U-G-L-Y, the Denver Nuggets ain’t obtained no alibi for the way dangerous they’ve appeared defensively by means of a lot of their first week of the season.

Regardless of some constructive stretches of stable play on that finish of the court docket, most notably of their street win towards the Golden State Warriors, for essentially the most half Denver’s protection had been, effectively, ugly.

The query now’s whether or not that is the start of a worrisome pattern that may persist by means of the season, or only a fluky, aberrant begin that the Nuggets can put behind them earlier than it transforms from a mere pink flag into an ongoing drawback.

“We had been embarrassing tonight,” head coach Michael Malone stated after the Nuggets’ current blowout 135-110 loss on the Portland Path Blazers. “It was a poor effort after that first quarter, didn’t defend in any respect. We will’t guard one-on-one proper now in any respect.”

Guards Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons mixed to attain 60 factors for Portland, collectively capturing a blistering 21 of 33 (.636) from the sphere and an much more daunting 11 of 19 (.579) on three-pointers.

Malone additionally cited Denver giving up 18 “blow-bys” (when the ball handler drives previous his defender in direction of the rim) for 22 factors towards Portland, and 16 blow-bys for 31 factors towards the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder of their earlier recreation.

And people blow-bys had been simply the tip of the iceberg.

“We gave up 60-plus factors within the paint, we gave up 48 factors off threes, we put them on the foul line 31 occasions, they’d 20-plus in transition,” Malone lamented, checking off field after field on a reasonably exhaustive checklist of defensive transgressions the Nuggets dedicated towards Portland.

“We did zero defensively tonight.”

And the statistics by means of Denver’s first 4 video games, whereas admittedly needing to be taken with giant grains of salt as a consequence of it being such a small pattern measurement, would point out they’ve performed little on defensive total.

The Nuggets are permitting essentially the most opponent factors per recreation within the NBA at 124.5, and in keeping with Cleansing the Glass, the 123.1 factors they’re giving up per 100 possessions (a extra correct measure than the per recreation quantity because it’s pace-adjusted) make them the next-to-worst protection within the league to this point this season. Poor efficiency on protection is the primary wrongdoer in Denver now having the sixth-lowest web ranking within the league, getting outscored by their opponents by 7.5 factors per 100 possessions, regardless of placing up 115.6 of their very own, for the tenth-best offense.

For a Nuggets staff which centered on protection over the offseason by buying ostensive defensive upgrades on the guard and wing positions in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown, and subsequently making defensive the central focus of coaching camp and the preseason, this was clearly not the outcome they had been anticipating. And the completeness of the a number of fronts on which they’ve seen defensive failures to this point, and which Malone so totally catalogued, factors to a irritating lack of progress – at the very least to this point – towards attaining his said objective of Denver changing into a top-five protection.

Whereas the dearth of effort Malone cited is actually disappointing from the angle of the Nuggets failing to play as much as the excessive requirements they’ve set for themselves as title hopefuls this season, it might probably be a silver lining. Dedicated and chronic effort is a significant a part of any good NBA protection, and easily attempting tougher is likely one of the most realistically achievable cures to Denver’s struggling protection, as in contrast with reconfiguring defensive schemes or juggling lineup mixtures.

For Malone, this implies bringing the trouble early, and on the level of assault. “With a man like Simons, you’ll be able to’t let him get going,” he stated. “That’s a tricky hearth to place out. We’re not firemen. We don’t need to put fires out.”

“And we closed brief to him,” Malone added. “We closed with our fingers right down to him. He’s a shooter, and that wasn’t the sport plan. So we did a very poor job with our recreation plan self-discipline tonight.”

With elevated focus, effort and consciousness, bettering recreation plan self-discipline must be comparatively simply inside attain for the Nuggets, so long as the willingness is there.

And it’s not as if some bumps within the street had been to not be anticipated. With two of their three prime stars in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. getting back from lengthy damage absences, the Nuggets weren’t solely anticipating however planning a gradual ramp-up for each as they work their means again to recreation form and full well being.

Their return, together with the acquisition of at the very least 4 new common rotation gamers (if rookie Christian Braun is included, because it seems he must be), additionally leads to the Nuggets having a really modified roster this season regardless of some through-lines of continuity, with, for instance, second-year guard Bones Hyland enjoying alongside Murray for his or her first time. Sure, Caldwell-Pope, Brown and Braun are defensive-minded additions, however with so many new gamers within the combine, it appears inevitable that a while will likely be required for everybody to regulate to one another’s video games and for the staff as an entire to gel and develop good chemistry.

Maybe Denver’s largest ongoing problem, even it it’s one which has clearly been overblown at occasions, is developing an efficient protection round back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic. Whereas Jokic’s defensive prowess markedly improved final season, and is usually higher in that division than the dangerous rap he will get from some corners of the NBA mediasphere, he’s not a conventional heart as a rim-protecting, shot-blocking again line defender. And missing that failsafe, the Nuggets need to make use of some creativity which can usually depend on Jokic’s frontcourt teammates Porter and Aaron Gordon to make well timed rotations on assist protection to forestall opponents from reaching the rim on these aforementioned blow-bys.

However it’s additionally incumbent on Denver’s guards and wings to batten down the hatches on the perimeter and stop these blow-bys within the first place, a activity at which, as Malone identified, they haven’t been as much as snuff at as but this season.

With two wins and two losses, the Nuggets are removed from wanted to panic about falling behind too far within the standings, and there are nonetheless 78 common season video games remaining for them to determine these points out.

An enormous a part of that accountability falls on the shoulders of newly-hired assistant coach Ryan Saunders, previously head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who is basically enjoying the position of Denver’s “defensive coordinator.” Since this, as with their new participant additions, represents one other personnel reshuffling for the Nuggets, it’s cheap to anticipate that teaching workers adjustments and readjustments may take a while to get ironed out as effectively.

But when the present trajectory doesn’t enhance of Denver’s protection not solely underperforming, however doing so throughout almost the whole swath of three-pointers, paint factors, fouling and transition, and the Nuggets proceed getting blown out by opponents who look fully comfy scoring at will, then the strain on each Malone and Saunders will nearly actually begin to warmth up.