How the Nuggets tweaked their defensive scheme and prevented another Derrick White "horror show" in Game 4

In Game 3, the Nuggets had front row seats to Derrick White show. For four quarters the Spurs’ point guard rumbled down the lane and sunk one uncontested right-handed layup after another in the 24-year-old’s best game as a pro.

“We looked like a bunch of ticket takers,” Malone said of White’s straight-line drives to the basket and the 62 paint points Denver allowed in its 118-108 loss. “Take a ticket, come right in.”

“Game 3 it was a Derrick White highlight film, or horror show, depending on what vantage point you’re looking at.”

In Game 3, White scored a career-high 36 points on 15 of 21 shooting. He converted on five of his six 3-point attempts, but the bulk of White’s damage came in the paint and 12 of his 15 field goals were from less than eight feet away from the basket. Most of White’s drives came with his right hand. He occasionally mixed in a spin move to counter Denver’s interior defense, which began to play him to finish on the right side of the basket as well, but White’s night was rather elementary.

In a series that’s been defined by adjustments from both coaches, the Nuggets tweaked their defensive scheme to limit White’s drives in Game 4 and hold him to just eight points on 3 of 8 shooting. It was one of the leading factors that led to a Denver victory, backing up Paul Millsap’s postgame guarantee in the visiting locker room following Game 3.

Swapping their personnel

The Nuggets made a season-saving lineup change ahead of Game 4 that took the struggling Will Barton out of their starting five and inserted Torrey Craig. Craig matched up with DeMar DeRozan, which allowed Gary Harris to slide over the Derrick White. Jamal Murray, who spent most of Game 3 on White, was reassigned to Bryn Forbes.

It’s tough to blame Denver for not having Harris on White to begin the series. White came into Game 1 shooting 34% from 3, compared to the 42.6% Bryn Fobes shot from 3-point range this season, and you want Harris chasing Forbes all over the floor, through, around and under screens, and in transition. But following Game 3 where White hurt Denver for a third-straight matchup, the Nuggets rightfully made the switch.

Harris is a much more polished defender than Murray. He’s highly-regarded around the league for his defensive chops and on a Nuggets roster that’s been void of perimeter defenders over the last few seasons, Harris is the best Denver has. He’s stronger than Murray and can be more physical than the Nuggets’ starting point guard out on the perimeter. He’s quicker side-to-side than Murray too and is better off-ball.

Harris’ 41.7% Defensive Field Goal Percentage in the series is also the fourth-lowest mark on the Nuggets while Murray’s 59.0 DFG% is a team-high. Harris’ 39.8 DFG% in the regular season led the league out of players who defended at least 300 field goals, per Second Spectrum.

Harris did a good job of shading White to his left in Game 4 and forced the Spurs’ point guard to attack with his off hand. White is a more than capable downhill driver but doesn’t have the level of comfortability with his left that he does with his dominant hand and won’t look to score as often when he’s going to that side.

Here, Harris is able to get in front of Jakob Poeltl’s screen and initially force White left. The Spurs’ point guard eventually gets back to his right hand but Harris hangs with White all the way to the basket and still gives a good contest. Expect Harris to start on White in Game 5.

“Gary goes on White, and it’s just a much different feel for Derrick White,” Malone said. “We’ve got a much more aggressive defender, we changed some things up in how we guarding him, not just who, and we did a better job of containing his right-hand drives. He’s going to go right and spin, and he got to the cup way to easy in Game 3 and really for the first three games he played at a high level.”

Tweaking the scheme

The Nuggets didn’t just adjust their matchup on White in Game 3, they “changed up some other things,” as Malone said. One adjustment Denver made was that it decided to play its big men higher up on the floor when defending pick-and-rolls. In Game 3, a few but not many of White’s straight line drives came off a screen, and in Game 4 the Spurs began to send White a pick to work off of when he couldn’t get by Harris as easily. It also didn’t seem that White had the same level of confidence in getting past Harris with his dribble that he did against Murray.

You could really see how differently the Nuggets played the pick-and-roll on a few of White’s drives when he received a ball screen from LaMarcus Aldridge or Poeltl.

Take this sequence from Game 3 for example. Jokic conservatively hangs back in the pick-and-roll to try and prevent a White layup but his positioning is off and Denver’s big man is too upright. White breezes past Jokic for an uncontested finish.

At halftime of Game 3, it even seemed like the Nuggets made a bit of an adjustment to bring Jokic up higher on the floor, putting it in the back of White’s mind that as soon as he begins to attack the rim he’ll immediately have a second defender to navigate. Here, Jokic he still didn’t take a good enough angle on White.

In Game 4, the Nuggets were more mindful of White’s drives. Harris forces White left and Jokic’s positioning to thwart his drive is perfect. Torrey Craig even takes a step or two in off of DeMar DeRozan on the wing to further deter White. Harris also does a good job of slithering around the Aldridge screen quickly.

Will Barton doesn’t make White go to his left here but Jokic is still in a good position while Craig picks up his man (Poeltl) before doing the best he can to get out to his original matchup (Rudy Gay) beyond the arc.

In the play below, White again gets to his right but Millsap’s ability to cover a ton of ground on defense helps. Craig again provides a bit of help, this time to Aldridge, and is able to shade off DeRozan, who’s only attempted one 3-point shot this series. Having Harris, Millsap and Craig — the Nuggets’ top-3 defenders this season — on the floor for large chunks of minutes will be big for the Nuggets throughout the rest of the series against the White-Aldridge pick-and-roll. Jokic’s strength and power makes him Denver’s best defender on Aldridge in the post but when the Spurs’ pick-and-pop artist ventures out higher up the floor into pick-and-pops, Millsap’s mobility and defensive IQ means that he’s the better matchup in those situations.

“We were just aggressive. He lived in our paint,” Jokic said of defending White in Game 3 and the adjustments that were made for Game 4. “He literally had 10 open layups, nobody was near him. We thought he could not play, that’s a lie. Everybody knows he can play, but we kind of helped off him too much. He’s a great player, he’s a starting point guard on a playoff team and Pop is giving him a lot of chances to play so he sees something in him. We were just aggressive and kind of played a little bit more aggressive against him.”

The Nuggets’ adjustments — moving Craig into the starting lineup and Harris onto White, as well as being more mindful of San Antonio’s lead ball handler and playing their big men higher up on the floor in pick-and-rolls — worked in Game 4. but the Spurs will surely counter and be ready for Denver’s tweaks Tuesday. It will be up to the Nuggets to react with the right adjustment to their game plan in order to capture a vital Game 5.