Denver Nuggets: Struggling Against The Good Teams
The Denver Nuggets were one game above .500 after beating the Jazz on Dec. 1, and they looked like the team had put their struggles behind them headed into a crucial month of play.
Reaching 9-8 at the start of December was an accomplishment considering the 1-7 start, but December provided the Nuggets with a test as eight out of the first 10 games were against above-.500 teams.
Roughly half of the Nuggets games in that stretch were against playoff bound Western Conference teams and half of the games were against playoff bound Eastern Conference teams. It was a stretch the Nuggtes could really establish themselves as a team headed in the right direction.
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So, how’d the tough stretch go? Were the Nuggets able to continue playing like a team that won eight out of ten games right before this stretch? Were they able to continue to play fast, while still playing some stingy defense? Did the Nuggets establish themselves as a potential playoff headache for any Western Conference team?
No, Nada, Nien, Non, and it went really bad, if you must ask.
Fifteen days into December, the Nuggets have managed to erase all the gains they had fought for in the second half of November. They are losers in six of their last seven games with the only win in that stretch coming against an exhausted Miami Heat team (the Heat played a tough game in Phoenix the night before.)
With the struggles, the Nuggets are now back to four games under .500 with a 10-14 record, and still have looming matchups against the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers before the schedule calms down.
Uh-oh. It’s scary to see the playoffs slipping out of sight in December.
The struggles weren’t from lack of effort or heart like the losing streak to start the season, but the team still managed to lose by an average of 11.5 points a game against their elite opponents.
They came close in games against Portland (lost by two), Toronto (five in OT), and San Antonio on a back-to-back (eight), but failed late in each of those games to show the killer instinct, cohesiveness and fire that Western Conference teams absolutely need to make the playoffs.
You have to take care of business against the bad teams, but also have to find ways to beat the good teams when playing in the West.
The Nuggets offense failed them in each of those last six losses as the team posted worse numbers than their season average in each of these categories: field goal percentage, three point percentage, free throw percentage, turnovers, and points per game.
Even though some individuals had great games like Arron Afflalo‘s 31 point game against San Antonio, the Nuggets offense never looked like one that could win a game late against a quality Western Conference team.
And even though te Nuggets’ defense remained statsitically steady over the losing stretch, it needed to get better if the Nuggets were going to pick up the slack left by not being able to throw a brick into the ocean.
Now the team is struggling to keep their heads above water, and if they fail to be close or at .500 by the All-Star break, the playoffs are going to be a nearly impossible goal.
The stretch taught us that the Nuggets have enough talent on their roster to keep things close, but only when everyone is playing well can they actually beat the good teams in the NBA. The Nuggets need to take advantage of the six game stretch following the Clippers game to end December on a good note to stay alive.
Those games feature only one winning opponent, a rematch against the Raptors, and the Nuggets need to figure out their offense fast in that stretch to remain in contention.