The Nuggets have been playing over their heads recently, managing to keep things rolling without Nikola Jokic. But this shorthanded version of the team can only keep it going for so long, and it seems like they’re starting to hit a wall.
They got destroyed on Sunday night at home by the Hornets, then followed it up with a brutal collapse at home against the Lakers. There was one common theme in both losses: rebounding. Without Jokic and his backup, Jonas Valanciunas, the Nuggets have been playing without a true center, and it’s finally starting to catch up with them.
Against the Hornets, they were without Aaron Gordon as well, trotting out a front court that was led by DaRon Holmes and Zeke Nnaji. That led to Denver being outrebounded 61-36 en route to getting trounced. But AG was back for the Lakers game, and it didn’t help, as they were outrebounded again, 63-42.
The team is clearly overmatched on the glass, but sadly, they don’t have much of a choice at the moment. Holmes and Nnaji are barely NBA-caliber rotation players, Gordon is able to play some small-ball center in doses, and beyond that, there’s not much there at the moment.
Nuggets need reinforcements on the glass badly
Of course, this is an issue the Nuggets couldn’t really have foreseen. Jokic is a rebounding machine when he’s on the floor, and they traded for Valanciunas, who can also control the glass. Having the best center in the league, an overqualified backup, and an elite small-ball big in AG should have been enough.
Sadly, the injury bug has been absolutely ruthless, decimating the Denver rotation to the point where they are forced to rely on deep bench players and even some two-way guys. Once they’re back to full strength, it shouldn’t be a problem, but that may not be for a few more games, and possibly even weeks.
They’ve weathered the storm magnificently so far, but they need to keep it up a little bit longer. Maybe that means calling up a center from the G League, maybe it means adding a free agent on a 10-day contract, maybe it means a small trade, or maybe it just means that David Adelman and his staff are going to have to get more creative.
One way or another, they are going to have to clean this up until Big Val and the Joker come back, because losing the rebounding battle by double digits is not going to be a recipe for success.