Despite losing seven of eight games in early December, the Denver Nuggets looked like a good team on the brink of stringing off a major winning streak.
In the losing stretch, they only lost 105-103 to the division-leading Portland Trail Blazers, 112-107 in overtime to the Eastern Conference leading Toronto Raptors, and 115-111 in overtime to the powerhouse Houston Rockets.
Despite the losing, the Nuggets were playing good teams well. They were just failing to hit some big shots down the stretch to win the game.
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After back to back road losses to the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets to start a five-game stretch that featured four under .500 opponents, though, the odds that the Nuggets will be in the lottery for a top pick are quickly surpassing the odds that they’ll figure it out and start a playoff run.
The Nuggets are in trouble, my friends, and the roster is getting exposed as one that has no consistent offense.
The Denver Nuggets have lost nine of the 13 games they’ve played in December.
The team is averaging 96.1 points a game in December, a 5.2-point drop from their season average, they are shooting less than 30 percent from three (compared to 32.3 percent on the season), and have lost all confidence in themselves as a playoff team, especially considering the 28-point loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
The Nuggets have shown that same terrible side that created a 30-point loss in Charlotte a couple times already this season, though, as they’ve ALREADY lost by more than 15 points in Sacramento, in Portland, at home against Portland, in Washington D.C., in New York (Knicks), and in Phoenix.
When things go bad, they are going really bad for the 2014-15 Denver Nuggets.
The most recent two-game losing streak is really bad considering it’s the opposite response we all wanted to see from the team following Danilo Gallinari‘s meniscus tear.
This isn’t the team we wanted to see considering the Nuggets brought in Brian Shaw to build a no-nonsense system similar to Indiana’s, in which they would play good defense and put themselves into position to win every night.
This isn’t the team we all wanted to see considering the same core of guys went a team record 57-25 two years ago. This, to be frank, just feels like the opposite … a mediocre Western Conference team that will win a few games by getting hot.
So what’s causing all this frustration and losing? There has got to be a fix when looking at the numbers right?
Well, not exactly. The numbers are saying the Nuggets are just better at making shots in the games they are winning vs the games they are losing. Don’t believe me? Well, the Nuggets’ rebounds per game and assists per game average decrease by less than two rebounds and assists a game when comparing their wins vs their losses.
When looking at steals and blocks, their per game averages decreases by less than 0.5 respectively when comparing wins and losses.
However, the Nuggets’ field goal percent is 41.5 percent in losses vs. 45.4 percent in wins. They shoot 34.4 from three in wins, but that drops to 30.8 percent in losses. This all results in the teams overall scoring average dropping from 104.5 points in wins to 99.0 points a losses.
The team just doesn’t have enough offense on the nights they are losing.
It’s hard to believe it comes down to a measly 5.5 points a game when considering the Nuggets are designed as a fast break, high scoring team. Less than six points a game is standing between the Nuggets and a winning streak that will get them back in the playoff conversation.
However, until they get their confidence and defensive act together, we can expect more Nuggets games to be determined on how generous the basket is feeling that night.