The Nuggets had a great opportunity on Saturday night to secure what should have been a fairly easy win against the team with the worst record in the NBA, the Washington Wizards. The Wiz actually won the first meeting back in December, so there’s no way the Nuggets should have been overlooking this team, or prone to a trap game.
The Nuggets were on the second night of a back-to-back, but both games were in Denver, and they’ve excelled in those situations this year, going 12-1 in such instances. They were missing Aaron Gordon but otherwise had their lineup healthy and intact.
This should have been a key win for the loaded Western Conference standings race, made more vital due to the tough schedule to come. Instead, the Nuggets looked like the worst version of themselves and got lit up by the Wizards, falling 126-123 in Ball Arena.
The game was decided on a last-second bomb by Jordan Poole, but that was really just the cherry on top of a game that never should have been that close. The fact that it even came do to the last possession should tell you everything you need to know.
3-Point shooting and defense continue to be fatal flaws for Nuggets
While the loss itself is perplexing, the way the game was lost was not at all. This has become a familiar scene and a bit of a calling card for the Nuggets. They don’t defend well enough, especially on the perimeter, and they get crushed in the three-point battle. That’s why they lost on Saturday.
The Nuggets gave up 19 threes on 42 attempts (42%) to the Wizards while attempting just 34 and making only 12 (35%). It’s like beating a dead horse at this point, but the Nuggets just have to shoot more threes. It’s a simple math problem and the seven extra three-pointers helped the Wizards stay in the game.
And it ties right into the defense, which was hard to watch. Especially without Gordon, the Nuggets just don’t have a lot of good defenders but they weren’t able to bother the lowly Wizards at all.
Washington came in and did whatever they wanted, consistently beating guys off the dribble, setting up quality shots, and getting offensive rebounds when they didn’t. The Wizards scored 30+ points in every quarter and it somehow felt worse.
If the Nuggets can’t clean up these issues they have no shot and it’s going to look even worse in the playoffs when they are facing better competition. Teams are going to gameplan for Denver and they are going to attack and expose their weaknesses. Michael Malone needs to find some answers or this season won’t last much longer.