🚨 Nuggets lose THIRD consecutive game 🚨 Can Denver bounce back? | The Hoop Collective

🚨 Nuggets lose THIRD consecutive game 🚨 Can Denver bounce back? | The Hoop Collective

Speaking of being out west where Pelton and I am right now um the western conference is hitting the All-Star break here and after the the about what was maybe eight 10 days ago all there was was a basically a four-way tie at first things have sorted themselves out particularly because Minnesota went out

West and had a great western trip including a win against the Clippers but the Denver Nuggets lost their third consecutive game on Wednesday night um and for the second time the B to the Kings and for the second game in a row failed to crack 100 points now Jamal

Murray has a shin injury and he was out for that game uh and look uh you know we’re not you know I think we’ve seen enough in the NBA not to judge uh not to judge you know defending Champions too harshly by streaks in the um you know

During the regular season there was a point earlier this year where they lost four out of five but they are in fourth place um and Pelton what I’m more interested in is just their pretty big backslide on the offensive end of the Court you know and and maybe the numbers

Are pulled down slightly because they you know again failed to crack a hundred the last couple of games um but they were the number one offensive team in the playoffs last year and they were uh a top 10 offensive team during the regular season they’re in the middle of

The pack uh offensively and um you know plenty of time I don’t doubt them they’ve certainly proven themselves but they are showing a little bit of vulnerability ESP with some teams in the west flexing their muscles yeah it’s pretty wild especially when you consider that Nicole yic is again putting up

Historic offensive numbers you know at the center of this and Porter and Michael Porter Jr Jamal Murray have kind of carried their weight and you know we expected a bit of an offensive back slide I think From the Bench with the the loss of Bruce Brown Jr and knowing

That they were going to be so young and improve unproven there pton Watson has played terrifically I think kind of under the radar Christian Brown has not had the second season that you I’m sure the Nuggets were expecting and then I think nationally that people were expecting after seeing him play so well

In the finals as a rookie I I think what’s most interesting to me about Denver as a whole is just kind of the contrast to where they were a year ago because one of the things I went to go look at is what did the west standings

Look like a year ago today as compared to what they look like now and coming out of Valentine’s Day a year ago Denver had opened up five games on the rest of the Western Conference they were on to basically putting the conference away when they beat Memphis right before the

Johnar uh video gun incident in the the nightclub in Aurora Colorado that night they basically locked up the Western Conference and you know with a month left in the season it was very early March Tim and I were in Boston for the Sloan conference at that point and then

From that point on they’re able to rest Nicole yic considerably the rest of the way kind of manage their minutes not have to worry about seating whatsoever and still have homec court advantage ultimately throughout the playoffs you know this year we’re looking at a scenario where we’ll see just how much

You know as the defending Champions they worry about seating but you know home court advantage matters more for Denver because of the altitude than it does anywhere else and their choice is going to be between not having homec Court beyond the first round or having you know kind of to extend their starters

And yic in particular down the stretch and not be able to come into the playoffs as rested as they did a year ago oh by the way in the playoffs last year you mentioned that whole court advantage lost one game at home and route to winning the title right

Obviously was a huge Advantage for them if you want to look at it on the positive end of the spectrum I just looked it up while you were talking number one played lineup this year Denver starting five net rating plus 13 in 654 minutes offensive rating

125 so when their five guys are out there they still are a dominant team and there are obviously real questions about the bench you mentioned Christian Brown I saw them a few times a couple weeks ago it was interesting how Payton Watson has sort of surpassed him in the dep

Chart there and he hasn’t really had the same kind of year he did last year Reggie Jackson experience has not been great obviously their bench gets better in the playoffs when they have Aaron Gordon play those Center minutes like they did in the game in Boston which was

A game they clearly ratcheted up and wanted to win and went out and had Aaron Gordon play basically the entire second half I I think he did play the entire second half of that game and played backup center in that game and they went Clos out a game on the road against

Boston so we’ve seen them dial it up and I think when we talked about them at the time I said they remind me of some of those LeBron teams with Miami and Cleveland where they sort of feel like they’re in cruise control and they’re just going to turn it up when it matters

In a couple of months but again if you have the number one seed and you’re getting a team coming out of the playing tournament it’s a little bit different thing than if you’re say playing Phoenix in the first round and then going on the road to play the number one seed in the

Second round like it’s just it’s got the potential to be a more difficult Road at minimum than it was last year yeah it’s you bring up a good point about their bench because their bench is super duper young you know because you’re you’re really relying on a bunch of not maybe

Not relying but you’re you got a bunch of first and seconde players um I guess pton Watson pton Watson second year player um there’s a lot of guys playing those roles that you need and you know you just feel the loss of uh Bruce Brown and Jeff Green there now

Look at the highest level when it really matters you know yic is going to be out there 40 plus minutes you know Gordon’s going to be out there 40 plus minutes um you know Murray’s gonna playing heavy minutes it it it might not matter but I do think there’s something to be said

It’s something to point out that they’re they’d haven’t shown the same resiliency during the regular season as they did last year um you know one of the things I think will Define the Western Conference playoffs um leaving potential runs by the by The Warriors and Lakers out for now because

That’s contractually Alig to talk about on TV on ESPN looking at these top four players are these top four teams Youth and experience is a is a big thing looking at this top four in my view youve got the the Thunder who are arguably the young one be one of the

Youngest teams we’ve ever seen in a high playoff seed not not arguably they they will be I mean see how Gordon haward changes their age a little bit but you know it’s them and the first incarnation of the thunder right and um so uh then you look at the

Timberwolves now the Timberwolves have some experienced players obviously Mike Conley obviously Rudy goar plenty of playoff games there uh but as a collective this is an organization that hasn’t had any playoff success um they haven’t won a playoff series I looked this up the other day since ant was two

Which is just just an indication of of uh you know and so Carl towns is not a young player but again you’re if you’re asking a team to win three playoff series it’s never won one playing together exper two all stars have a combined three playoff victories not Playoff Series victories playoff game

Victories exactly um so you know that’s a big ask and then you look at Denver and their bench is a little young um obviously they got a bunch of guys with rings uh you know and and then you look at the Clippers and they have everything they have depth they have experience

They have guys with rings they have you mean they got like PJ Tucker got sent home this week PJ Tucker would be getting how many minutes a game in Denver like Denver would be running him out there in their top seven I think without question I mean if he didn’t

Play well fine but he’d be if FJ Tucker was available as a buyout candidate and Denver signed him he’d be in that rotation look at he split uh and and and he hasn’t played since November for the Clippers okay it’s it’s a Clippers cast off and Richie Jackson

Is currently in rotation and by the way you mentioned that Clipper team last night or Wednesday night uh for pod listeners they’re playing in Golden state they’re down most of the game and in the fourth quarter they come back and win that game with Kawhi ler not playing

And with Paul George fouling out with four minutes to go and that run was largely driven by Norm Powell and other bench guys who were playing great and like they their their depth obviously like you said when you get to the playoffs death matters less because your

Star players play a lot more but the Clippers don’t have any weak lengths when it comes to really their rotation stuff like they’re rolling out there with some pretty potent lineups up and down that can do a lot of different things and I thought that was a really impressive game from them

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🚨 Nuggets lose THIRD consecutive game 🚨 Can Denver bounce back? | The Hoop Collective
The Hoop Collective weighs in on the Denver Nuggets losing their third consecutive game and discuss what adjustments need to be made.
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