The Nuggets lost their second preseason game Thursday night, 133-124, to the Chicago Bulls in double overtime after rallying from down 14 in regulation. Here are our takeaways.
Rusty fundamentals
Michael Malone has said the most important area of growth he needs to see from Zeke Nnaji is on the defensive glass, where the center hasn’t matched his offensive rebounding tenacity. Nnaji and pretty much everyone else for Denver struggled to box out Thursday.
The Nuggets were out-rebounded 26-13 in the first half, including seven offensive boards for Andre Drummond in 7:36 on the court. Chicago had 15 offensive rebounds before Denver registered its first of the night.
Defense was sloppy and the offense alternated between dazzling and haphazard. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had three turnovers each, and Peyton Watson had four.
Young players benefitted from the opportunity to defend against Chicago’s starters, who stayed in the game into the second half. Watson got reps guarding DeMar DeRozan — on one possession he unwisely left his feet on a shot fake, on another he flashed his impressive help-side defense for a steal — and Julian Strawther got a handful of possessions against Zach LaVine.
A sharp-looking starter
Aaron Gordon has looked fresh in both games so far, moving and making plays like he’s in mid-season shape. He showed off his ball handling to create a step-back jumper in the first quarter, told his defenders to get lost multiple times with well-timed cuts, and saw passes a second early at the defensive end. He also made a highlight touch pass through traffic to Jokic while cutting backdoor.
Surprisingly high volumes: Nuggets 3-pointers, Jokic shots
Unlike last year, when Jokic was content to distribute early in the season, the defending Finals MVP is profiling as a high-volume shooter in these exhibitions. In about 36 minutes across two first halves, he has attempted 21 shots from the field. Last year, he attempted that many shots in only nine regular-season games, and he played more than 39 minutes in four of those.
Any rust from the preseason opener was gone this time, as Jokic’s night ended with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting.
Another uncharacteristically high-volume stat so far: Denver’s perimeter shooting. A bottom-10 team in the league last season in 3-point attempts, the Nuggets are 36 for 93 through two games without Michael Porter Jr. (ankle) in the lineup. Justin Holiday made a pair in the first quarter. Strawther stayed confident and efficient. But the Nuggets did sacrifice a more aggressive brand of offense, not getting to the foul line until the third quarter. The attempts were high even before the third unit’s extended minutes in overtime.
An interim play call
The results at this point aren’t relevant, but with Malone out, it’s notable that interim coach David Adelman stepped up with a gutsy play design to end regulation. Down two with 0.6 seconds remaining and a side-out play upcoming, Adelman subbed Hunter Tyson back into the game just to throw the inbound pass. It would behoove Russell Wilson to study the perfect ball Tyson lobbed to the rim, where two-way player Braxton Key was waiting in mid-air to convert a miraculous one-handed shot at the buzzer.
