Seven nuggets for the number of 3-pointers the Nuggets limited the Warriors to in an improbable 100-98 win.
1. No one saw this coming. Sure, there were people who told you the Nuggets were due for some small improvement on the defensive end in 2018-19. But no one I read, heard or spoke to predicted strides like these. The Nuggets look like a different team than the one that refused to play defense. They’re no longer the 5-year-old who can’t be convinced to eat his vegetables. It’s early, but the progress they’ve made on the not as fun side of the basketball looks legit.
Denver harassed Golden State into 7-for-29 shooting from 3-point territory and 18 turnovers. Over three games, the Nuggets have held the Clippers, Suns and Warriors to 35.1 shooting from the field and 27.1 percent from 3. They haven’t allowed any of their opponents to break the 100-point mark. Overall, the 92.9 points per 100 possessions they’re allowing is the top mark in the league. Don’t expect that to hold over the long haul. Nonetheless, it’s impressive.
2. No one has agonized over Denver’s defensive shortcomings more than head coach Michael Malone. His team’s 25th-, 29th- and 23rd-place finishes in defensive efficiency the last three seasons have driven Malone to near insanity. So seeing his team come out on top in a rock fight with the defending champs was a sweet feeling.
“This is the defense I dream about ever since I got here,” Malone said. “I firmly believe defense is the corner piece to being a championship level team. We’ve preached about it. We’ve talked about. But we haven’t gotten it done. … We’re not saying we’re there. We’re not saying we’ve arrived. But if we continue to play this hard, we’ll give ourselves a chance every night.”
3. The best defensive play of the night came from an unlikely source: Juancho Hernangomez, the third-year Spanish forward who has been yanked out of the rotation at times for his inability to guard. Hernangomez blocked Damian Jones’ dunk attempt in the final seconds to prevent overtime. As the buzzer went off and the backboard lit up red, his teammates mobbed him.
“It was crazy,” Torrey Craig. “He just seemed like he came out nowhere.”
4. Speaking of Craig: He got the start in Will Barton’s place. He was asked to defend Kevin Durant, and for the most part, he held his own. Durant scored 20 points but required 19 shots to get there. Craig also chipped in with five points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block, playing his usual hard-nosed brand of basketball.
“I just knew it was a big game, so every possession is crucial,” he said. “If there was a ball loose, I’m going for it.”
5. Collectively, the Nuggets’ starting five wasn’t quite as dominant compared to games against the Clippers and Suns. That was to be expected with Barton out of the lineup. It also didn’t help that Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap never got going. Murray missed all nine shots he attempted. At one point, he exited the game with a left tibia contusion. He looked banged up but tried to gut it out. Millsap’s shooting struggles, which date back to the preseason, also continued as he went 1-for-7 from the field.
Luckily, Gary Harris stepped up. The rock solid fifth-year guard scored a team-high 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting. Harris netted 11 of those in the third quarter. Harris is always adding stuff to his game. This season, he appears to have tightened up his handle. Watch this behind-the-back move he used to create space against Klay Thompson.
“First year, he was just a shooter,” said Nikola Jokic, who scored 23 points, hauled in 11 rebounds and handed out six assists. “Second year, he could put the ball just going right. Now he can dribble, handle it and go by the guys. He can do a lot of mid-range shots. I don’t know how he do it, but he do it really good.”
6. Harris and Jokic did the heavy lifting, and Denver’s bench provided plenty of support. Malone texted his bench mob messages of support after a lackluster showing against the Suns. They bounced back less than 24 hours later against Golden State. Hernangomez came up with the game-winning block. Monte Morris (nine points, six rebounds, four assists) expertly ran the second unit and was a plus-18 in 22 minutes. Mason Plumlee, who scored 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, had multiple makes relying on his patented reverse finish.
7. The Nuggets missed 18 free throws. They were on the second night of a back-to-back. They were missing their starting small forward. All of that was working against them, and they still came out on top.
The Nuggets always play the Warriors well. You remember that February 2016 game when they rained 24 3s on them? Denver is 4-2 against Steph Curry and Co. since that meeting.
“For some reason we match up well with them,” Malone said. “And I think the second biggest thing is to beat a team like that there’s got to be a belief. We’ve beaten them enough times now, we believe. We’ve beaten them enough times now, we’re not thinking about the banners and the rings. We’re thinking about let’s go kick their ass. Next time we play them, they might beat us by 30. That’s not going to get us discouraged. We’ll come back and play them hard the next time.”
Their next matchup? Jan. 15 at Pepsi Center.
