After "poor coaching" in Houston, Nuggets returning to what's worked on defense

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone cited “poor coaching” as to why the Nuggets changed their defensive scheme in Wednesday’s 30-points loss to the Houston Rockets, specifically when defending pick-and-rolls, and says his team will return to a more familiar strategy on that end of the floor Friday night against Memphis.

“We have to trust what we’ve been doing and obviously, we tried different things in that Houston game because of their personnel and their offensive philosophy if you will — (Houston) taking 45 threes per game to try and eliminate some of those,” Malone said as his team wrapped up Friday morning’s shootaround prior to hosting the Grizzlies (7 p.m. MST, ALT). “It’s funny. In the first half, we guarded a certain way and they hurt us in the paint. Second half, we guarded a different way and they hurt us more from the three-point line. You kind of pick your poison with that team.”

“We’re going to get back to doing what we’ve been doing for the first 17 games prior to that game and give that a chance to work before we make any changes,” Malone added.

The new defensive scheme Denver deployed over their first 17 games this season is a stark contrast from last year’s philosophy. Last season, the Nuggets dropped their bigs into the paint when defending pick-and-rolls but this year (except for Wednesday night), they’re playing more up the floor and at the level of the ball.

Denver had seen their defense improve by roughly five points per 100 possessions and were forcing 4.4 more turnovers per game than a year ago. But because of the Rockets’ personnel and their efficiency from beyond the arc, the Nuggets switched things up hoping to contain Houston’s three-point shooters and reverted back to their strategy from last season.

James Harden and Chris Paul were able to get into the teeth of Denver’s defense with ease and take advantage Nikola Jokic and Mason Plumlee when they dropped into the paint. Houston’s guards scored over and through Denver’s bigs or simply dumped the ball off to a rolling Nene.

Compare those two sequences to how Denver defended the pick-and-roll in an October preseason matchup against the Lakers. The latter is how the Nuggets have approached that action this season prior to their loss in Houston.

“Our guys are believing in what we’ve been doing, it’s been fairly effective, compared to what we did last year, so let’s go back to giving that a chance to work,” Malone said.

As a team, Houston shot 22-31 (71 percent) from the restricted area and 43.9 percent from distance. After missing 14 games with a knee injury, Paul turned in his best game in a Rockets’ uniform scoring 23 points on a crisp 8-11 shooting and shot 4-7 from beyond the three-point line.

“We made a change after 17 games and that’s poor coaching by me because I didn’t trust what we’ve been doing for 17 games,” Malone said after the loss via Altitude TV. “I reacted before it was an issue and I think that put our guys in a tough spot defensively and I owned that to our team. I have to do a better job and its a valuable lesson for me to learn.”

“I think at some point it would be great to get into a rhythm and a rotation,” Malone said. “It’s not like Paul is going to only miss a couple games. Paul is going to be out for a long time, unfortunately. So if we can try to get a defined starting group with a set rotation I think that helps everybody. But the great thing about our team, in Houston we went with Wilson Chandler at the four. Tonight we could do that again or we could try to start someone else at the four.”

Behind Chandler and Nikola Jokic, Trey Lyles was Denver’s first big off their bench, played 24 minutes, scored seven points on 3-7 shooting and secured three rebounds to go with three assists a steal and a block. Lyles, who had only played at least five minutes twice this season prior to Millsap’s injury, logged 19 minutes against Sacramento and 24 minutes versus Houston.

Lyles also played 16 minutes against the Lakers — the bulk of which came in the second half after Millsap injured his wrist.

“We’re just going to have to see where it goes and what’s going to give us the best chance to win,” Malone added.

The Grizzlies play a more traditional rotation than the Rockets and start Marc Gasol at center alongside the 6-foot-9 JaMychal Green. 6-foot-11 big man Deyonta Davis backs up Gasol while Jarell Martin, who tips the scales at 6-foot-11, 239-pounds, averages 18.6 minutes per game.

After starting and playing 19 minutes in Denver’s first game without Millsap earlier this week in Sacramento, Kenneth Faried did not play in the Nuggets’ loss to Houston.

Memphis comes to Denver on a six-game losing streak. Starting point guard Mike Conley (Achilles) has missed the Grizzlies’ last four games and will not play tonight.

[columns]
[column size=”1/2″]Nuggets Starters

Jamal Murray
Gary Harris
Will Barton
Wilson Chandler
Nikola Jokic[/column]
[column size=”1/2″]Grizzlies Starters

Mario Chalmers
Dillon Brooks
Chandler Parsons
JaMychal Green
Marc Gasol[/column]
[/columns]