You could finally feel the buzz inside Ball Arena.
National TV, the Warriors with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson actually in the lineup, Thursday’s tilt with Golden State felt meaningful. It felt important. A regular-season game at Ball Arena felt big, for the first time all year.
“I haven’t experienced a playoff game in the NBA yet,” Bones Hyland said following the Nuggets’ 113-102 loss to the Warriors. “But before the game, [Nuggets assistant] Jordan [Bickerstaff] came up to me and was like, ‘This is going to be close to what a playoff game feels like.'”
Denver fell Thursday night in a somewhat predictable fashion. Playing their fourth game in five days, the Nuggets hung and even outplayed the Warriors for most of the night, but fatigue eventually caught up to Nikola Jokic and Denver late in regulation. Leading 102-100 with 3:10 remaining in the fourth, the Nuggets allowed the Warriors to close the game on a 13-0 run. Denver committed three turnovers over the final three minutes of regulation, shot 0-3 from the floor, and was plagued by uncharacteristic and “unacceptable,” as Michael Malone put it, breakdowns.
One play, in particular, drew Malone’s ire: a defensive miscommunication between veterans Monte Morris and Austin Rivers. Both defenders gravitated to Steph Curry on a routine pick-and-pop between him and Jordan Poole that Morris and Rivers should have switched. The result was a dagger triple from Poole. He and Curry combined for 55 points and nine 3s on the night.
“One guy says he talked, one guy says he didn’t hear it,” Malone said. “I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in between.”
Let’s take a glass-half-full approach to Denver’s final game of a brutal stretch of the season. The Nuggets won three of four and 12 of their last 15 overall, and while Jokic and others tired towards the end of the Nuggets’ fourth game of the week (it’s only Friday by the way), one player didn’t.
It’s the guy that has Nuggets public address announcer Kyle Speller screaming “Mile High City, baby!” when he checks into a game.
Hyland shined off the bench vs. Golden State. In the first playoff-type environment that Denver has experienced this season and that Hyland has experienced in his career, he rose to the occasion. It’s encouraging, and looking ahead to the playoffs it’s real exciting. I’ve definitely seen enough. Hyland deserves a spot in the Nuggets’ playoff rotation.
“I’m ready for those moments,” Hyland declared after posting 10 points, 4, rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers in 22 minutes, which led all Nuggets bench players. “That’s what I was made for, that’s what I was built for, and it’s what I look forward to.”
Hyland looked like he was back on the blacktop in Wilmington Thursday night.
“When the crowd gets into it,” said Hyland. “It gives me them playground vibes.”
The Nuggets are such a known commodity at this point in the season. Jokic is unguardable and playing at the highest level of his career. He’ll beat any defense thrown his way. It’s just up to the Nuggets’ role players to make enough of the shots Jokic sets them up for. But this team still feels incomplete because of the unknown and how Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. could impact Denver’s playoff run.
Even if Murray returns, and even if he’s capable of playing something close to his normal minutes, Hyland needs to find a way into Denver’s second unit this postseason. The rookie can flip the tone of a game in a single possession. Every 3 he hits feels momentum-changing. He’s a blur in the open floor and next to Jokic the Nuggets’ best improviser. He feeds off the emotion of the crowd. He lives for the moment. His spirit is contagious. The energy that Hyland brings is a difference-maker.
Malone has given Hyland more free reign than I expected this season. He’s hard on the 21-year-old, but lets Hyland be himself. The 30+ foot mid-shot clock 3s are still allowed. The And-1 mixtape dribble moves still fly. But I expect Malone’s reigns on the rookie to tighten a bit in the playoffs. Mistakes are more consequential in the postseason. Every possession means so much more.
Malone could look down his bench at Facu Campazzo and think back to last year’s postseason when the Argentine started at point guard and the Nuggets disposed of Damian Lillard and the Blazers in six games. But Hyland deserves a spot in Denver’s night-to-night lineup through the rest of the regular season and as far as the Nuggets are able to go in the playoffs. His ceiling is so much higher. His floor is probably higher than Campazzo’s too.
Every NBA player has an incredible amount of self-confidence. You don’t get to this level of basketball without it. However, what Hyland has puts most of his counterparts to shame. He feels like he’s going to pop off every single game. I walked past Hyland in the tunnel just outside of the Nuggets’ locker room before Denver hosted New Orleans on Sunday and asked how many 3s I should expect from him tonight. “I can’t even put a limit on it I feel so good,” he replied.
That’s how Hyland feels before every game. On any given night he believes without a doubt that he can outplay anyone. I mean, Hyland called Curry “just another basketball player” Thursday when speaking about facing off against the best player at his position.
That’s the kind of confidence the Nuggets need to carry with them throughout the rest of the season.
“I’m made for the big lights,” said Hyland. “When the big lights come on I shine.”
