The search for a second title in franchise history continues for the one-two-punch of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Things are starting to look rough for the squad as they just wrapped up their second game in the NBA Preseason. The Denver Nuggets faced off against a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team, the Chicago Bulls. Most of the game went their way. Coach Michael Malone even led the squad to an insane scoring outburst in the fourth quarter to bring the game to two overtime periods. They lost and it was all because of one glaring problem.
The Nuggets and their struggle to get boards
Michael Malone knows how to draw up schematics such that his team thrives on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor. They can dominate with team play and all of that but it is their micro-movements that are going to be the big difference-maker. One of which is how they box out and get into a good position to crash the boards. This was their biggest flaw against the Bulls. Everyone struggled to get rebounds and it cost them a lot of possessions.
The game ended with the Nuggets only getting a total of 39 rebounds. Their offensive rebounds were the reason why they lost by a slim margin. They could not salvage their plays to get a fresh new clock. This was because they only notched 10 rebounds on that side of the floor. Evidently, the Bulls were able to convert on these opportunities which did not look good for the Nikola Jokic-led squad. Bigs like Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic took advantage of their poor positioning.
On the other end of the floor, they could not close out on the Bulls' possessions. A lot of the time rushing back to set their offense was a big problem for the squad. They gave up 26 offensive rebounds in their second NBA Preseason matchup. The Nuggets eventually got back in the groove and looked like a different squad but it was a little bit too late. Their 29 defensive rebounds just were not enough to ensure another shot at winning the game in the second overtime period.
Overall, the Bulls eclipsed the Nuggets in the rebounding department. Their 39 boards were no match for the Bulls who grabbed 56 at the end of the match.
What should Michael Malone do to prevent this from happening after the NBA Preseason?
The Nikola Jokic-led squad just needs a little work on trying to get their big men back into form. A lot of their issues concern not being able to get in positions to grab boards. These all may be the product of rust and not getting to play in the offseason. But, that should not be an excuse. Crashing the boards more would mean better opportunities for the team to outscore opponents and not allow them to get second-chance points.
This team is already sound in preventing shots and highly efficient in making them. It will just go down to the details and suffocate their opponents. They clearly did not do well in this game but made an effort to bounce back. Fatigue got the best of them this time but trusting in the championship-winning system and training those small movements will get them back into title contention.
Will they be able to patch this up or will the Nuggets have to press the panic button and acquire someone in before the trade deadline?
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