LeBron James put his hands on his hips. Kyle Kuzma threw his arms up in frustration. Anthony Davis stared down Dion Waiters.
The Nuggets had somehow scored yet again. This time it was PJ Dozier, who drove into the teeth of the Lakers’ defense and whipped a left-handed pass to Bol Bol standing in the weakside corner. Bol took a dribble and was cut off by James on the baseline but fired an overhead pass to Mason Plumlee who stood alone in the vacated paint. Plumlee’s dunk put the Nuggets up by four points with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter.
Denver didn’t win Monday night. No, they lost 124-121 courtesy of a Kuzma 3-pointer with less than one second remaining in the fourth quarter.
But the Nuggets fought.
James, Davis and the Lakers barely outlasted a Nuggets five-man bench lineup of Plumlee, Bol, Dozier, Monte Morris and Keita Bates-Diop that played the final 15 minutes of regulation. That lineup played continuously from the 3:06 mark of the third quarter through the game’s final buzzer.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our group. I thought we played extremely hard,” Michael Malone said. “That’s the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the fourth time we’ve played them (this season). Every game has been a battle. It’s gone down to the wire. For us to sit our starters that whole fourth quarter and to have guys on the bench giving them all they can handle and lose a heartbreaker is always tough. But I’m just so proud. I could not ask for a better effort, greater focus, energy, whatever you want to call it. I thought it was off the charts.”
The Nuggets’ effort, especially from their bench, was incredible Monday. With Morris, Dozier, Bates-Diop, Bol and Plumlee in the game for the final 12 minutes of regulation, Malone eased up on the play-calling and gave his two backup point guards the freedom to run the show. Dozier, who scored a team-high 18 points off the bench to go with four rebounds and four assists, and Morris, who added 14 points and four helpers of his own, proceeded to carve up the Lakers’ defense so routinely that Frank Vogel called for a 2-3 zone late in the fourth. Precise passing from the Nuggets led to a Morris 3-pointer on Denver’s next possession.
“We continue to say it all the time that we’re the deepest team in the league,” Dozier said. “Having opportunities to prove it has been good for us. Our coaching staff has the utmost faith in all of our guys 1-17. We don’t care who’s on the court for us. We expect to win games.”
“If you play hard and you compete regardless of who’s available, good things will happen.”
That’s exactly what the Nuggets do. No matter who’s in the lineup on that given night they compete. No matter who’s on the floor in the fourth quarter they play hard. Opponents can’t take anything for granted against Denver. Just ask Damian Lillard and James what it’s like to go up against a shorthanded Nuggets lineup inside the Disney World bubble.
That’s Nuggets culture.
Back in January, the Nuggets went into Milwaukee without three starters — Jamal Murray, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap — and beat the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo by 12 points. A month later, the Nuggets edged the Jazz in Salt Lake City with just seven players and a bench consisting of Dozier and rookie Vlatko Cancar. Five days ago, the Nuggets played Michael Porter Jr. with four bench players for most of the fourth quarter against the Trail Blazers and took a Portland team with a red-hot Damian Lillard down to the wire.
It hasn’t happened by accident. The Nuggets’ front office and president of basketball operations Tim Connelly have been selective in what players they bring into the organization. Of course those players all have an NBA skill-set but they also must be true competitors to their core.
Dozier’s certainly that. The Nuggets had taken a liking to the 6-foot-6 point guard long before they finally signed him to their training camp roster last August, and once Dozier arrived it was clear that he’d be a clean fit among the rest of Denver’s bench. The biggest weakness in Dozier’s game is his 3-point shot and although the 23-year-old converted on both of his attempts from beyond the arc against the Lakers, he’s still shooting just 5-14 from 3-point range in the bubble. Dozier’s also a tad mistake-prone and turned the ball over three times Monday.
Still, the Nuggets know Dozier’s going to play both ends of the floor when he’s on the court. He’s going to attack the defense aggressively. He’s going to play with confidence no matter who he’s up against. Most of all he’s going to compete. For those reasons, it’s not hard to imagine Dozier playing real playoff minutes beginning next week.
“I’ve always been a big PJ Dozier fan,” Malone said. “I’ve always trusted him. I’ve never looked at him as a two-way player or a G League player. He’s an NBA player and he’s proven that in this bubble and he’s proven that before this bubble.”
Late Monday night, both Dozier and Morris spoke proudly about how the Nuggets’ bench had hung with the Lakers’ top line for more than a full quarter. Dozier mentioned how confidently Denver’s second unit plays no matter who they’re up against. Morris lauded Bol’s play and mentioned how he’s always in the rookie’s ear telling him not to be hesitant and shoot the ball when he’s open.
“We were just trying to go compete and execute,” Morris said. “We were in the game. We’re not holding our heads down about the outcome. I feel like we grew.”
Prior to tip-off, Malone said the Nuggets were going to closely monitor Murray, Porter, Nikola Jokic and Jerami Grant’s minutes after those four players logged heavy playing time over the last week. Grant didn’t play against the Lakers due to right knee soreness, and Jokic (12 points and four assists), Murray (14 points and four rebounds) and Porter (15 points and four rebounds) played 26, 25 and 24 minutes respectively.
Those three helped keep pace with the Lakers through three quarters but sat for the entire fourth. With the spotlight on, Denver’s reserves again showed what Nuggets culture is all about.
