Aaron Gordon unlocks new wrinkles in Michael Malone's playbook

1. By now everyone reading THE LIST is familiar with C Corner, one of the Nuggets’ most commonly used actions. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Nuggets got Aaron Gordon’s first dunk off of this action.  The Nuggets have run this for Michael Porter Jr. and Paul Millsap in the corner spot and have had great success. With Gordon’s size and athleticism and Porter’s gravity in the opposite corner, Denver’s favorite play just became even more unguardable.

2. Here is a cool set that they ran a few times last year for Jerami Grant.

3. The Nuggets got a lot of buckets off of first options. Here Will Barton cuts backdoor off of a simple pindown but because the Nuggets have skilled players at every position, the paint is wide open.

4. Michael Malone was in his bag trying out fun new wrinkles out of plays the team has run for years.

5. Another play that gets the defense scrambled off of one single back screen. What a luxury it must be to have five different players who can initiate the offense.

6. Another easy bucket created in part because of the versatile talent of the starting lineup. The Nuggets are making this look easy but the Atlanta Hawks have actually had a solid defense over their last 10 games. The starting lineup for the Nuggets just leaves defenses in such a pickle.

7. Perhaps the most interesting play of the entire game. Jokic as the ball handler, Gordon as the roller. This play drags the two best rim protectors out into unfamiliar territory and leaves Tony Snell in the unfortunate position of having to play rim protector while also worrying about Michael Porter Jr. in the short corner.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Nuggets ran this action in late game situations very soon, especially as a changeup or setup for the Jokic-Murray two-man game.

8. The strength of Denver’s second unit is defense and basketball IQ. That high collective IQ allows them to run one-off plays like the one below and expect A+ execution.

9. John Collins was held to just 11 points last night on 3 of 9 shooting thanks in part to possessions like this one.

10. Just a little mistake here from Jamal Murray places Jokic in a lose-lose situation.

11. This is an elite cut for Paul Millsap. Great timing. Not too quick, not too late.