In win over Thunder, Nuggets showed when they do this 1 key thing they are unbeatable

As bad as things looked on Sunday for the Nuggets, they looked just as promising on Monday night. Denver came limping out of their loss to the Thunder over the weekend, losing Aaron Gordon to injury, and seeing Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray on the injury report for the second leg of the back-to-back in Oklahoma City.

After getting beaten 127-103, it would have been easy for Jokic to sit and rest on the second night after hurting his elbow and looking somewhat off. But, he suited up and led his team to one of their best performances of the season, getting revenge on the Thunder with a dominant second half to win 140-127.

A lot of things went right for Denver on Monday, including great games from their two best players as Jokic had 35, 18, and 8 on 15/20 shooting from the field while Murray added 34, 4, and 6 on 11/22 shooting. But the reason that the Nuggets became the first team in the league to drop 140 points on the league’s best defense is even simpler than that.

Nuggets light it up from 3-point line against Thunder

The key to this game was actually an area that is one of the Nuggets’ biggest weaknesses; three-point shooting. The Nuggets attempt the fewest threes in the NBA and make the 5th fewest. They don’t have enough confident shooters and guys who can space the floor and it’s a killer for the offense, clogging things up for Jokic and Murray.

But on Monday night, the Denver role players confidently shot their open looks, and they made them. On the season, they average just 12.2 made threes per game, but Monday night they hit 18. That included 3/5 from Russell Westbrook, 4/4 from Peyton Watson, and 2/3 from Jalen Pickett.

Obviously, that’s some outstanding shooting, but they were almost all open looks off of catch-and-shoot opportunities. We’ve seen it time and again, good defenses send all their attention at Jokic and Murray and dare these role players to beat them.

It has been an effective strategy, but this time, the Denver players didn’t hesitate and made it rain from downtown. It’s not going to look this good every single night, but they also won’t need 140 points every night. They just need these guys to let it fly, make their fair share, and keep the defense honest.

Hopefully, a game like this will give these guys the confidence they need to get in a rhythm and bury open shots. The Nuggets are going to need the defense and energy that guys like Russ and Watson can provide, but if they’re hesitant to shoot, they will cripple the offense during the playoffs.