Nuggets playing with 1 clear agenda under Adelman and it's a breath of fresh air

The Nuggets pulled out a gutsy win on Friday night, coming back from 15 points down to win a critical home game over the Grizzlies, 117-109. It’s hard to understate how pivotal this game was for both teams; with the win, Denver is now all but assured of finishing in the top 6, while Memphis sealed the opposite fate, ensuring a spot in the play-in tournament.

It was a total team effort, but led by the usual suspects; Nikola Jokic dropped 26 points, 16 rebounds, and 13 assists, Aaron Gordon had 33 points and 5 rebounds, and Jamal Murray made his much-anticipated return from his hamstring injury, adding 15 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and several clutch buckets.

It was also eye-catching to see that Russell Westbrook had a nice game, with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and several big plays in crunch time on both ends, including stonewalling Zach Edey on a layup attempt that virtually sealed the game.

That’s a stark contrast to the first game of the David Adelman era. On Wednesday night, in the first game since firing Michael Malone, Westbrook was on a tight leash, playing just 16 minutes and getting pulled in favor of a red-hot Jalen Pickett down the stretch. Denver beat the Kings in that game and many wondered if Adelman had moved Pickett over Russ in the rotation.

But on Friday night, we saw the opposite situation play out as Russ played 26 minutes and closed the game, even with Jamal Murray back (Michael Porter Jr. was benched). Both games looked different, but there was one key constant: the Nuggets won both games.

Adelman only cares about winning

For the past few months (at least), Malone and Calvin Booth clearly had separate agendas, which led to a toxic culture within the team, and led to their ultimate demises. Adelman has come in and immediately changed the vibes and energy with his talk of unity and a singular focus on winning.

Before the Grizzlies game, Adelman was asked about Westbrook’s role with Murray back in the fold and Adelman almost dismissed the idea of having set rotations and minutes projections. He said that these are very important games and the team needs to win badly. He is going to play the five guys who are playing the best and who give the team the best chance to win on a nightly basis.

Then, he went out and backed up that talk, riding with Westbrook over MPJ down the stretch, correctly, and pulling out his second straight win. After the game, Adelman doubled down on his decision-making process in his post-game press conference.

“Mistakenly, people said I didn’t play Russ in Sacramento. That wasn’t the case. I played the five people I thought could win the game. And what do you know? Russ played pretty well tonight. So who finished the game? Russ.”

New culture in Denver is refreshing

This is beyond refreshing to see and hear from a head coach. Malone did an amazing job with the Nuggets for a decade, but he was very stubborn and stuck in his ways. At times, it seemed like he would stick to his guns, even when it was clearly hurting the team.

To see Adelman have this willingness to adjust in the moment and adapt to each game on the fly is an incredible change of pace. It seems to be helping the team so far and it should have the role players and bench players more locked in, now knowing that if they play well, they are going to earn more minutes.

It’s still just two games, and the honeymoon period of the Adelman era, but so far, he’s passing every test with flying colors. If he can get another win on Sunday against the (likely resting) Rockets, Denver will lock up the number four seed in the West and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. That’s when the real test will begin.