Denver Nuggets: 3 X-factors down the stretch
1. Shooting guard Gary Harris
Why is there a starting player in the X-factors category? Gary Harris is the team’s best two-way player when he’s at the top of their game, but he hasn’t been at that spot this season. Due to injuries and other reasons, he just hasn’t been able to be that two-way force.
His slash line on the year of .423/.320/.805 is below his career average outside of his mark from the free-throw line.
Denver needs Gary to match up with the opposing team’s best scoring threat at the guard spot, but he also needs to be able to spot up and slash off the ball on the opposite end of the floor.
He works perfectly alongside Jokic because he doesn’t require the ball in his hands to score points. The team struggled without him in the lineup, and he hasn’t looked like the player they were hoping he would be coming into the year since he returned.
The majority of the Western Conference has at least one guard that can go off for 30 points on a nightly basis, and the Nuggets will need Harris to match up with those guys every night.
If he struggles to even play well on defense, the team could quickly get in trouble in a series against a well-scoring guard.