For years, the Nuggets have absolutely dominated teams in crunch time, with the Jokic-Murray two-man game emerging as one of the most unstoppable actions in the NBA. They’ve been able to slow the game down and produce ridiculously efficient offense while getting enough stops on the other end to win games.
But this year, something has changed, and clutch games have been a huge problem for the Nuggets, who are now just 5-8 in games decided in clutch time. Clutch games are considered ones that are within a 5-point margin with fewer than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
We saw the Nuggets blow yet another game on Saturday night in Orlando, and it was pretty clear where the problem lies: on the defensive end. Plain and simple, this team can’t get stops when it matters.
Denver couldn’t stop fouling and couldn’t force any turnovers, which led to a 43-point fourth-quarter outburst by the Magic on Saturday night. The offense has been good, but the magic just hasn’t been there so far.
In Orlando, it was Jamal Murray who rimmed out a shot at the buzzer that would have won it, and this comes days after Peyton Watson rimmed out a wide-open corner three that would have beaten the Mavericks.
Nuggets have to find crunch-time defense
The good news is that hopefully, most of these issues will be solved with health. The Nuggets have gone over a month without two key starters, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun. Those are arguably the team’s two best defenders, and two guys who would normally be on the floor to close out games.
AG has also proven to be a near-elite shooter in recent years, and he’s another guy who defenders have to respect on offense, no matter where he is on the floor. But this isn’t an issue that one or two players can fix; it needs to be a full team effort, and it’s all tied together.
Jokic and Murray have been great, but they are carrying too much, and it’s showing up down the stretch of games. There’s no reason to bust out the panic meter or anything like that. Denver has the personnel to turn this thing around.
Still, it’s fascinating that a team off to a 22-9 start has gone just 5-8 in clutch games - an area where you would expect them to excel. On the bright side, this means that through 31 games, the Nuggets have only been blown out a single time. If they can figure out these late-game issues, they should be able to contend for the top seed in the West.