Why the Nuggets are SO good – laid out step by step by Jazz coach Will Hardy

Why the Nuggets are SO good – laid out step by step by Jazz coach Will Hardy

They come they play they win they leave um it seems to be sort of how they go about their business um on the court I mean I just think about their intelligence and then the fact that neither of them seem to ever Bobble the ball um they’ve just got amazing

Ball skills great hands um they seem to be in kind of effortless control of the ball when they have it um I’m sure there’s a lot of other things I really thought about it and thought about kind of X as and O type stuff but um yeah

Those those two probably stand out the most for me coach’s what’s your goal through your team for the last 18 games yeah I mean we we prepare to win um I don’t want our team thinking anything else when they come to the gym when they come to shoot

Around we’re trying to to win games we’re trying to build winning habits with our young players obviously on a micro level I want to see everybody improve I want to see the young players that are getting a lot more minutes now um improve their professional day-to-day habits as they play more

Minutes um and kind of get to feel for the first time the responsibility of playing every night in this league um you know I need them to continue to up their competitiveness on every possession um recognize that 48 minutes is a long time and you have to try to squeeze

Everything you can out of every game um you know and not take opportunities for the league in this league for granted um defensively we’ve got to continue to improve as a group I think we’ve made some improvements since the All-Star break there’s some things that I am happy with and like where it’s

Trending there’s other things that I think we have to just continue to hammer on um but you know going back to that word I used a minute ago it’s about building habits and until things are habit there’s a lot of reminders that have to happen there’s a lot of kind of going

Through the same things over and over and over again and some days it’s good some days it takes a little dip some and then it bounces back um you know the road to Improvement is not linear today could be a good day and tomorrow could be a tough day and you know obviously

The goal is just that we’re we’re better at the end of the season than we sit currently what’s the biggest difference between home yeah it’s a that’s a good question I think um I’ve always felt like Star players in the NBA get paid for the fourth quarter in the

Road um and we are a team that doesn’t necessarily rely on one person and um we don’t have moments in a game where we look to one person to sort of settle us down and make a play um you see that a lot around the league um obviously it may

Not be one person for the Nuggets you see coach Malone using joic and Murray and sometimes the combination of those two together as the way to sort of settle the group down um you know I think winning on the road is really hard and we’re young and so I

Think that’s also LED to to some of that I think the competitiveness that we’ve shown every night is something that we can be very proud of but you know you can play 45 good minutes in this league and lose because the last three minutes especially on the road are really really

Hard and um you know I think we’re improving in that area just abouts ands we try to hammer it every day it’s been from the beginning of training camp um it’s a part of our film sessions showing times that were positive when people crashed or multiple people crashed and also showing opportunities

For other people to get in the mix a little bit more um Second Chance points is I’m proud of that in one way because it shows our commitment to it and our effort um if we’d make a few more maybe there wouldn’t be as many Second Chance

Points there’s some nights where we get a lot of Second Chance points and to be quite honest it’s because we miss a lot um but I think our team is they’ve stuck with it and it’s everybody it’s not one person that’s getting it done uh you

Know the last couple of games I think Chris Dunn has done an amazing job crashing the glass um you know we have guys like Johnny juang dug out a a big offensive rebound for us like there’s perimeter players and guards that are making these plays

As well so you know that’s a credit to the team that’s a credit to our assistant coaches we’ve got a couple assistant coaches who are um very diligent about our offensive rebounding and our crashing um and hopefully it’s something we can continue to have you

Know kind of be built into the fabric of our program where is their their continuity the last five minutes um they never look panicked they never look rushed they never even look like they’re questioning where they’re going um where everybody’s supposed to be you know they’ve won an NBA

Championship together they’ve played in a lot of big games together um you know I was in San Antonio we were the seven seed and we played Denver in a seven game series here and yic and Murray were playing together then like the road that they’ve been on to become this

Championship team um there’s a lot of uh ended games they’ve played in together and you know watching them on film they just uh they seem so ready for those moments like it’s not a it’s not a debate about what they’re going to do and so I think that’s a that’s something that they

You know have really worked towards and they’ve earned they’ve earned that comfort in those moments through playing in a lot of close games together a lot of playoff series together um and it’s it’s LED them to be the leveled team they are today middle of the Court’s hard because

Um especially when it’s two people the rest of the gym is usually flat on the Baseline and so to involve a third person to help um you have to really commit a long way from the person that you’re guarding when there’s somebody spaced up on the wing sometimes those stunts and shifts

Are a little bit shorter but when the whole Gym’s flattened out and they’re playing at the top of the key um to involve a third person and not let it just be a two on two game which if you play joic and Murray two on two that tends to be a losing

Proposition um you got to involve a third person and it means you got to make some tough choices and you got to rotate from a long way away

Pre game full presser Will Hardy head coach Jazz 3/9