Talk to a dozen Nuggets fans, and you may find nine of them have the same concerns. They're frustrated with the defense, and some of them have little faith it's going to magically turn around as the playoffs draw near.
That's the sentiment derived from a twitter poll run by Adam Mares and a summary of what Brian Scalabrine had to say on "The Zach Lowe Show." Mares' poll asked if the Nuggets were even capable of playing good defense, and nearly 25% said they weren't. Ouch.
Those fans fall into the same category as Scalabrine, who went as far as to say, "I don’t believe in their defense; therefore, I don’t believe in them." Scalabrine continued, "I'm, like, a fan," describing his view on the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic. "I am so down on Denver," he said.
While that's only a small percentage of fans, it's still a worrying amount. The rest of us don't want to see the bandwagon lose anyone before they figure things out, if they figure things out. And they need to, lacking defense is not a quality you can fake if you're going to win a championship.
The Nuggets' defense has shown flashes, but has largely been porous
Scalabrine brought attention to the lack of physicality in the Nuggets' defense, and that was on display against the Utah Jazz, when the Nuggets allowed 84 points in the paint, the most they've allowed since 1996-97. It was a layup line, and the Jazz had every opportunity to score easy buckets, but the Nuggets squeaked out a win thanks to a 21-5 run to close the game out 135-129.
However, there have been moments when the Nuggets looked like a stellar defensive team. They held the Rockets to just 93 points, and the Celtics, the league's second-best offense with a rating of 119.3, to just 84 points.
Nuggets need to get physical and get stops
So it can be done. But to do it, the Nuggets have to get stops consistently. And Scalabrine said, "I'm saying when you try, and you still can’t get stops, that’s a problem.
Again, Scal lost faith in the Nuggets' defense. But if they start to get physical, they can get stops. It's as simple as getting some limbs in the passing lanes, getting a body on someone in the paint, maybe stepping into the cutting lanes, or whatever the coaching staff can deem is a need.
It's not like the Nuggets can't play defense. They can't do it consistently. They've finally got something working with the non-Jokic minutes and the new small-ball lineup they've found since Peyton Watson returned. Nuggets fans are hoping the defense finds something before the playoffs start. They've got seven games left.