After a 19-point loss in Game 2, a margin of defeat in the playoffs that would make most teams go back to the drawing board and recalibrate, the Denver Nuggets acted as if they had it all figured out.
“We’ve done it before,” said Michael Malone. “We beat them three times in the regular season. We’ve done a great job on Donovan Mitchell before.”
“Honestly, we know we’re the better team,” Monte Morris added. We’ve beat them on numerous occasions so we’re not trying to overreact.”
The Nuggets did beat the Jazz three times during the pre-hiatus portion of the regular season. But that regular season ended four months ago, and since arriving inside the Disney World bubble the Jazz are an entirely different team. They don’t have second-leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic but have successfully remade themselves into a modern-day offense, one the Nuggets haven’t come close to containing.
Utah was completing only 293.2 passes and generating just 39.8 potential assists per game, the third fewest in the NBA this year, before the season was suspended on March 11. Over its eight seeding games, the Jazz completed 322.5 passes and generated 46.9 potential assists per game. Utah shifted to shooting more three-pointers inside the bubble too. The Jazz attempted 34.4 three-pointers per game during the pre-hiatus portion of the regular season but shot an average of 42.1 threes per game during the seeding round.
These are not the same Jazz that Denver went 3-0 against prior to March 11.
That was proven in Game 3 when the Jazz handed the Nuggets an all-time playoff loss, a 124-87 defeat where Denver never really showed up and for a second-straight game looked totally unprepared for Utah’s aerial attack. The Jazz shot just 1 of 9 three-point range in the first quarter of Game 3 but still managed to outscore the Nuggets 25-14. As the second-quarter closed, Denver had a four-minute stretch which Malone postgame called the only portion of Game 3 where his team played “playoff basketball.” Denver trimmed Utah’s 25-point lead to 17 heading into the break but the Jazz outscored the Nuggets 18-8 over the first few minutes of the third quarter to put the game away.
That was all the Nuggets had to give in Game 3 of their first-round series. Four minutes of playoff basketball.
“I think we give in too easy,” Malone said. “Our group has to be a lot more mentally tough.”
It’s no surprise that Denver’s defense has been a dumpster fire inside the bubble. Since Jan. 1, the Nuggets are the fourth-worst defense in the league, ahead of just the Blazers, Cavs and Hawks. The Jazz are getting whatever they want. Utah currently has the best playoff offense, is averaging a league-leading 16.3 second-chance points and the second-most paint points per game in the playoffs.
The Nuggets don’t have a defensive game plan against the Jazz because Donovan Mitchell has picked apart whatever alignment Denver’s thrown his way. When the Nuggets switch ball screens on defense, the Jazz continue to target and then attack Michael Porter Jr. or slower-footed defenders in pick-and-rolls, picking on the rookie’s inexperience and other defender’s propensities to foul.
When the Nuggets hedge with their bigs, Jazz guards carefully and calmly move the ball until they find an open shooter.
Dumping the ball off to Rudy Gobert has proven to be a winning formula for the Jazz too. Gobert shot 69% from the floor during the regular season. He’s shooting 26-36 (72%) in the playoffs. The Jazz aren’t even a team that likes to get out in transition often but Utah has found open threes whenever they’ve wanted to against Denver’s fast break defense.
Plays like this are a joke.
“Before we make an adjustment let’s do what the hell we’re supposed to do correctly,” Malone said before Game 3.
Denver hasn’t had the scheme, the want, or the desire to defend.
“I just think we’ve got to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” said Jamal Murray.
Although it’s technically been efficient and Denver has the eighth-best offensive rating in the playoffs, the Nuggets’ offense inside the bubble has been largely unrecognizable. It’s partly due to the difficulties Denver had getting its entire rotation down to Orlando and the injuries that Murray, Will Barton and Gary Harris have endured. But there are deeper issues at play.
The Nuggets averaged only 20.9 free-throws per game during the regular season, the fifth-fewest in the league. In Game 3 it looked like Denver’s game plan was to avoid Gobert at all costs. The Nuggets didn’t attempt their first free-throw until there was 3:29 left in the first half and nine of their 11 Game 3 free-throws came in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.
The creativity and imagination has also been zapped from Denver’s offense. Malone got on Porter during a post-practice Zoom session in between Games 2 and 3 for his tendency to stand and watch on offense when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. The same can be said for the rest of the Nuggets’ roster. When Denver has really needed a bucket in Games 2 and 3, Nikola Jokic’s teammates have seemed content to stand and watch as he tries to go 1-on-1 against the back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year who has thoroughly outplayed him so far in the series. If Jokic kicks the ball out, the Jazz are more than satisfied if Torrey Craig, Paul Millsap or Jerami Grant are the ones shooting open threes.
“To be honest I think I just missed shots,” said Jokic who went 6 of 13 from the floor for 15 points in Game 3. “I took all the shots that I wanted to. The shots that I took, I’ll sleep really good. My mind is going to be alright because I took really good shots and I just missed. He’s a really good defender. Two-time defensive player (of the year). He’s a great player but I think i just missed shots.”
The reality is the Nuggets are lucky to be down just 2-1. Denver needed a Mitchell eight second violation and 22 made threes, which tied a season-high, to eek out an overtime win in Game 1.
But there is a silver lining. Denver has playoff experience to lean on. Last postseason, the Nuggets trailed the Spurs 2-1 after three games but made the proper adjustments to win the series in seven. A win Sunday and the Nuggets are suddenly alive again.
Here’s one adjustment: the Nuggets need Jokic to snap out of whatever funk he’s in. Jokic played Game 3 like it was a Tuesday night in November against the Cavs. A starting lineup change is likely in order as well. Perhaps the most logical swap is Jerami Grant for Millsap which gives the Nuggets a longer, more athletic body that puts more pressure on the Jazz on both ends of the floor.
Jamal Murray also needs to regain the aggressiveness that showed in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1, which has oddly been absent ever since the Jazz switched Royce O’Neale onto him in Game 2. After his 10-point overtime in Game 1, Murray has scored just 26 total points on 11-29 (38%) shooting over his last two outings.
“We’re not going to go anywhere if Nikola and Jamal combine for 27 points,” Malone said after Game 3. “I think if you watch every series down here in the bubble, the teams that win, the best players are stepping up and playing well.
“With that said, it’s not just on Jamal. It’s not just on Nikola. Everybody else has a job to do, myself included, and none of us are performing. I’m not coaching well enough. We’re not playing well enough. And a lot has to change going into Game 4. Because this is two games in a row that we’ve got our ass kicked.”
If the Nuggets open Game 4 on Sunday with the same energy, aggressiveness and lack of focus that they did in Game 3, they’re about to get their asses kicked some more.
