"We don't have LeBron James": Is there a switch for the Nuggets to flip before the playoffs?

Michael Malone isn’t a believer in flipping the switch, a team’s ability to instantaneously raise their game once the playoffs hit.

Except if that team has LeBron James.

“When we had LeBron we were able to flip the switch quite a bit,” Malone said reminiscing on the five-consecutive playoff appearances with James that he made as a Cavaliers assistant from 2005-10. “He’s that kind of a player. We don’t have LeBron James. Not many teams do.”

Take the 2006-07 Cavaliers as Exhibit A in Malone’s argument. Cleveland went 41-25 through its first 66 games and just 9-7 over the final month of the regular season. But the Cavs swept the Wizards in the first round and then beat the Nets and Pistons in six games each to reach the Finals.

Switch flipped.

Do the Nuggets have that switch? It’s too early to tell, but it would greatly benefit Denver if its able to turn it up a notch once the playoffs arrive. Since the All-Star break the Nuggets have played some of their least inspiring basketball of the season.

After a closer-than-it-should-have-been 109-95 win Monday over the Milwaukee Bucks who were without their top-4 players — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Eric Bledsoe — Denver is just 5-4 since the All-Star break with losses to the Clippers and Thunder but also the Warriors and Cavs, who both currently sit in the cellars of their respective conferences.

Since the All-Star break the Nuggets have the 19th-ranked defense and since Jan. 1 are ranked 20th in defensive efficiency. Post-All-Star break Denver is also turning the ball over the fourth-most in the league per 100 plays.

“We have to find a way to get back to the way I know we’re capable of playing,” Malone said. “That’s the most perplexing thing about this. For 55 games we defended at a top-10 level. We valued the ball at a top-3 level and we rebounded the ball at a high level. For whatever reason in the last eight games that has gone away. That is my challenge first and foremost, to help our guys, to support our guys and to stay with our guys in the good times and especially in the bad times.”

“With 19 games to go I can’t sit here and say I would feel good about going through 18, 19 games and saying, ‘OK guys here we go. Let’s turn it back on.'”

The Nuggets’ win over the Bucks was a step in the right direction. Denver’s 43rd victory of the season was highlighted by Jamal Murray’s 21 points, two of which came on what would have gone down as arguably the dunk of the season but were waived off after Denver’s point guard was whistled for an offensive foul on the play. Paul Millsap and Jerami Grant combined for 39 points and 6 of 13 shooting from 3-point range. Nikola Jokic was quiet but still tallied 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the win. Gary Harris, who’s shooting 42.5% from 3-point range since Feb. 1, went 3-4 from distance and finished with 15 points.

“This is a game that we needed,” Malone said. “We needed to get it and we won it playing the right way.”

The Nuggets will find out fairly quickly if it’s a sign of what’s to come over the final month of the regular season. Denver now sets out on a three-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Dallas and continues to San Antonio and ends in Los Angeles where the Nuggets visit the Lakers on Sunday.

The Nuggets’ schedule is treacherous down the stretch and 11 of Denver’s final 18 opponents are current playoff teams. What if the Nuggets don’t emerge from the current March Malaise which has momentarily paralyzed select playoff throughout the league including the Rockets and Jazz? Houston is losers of four-straight while Utah is 5-5 in its last 10 games.

Will Barton is more worried about process instead of results at this point in the season. Here’s my insightful back and forth with the Nuggets’ starting small forward from late Tuesday night on the topic of flipping the switch.

DNVR: “Do you buy into the theory of teams being able to flip the switch come playoff time?”

Barton: “I don’t know. Once you get there hopefully you’re playing your best basketball. I’ve seen it go different ways. Being a fan of basketball, watching it, studying it, being in the league, I’ve seen teams struggle right before the playoffs and struggle in the playoffs. I’ve seen teams struggle before the playoffs and then get hot in the playoffs. As long as the effort’s there, you’re going out there and playing hard, you get in the playoffs and good things will happen. Our energy, I hope that’s not the switch. Because that has to be there every night. If we think we’re just going to flip that on and off then that’s when you’ll see an early exit or something like that. As long as we keep that effort. If we’re not playing well, not making shots, that’s fine. But if we’re playing hard going into the playoffs we’ll be fine.”

DNVR: “So energy and effort is more important than an outcome in the lead-up to the playoffs for you guys”

Barton: “To me, it’s more important how we’re playing. I don’t really care about a matchup, who we’ve got to play in the first round, or who we’ll meet in the second round. I know people look into that but I’m not into that. We can beat anybody, any team, in any conference, in any series. That’s what I believe. It’s more about how we’re playing going into the playoffs. Are we defending at a high level? Are we bringing energy every night? Are we playing hard? Are we together? Those are the factors rather than just the outcome.”

DNVR: “Where do you think you are right now? Are you getting back to that?”

Barton: “I think we’re getting back to it. We’ve still got 18 games to go. So this is the process of doing that, and if it keeps getting better each and every game we’ll be fine.”

Here’s Mason Plumlee’s take. Plumlee has logged 41 games over his seven-year career, the second-most on the Nuggets’ roster behind Millsap.

“If you think back to last year, we played like shit in game 82 and then we turned it around,” said Plumlee. “For me, I’ve realized everything changes once Game 1 starts. I think it’s more important for us to establish a seed and play well for that purpose. But if we lose games 81 and 82 it doesn’t matter. Once you’re in the playoffs you’re in the playoffs.”

Denver has a laundry list of items to clean up before the postseason, most notably its turnover troubles, lack of communication on defense, 1-on-1 containment and transition defense, which Malone called his team’s “most prominent problem” currently. To Barton’s point, energy and effort can be cited as antidotes to some of the Nuggets’ current symptoms.

“We’re still a young team. We’re still trying to find it,” Murray said. “At the same time, when we do it’s a game-changer.”