"Another game, another clash of teams missing one of their best."
Pre-Game Thoughts: It just goes to show you that the NBA schedule is long, grueling and unforgiving. It's seemingly the rule, not the exception that your team WILL endure major injuries and in the case of this match-up it just so happens to be two of the better players in the league who are out indefinitely with injuries.
Rubio has also missed some time lately and has been slow to regain form since his return (and it's done no favors to my fantasy squad) but that has opened the door for guys like the could-have-been Nugget rookie Donovan Mitchell , Neto and Alec Burks to gain some traction in what is a very deep back court, despite an injury to yet another key rotational player at the start of the season in Dante Exum. Besides all of these names, they also have Hood, Ingles, Thabo And Johnson on the wing.
Where Denver needs to do work is down low, where in the absence of Gobert the only formidable obstacle is Favors, who played extremely well in the first match-up. Conversely in comparison to Utah, the Nuggets have enough depth for two teams in amongst their bigs, again despite the injury to Millsap. Jokic and Faried will start, and we can expect a rotation of Juancho, Lyles and Plumlee to get the majority of the reserve minutes in the front court, as well as some Chandler at the 4 in small-ball lineups. Udoh is having a fine season defensively but the Nuggets really only have the two big men to contend with. Might I suggest attacking them for once and making an earnest attempt at winning the "game within the game" for once? I'm of course referring to team and especially individual foul trouble. It's comparable to taking pitches in baseball to jack up an ace pitchers count and is an aspect of the game which has seemingly been ignored entirely in the Malone era.
The last meeting between the two teams was a tale of two halves, where Barton went ape-shit in the first half and ice cold in the 2nd. Rubio stepped up his D in the 3rd QTR which rendered Murray and Barton (the primary PG's in the latter half of the season opener) absolutely ineffective for the remainder, as Utah stormed back to win by double figures in a game that Denver had firm control of.
Really, bigger in gravity than any scheme change though was a desperation, bank-shot, buzzer beating heave by JJ at the end of the 3rd that got the crowd into it, the momentum into the grasp of the Jazz and fueled by the energy of their home crowd, they never relinquished it. Let's try to keep the crowd out of it this time. I want to start seeing these younger guys learn from their mistakes and "show up" more on the road; do the same things you do at home especially in terms of movement without the ball. There is no reason the Nuggets should be so dominant at home and forget entirely how to play basketball on the road.
One final note in case any Jazz fans stop by to check this out, I thought you may be interested to know that Lyles has only had one bad outing thus far (which wasn't even all that bad) and looks to be vastly improved as a defender. He has a very bright future IMHO if given the opportunity and should turn out to be a very good all around player. You'd be crazy to trade Mitchell straight up for him or even he and Lydon but with hindsight being 20-20, Lyles would sure plug a number of holes in the absence of Rudy right now.
Now lets do this! B-Ball, the Rocky Mountain Way!
Denver Roster:
Will "The People's Champion" Barton,
Juancho "Ironically, No Room For A Nickname" Hernangomez
Richard "The Dragon Slayer" Jefferson
Kenneth "The Manimal" Faried
Trey "Bien" Lyles
Darrell "Darth" Arthur
Tyler "Not just Anunobody" Lydon
Nikola "Big Honey" Jokic
Mason "Plumdog Millionaire" Plumlee
Michael "Mr Imagination" Malone
Utah Roster:
Raul "Neat-O!.. R Pronounced H!" Neto
Nate "Don't Call Me Rex" Wolters
Rodney "Mr. Rodney's Neighbor" Hood
Donovan "Lyles/Lydon" Mitchell
Thabo "The Swiss Army Knife" Sefolosha
Derrick "I'll Do You No" Favors
Rudy "The Stifle Tower" Gobert
Tony "Stop Dunking! Shawn Is No Relation, I Swear!" Bradley
Update: Millsap finally had that left wrist surgery after mulling his options, and is expected back some time around the all star break. Did I mention how long and grueling the NBA's season is? A guy can play for over a month, be out for three more and STILL return after the all star break! Chandler is out with a sore back and Plumlee is probable with a strain of the abdominal muscles. Meanwhile, Torey Fucking Craig is in uniform for the first time and should make his Debut given the lack of wing depth for the Nuggets. As for the Jazz, JJ is out another week or so with a wrist injury (no Houdini bank shot for you this time), the aforementioned Gobert will be out another 4-5 weeks with his Knee injury & Exum is still out indefinitely with that unfortunate shoulder injury.
