After a month of competition, the Nuggets suffer when they have to turn to their replacements, since they only have the… 27th best bench in the league (or should we rather say the 4th worst bench in the league): 28.4 points per game.
Like last season at the same period, and perhaps even more so because Jeff Green and especially Bruce Brown left Colorado, while Reggie Jackson switched to the five in the absence of Jamal Murray, the reigning champions are struggling when their second unit is responsible for Michael Malone.
Young people still too tender?
Enough to push the coach Denver to put pressure on his replacements, essential in the quest for back-to-back.
“ I told them I was going to start playing other players, because you can’t go on the field because you think you’re going to play and not do anything about it. You must bring something “, he warned thus, coming out of a defeat against Houston.
Not counting Reggie Jackson, whose role has evolved, Christian Braun, Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther are currently the four replacements most used by Michael Malone.
A balance to find
It’s hard to imagine the Nuggets coach shaking up his entire rotation, especially since he planned to use this season to develop his youngsters, but a veteran like Justin Holiday could already take advantage of this to grab some playing time…
“ I found that Justin [Holiday] had played pretty well, so we’ll see. We’re going home already… », First indicated the technician, recently extended. “ That’s the challenge when you have so many young, inexperienced players on the bench. But we also have to win matches and this balance is delicate, we are on a tightrope. Except that we have to win, I repeat, and I will play the players who will help us win. »
This recurring evil was particularly felt during the road trip “ very disappointing » of Denver’s five games, finished with four defeats. Having fallen to 5th place in the Western Conference, Michael Malone’s men are experiencing their first zone of turbulence of the season and the contribution of the bench is essential to enable them to redress the situation.
Avoid neutral sequences
Especially since, unlike what they did in the last playoffs, the Nuggets cannot rely on a rotation of seven or eight players in the regular season.
“ I just have to find different solutions, to give us something. Life, energy, productivity… There are too many empty minutes played by too many guys right now “, finally regretted Michael Malone, while the reigning champions will welcome Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs on Sunday evening to revive themselves collectively.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 15 | 33.2 | 57.9 | 30.3 | 80.2 | 3.0 | 10.1 | 13.1 | 8.9 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 27.5 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 15 | 30.6 | 47.1 | 39.1 | 73.7 | 1.8 | 6.0 | 7.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 17.1 |
| Jamal Murray | 7 | 30.9 | 43.3 | 43.8 | 84.2 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 7.4 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 16.3 |
| Aaron Gordon | 15 | 33.5 | 52.1 | 25.0 | 52.2 | 2.6 | 4.6 | 7.2 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 13.9 |
| Reggie Jackson | 15 | 25.6 | 47.0 | 36.7 | 63.2 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 11.6 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-pope | 15 | 33.8 | 44.9 | 42.4 | 91.7 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 10.2 |
| Christian Braun | 15 | 21.2 | 49.6 | 42.9 | 70.0 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 9.7 |
| Julian Strawther | 12 | 11.6 | 38.6 | 28.9 | 75.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 5.1 |
| Peyton Watson | 14 | 13.9 | 55.3 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 4.4 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 15 | 11.0 | 52.6 | 42.9 | 63.2 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Colin Gillespie | 7 | 10.5 | 44.4 | 27.3 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 2.9 |
| Jalen Pickett | 9 | 7.8 | 47.4 | 38.5 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.8 |
| Justin Holiday | 6 | 6.0 | 57.1 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| Deandre Jordan | 1 | 12.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Braxton Key | 4 | 2.6 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Hunter Tyson | 5 | 2.7 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 |
