Yes, the Nuggets did flop and fall to the tanking Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis one night after defeating the Philadelphia 76ers at home in Denver. But that’s part of the problem. The Nuggets went east, lost an hour, lost flight time, played in a game that started earlier than the previous night, and fell flat. Again. Someone in the front office needs to befriend an NBA schedule maker before next season to avoid this mess.
The Nuggets have not had many opportunities to rest in March. They’ve played 10 games in 18 days, and 8 of those games have been played under the four back-to-back stretches the Nuggets unluckily faced.
The Memphis game was a makeup game from a postponement due to bad weather on Jan. 25th, and the schedule makers apparently decided that mid-March, after playing seven games in a row against playoff-bound teams, while losing an hour and going east, was a great idea. Good job, schedulers.
The Nuggets looked slow and sluggish from the start
The Nuggets arrived incredibly late to Memphis, after playing and defeating the 76ers the night before in Denver. Per Katy Winge, the Nuggets landed at 4:19 a.m. Memphis time, and she didn’t hit her pillow until 5:30 a.m. You can imagine it was roughly the same for most of the players.
That tough sleep schedule definitely can’t help, and the Nuggets looked slow and sluggish all night long in the loss to the Grizzlies. Nikola Jokic tied a career-high with 10 turnovers, and the Nuggets looked out of synch all night.
But they’re well-paid professionals who were allowed to sleep in. Maybe the rigors of the season-long wringer are perhaps truly affecting the Nuggets, even if they won’t admit it?
The Nuggets lead the league in tough back-to-backs
The Nuggets have been victims of poor scheduling all season, and the schedulers really piled it on extra for the Nuggets, too. The Nuggets have six back-to-backs in which the first game of the set starts at 9 p.m. ET or later, and the back half of the set starts two hours or more earlier. Three more than the next closest team, the Kings.
What the heck is that? The people pointing to scheduling might be on to something. Sure, the Nuggets shouldn’t be losing to the Grizzlies under most circumstances, but the schedule makers have done the Nuggets no favors.
The Nuggets are now facing a tough decision. Rest some players before the playoffs, but also risk slipping to the dreaded seventh-place play-in spot in the West. They also suffer the risk of less court time to gel back together after a season mired with injuries. It's not the best scenario for head coach David Adelman, but it could be a reality now.