Denver Nuggets: Melvin Hunt's Honeymoon Is Over

Not once this season have the Denver Nuggets recorded a winning record in a month. They went 7-8 in November, 5-11 in December, 6-10 in January, and 1-9 in February.

Following the dismissal of former head coach Brian Shaw on March 2, however, the team has managed to beat the Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, and have used a newfound energy with Melvin Hunt to post a 7-7 record with two games remaining.

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Melvin Hunt got the team wanting and believing they could win again. He was the reason they became the first team to win back-to-back games against 50-win teams this season, and without him I’m not sure that we’d be excited about Will Barton, Kenneth Faried, and Danilo Gallinari‘s potential again.

Nothing like losing at home to the Philadelphia 76ers to pop your high.

Yup, with a chance to bring some momentum to the franchise going into the offseason with a winning March, the Nuggets managed to blow a lead they had at the end of the third quarter by posting only nine points in the fourth quarter. They lost to the 18-win 76ers in Denver by 14 points.

Ahhhhhh, that Melvin Hunt new-coach excitement was sure nice while it lasted, wasn’t it?

The Nuggets blowing this game allowed the 76ers to end a 16-game road losing streak. It allowed the 76ers to sweep the Denver Nuggets in games played this season, and it left Nuggets fans everywhere craving for a prospect like Nerlens Noel who posted 15 rebounds, 14 points, four blocks, and four steals.

The Nuggets closest thing, in Jusuf Nurkic, only managed to post seven total minutes in Wednesday night’s loss. Gallinari didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter, and neither did newfound energy guy Will Barton.

Plus, Hunt stayed with backup point guard Jameer Nelson for a majority of the fourth quarter, even as he struggled from the floor (he missed all six three point attempts), and when Ty Lawson was finally breaking out of his scoring slump with 19 points.

Mar 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Melvin Hunt during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /

Yes, it looks like the honeymoon with Hunt is over with this ugly loss, which is particularly unfortunate because I have a hard time believing it was Hunt’s call to blow the fourth quarter in the fashion the Nuggets did.

The Denver Post started their game story talking about tanking, but oddly failed to mention how the Nuggets’ best players sat the whole fourth quarter. We know the 76ers have tanked all season, but the Nuggets managed to out do them Wednesday night.

Given that Hunt has managed to keep the Nuggets competitive in almost every game he’s been the head coach, it’s hard for me to imagine it was a “coaching decision” to sit the Nuggets best players in the fourth quarter.

Yes, the Nuggets loss, combined with the the Sacramento Kings win over the Phoenix Suns, means the Nuggets are only a half game back of the sixth-worst record in the league (and the sixth-most lottery balls in the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery.) It does inch the Nuggets closer to a top-three pick and hopefully a prospect like Noel.

But if the Nuggets wanted to lose to terrible teams at home, they didn’t need to start a honeymoon of playing well with Melvin Hunt. Nahhhh, if the Nuggets wanted more ping pong balls, they should have stayed in their relationship with Brian Shaw.

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Denver Nuggets: Melvin Hunt’s Honeymoon Is Over

By Kevin C Keller | Mar 26, 2015

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