Denver Nuggets Breakdown: The Method Behind The Madness

Athletic. Impulsive. Unstable. Explosive. These are all adjectives that accurately describe the Denver Nuggets. Yet despite their wavering focus, and Carmelo Anthony’s injured hand, the Nuggets own the third best record in the West, and hung tough in a victory against the Suns, prevailing 119-113 in overtime.

Perhaps there is a method to their madness?

The Method

Denver pushes the ball as often as possible, but not as frenetically as last year’s all-or-nothing team. What makes Denver’s fast break so explosive is their athleticism. Everyone runs the floor hard, even their big men. And even their power forward Kenyon Martin can pass and handle in the open floor.

Once Denver has numbers it’s over. All their players excel on the break, and they’re all unselfish in the open court.

If an opponent gets back, Denver will look to the post hoping Nene would be matched up with a guard. If not, the Nuggets will run basic screen/rolls, isolations, and cross-screens into post ups.

Defensively, the Nuggets trapped Phoenix’ ball screens and then rotated their weak-side corner defender into the paint to pick up the rolling Amare Stoudemire. This tactic served to put maximum pressure on Phoenix’ ball-handlers, usually Steve Nash, while also frustrating Amare Stoudemire to wits end.

Denver prefers to switch the majority of their screen/rolls and send help against resulting mismatches.

Denver rarely doubles, instead looking to dig against post ups and penetrations, in an attempt to pick up steals.

Denver’s rotations aren’t as much a matter of contain and contend, as they are a matter of anticipating passes and overplaying passing lanes. Often times, Denver’s rotations would be late, but they usually scrambled and hustled their way into creating just enough resistance as to throw off their opponent.

And the chaotic nature of their defense forced players unequipped to make good decisions to do more than they are accustomed to. This is why Matt Barnes and Amare Stoudemire picked up five turnovers, while Jason Richardson and Robin Lopez totaled three turnovers apiece.

When closing out the perimeter, Denver’s players are taught to drive hard at the shooter and then run down the court. The rest of the team goes after the rebound and looks straight up to see if anybody has broken free behind the defense for easy layups.

Denver’s defense is tighter in a zone than it is in a man-to-man.

Chauncey Billups is the unquestioned leader of the team. When he saw the team playing flat in the first half, he drew a technical, and then immediately went in the post and earned a trip to the line. His team responded with an 11-0 run.

Billups was completely calm and in control of the game. Recognizing mismatches and making the appropriate decision. When Denver needed a basket, he’d post every guard, or use his powerful dribble to earn trips to the line. Billups only made six field goals, but he went 13-14 from the stripe for his 26 points and 8 assists.

Kenyon Martin stepped up to the challenge of slowing down Amare Stoudemire. When Amare tried to isolate on the elbow against Martin, K-Mart would anticipate Amare’s arm motions and rip the ball from him. Martin was also a nightmare when trapping screen/rolls.

On the offensive end, Martin looked to make high low passes when Nene was fronted, was aggressive off the dribble, and hit the majority of his jumpers when Phoenix sagged off of him. Even more impressive than his stats—11-23 FG, 1-2 3FG, 1-5 FT, 8 REB, 2 AST, 7 STL, 1 BLK, 24 PTS, was the number of primal screams emitted by Martin—zero. Has Kenyon Martin finally matured and gotten over himself?

Nene picked up foul trouble early so he was noticeably passive defensively because of it. Still, he moved his feet and was active on switches along the perimeter, and generally made the right rotations along the interior.

Most importantly, Nene wasn’t sucked in by ball penetration preventing Phoenix from picking up layups. It isn’t that Nene is a better shot-blocker than Marcus Camby, just that he’s smart enough to not sell out for blocks like a dog smelling meat. It isn’t a coincidence that Denver’s defense is much more disciplined this season than in years past.

Nene’s spin move in the right box is immediate and explosive without a trace of indecision, and he’s an athletic rebounder. His return to good health has been the second biggest factor in Denver’s success.

J.R. Smith is a human highlight reel and pure electricity on the court. His long, quick arms pressure ball-handlers on defense, and when he goes up to dunk, the air-traffic controller reroutes all other aircraft for their own safety.

Chris Anderson makes up for the fact that he can’t defend a lamp, by never ceasing to run, jump, hustle, and scramble. He’s been a worse, but reasonable replacement for Eduardo Najera.

Anthony Carter is cool, composed, and always has his head up looking for teammates running out. He’s a heady backup.

Linas Kleiza—8-11 FG, 18 PTS—is a professional scorer. Strong, and deceptively quick, Kleiza can fill the basket from the outside, the inside, and on the break.

Overall, the Nuggets were more composed than last year’s version, but just as adept at creating chaos. That automatically makes them a better team. However, they’ll be hard pressed to win in the postseason for a number of reasons.

The Madness

Part of Denver’s gameplan is to force opponents into playing a style of play they aren’t accustomed to. Their defensive rotations are different each time, they invite non-playmakers to make plays, they give up open jumpers, they trap screen/rolls, all this in an attempt to take a team out of its comfort zone. However, a team with a modicum of discipline and patience won’t be fazed by Denver’s induced chaos.

The Nuggets don’t always play with energy and focus, leading to prolonged dry spells, particularly on the defensive end. And the team is way too reliant on energy to play with consistency.

They also give up scores of open shots.

While the Nuggets are unselfish, they are prone to bad decisions and terrible shot attempts, primarily by Smith. Even Chauncey Billups decided to launch a 30-footer in overtime early in the shot clock.

J.R. Smith tries to force the spectacular play when the simple play would do fine. That’s why he commits so many turnovers (three). He still takes too many ill-advised shots, his defensive recognition is terrible, and he pouts and hangs his head with every mistake he makes. Smith is far too emotional to be reliable when playoff basketball becomes a war of attrition, and he won’t have so many easy dunks to fuel his internal motor.

Martin spent entire portions of the game going through the motions.

Dahantay Jones made poor decisions throughout.

Nene is a poor passer out of double teams.

Anderson is all energy, no talent.

Carter is a mediocre jump shooter and a limited penetrator.

All-in-all, the only good defenders the Nuggets have are Martin (but not for 48 minutes), Billups, Carter, and Renaldo Balkman, who didn’t play, and their offense can be shut down by smart defensive clubs.

It’s hard to see Denver getting past the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Rockets, or Jazz should they meet in the postseason.

Meaning, despite their record, Denver isn’t a championship-caliber team.

Which doesn’t mean they’re a bad team.