The Denver Nuggets offense has found sustained success over the last two years, and cutting has been central to that success.
Throughout the Nikola Jokic era, the only constant for the Denver Nuggets has been change. Jokic himself has moved between the starting lineup and the bench; his frontcourt partner, meanwhile, has had the staying power of the latest YouTube sensation-turned-rapper.
But as soon as the Nuggets stopped messing around and realized what they had in Jokic, another constant emerged: exceptional team offense.
With an offensive rating of 106.5, the Nuggets have the NBA’s 10th-best unit. Last year, Denver’s 110 offensive rating was good for fifth-best.
One of the staples of Denver’s consistently excellent offense has been cutting. In 2016-17, the Nuggets scored the second-most points off cuts in the entire NBA, trailing only the evil empire in the Bay. This year, the Nuggets have generated the third-most points off cuts, again trailing the defending champions, and the plucky Philadelphia 76ers.
The Nuggets are not the NBA’s most efficient team in the department of cutting, but they blend efficiency and volume better than almost everyone. This year, the Nuggets are one of five teams to use at least eight percent of possessions on cuts. Among those teams, only Philadelphia and Golden State score more points per possession on cuts.
The Nuggets deploy cuts in a wide variety of situations, including lethal set plays:
The Nuggets utilize a Horns set, sending both bigs to the high post. Jamal Murray dumps the ball off to Mason Plumlee, then runs off an off-ball screen set by the other big, Jokic.
The first option is to hit Murray on his cut under the basket, but reigning Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green blocks that passing lane. But much like Tarik Black at the front door of the Clippers locker room, that cut’s largely a diversion anyway.
Murray then performs his real duty, sprinting to the wing, where he sets a back screen on Gary Harris’ man. Stephen Curry falls asleep, doesn’t pick up Harris, and the Nuggets get an easy bucket (Denver ran the exact same play later in the half, but Curry was not made to look a fool twice).
Not every score off a cut comes from a play so intricate it looks like something out of Ocean’s Eleven. When you have Nikola Jokic, you benefit from the luxury of simplicity:
Toss the ball to Jokic in the post and good things happen. Sometimes the Nuggets are gifted mistakes like by Curry in the above clip. Other times, Jokic finds cutters while being doubled—a necessity against the doughy Serb, who scores 0.95 points per possession on post-ups. Always, the Nuggets take full advantage of Jokic’s unparalleled passing ability at his position through constant cutting.
The Nuggets’ offense is clever and exceedingly well-suited to the team’s personnel. Beyond Jokic, Denver’s less heralded bigs (Plumlee and Trey Lyles) also excel as playmakers. Head coach Michael Malone has made use of those playmakers brilliantly, designing effective set plays and allowing Jokic to improvise like a jazz saxophonist, casually making inimitable magic.
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Ultimately, well-executed cuts, strong coaching and that touch of magic have allowed the Nuggets slice and dice defenses with troubling regularity.