Hell has frozen over: the Denver Nuggets are a defense-first team

Paul Millsap was seated inside a practice facility on the dreamy campus of San Diego State University last September, surrounded by a small gaggle of reporters and blog boys. Unflinchingly, he proclaimed his goal was to see the Nuggets to a top-five defense in the NBA. The Nuggets, frankly, had struggled to avoid the bottom-five in that regard for the last few seasons. This particular reporter struggled not to react audibly. 

While Millsap missed most of the 2017-18 season with an injury, the core of Denver’s roster remained intact heading into the next campaign. A significant improvement on the defensive end was unlikely—a jump like the one Millsap described? Unfathomable. At least to those of us on the outside. But the Nuggets leaped from 21st in the league to 11th in defensive efficiency in 18-19, per Cleaning The Glass. And after last night’s 105-95 win over the ever-potent Rockets, Denver’s allowing just 103.4 points per 100 possesions, good for seventh-best in the NBA.

Millsap has always been an extension of his head coach Micael Malone on the court in this sense—it goes beyond a shared affinity, the defense is paramount in their respective basketball philosophies. It has begun to permeate the Nuggets locker room.

“They bought into that going into last season,” Malone told reporters following the win over the Rockets. “There’s a reason we won 54 games, won a division, got to the second round. It’s because of a much-improved defense. 

“Houston has given us trouble; let’s be honest. This is only one game, so we have much work to do. they understand that when we defend like this, we can beat anybody in the NBA.”

Denver held the Rockets below 100 points for the first time in Houston’s last 21 games on Wednesday night. Perhaps even more impressive—they held James Harden below 30 points, which was beginning to look like it may never happen again. It was the seventh time this season in which the Nuggets have held opponents below 100 points. They are 7-0 in those games and have won 40 of their last 42 when doing so. 

The win over Houston was the kind of game that Malone sees when he closes his eyes at night. Harden had his way, so it goes, but Denver contained him by throwing a variety of looks on defense, preventing him from finding a rhythm. They sent help late and recovered like mad-men on subsequent rotations as he passed out of the double, forcing Houston’s role players to make decisions late in the shot clock, not just shots. There was no formula, as Gary Harris told TJ McBride of Mile High Sports after the game. Sometimes it came a little earlier in the possessions, sometimes in the final seconds, and sometimes it never came at all.

Harden wasn’t too impressed with the game plan, telling reporters after the game that Denver “just double-teamed every possession. They got lucky. They got away with one.”

The Nuggets have had some success containing Harden as a scorer in the past, but he’s tortured them as a playmaker in the previous 11 games, 10 of which went Houston’s way. PJ Tucker from the corner, Capela from the sky—pick your poison, Harden found every weak spot. On Wednesday, they forced Harden into eight turnovers and the Rockets into 20 total, scoring 32 points off those opportunities. The Rockets shot just 31 percent from deep, and Russell Westbrook was limited to 8-of-22 from the floor.

Westbrook was once notorious in his aptitude for coming into Denver and ripping out the hearts of the Nuggets faithful. But in the last couple of seasons, those games haven’t gone his way thanks to myriad factors—Craig’s elite defense chief among them. The former two-way player has developed into a bit of Westbrook stopper, and according to NBA.com, he held Westbrook to 1 of 7 from the floor, including three blocked shots as the primary defender.

Craig told reporters after the game that he doesn’t notice if he’s getting under Westbrook’s skin. “Other then when starts playing to the ref,” he explained. “That’s a sign that I’m getting under his nerves a little bit.”

“I just try not to give them space to get to their spots,” Craig said when asked what makes him successful against Houston’s stars. “Always crowd them, make sure I’m bodying up on them all the time.”

Craig is ever dutiful, humbly deflecting credit after executing the near-impossible task of limiting Houston’s stars off the bench after falling out of the rotation. Much was asked of the former NBL star on Wednesday night, but he was right on the level post-game, insisting he’s just doing his job. 

“I was just trying to do anything I could for us to get a win,” he said. “Come out and play with a lot of energy. Do my job on defense and make everyone else’s job a little easier.”

Malone spoke glowingly of his commitment and unselfishness after the game:

“I’m grabbing guys individually. I’m grabbing Malik (Beasley), I’m grabbing Torrey Craig, Michael (Porter Jr.), I’m talking to all these guys because I have a tough job in terms of who am I going to play every night? There are only so many minutes to be had.

“I told Torrey after the last game I said, ‘Stay with me. It’s a long year you started 11 playoff games for us. I believe in you. Just because you’re not playing right now doesn’t mean you’re not going to get an opportunity soon.’ I grabbed him this afternoon and said, ‘Be locked in. You’re going to play tonight. With this matchup we’re going to need you out there and I need you to do what you do best.’ I don’t care if Torrey Craig is 30% from three, that’s not what why he’s out there.”

A quick survey of the locker room reveals a massive cultural shift in Denver. Millsap, Mason Plumlee, and Will Barton III, are all on record having declared the Nuggets to be a defense-first team categorically. Slowly but surely, the Nuggets are creeping towards that lofty aspiration from two training camps ago. 

“The most important thing,” Malone began when asked about the team taking yet another leap on defense. “Is that our guys understand for us to win, the defense has to be the constant. The offense will come and go—we will make shots, some nights we might miss shots. But if the defense is your anchor and your calling card, you are going to win some games when your offense is not with you. In our losses this year we haven’t defended anybody.

“You have to understand why you win and why you lose in this league, and I think our guys understand that defense is our common denominator. “

It’s a cold day in Hell, and a bright day in Denver. The Jokić era Nuggets are a defense-first team.