Denver Nuggets

Houston, We Have a Problem: Takeaways From the Nuggets Loss

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Mar 4, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Emmanuel Mudiay (0) reacts after a play in the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at the Pepsi Center. The Nets defeated the Nuggets 121-120 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets dropped to an unsavory 7-12 after losing to the Houston Rockets in a blowout on Friday night.

After another commendable performance from Wilson Chandler, continued weak play from Danilo Gallinari, and another loss added to the record, one can’t help but think that Wilson Chandler needs to join the starting 5, even if it means playing Gallo off of the bench.

In the spirit of how the Rockets dismantled this Nuggets team, let’s make this one quick and dirty. The Denver Nuggets played some atrocious team-basketball, there is no denying it. Individually, some players put up decent stat lines, and overall, Denver’s box score doesn’t seem horrible, but it what won’t show up in the box score, the 50/50 balls, lackadaisical defense, general sloppiness, and poor decision-making, that plagued this Nuggets team once again.

Fans of the Denver squad are justifiably starting to doubt the potential of their season. Yes, it is still quite early, and too early to tell for sure. But still, when an entire team casually watches as their opponents collectively sprint to a loose ball, a little pessimism is understandable.

All in all, there were some positive takeaways from this horrendous match-up, none of which came too unexpectedly, and all of which fell short to the disappointment of another embarrassing loss.

Dec 2, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Houston Rockets forward Sam Dekker (7) dunks the ball against Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried (35) and forward Wilson Chandler (21) and guard Emmanuel Mudiay (0) in the fourth quarter at the Pepsi Center. The Rockets won 128-110. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

There wasn’t much “Good”, there was a lot of “Bad”, and there was way too much “Ugly”.

After another commendable performance from Wilson Chandler, continued weak play from Danilo Gallinari, and another loss added to the record, one can’t help but think that Wilson Chandler needs to join the starting 5, even if it means playing Gallo off of the bench.

The rooster led a miserable team performance of hardly contesting deep shots at all, which left the Rockets with a hefty serving of three pointers, as they ended with 17 threes on 46% shooting from beyond.

Denver’s paint protection was also something to be ashamed of, as their poor an unsettled play sent Houston to the line 25 times. They converted on 21 of those opportunities, making 84% to Denver’s miserable 56% on 9-16 shooting from the free-throw line.

Denver’s lack of a true paint defender was felt again, with a considerable amount of pain. Unfortunately, not even Kenneth Faried’s commendable efforts could spark a defensive turnaround for Denver.

Dec 2, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon (10) guards Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari (8) in the fourth quarter at the Pepsi Center. The Rockets won 128-110. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Breaking Down Several Key Players

Faried (10reb, 14pts) played with a lot of energy, and notched a double-double, but was ultimately unable to turn the tides. Similarly, Emmanuel Mudiay, Will Barton, and the Nuggets rookies, who saw far less playing time than they deserved, played hard but simply couldn’t get much going. The only player, other than maybe Faried, who looked capable of leading this team, through both effort and skill, was (once again) Wilson Chandler.

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Chandler is off to a heck of a start, and he is completely outperforming Danilo Gallinari. Yes, Gallo continues to score in double-digits night after night, but his scoring is yet to produce any real impact. This was again the case for Friday’s game.

Gallinari ended with 16 points on 6-11 shooting, which doesn’t seem bad. What made his performance “bad” was his continued low defensive effort levels and poor decision-making/shot selection, which were both on full display against the Rockets. Gallo was looking for fouls and playing all around lazy basketball. Defensively, he might as well not even have played, and offensively, he was playing way too much isolation basketball, and avoided driving to the hoop, which time and time again his biggest way to contribute to a Nuggets win. If Gallo has his mind made up on scoring in bunches, on jumpers and fouls, then he might make for a better 6th man. On the other hand, Wilson Chandler, who has been coming off the bench, might make for a better starter for Denver.

Chandler ended with 24 points on 10-18 shooting, but more importantly, he was clearly playing with a level of effort that far surpassed the rest of the team collectively. It is hard to describe just how Chandler asserted his dominance as the leader of this team, and maybe you just had to watch the game to see it. But still, ask any Nuggets fan around, and they will tell you: Wilson Chandler needs to start for this team.

Dec 2, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Houston Rockets forward Corey Brewer (33) guards Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) in the second quarter at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Mudiay and the Lack of Rookies

Emmanuel Mudiay started off playing well, scoring 9 points to go with 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover at the half. Unfortunately, the young guard lost his composure when the team needed it most, as he started falling back into bad habits of taking ill-advised shots, and failing to create assists.

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Mudiay would only add one more assist to his end with 6 total, and his efficiency dropped greatly, as he wound up going just 3-12 from the field, and 1-6 from downtown. These bad takes, especially from beyond the arch, need to go away if these Nuggets are to start getting wins. And until Mudiay proves that he can keep his composure for the entirety of his usual 30-40 minutes, it seems like a no-brainer to give rookie Jamal Murray more minutes.

Before the final 4 minutes of this blowout loss, Jamal Murray saw just 13 minutes of playing time. Fellow rookies Juan Hernangomez and Malik Beasley saw 4 and 0 minutes until this point, respectively, and no Nuggets rookie would log more than Murray’s total of 17 minutes in this blowout loss. Their combined lack of playing time is the major component to the “Ugly” of this Nuggets loss.

With a team so heavily focused on developing youth and building anticipation for the future, it is just plain ugly that these rookies aren’t getting more plying time. Let’s also remember that the Nuggets have had a few key players out recently, due to injury, and they were clearly getting blown out after the 3rd quarter came to an end.

The fact that coach Mike Malone sees promising rookie Malik Beasley’s minutes as being comparable in urgency to veteran Mike Miller’s is just plain ugly. Both Miller and Beasley played in and only in the game’s final 4 minutes, which says very little about coach Malone’s dedication towards developing the future players of this team.

Did he not get the memo?

There was much given to complain about, and at the forefront was Denver’s overall defensive effort as a team.

Too many shots were going up uncontested, and especially against a shooter-heavy team like Houston, sitting back and hoping for misses is going to be a guaranteed recipe for failure. This is the NBA after all, and just because the Nuggets can hardly shoot threes with any real consistency or efficiency, other teams can, and they have repeatedly used this against the Nuggets, year after year.

The time for change has come.

Very little analysis is required for anyone to know that big changes need to come Denver’s way, either in player mentalities, coaching priorities, or the makeup of either or both parties, if a true turnaround can be made possible.

If nothing changes, and the Nuggets continue to play like the did against the Rockets on Friday night, then it is going to be a long harsh season.

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