ANOTHER Clutch Loss | Panic Time for Denver Nuggets Defense?
Is it time to panic about the Denver Nuggets? Matt Moore and Ryan Blackburn react to another clutch loss on the road trip, a poor defensive performance in a bad schedule spot. The Nuggets allowed the trap game to affect them immediately after a historic scoring performance. Is this still a championship caliber team?
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00:00 “Nuggets’ Loss: Analysis & Takeaways”
05:49 Denver’s Costly Fourth-Quarter Mistakes
07:28 Joker’s Minutes Debate Explained
09:00 The Clutch
13:58 Nuggets’ Clutch Struggles Concern
18:33 “Power Forward Needed for Jokic”
23:46 Coaching, Effort, and Defensive Struggles
25:16 NBA Sweepstakes & DEF CON Chat
29:47 Nuggets’ Nightmare Road Loss
32:24 Team’s Struggles Amid Good Record
35:40 Denver’s Inconsistent Contender Issue
40:11 Experimentation and Sacrificing Wins
42:30 Historic Win Over Blazers
45:03 “Pressing to Avoid Burnout”
47:35 Clutch Turnovers and Optimism
50:43 Nuggets’ Stressful Season Explained
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31 Comments
The worst takes I can remember. This game is entirely the coaching staff's fault.
The starting five does NOT need another playmaker (Strawther), but they do need a good perimeter defender (Jones). Conversely, the second unit needs a playmaker more than a perimeter defender.
Playing six minutes of the fourth quarter without any playmakers, slowly losing the lead and letting the opposing team find their rhythm is something a junior coach would do. You can't expect Jamal and Nikola to come into the game after not playing for approximately 14 minutes and not be cold, especially when the other team has momentum.
Do GS not have any isolation players? Then why were CB and Strawther consistently beaten one-on-one? The moment you tightened the defense on the three-point line, the rest of the perimeter players allowed embarrassing cuts.
Furthermore, when Nikola and Jonas aren't in the paint to defend the three-point shot, nobody boxes out, allowing defensive rebounds.
We've been using help defense on role players all game, leaving the three-point line completely exposed on the opposite end. Not a single adjustment. In the third quarter, Denver was lucky that GS didn't make any threes, but they did take 13 good three-pointers.
If the perimeter defense is so transparent, we need to provide help defense so it's not a one-on-one matchup against Nikola and Jonas, who aren't rim protectors, but then the rest of the team has to rotate. Or, the other option, play with players who are better perimeter defenders.
Matt sure has any excuse you want…but fact is they are by far the least clutch good team in the NBA,& this has been happening all season-except when Jokic,& like 6 other guys were out. They are total front runners-blow you out often,rarely get blown out themselves-but can't win any close games.-or games still not fully decided with 5 minutes left.Opposition knows if the Nuggets don't blow you out-theyll give you the game late. Our All stars are the least clutch stars in the NBA in clutchtime ALL SEASON for whatever reason(s)! Started on Opening night in GS,& then Portland after that long before the schedule or hamstring nagging injuries could be used as BTW-i also pointed this out early in the season even in games they won but almost gagged away.I'm not writing them fully off-its still possible they could turn it around. But til they start winning close games OCCASIONALLY they can't be taken seriously. And acting like it's just random luck,& not that impactful is beyond ridiculous.
If you take out the games where Jokic hasn't played they are far worse in clutchtime games than the record you gave (14-15 I think) Cuz they actually won several close games without him. Were 6-2 I believe. So the clutchtime record(or more accurate with them the choking time record) is probably more like 8-13. And that's mostly on Jokic,& Murray not Addleman-just like it'd be for any team. In the NBA your best players are more responsible for close wins,& losses than any other sport. When the highest basketball IQ player ever plays with low basketball IQ most these close games in clutchtime or Murray misses tying FT 3 times in less than a month with no time left-thats their fault for gagging not Addleman. Jokic,& Murray havent hit game winner or tying shot on final possession in like 2 yrs-with tons of chances. And their clutchtime gags go way beyond that. Often they are forced to attempt a game winner or tying shot that shouldnt have been necessary but only is after their most recent late collapse. I'm certainly not giving Jokic a pass-im saying there's absolutely no way he should be MVP Finalist as bad as he's been in the clutch.
Injuries Yes, new faces Yes … After a while you are what your record says you are. This team has had bad losses early when healthy and now. There is no objective reality where this team is the 2nd most likely team to win it all as has been bandied about. They can’t be trusted, whether it’s approach, defense, clutch issues, injuries etc. Disappointing especially since it’s best team of Jokic era talent wise but fans need to embrace the reality sooner this team is not winning it all.
Jamal terrible in crucial moments when nuggets were making a run. Wasted several possesions in a row, technical. He should have been pulled out immediately and any european coach would do that. Wasted 5 or more posessions with no time out. On adelman. Jokic also, after he got the trip dub he was meh and letargic. Adelman… christian should not comand the ball in 4th, never! Also, Jokic dislikes Cam, i am certain of it. That guy aint staying.
I see three main concerns: the lack of development of CB; he's not a threat in clutch time or under pressure (zero offensive threat). AG is constantly injured; it might be time to consider moving on from him. Lastly, the two-man game has become less effective each season since winning the championship; it's time to realize that Jamal can not handle being pressured, CB is simply a non-factor, AG is the most important person for both defense/offense, and Jokic doesn't trust Cam.
