DENVER — After a nine-point, two-assist outing, combined with a team-worst -16 plus-minus in the Nuggets’ 108-111 loss to Minnesota Sunday, Jameer Nelson took on much of the blame for Denver’s loss.
Two late-game possessions, both of which ended with a Nelson miss stood out, but overshadowed a game that the Nuggets should have won.
If you think one regular season game is going to get Nelson down, think again. The veteran has seen action in close to 800 games over 12 years, played a prominent role in an NBA Finals and has been through all the trials and tribulations the league has to offer.
“I’ve made a ton of tough shots and a ton of big shots in my career and I’ve missed a ton. So it doesn’t bother me, make or miss,” Nelson said postgame about the Minnesota loss. “It’s a basketball game. You’re going to make some shots, you’re going to miss some shots. I understand it. The teams understands it. We lost the game, I didn’t lose the game or try to miss those shots.”
Nelson bounced back in a big way in Denver’s 103-93 win over the Utah Jazz.
17 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting, seven assists, and the most important stat; zero turnovers in 31 minutes. A game after he was a team-worst -16, Nelson finished as a team-high +10.
“Jameer Nelson, seven assists, zero turnovers, so he takes care of the ball,” Malone said. “The big shots he made, he comes down they’re making a run, they clawing back in. And at time this year we haven’t closed the game and tonight we were able to do that.”
To Malone’s point, closing the game for the Nuggets was Nelson, who scored a team-high seven points in the fourth quarter including a 21-foot jumper with 2:06 remaining to quell an 11-4 Utah run.
Then, a back-breaking dagger three with 1:16 left in the fourth put the Nuggets up 12, a comfortable enough margin to hold off the Jazz.
“I just take what the defense gives me,” Nelson said. “I’m not a volume shooter. I try to make the offense works as much as I can.”
Quietly, Nelson is enjoying his best season statistically speaking since his career-year in 2011. He’s averaging 8.5 points, shooting the ball 43.8 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three. Nelson also has the most assists on the Nuggets this year to less than two turnovers per game.
It was easy to point blame at Nelson after Denver’s loss to the Timberwolves. It looked like, for one game, that the bright and shiny new toy in rookie Jamal Murray was breathing down the veteran’s neck and ready to take his spot after a 17-point performance, playing exclusively point guard against Minnesota. Nelson will eventually give way to the No. 7 overall pick, but not yet.
It’s going to take more than that to shake this veteran.
