his three-pointers and looked out of control dribbling occasionally. The non-starters for Denver combined to shoot an abysmal 7/28 (25%) from the field and a pitiful 1/14 (7%) from long-range.
Murray, MPJ, and the Nuggets’ 2nd unit as a whole will look to bounce back on Saturday against the James Harden-led Clippers as they seek their first win of the 2024-2025 campaign.