"It’s what Gary do": One tweak has shifted the Nuggets' first-round series in their favor

Derrick White shredded Denver’s defense like a chainsaw to a row of shrubs in Game 3. The Colorado kid scored 36 points almost exclusively on drives to the rim as the Spurs seized control of the series. Afterward, a frustrated Michael Malone likened his team to an admittance crew.

“We looked like a bunch of ticket takers,” Malone said. “Take a ticket, come right in.”

Jamal Murray was the primary culprit, so prior to Game 4, Malone made a change by switching Gary Harris onto White instead and inserting Torrey Craig into the starting lineup to slow DeMar DeRozan. The result: those easy entries into the paint have evaporated. The Nuggets have fought back with consecutive double-digit wins in Games 4 and 5 thanks in large part to their two best perimeter defenders, and have the Spurs on the brink of elimination as a result.

In Game 3, White looked Iverson-esque probing into the lane seemingly at will. In Game 5, White looked like Eduardo Najera, which is to say: he picked up four fouls in 22 minutes. White had just five points on 2-of-7 shooting going into the fourth quarter; by then, the game was already decided. Any time he tried to maneuver, Harris was right there making life difficult.

“I think Gary Harris is one of the more underrated defenders in the NBA,” Malone said. “We’ve changed our coverage on him. We’re more aggressive instead of just being down the floor and letting him turn the corner and live in our paint. We’ve been more aggressive in pick and rolls. I think our guys realized after the first three games that Derrick White was the early MVP of this series. I think we’ve done a real good job the last few games of trying to negate his impact.”

The numbers in Games 1-3 compared to 4 and 5 are striking. White averaged 23 points on 69% shooting in the first three as San Antonio took a two games to one lead. In the last two, he’s putting up only 10 points per game on 42.1% shooting. Denver’s more aggressive scheme, which features Nikola Jokic jumping out higher on pick and rolls, plus Harris’ refusal to let White get to his right hand has made all the difference.

“That’s why we paid him that much money,” said backup point guard Monte Morris, who was his usual steady self with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and no turnovers. “It’s what Gary do. I’m not surprised. I know what kind of defender Gary is. He’s a tough, tough defender, and he can make shots on top of that.”

Harris, who’s in the first of a four-year, $84 million deal, looked like Denver’s second-best player in the early part of the regular season. He’s always adding to his game, and this year, he flashed a new-found ability to take opponents off the dribble, A laundry-list of injuries, though, which included issues with his hip, adductor, hamstring and ankle, caused him to miss 25 games. Harris struggled to regain his rhythm until early April, when he showed signs of rediscovering the two-way ability that netted him his lucrative extension.

At 6-foot-4, Harris is a tad undersized for an NBA shooting guard, but he makes up for it with the speed, strength and physicality that made him one of the top wide receiver prospects in the nation growing up in Fishers, Indiana.

“He’s done an amazing job being physical,” Torrey Craig. “We’ve made an emphasis to get into him (White) more, make him feel us. I think we’ve done a good job. Today, he got in foul trouble. He seemed frustrated. The whole team seemed frustrated a little bit.”

The Nuggets won a first quarter for the first time all series Tuesday. Harris came out of the gates strong with eight points in his first stint on the floor. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 shooting from 3. His strong play on both ends, Nikola Jokic’s all-around brilliance and Murray’s shotmaking helped Denver put its first playoff series win since 2009 in its sights.

Denver’s chances looked dire when trailing by 12 points after the first quarter in Game 4. But a switch flipped for them in the second quarter Saturday. In the last seven quarters of the series, the Nuggets have blasted the Spurs by a combined score of 203-159.

Malone made an excellent chess move by switching Harris onto White. Malone appears to have outmaneuvered Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — even if he doesn’t want to say it.

“He’s Bobby Fischer,” Malone said in the lead-up to Game 5. “He’s a savant. I’m not worried about matching wits with Gregg Popovich.”

Yet when it was over, Popovich spoke like a man who knew he didn’t have any good moves left.

“That was my best Bobby Fischer,” Popovich said. “Tell Uncle Mikey that.”