Nuggets Film Room: Denver's defensive improvement summed up in one play

No storyline has gotten more play this preseason than the Denver Nuggets’ evolving philosophy on defense. Nuggets’ coach Michael Malone and his staff hunkered down this summer and crafted together a more aggressive scheme that aligns with his players’ strengths, forces his bigs to play up at the level of the ball more when defending pick-and-rolls, and generates more steals and turnovers.

The rate at which his players have picked up the scheme has surprised Malone but maybe it’s because they like playing a more aggressive style.

“That’s fun. That’s what I like to do,” Faried said of the new scheme after Saturday night’s win. “I like to get out, play aggressive, get after people and put fear in people.”

Denver limited Sacramento to just 36.5 percent shooting from the field and the Kings hit only 8-23 from distance. In the final minute of the third quarter — a period where the Kings shot just 9-24 — the Nuggets strung together a defensive possession that shows off their new scheme and the strides they’ve already made on that end of the floor through two games.

First, Mason Plumlee rockets up to the level of the ball to shut down De’Aaron Fox‘s lane and deter the rookie point guard from advancing his dribble. Fox has to turn back towards the middle of the floor where a rangy Will Barton awaits. Fox then picks up his dribble and finds Kosta Koufos who relieves him in the middle of the floor. Once Koufos reverses the ball to the other side of the court, Denver’s defense is already in recovery mode.

In the second half of this Kings’ possession, Nikola Jokic puts together a great sequence. He closes down Skal Labissiere’s airspace and contains the much quicker five-man off the dribble. Then, as Labissiere and Garrett Temple get into a two-man game on the wing, Jokic jumps out to stop the ball and force a pass back to Labissiere.

Plumlee does a good job of rotating over from the opposite side of the floor and even though the mid-range jumper drops, it’s a shot the Nuggets are willing to give up rather than an open three or a Fox drive.

Through two games, the Nuggets are fielding the league’s eighth-best defense. It’s just two games and a minuscule sample size that needs a dose of John Wall and Bradley Beal, who Denver hosts Monday, to get a better feel for where that unit stands. But the Nuggets held the Kings to under 40 percent shooting, and if you remove Denver’s disastrous fourth quarter in Utah from the equation, the Nuggets’ defense has looked marketably better than it did last year.

With an offense that still looks jittery but will likely get back to near the level it was a year ago, a near league average defense is all Denver needs to lock in their first playoff berth in five seasons.