How Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are winning with defense

One sign of danger for the elite defense of the Denver Nuggets

Will Barton is another key defensive piece. Always a high-energy player, Barton has picked his spots more tactfully this year, resulting in the best forced-turnover rates of his career, and his best individual positional defense. Off-ball defense has been an issue for him in the past, but this year his head has been on a swivel.

Point man Monte Morris has done a solid job corralling opposing ball handlers. Even Michael Porter Jr. had been mediocre-to-solid before his injury.

One danger sign: The Nugget’s bench defense has been disastrous, mostly due to the complete lack of rim protectors (as noted earlier). There’s no true backup center on this roster, and as crazy as it sounds, the Nuggets are missing gold-medalist Javale McGee. It’s not killing the Nuggets yet, but this defense could be in trouble if the starters have extended absences.

Overall, this team has faced solid opposition and performed admirably on the defensive end to this point. Even if the Nuggets struggle to figure things out on offense (something that should fix itself as long as Nikola Jokic is playing), their defense could be enough to keep them in the playoff mix until the return of Jamal Murray, hopefully, in the spring. If that happens, nobody will want to play this team come playoff time.