Denver Nuggets: Major Defensive Issues Spoil The Fun on Offense

Why do the offensively-gifted Denver Nuggets struggle so mightily on the defensive end?

The Denver Nuggets are doing some amazing things this season. They’re a young, athletic team running an uptempo offense.

Denver currently has eighth-youngest roster (25.5 years old) and plays the fifth-fastest pace in the league (98.2 possessions per 48 minutes). There are plenty of nifty passes and ferocious alley-oops along the way.

This has worked well for them. Denver is currently fourth in the NBA in points per game and 10th in field goal percentage. The team has only scored less than 100 points eight times this year. The last time they didn’t reach the century mark was a 127-99 loss on Jan. 5 to the San Antonio Spurs.

The team also sports the eighth-best offensive rating in the NBA, scoring 111.1 points per 100 possessions. That’s currently the fifth-highest in franchise history, even going back to their ABA days.

However, their impressive performances on offense are canceled out by one of the league’s worst defenses. The Nuggets allow the second-highest field goal percentage in the league and third-most points per game.

They’ve given up less than 100 points in only five games this season. They had an 18-game 100-plus-allowed streak going until their 123-98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 21. A new streak began the next night with a 111-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Denver has the second-worst defensive rating in the league, conceding 112.5 points per 100 possessions. That’s also the third-worst rating in franchise history, “bested” by the 1981-82 and infamous 1990-91 teams.

A number of things can be unpacked to better understand how such a gulf exists between this team’s offense and defense.

First off, the Nuggets don’t have a very active defense. The team is 30th in turnovers forced per game. Specifically, they’re 29th in steals per game and 25th in blocks per game.

Things get a little clearer as you look at things by play type. The Nuggets are in the bottom third of the league in all of the play categories except two: handoff plays and pick-and-roll ball-handler plays.

They still give up the 13th-most points on handoffs (0.94 points per possession) and 12th-most when facing ball-handlers off of screens (0.84). However, it shows that Denver is at their best on defense when keeping up with ball-handlers along the perimeter.

Things get stickier when Nuggets defenders have to face a player one-on-one. Denver gives up the sixth-most points per possession in the NBA against post-ups (0.94). They give up the third-most when defending isolations (0.95).

But the Nuggets’ biggest issue is picking up and maintaining their defensive assignments. That bears out on both the fastbreak and off-the-ball in half-court sets.

Denver allows 1.15 points per possession in transition, seventh-most in the NBA. By extension, they concede the seventh-most fastbreak points and the second-most points off of turnovers.

The Nuggets also give up the 10th-most points per possession on catch-and-shoot plays (1.04), tenth-most on plays for the roll man on screens (1.10), and eighth-most on cutter plays (1.29).

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Their issues with roll men and cutters to the basket explains why they allow 46.9 points in the paint per game, fourth-most in the NBA.

However, the Nuggets are at their worst when defending putbacks and off-ball screen plays. They’re last in both categories, giving up 0.70 points per possession on putbacks and 1.10 points on off-screen plays.

The team’s gameplan seems to be more focused on forcing (or waiting for) a missed shot and ending the possession by pulling down the rebound. Their 78.8 defensive rebounding percentage is the third-highest percentage in the league. It’s one of the few defensive activities they do well.

The Nuggets have managed to play well despite their defensive woes, winning four of their last six games. They’ve outscored their opponents 121.2-112.0 in that span, and are currently sitting in the 8th seed in the Western Conference at 18-25.

The Denver Nuggets will have to make major strides on the defensive end if they wish to keep their spot in the playoff picture. However, getting their defense up to an adequate level will not be an easy task.

The only thing they can feasibly do is continue putting in the effort to improve daily and hoping things work themselves out by April.