The Nuggets drop the series in four games to the Thunder. Four of the games were close, coming down to the final seconds. Game two was a blow out. The entire series was filled with mistakes on the Nuggets part and really swung the game OKC’s way. Honestly, this was a completely miserable series.
Where to start with the Nuggets mistakes? There were so many it’s hard to choose. First of all, the Nuggets gave up waaaaay too many second chance points the entire series. I mean, have these guys heard of blocking out? The Thunder have way too many bigs who can rebound and you can’t simply out-jump them. Every game the Thunder crashed the offensive boards and Denver didn’t give much effort to grab the rebound. You can’t give Kevin Durant a second chance to hit a shot, because chances are he’s going to knock it down.
Denver’s free throw shooting was awful. Game one alone was essentially lost on missed free throws. You have to take advantage of points from the line against a team like the Thunder. OKC’s going to score, and you’ve got to go blow for blow with them, and hitting your free throws is key. And guys who should be knocking them down were missing. Danilo Gallinari couldn’t hit, Raymond Felton couldn’t hit. It’s one thing for Nene to miss, who isn’t necessarily strong from the line, but Danilo Gallinari, who shot around 90% during the season? That’s inexcusable.
Offensively, the Nuggets weren’t really looking to take it to the hole. Nene would dump the ball off when he could throw it down, Kenyon wasn’t being real aggressive, and the guards were settling for jump shots instead of driving inside. Obviously, the highest percentage shot is at the rim, so why not find a way to take that shot? The Nuggets lived and died by the jump shot, and shot pretty poorly for the series.
So the season is over, but there’s a lot to look forward to next year. The Nuggets have a solid young nucleus of players. The Nuggets have seven guys who will be 25 or younger on the roster to begin next season. Ty Lawson continues to blossom, and the young players the Nuggets got form the Melo trade have upside galore. Kosta Koufos and Timofey Mozgov look to be solid big men for the Nuggets in the coming years, and Gallo can be a great scorer for this team.
The key free agents this year are Kenyon Martin, JR Smith, Aaron Afflalo (restricted), and Wilson Chandler (restricted). The Nuggets have to bring back Afflalo. He’s the best outside shooter and perimeter defender on the team. I would like to see the other three come back as well, but only for the right price. K-Mart is the quaterback on defense. Chandler is a good shooter and JR has the ability to take over a game by himself, but I’m not sure it makes sense to resign three guys who play the same positions essentially, so I would say at most two of the three 2-gaurds will be back. My guess would be Afflalo and Chandler, given JR’s recent comments about not returning to Denver.
The future for the Nuggets is bright. They are a young team who has tremendous upside, they’re athletic and can run a team out of the gym. That youth showed this series, and that ultimately cost them the series. So until late October, provided there is no lockout, there will be no basketball in the Mile High City, but there sure is reason for optimism
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Follow me on Twitter, @MHMagicBlog
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