The Nuggets needed all hands on deck to close out their first-round series against the Clippers in seven games. Unfortunately, that doesn’t equate to that many hands. David Adelman has shown that he trusts his top six guys and not much else. He got some good minutes out of seventh man, Peyton Watson, in Game 7, but that doesn’t feel totally reliable going forward.
They were able to skate by as the Clippers dropped the ball on several occasions and basically didn’t show up in the do-or-die Game 7. I think it’s safe to say that the Nuggets can’t rely on the same kind of luck in round two against the Thunder, who won’t let their guard down for a minute, and certainly won’t let Denver off the hook the way LA did in the final three games of the series.
Denver needs its top six guys to be close to their best on a consistent basis for them to have a real chance to win this series. Surely, they can count on Nikola Jokic, the best player in the world; I feel confident that he will bring it. The same goes for Jamal Murray. He didn’t have his best series in LA, but he showed enough that I’m confident in his health and that he knows what it will take against OKC.
Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun both had great series’ as well, and proved they are ready for the battle that’s about to come. And even Russell Westbrook came through with some incredible minutes off the bench and played a major role in propelling the Nuggets to victory. The big wild card seems to be Michael Porter Jr.
Nuggets can’t afford up-and-down play from MPJ against Thunder
Porter Jr. came through with a nice Game 7 for the Nuggets, but throughout the series, he was inconsistent, to say the least. Twice, MPJ basically got played off the floor on nights when he didn’t have it, giving his team nothing, and forcing Adelman to close with Mike on the bench.
Part of the issue was Porte Jr.’s shoulder injury, which he suffered at the end of Game 2. He was clearly hampered badly, saying it hurt to lift his left arm more than 90 degrees, and he said he was playing at about 20-30%. He deserves a ton of credit for toughing it out, playing through the pain, and actually knocking down shots and helping the team win.
But at the same time, the Thunder aren’t going to let a hobbled MPJ off the hook quite so easily. They are going to attack the clearly injured player relentlessly, making Porter Jr. defend, and calling him into action constantly.
They’ll also dare him to beat them on the other end and will surely see just where his shoulder and confidence are at right away. We’ve seen Porter Jr. pull a disappearing act on multiple occasions, before and after the injury. The Nuggets simply don’t have the margin for error to be able to withstand that in round two.
The Thunder are too deep and too good for Denver to just punt on any minutes. If Porter Jr. has another one of his off nights, Adelman needs to recognize it and pull the plug before he starts hurting the team with his play.
But the problem for Adelman and the Nuggets is that they don’t have options. They can go with Westbrook over MPJ, but then, the bench is pretty much shot. This will either force Adelman to roll with five guys for essentially the entire game or to dust off even more unreliable options.
There’s no easy choice, and there aren’t a lot of good solutions. For better or worse, the team is going to have to hope that Porter Jr. can fight through the pain, lock in, and make a consistent impact in this series. If not, the Nuggets are in a world of trouble.