Grades: Denver Nuggets Whiff at Golden Opportunity

Nikola Jokić – A

Jokić went right at Jakob Poeltl, and though he missed some bunnies, he finished with 17 points in the first quarter and put the Spurs’ starting big man in foul trouble. Jokić stayed aggressive, finishing with a career-high 35 shot attempts. But between that workload, what he had to do defensively, and the lack of rest thanks to poor bench minutes, he was gassed in the fourth quarter. He couldn’t get it done down the stretch, but it should never have been required. Too few teammates showed up ready.

Aaron Gordon – B+

Gordon rebounded well and enjoyed some success attacking the rim. He provides one of the few silver linings this morning—we wanted to see AG round back into form before the playoffs, and he’s doing just that. On offense, anyway.

Will Barton – D+

Barton shot 3 of 8 on mostly open threes but missed some shots inside, and more importantly, he couldn’t stay in front of anyone. He did record a team-high six assists to zero turnovers, but Denver needed those open shots to fall and for anyone to stay in front of the ball. Barton couldn’t oblige.

Austin Rivers – C-

For the most part, it was just a two-minute stretch in the fourth, but that was enough to sink Rivers in his spot start. He knocked a couple of shots down early and got one of the few stops that stands out by memory — primarily due to how few there were. But stepping out of bounds in the fourth (for the second time in the game) was his lowlight and a costly mistake. The wheels fell off for him in the final quarter.

Monte Morris – D+

Morris couldn’t buy a bucket or a stop. He played dreadfully and seemed to tweak an ankle at some point in the action, but he remained in the game.

Bones Hyland – C-

Bones didn’t have it going from deep, taking a couple of ill-advised bombs and shooting wayward on a couple of wide-open looks. I thought he settled too much given his newfound penchant for getting to the rim, but mostly this comes down to missing shots he usually makes. He’ll bounce back.

Boogie Cousins – D+

Cousins shot 1 of 7 from the floor, committed three fouls, and turned it over twice with zero assists in 7:37 played. The last number, a direct result of the preceding statistics, is also the worst. Jokić couldn’t afford to sit, and Malone didn’t waste time getting him back on the floor. It was too much to ask in the end.

JaMychal Green – D

Neither Bama Boy had any juice in this one. JaMychal went full Jeff, fading far into the background of the game. He grabbed just two rebounds and missed the only shot he took in 12:37 on the floor.

Davon Reed – D+

Reed scored twice at the end of the third, cutting the lead down to six each time, but he also threw an ill-advised behind-the-back turnover in the fourth, which may have been when the dam broke for Denver.

Bryn Forbes – Yanked

Before the game started, Malone said he would play Bryn Forbes, citing a need to get him going heading down the stretch. But Forbes only logged 6:51 before he was benched. Malone prefers Reed right now. Will that be an option in the postseason?