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Data: Open this link in a new tab for the definition of TPM™
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TPM™ Game 20 UTA
Jamal Murray: -1
Emmanuel Mudiay: +1
Monte Morris: N/A
Gary Harris: +13
Will Barton: -1
Malik Beasley: +6
Torrey Craig: +0
Wilson Chandler: N/A
Juancho Hernangomez: -6
Richard Jefferson: N/A
Paul Millsap: N/A
Kenneth Faried: -4
Trey Lyles:-2
Darrell Arthur: N/A
Tyler Lydon: N/A
Nikola Jokic: +11
Mason Plumlee +3
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Total TPM™ starting Game 1 vs. Uta
Jamal Murray: 20 Games +191
Emmanuel Mudiay: 20 Games +213
Monte Morris: 0 Games +0
Gary Harris: 18 Games +228
Will Barton: 20 Games +178
Malik Beasley: 19 Games +38
Torrey Craig: 1 Games +0
Wilson Chandler: 18 Games +107
Juancho Hernangomez: 9 Games -10
Richard Jefferson: 5 Games -7
Paul Millsap: 16 Games +173
Kenneth Faried: 17 Games +33
Trey Lyles: 15 Games +32
Darrell Arthur: 2 Games -4
Tyler Lydon: 1 Games -3
Nikola Jokic: 20 Games +310
Mason Plumlee: 20 Games +55
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Avg. TPM™ Per Game
Jamal Murray: +9.55
Emmanuel Mudiay: +10.65
Monte Morris: N/A
Gary Harris: +12.67
Will Barton: +8.90
Malik Beasley: +2.00
Torrey Craig: 0.00
Wilson Chandler: +5.94
Juancho Hernangomez: -1.11
Richard Jefferson: -1.40
Paul Millsap: +10.81
Kenneth Faried: +1.94
Trey Lyles: +2.13
Darrell Arthur: -2.00
Tyler Lydon: -3.00
Nikola Jokic: +15.50
Mason Plumlee: +2.75
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TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through Game 19:
*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet. It's as if my (nerdy) baby (TPM™) learned to speak
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Analysis:
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Qtr1- The Nuggets go with Murray, Harris, Juancho, Faried & Jokic. The Gobert-less Jazz trot out Rubio, Mitchell, Ingles, Jerebko & Favors. Fast tempo to begin this one. Hood is a late scratch; Butterflies in his tummy again? Turns out to be an ankle injury. Why does Jokic think it's still a good idea to foul following a turnover, long before determining if it's an odd man rush or not? Are they not coaching him not to do this, or is he ignoring instruction? The officials ignore him pointing his hand to the sky after reaching and it's a damned good thing since he picks up a ticky-tack foul on the next series. Nonetheless, he's +10 TPM already as he's had a hand in nearly all of the scoring at 6:26 in a 12-12 game. Rubio nabs his 2nd foul at 4:00 and he checks out. Barton and Lyles are the first off the bench at this point. Rudy is rockin' the leopard print 70's button up with an Austin Powers-esque purple jacket. I like! Dorris Burke is an excellent color commentator when there is not an east coast team involved. Plumlee and Mudiay check in and it's Harris + bench at the moment. I don't like this. When your bench is shorter than usual is precisely when you need to stagger the rotations. Lyles is off to a tentative start in his old stomping grounds. Denver is paced in TPM by Jokic +17 but Utah leads 26-24 after one.
