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1. Denver is awful at playing at pace this season. Last year they were strong in that area. Russ will make poor decisions on the break but he also can get others good shots in transition. A big part of Denver's success on the break last year was Russ.

2. Competitive fire. Denver has had some huge letdown stretches this year where they just seem content to take the ball out of the basket after an opponent's make and play Outscore Ball. They're missing some grit. That's one reason Westbrook was brought in last season.

14-6 and they're hurt so nothing to panic about. However, the losses are starting to look similar and there's no Malone or Russ to blame any longer.

The Nuggets have now lost four straight at home for the first time since Jokic's rookie year. There are some real issues there and it's time to start looking at things a bit more seriously IMO if you are the coaching staff or the front office.

I think it's good that Russ left the team but they could use a guy with his skill set right now as well as an athletic third big.

Rock the baby Russ

Firing Malone was a huge mistake. He was one of the best coaches in the NBA and helped lead the team to the finals.

Hope the Wizards hire him once they fire their horrible coach. He can easily turn that franchise around.

They do.

He energized them.

DLoMor wrote:Firing Malone was a huge mistake. He was one of the best coaches in the NBA and helped lead the team to the finals.

Hope the Wizards hire him once they fire their horrible coach. He can easily turn that franchise around.

Honestly I think Malone needed to go, partly because he and the GM were at war with each other.

That being said, the blame game just focused on him is over at this point IMO. That ship has sailed. He made some mistakes but if Denver lost four straight home games he would go nuclear and I think that the team needs some of that now.

Nuggets can probably have him back. It wouldn't take much. He has played well for the most part for the Kings and is one of the few players on the team that busts his ass no matter what the score.

They should've kept him if Pickett is unplayable and Brown is this washed up.

Jokic's petulance can resurface with a quickness. He was frustrated and spent clutch time standing around and chucking 3's. At home, against a poor team, Spencer F'n Jones gave you damn near 30, and Jok already put in the work for a monster statline. And yet the 4th was unserious. It kills me when he punches out of a game like this.

They badly miss AG.

For sure. Despite public perception Westbrook can still impact a team in the right role even in the twilight of his career. He had a poor stint with the lakers partly because he had to co-exist with a guy who is essentially a bigger version of him that prefers to dominate the ball (and never fully adjusted his game). Jokic is faaaar less ball dominant so there was a formidable synergy between the two gifted passers.

The nuggets don`t miss Westbrook. They miss being healthy.

If Braun und A-aron would be healthy, there would be a big chance that the nuggets would be the save 2nd spot in the West. Westbrook had his moments during last year but mainly because there simply was no depth in the roster. If they are healthy with their starting five they now have players like Timmy or Valanciunas who can give solid (not good) minutes as backups - i clear improvement.

Yup, if they had AG and Braun, likely none of this poor losses happened

They miss Gordon, Braun, and tonight, Murray, who left the game with an injury.

Jokic's 29/20/13 with only 2 TO's wasn't enough. It's a team game.

Westbrook shooting a mindblowing .376 downtown and 5.2 attempts per game this season!
He's averaging 13.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 28.2 minutes.

I think he'd be a good backup PG for them but I think he'd rather start.

garlic wrote:They should've kept him if Pickett is unplayable and Brown is this washed up.

Jokic's petulance can resurface with a quickness. He was frustrated and spent clutch time standing around and chucking 3's. At home, against a poor team, Spencer F'n Jones gave you damn near 30, and Jok already put in the work for a monster statline. And yet the 4th was unserious. It kills me when he punches out of a game like this.

They badly miss AG.

Ironically it was a very Westbrookian triple double by Jokic tonight. No impact, taking awful shots late, defensive liability...

They clearly need AG back

We're talking about Westbrick on the day Collin Gillespie explodes with an efficient 28/4/5/0/2 with 8/14 from 3, after riding the bench and barely playing in garbage time for Denver two seasons ago?

Denver doesn't need to play at a faster pace. Their offense is fine in general. Injuries to Braun and AG haven't helped though.

But I agree that *right now* they could use him because of the injuries and because the defense is letting random guys go off every game. Someone to light a fire would sure help.

Problem is that when Braun and AG get back, Russ would find himself playing limited minutes and I am not sure he'd be happy with that nor do I think that's the best use of the final roster spot.

But if Sacramento wants to trade him back for Nnaji or Hunter Tyson, I wouldn't complain. Not gonna happen though.

styLesdavis wrote:The nuggets don`t miss Westbrook. They miss being healthy.

If Braun und A-aron would be healthy, there would be a big chance that the nuggets would be the save 2nd spot in the West. Westbrook had his moments during last year but mainly because there simply was no depth in the roster. If they are healthy with their starting five they now have players like Timmy or Valanciunas who can give solid (not good) minutes as backups - i clear improvement.

- OKC has missed JDub and Chet.
- Lakers missing Bron, Luka, Smart and Ayton for various times
- Rockets are missing Eason and FVV
- Spurs have missed Fox, Harper and are missing Wemby

So if every other team was also healthy, no chance.

BruttoNostra wrote:We're talking about Westbrick on the day Collin Gillespie explodes with an efficient 28/4/5/0/2 with 8/14 from 3, after riding the bench and barely playing in garbage time for Denver two seasons ago?

Another Denver personnel failure.

I like Westbrook and was a big defender of his. If he was on this exact same team, I think he would be an amazing piece but it's weird to jump to that conclusion and ignore the fact that their losing coincided with losing their 2 best defenders who are starters.

Last night they also lost Jamal Murray. Take any teams 2 best defenders out or 2 to 3 starters out and they probably would start to look mediocre as well.