Unfortunately, the Nugs are falling apart. After looking at the tape for the first half of the season, other teams are adjusting. The Nugs, alas, have not adjusted to learn defense or to defend leads, and the net result is one disappointing performance after another. When you look at the bench, it looks like there are a dozen coaches. None of them, however, have been able to teach defense. What a shame.
Agree with the ass coach? this podcast just a joke. Hearing an ass coach postgame interview.
No panic here. I stopped watching after one of their other awful losses before the AS break. Now I check in for the score, shake my head, and hope they get a new coach ASAP.
"Bizarre" – 😂
So true!!! Defensively the ALWAYS start games like it's a walk in the park. NEVER do they try to dominate at the beginning of games. It's a persona at this point. Put the killer ants in (the bench guys who never play) because they play hard defense. Then after getting the lead, Adelman keeps Joikic and Murray forever waiting to get in the game. 50 50 balls was crazy. They lost on almost all.
Two teams that are the worst to lose against — Lakers and GS. The TV coverage is SO BIASED — constant shots of Kerr, constant shots of Curry. You'd think there wasn't another team playing out there. Curry wasn't even playing and we see his every reaction in the game — and all his cute stuff. The announcers were so bad, had to turn the sound off.
Team was better w/out jokic that's the crazy part
4:29 the nuggets were up in the 4th. So whatever happened in the 1st , they overcame it. They lost at the 4th.
I am no expert by any means but I always thought it is more important for the main guys to play the entire 4th then the 3rd. How is it possible that in critical moments at the end of a game your main guys are out?
17:14 i do blame the coach because I think teams have figured what denver does in the clutch and they need to have some other plans in case what they usually do doesn't work. And I don't think adelman has any alternatives.
The defense is a problem in a bunch of different ways but the fourth quarter defense is bad for different reasons than the first. It’s bad to start the game because they don’t come out aggressive enough guarding the three point line. Then throughout the game they start to amp it up but the team is already in amazing rhythm with confidence so it becomes too late.
But then in the fourth quarter they can’t score, it’s just rebounds and the warriors running the other way which is where their defense becomes bad in a different way than to start the game. It becomes all of these missed shots into transition opportunities or cross matches or dudes not getting back. Then you get the starters back in and it’s turnovers galore and again, easy transition buckets, cross matches and the opposing team is soaring with confidence. So to start the game everything going wrong is defensive discipline and effort but in the fourth and clutch I don’t know how you can make the case it’s primarily a defensive problem here when the offense sputters that badly and collapses in on itself leading to the easiest transition opportunities you can get. The clutch defensive number is a red herring to me with abysmal offensive process leading to hapless defense.
They’ve managed to lose in the clutch this year in every way imaginable and every game you can assess it differently. In most games the offense in the clutch is fine and it purely is just brutal defensive process, discipline or effort but today they just melted down offensively and I think that better explains why the defense melted down too. Bottom line is when they don’t set the tone defensively to start the game they don’t give themselves a chance at all because they let teams get too comfortable. Then they find a way to melt down at the end of games in every conceivable way.
Matt's wrong on this imo
The coach is has not learned how to handle the 4th quarter and to handle the injuries to jokic,gordon and murray
36:23 i love how matt can't think of any other good team that they've beaten😂😂
need to start Spencer Jones
I may be coping here, but against the Warriors I feel like we could have played Zeke at either PF or C. I know Nuggets weren't boxing out anyways, but having more size on the court would help with the overall defense with his size, length, and athleticism. Now, it doesn't matter how much we advocate for Zeke to play, Adelman won't play him. But we do need an actual PF next to Jokic and Valanciunas. Could Chris Boucher be that guy and coach would trust him more than Zeke and Daron?
100% on Adelman… a proven clutch loser time after time
A 3. What a neutral answer. Way to say Something .
JOKIC WAS AMAZING ON DEFENSE WHEN ADELMAN ACTUALLY STOPPED PLAYING DROP THEN WENT AWAY FROM IT IN THE FOUUUURTH
Zeke is big and aids drebounding more than Bruce
Jokic has met the challenge, last 2 games esp but when warriors play 5out and he is guarding on the perimeter NO ONE ELSE REBOUNDS
Denver is a one championship team. A fluke team. Just accept it and move on. At least, you have one championship. And Jokic, as much as I like him and I want him to win multiple championships, is right now in his descent in terms of his skill and age. He is not getting any younger and I see that he has already reached his peak form. No shame for Jokic.
Injuries killed this year. No continuity.
Val is not actually fine
Ryan you don't know what you are talking about if you don't think Adleman is a problem.His lineups,his substitutions ,his defensive schemes is killing this team.What happened to his last year's philosophy that the 5 best players that are playing the best finish the game?Adelman has lost control of the team .
Game lost in first quater, are you serious??? Nba game lost because of first quater…No, they are Nuggets and they need good coaching
YES IT IS COACHING
BTW Matt your accounts you have listed that are only Jokic centric, were trolls. I have proof and stop blaming Jokic stans
Team was better without Jokic.