The Nuggets are out of sauce

In Denver, we stay calm and it’s not a A 23-point loss at home to the lowly Hornets which will change David Adelman’s philosophy. The team is very weakened, and when you combine that with back fatigue, it’s a night without. And as the coach explains, there is no point in insisting.

“We had a really bad shooting night and at one point I felt it wasn’t worth playing too many minutes on guys. he explains. “Peyton (Watson) played 28 minutes, Jamal (Murray) 25, Tim (Hardaway Jr.) 13 and that was enough. Once they took the lead and shot like they did — like in Utah where they won by 55 points four games ago — we saw they were a talented team.”

Sans Nikola Jokicnor Jonas Valanciunas, the Nuggets suffer from a huge rebounding deficit, and it showed against the Hornets as Moussa Diabate and his partners grabbed 52 rebounds, compared to 29 for their opponents! For the Denver coach, there’s no point in pointing fingers at DaRon Holmes II or any other youngster integrated into the rotation.

“It’s not anyone in particular. It’s collective. We talked about it: you need another person to help you. Physically, we don’t have enough staff to refuse” he confirms. “When you don’t hold your man, our interior has to help you, and then the smaller player has to try to block Kalkbrenner or Diabate, and behind that comes the rebound guard. It’s very difficult to manage all of these at the same time. The last two games have been hell on defensive rebounds. We have to talk about it, watch the tape, he was bad in G or c. The end of the match is an obvious weakness right now, but I liked it in the second half.

Without rejection, there is no solution

It is clear that the Nuggets ignored the rest of the match after the failed first half. Limiting the playing time of Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Peyton Watson is a way to avoid further fatigue and possible additional injuries.

“We are concerned about it, even completely” answers David Adelman about the risk of injury. “At this time of the season, we often see crazy results, surprise teams. The energy goes down. Look at Sacramento: they’ve been playing really hard since they got players back, and that’s where a lot of good teams get surprised. This group has played about ten games together and has to maintain a very high level of intensity, which is difficult when opposing sorry. It’s a moment, but not a lack. tried, it wasn’t an attitude problem. It was a classic NBA night against a talented team.

Limited to 16 points, Jamal Murray sees his streak of 30-plus points come to an abrupt end, and like his coach, he’s not drawing too many conclusions from this hiccup.

“Honestly, the energy was there. But they were just bigger than us tonight. After a tough first quarter, we defended well, but they always had more second chances. The rebounding really killed us.” he concludes. “On our side it was a shot and nothing more, and they had a few chances.”