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Qtr2- Beasley checked in just prior to the break for Harris and checks immediately out to start the 2nd; shades of last game in the 3rd. Why Malone, Why? That they are deploying an all bench +Juancho unit makes it even more confounding. Both teams are cold to begin the period. Ice cold in fact. Juancho picks up his 3rd foul at 7:59 and the final starter to check out in the 1st, Harris is in to replace him. It's fair to say I'm not a fan of the rotations thus far. Where the hell is Mudiay? Any contribution at all from him would be nice. He's simply not in a good place these last several games. Someone needs to remind the Nuggets in their huddle that they are on national tv, where they have dominated in their two previous showcases. Harris is the first Nugget in double figures. A Terrible clear path foul by Harris vividly illustrates my earlier point re: Jokic. Just play some damned defense and if they score, they score! Mitchell has his 3rd foul at 1:57. We've got a close one here, 43-42 with just under 2:00 to play. The Nuggets are paced in TPM by Jokic +18, all other Nuggets are under ten and only Mudiay (-1) is negative, as Denver leads 49-48 at the half.
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Halftime: Smoke break? Yes-siree Bob!
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Qtr3- Faried is playing absolutely no D and he directly allows the first 5 points to Utah, forcing Denver to call a timeout. It's as simple as instructing this man to not watch just the ball but his man & the ball peripherally but either he is incapable of this simple act, or the coaching staff is incapable of diagnosing it and instructing it. He's the leagues most renowned ball watcher. I'm sure there is a joke in there but I'm not going for it. Utah stretches it to a 9 point lead on the strength of a 10-0 run out of the gate. Faried proceeds to then throw the ball away and interfere on a Murray layup that was halfway down and he's wisely replaced. Denver is going small with Juancho at the 4 and Barton at the 3. Utah is now up 11 on an 18-6 run and the Nuggets use another timeout. Wake the fuck up guys! Did I mention this game was on national TV? Denver is ice cold as is their wont on the road in 3rd periods, diametrically opposed to how it is at home. Mitchell gets hit with his 4th foul and checks out at 6:22. Jokic checks out with the Nuggets down by 13 at 4:57. On the bright side, Mudiay is finally playing with confidence for the first time in about 5 games. Of course he then threw it away on a "refusal to shoot" pass. The ball is absolutely stuck at the moment aka the Nuggets death rattle. Juancho now has 4 fouls. Denver is paced in TPM by Harris +13, Jokic +14 and are miraculously only behind by 10 after an atrocious third period, 76-66.
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Qtr4- Me thinks Malone should try his rarely used strategy of playing the best players for the majority of the 4th QTR. Quin Snyder looks like a comic book villain. Utah picks up two quick fouls. That could be an "in" for the Nuggets in absence of a viable strategy. Malone decides now is an ok time to start competing as he inserts Harris and Jokic at 9:46, down 14. The crowd is unusually quiet tonight, likely due to the syrup-slow tempo at the moment. Mudiay has lost what little momentum he had and it'd be wise to insert Murray to see if the streaky 20 year old could catch fire. In a shocking turn of events, Malone agrees with me for once. It seems to be too late of an insertion of the starters as they are failing to find traction against a Utah team with an 18 point lead and all of the momentum. The lead is quickly extended to 24 against the listless Nuggets. Unbelievable! Malone waives the white flag after playing his starters for 2 minutes and change and inserts the recycling time players with a little over 5:00 to go. The silver lining is of course, that Torrey Fucking Craig has made his Nuggets debut. Murray is FINALLY just the 2nd Nugget in double digits. Dorris Burke manages to talk about her irrelevant NY Giants somehow with 1:30 to play. Faried becomes only the 3rd Nugget in double figures & Juancho grabbed ten boards for what it's worth... Roughly ten boards. Denver is paced in TPM by Jokic +11 & Harris +13, they manage only 28 2nd half points and lose in an ugly fashion, 106-77
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Final Thoughts: This team is painfully un-savvy with Millsap out. I advocate running out the starters + perhaps a hot hand to BEGIN all 4th quarters until this young squad is able to figure out the nuances of acquiring momentum, mid-period. Poor execution by a (how long are we going to call them young?) inexperienced squad, poor in game coaching as usual and I'm beginning to wonder just how much diagnosis of error is occurring behind the scenes.
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