The official Denver Nuggets thread.

[the0rangecrush]

Really frustrating that this team can’t get up to play the Cavs but then completely dominate the clippers the next day.

Ya need more MPJ playing time. Go through the pains, the potential is sky high.

[beastlyskronk]

This team can play with anybody when they want to, but too often they find themselves trying to hit a switch to turn on when they want to play. A lower seed might be better for us at this point so we don’t play down to one of the sneaky good lower seeded team.

[johnlimburg]

Haven't been able to catch many games lately, but just checked the box score and MPJ has 17 points in 12 minutes with 3 minutes left in the first half. How much longer can Malone hold him back ?

[58_VONDOOM_92]

Murray is going to out for a while. That was nasty injury.

[beastlyskronk]

Haven't been able to catch many games lately, but just checked the box score and MPJ has 17 points in 12 minutes with 3 minutes left in the first half. How much longer can Malone hold him back ?

Probably not much longer with the Murray injury even though Dozier looked good in his time

[beastlyskronk]

Sigh looks like we aren’t going to guard the 3 point line and are content to just be in a 3 point shootout. Lazy passes and lack of movement on offense.

Malone just called a timeout. Hopefully he’s telling Jokic to be aggressive with his shot in the post even though they’re doubling him early.

[beastlyskronk]

The effort is starting to get there but it’s hard to break yourself out of a cold streak. Just got to keep plugging away and being aggressive.

Also I think Beasley is the only player willing to shoot a 3 when someone is closing out. Too often others make too many extra passers trying to get a wide open shot without a closeout and allows the defense to reset.

[Bronco51]

Refs are awful tonight

[beastlyskronk]

Horrible officiating to kill all momentum the Nuggets had.

Awfully quick technical on Jokic and Barton on fouls that were pretty obvious. Still don’t see why refs won’t give Jokic more fouls. His arms have literally been bruised since the first week and he’s now sporting a gnarly cut along side the edge of the jersey. I think the cut on his arm finally healed up

[beastlyskronk]

Super clutch minutes by MPJ in the 4th. I’m not sure what his stat line ended up looking like but it definitely seemed like his best all around offensive game as he made some superb passes. Defense was still up and down. I know Malone is waiting for it to click on that end but he needs the minutes for that to happen. NBA players don’t do real practice once the season starts, any improvements come from game experience

[DenverBlood]

Super clutch minutes by MPJ in the 4th. I’m not sure what his stat line ended up looking like but it definitely seemed like his best all around offensive game as he made some superb passes. Defense was still up and down. I know Malone is waiting for it to click on that end but he needs the minutes for that to happen. NBA players don’t do real practice once the season starts, any improvements come from game experience

I’m unclear if the goal is load management or inexperience or what. But I almost wonder if Malone doesn’t care about seeds and is trying to keep MPJ a secret.

We all including media are frustrated with the lack of minutes. But it almost suspiciously feels like Malone is trying to keep him in disguise until the end of the season and then unleash him for a surge for seeding or even hidden until playoffs.

[beastlyskronk]

I’m unclear if the goal is load management or inexperience or what. But I almost wonder if Malone doesn’t care about seeds and is trying to keep MPJ a secret.

We all including media are frustrated with the lack of minutes. But it almost suspiciously feels like Malone is trying to keep him in disguise until the end of the season and then unleash him for a surge for seeding or even hidden until playoffs.

I would like for it to be some mastermind plan by Malone but I think that’s giving him too much credit. Throughout his tenure he’s constantly fumbled through his rotations just trying to find what works with seemingly no rhyme or reason. There’s no reason for Hernangomez to be on the court, there’s no reason for Craig to get anywhere close to 20 minutes. Hernangomez should be getting DNPs and Craig’s only role should be to full court press the best scorer for 8-12 minutes straight to wear them out. I really believe that he thinks taking MPJ out after a run of mistakes that it’s either going to motivate him to try harder to correct it or that he’s protecting his confidence if not both. In a way that’ll happen but that would happen regardless, MPJ is a highly competitive athlete. He needs to have minutes just to figure out what works for him and what doesn’t and the flashes are starting to show up more and more on defense.

At this point I think once Malone reaches the point where he wants to shorten his rotation for the playoffs is when MPJ starts seeing a consistent minute count. Although he should probably do it after the All Star break imo.

[DenverBlood]

I would like for it to be some mastermind plan by Malone but I think that’s giving him too much credit. Throughout his tenure he’s constantly fumbled through his rotations just trying to find what works with seemingly no rhyme or reason. There’s no reason for Hernangomez to be on the court, there’s no reason for Craig to get anywhere close to 20 minutes. Hernangomez should be getting DNPs and Craig’s only role should be to full court press the best scorer for 8-12 minutes straight to wear them out. I really believe that he thinks taking MPJ out after a run of mistakes that it’s either going to motivate him to try harder to correct it or that he’s protecting his confidence if not both. In a way that’ll happen but that would happen regardless, MPJ is a highly competitive athlete. He needs to have minutes just to figure out what works for him and what doesn’t and the flashes are starting to show up more and more on defense.

At this point I think once Malone reaches the point where he wants to shorten his rotation for the playoffs is when MPJ starts seeing a consistent minute count. Although he should probably do it after the All Star break imo.

I pretty much agree with you and I’m just trying to come up with some plausible explanation for limited minutes a game after an MPJ explosion.

But I agree it’s more mismanagement just like Malone refused to see Plumlee was a momentum buzzkill in the playoffs last year and also is the only coach who insists all his starters sit the first 5 minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters regardless of the score.

[Bronco51]

I’m going to chalk it up to load management and being real cautious with someone who had a pretty major back injury. It seems like the big men who have those injuries seem to be injured quite often. While MPJ isn’t a big bulky center, I can see them being mindful of the injury.

[Bronco51]

MPJ was amazing in this game tonight.