DNVR Player Grades: Nuggets suffer worst loss of the season in Washington D.C.

The Washington Wizards were without Bradley Beal, Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans, Thomas Bryant, Moritz Wagner, C.J. Miles, and John Wall when they hosted the 24-10 Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. They dropped 128 points and won by 14. It was the worst loss of the season for the Nuggets, if not any team in the league.

The Nuggets looked ready to play at the tip. They jumped out to a 9-2 lead, and looked primed to roll. From that moment forward the defense fell off a cliff, and the offense stagnated as the ball movement and energy dried up.

The Wizards depleted bench went off, Troy Brown Jr. and Ish Smith played 35 and 34 minutes respectively, riding a hot hand for virtually the entire game. Smith finished with a career high 32 points on 15-of-24 from the field while adding 8 assists. Brown Jr. was 10-of-12 from the floor for 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Even Isaac Bonga scored 15 on 5-of-6 shooting in 21 minutes. Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, and Will Barton III took turns getting torched as they served as turnstiles on defense. Time and time again, one of those guard/forwards penetrated, crossed the free throw line and either did damage or from deep or abused the help defense. When Smith wasn’t doing his damage inside, he was lighting the Nuggets up from mid-range, routinely finding himself open after a Nugget went under on a screen.

The initial defense was enough, but that Nuggets also failed to bring focus and effort on the glass. The Nuggets gave up 14 offensive rebounds—49 overall, losing the rebounding battle by 16. Virtually no one in a Nuggets uniform played like they wanted to be there, let alone win the game. Only Murray seemed to bring the effort, though that abundance of zeal didn’t help him any on the defensive end. Good teams lose to bad teams across an 82 game season. Great teams too. But the loss in D.C. on Saturday is as bad as it gets.

Let’s go the grades.

Honor Roll

Nope.

The Class

Jamal Murray – B+ 

Some might find this grade harsh. Murray filled up the box score, scoring 39 points on 13-of-19 from the floor and going 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He scored 20 of his points in the third quarter as he did what he could to rescue an offense that was flatlining. As mentioned above, Murray played harder than any of his teammates on Saturday night and is deserving of credit for how he competed. But those points felt empty as his play didn’t seem to unlock anything for the Nuggets half-court offense. He knocked down difficult shots, but he also gave up for too many easy ones on the other end. Stronger performance on defense would have sealed a top-end grade. Without it, 39 points against Isaiah Thomas and the G-League Wizards isn’t enough to write home about.

Principal’s Office

**Takes a deep breath**

Nikola Jokić – D+

After rounding back into form in December, Nikola Jokić seems to have returned to his unhappy place. He scored nine points early, but as the Nuggets offense deteriorated, he grew decreasingly interested in helping them win. For the third straight game, Jokić’s body language was rough, and he seemingly played the game in protest of his own team’s approach on the offensive end. Jokić has explained in the past that he wants to see the team play “the right way.” He denies that this includes playing through him, but there’s an apparent correlation between the lack of Jokić-ball (ball movement, off-ball movement, unselfish play) and his pouting. Jokić finished the game with just ten field goal attempts—making only four—and didn’t record an assist until halftime. He may be right in his basketball philosophies, but he’s wrong to check out when things aren’t going his way.

Michael Porter Jr. – D+

Before tipoff, Michael Malone told the media to expect an increased role for Michael Porter Jr. going forward:

https://twitter.com/katywinge/status/1213604949348823040?s=20

Strange then, that Porter Jr. played just 12 minutes in this game, and rode the bench for the entire second half. The decision not to play him in a vacuum is defensible—while scoring seven efficient points in those 12 minutes, Porter Jr. turned the ball over three times, committed two fouls, and was a -16. But the optics are rough for Malone after the pregame statement.

Malik Beasley – D+

Beasley scored eight points in his 16 minutes on the floor but recorded zero combined rebounds and assists. He also got turned around on defense more than once. He played better than most of his peers off the bench but didn’t make a positive impact.

Will Barton III – D+

Barton III is beginning to come back down to earth after his spectacular start to the season. He struggled in this one, hitting just three of his eight shots, getting torched on the defensive end, and failing to mitigate those struggles with his usual impact on the boards.

Monte Morris – D+

Morris finished with six points and three assists in 15 minutes. It was a particularly quiet performance from both him individually and the bench as a whole.

Mason Plumlee – D+

Plumlee is known for his tenacious effort on the court, but it lacked in this loss. He got worked on defense, missed multiple critical block-outs in the second half, and had no impact offensively. His was a clumsy and poor performance.

Gary Harris – D

Harris scored just seven points in 31 minutes. His output on the offensive end this season—or rather, his lack thereof—is dumbfounding. He looks more like Charles Barkley post alien encounter than the guy who was considered among most consistent players on the team just two seasons ago. These performances are hard to stomach when he’s playing at an all-defense level, but he was just as weak on the other end in DC.

Paul Millsap – D

Millsap started the year hot, but he’s struggled since injuring his quad. He was a complete non-factor tonight—just 3-of-9 from the field with five rebounds and little to no impact defensively.

Jerami Grant – D 

Grant scored just seven points, was 0-of-2 from three-point range, didn’t record a single rebound, and struggled on the defensive end. The second-unit has needed his shooting this season, but when he’s not shooting the ball well, he’s not making an impact.

Torrey Craig and Juancho Hernangomez – D

These two combined for 11 minutes played, zero points on zero field goal attempts, zero assists, and one rebound.