Malone preaching 'intensity, passion, effort,' from Nuggets' defense as Denver makes playoff push

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DENVER — At 15-23, the Denver Nuggets somehow find themselves still in the hunt for the eighth seed in the Western Conference and their first playoff berth since the 2012-2013 season.

While the Nuggets’ offense has been among the league’s elite since reinserting Nikola Jokic into the starting unit, their defense has nearly collapsed.

Denver has yet to win a game this season where they did not score 100 or more points and have only had eight total games where they have held the opposition under the century mark. The Nuggets are also now the third-worst team in basketball in terms of points allowed per game (111.2) and are second to last in the league in Defensive Rating (110.1).

“I have been harping on how bad our defense has been and even in light of losing five in a row, here we are,” Michael Malone said at practice Sunday. “We are a game out of the playoffs. We can be a playoff team only if and when we decide to defend at a much higher level than we have.”

Malone has been looking for more defensive intensity and effort for the majority of the season. While there have been moments of defensive brilliance, it has not culminated into anything consistent.

Leading up to the eventual victory over the Indiana Pacers in London, the Nuggets had given up 120 points or more in five straight contests and looked to be lost defensively regardless of what team they were facing. That changed against Indiana as the Denver put together what could be their best defensive performance of the season behind Danilo Gallinari, who turned in one of his best defensive performances as well.

“We went through an in-depth game plan and a pregame video presentation,” Malone explained. “I said, ‘all this stuff, screw it. What do we have to do to win tonight?’ Gallo, right away, said that we have to play defense. Individually and as a team, we need to play defense.”

That type of veteran leadership from Gallinari is what the Nuggets need more of to improve the defense. Having players like Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and Darrell Arthur stepping up and leading by example, by playing aggressive and disciplined defense, will hopefully inspire the younger players to play with more intensity.

“Are we going to give a concerted effort to focus and have discipline on the defensive end of the floor collectively and individually?” Malone asked rhetorically. “So in Gallo’s case, that means meeting the challenge of guarding Paul George head on. Trust the help behind you but don’t rely on it and he met that challenge.”

To say that Gallinari met the challenge is a hefty understatement. On the season, George is averaging 22.1 points with a career-high 54.7 true shooting percentage. Gallinari held George to a meager ten points on 2-12 shooting. George was also a -31 plus-minus against the Nuggets, his second-worst mark of the season.

“I thought defensively, it wasn’t like we changed and there was a huge difference in the game plan,” Malone said. “But it was the fact that we went out there and executed the game plan with intensity, passion, and effort. You give it a chance to work when you do that.”

If the Nuggets’ defense takes a turn for the better it will be because Denver buys in. The Nuggets’ issues with effort tend to be directly related to the team not fully buying into Malone’s defensive philosophy and once that changes, Denver’s defense should start to improve game-by-game.

“Do you bring that effort and energy? I think the biggest thing for me was seeing that guys went out there and we played with a great sense of urgency. Almost a desperation,” Malone said. “They won five in a row and we had lost five in a row. The hungry cat hunts best. Who wants it? I thought we went out there and played with that sense of urgency.”

Footnotes

Arthur (left knee soreness) has been ruled out of Monday’s game against the Orlando Magic. Arthur did not play in London.

Gary Harris (right groin soreness) and Gallinari (left ankle soreness) are both expected to play versus Orlando.