The Denver Nuggets staked themselves to a 19-point lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. It was gone by halftime. And the Nuggets got crushed in the clutch, getting outscored 13-7 over the final five minutes. The 21st-ranked defensive unit sank the Nuggets again, and it even got called out after the game.
The Nuggets' poor defense was exposed by the Timberwolves, and by the time the final whistle blew, it had come undone. The Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets 119-114, and after the game, Jaden McDaniels made it clear what he thought about the Nuggets' defense and "what worked" for the Timberwolves in the come-from-ahead loss.
"Go at Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders. Tim Hardaway, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, their whole team. Go at 'em," Jaden McDaniels said. "They're all bad defenders."
McDaniels went further. He called out the Nuggets' rim protection, and he even said the Timberwolves are more athletic. That's some disrespectful stuff for the Nuggets to hear this morning as they digest the stinging defeat.
But when the Nuggets' defense has been bad, it has been bad. Maybe this is the spark they need to dig down and find the defense they have deep inside. We can only hope.
The Nuggets have been exposed defensively before
The Nuggets gave the blueprint to their defense away earlier this year. Against the tanking Utah Jazz, the Nuggets allowed a staggering 84 points in the paint. The Nuggets were able to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit thanks to the Jazz changing from a layup line to shooting drills over the final five minutes.
They didn't have that luxury against the Timberwolves. As McDaniels said, they were more aggressive in this one and got to the free-throw line 30 times compared to 19 in Game 1. The Timberwolves put up 52 points in the paint, and the Nuggets had only 1 block on the night from Nikola Jokic. That lack of rim protection is exactly what McDaniels means.
The Nuggets also had to go small-ball at the top of the fourth and mostly used a tight seven-player rotation. Jonas Valancianus got benched after a putrid three minutes to start the second quarter, which started the avalanche of points the Timberwolves rattled off to get back into the game. The non-Jokic minutes were not kind to the Nuggets in Game 2.
Jokic and Murray played poorly in the fourth
McDaniels wasn't kidding in his attacks on the Nuggets. Jokic and Murray both went minus-10 in the fourth quarter. They struggled to get stops and couldn't score. The All-Star duo combined for two of the Nuggets' 21 points in the final frame.
Jokic couldn't get past Gobert, and that's a concern. Jokic settled for wide-open threes, and he went just 1-7 on the game from deep. Joker has to start shooting the three-ball better and defending the paint, or the Nuggets could be in trouble. The defense is bad enough.