Jeff Green on Denver Nuggets’ defense crumbling in dying minutes of the game: “People act like the playoffs are right around the corner"
The Denver Nuggets' defense to start the season hasn't been anywhere near where they need it to be. In order for them to win the NBA title, this team is likely going to need to defend at a much higher level.
When looking at the past decade's worth of championship-level teams, most of those teams can defend at least at an above-average level. Due to the Nuggets' ability to defend, many are starting to become worried that they're not going to win an NBA title this season because of that.
Veteran Jeff Green spoke a bit about why the Denver Nuggets' defense hasn't clicked thus far. He pointed out that it's still early in the season and they have to get some time to really get used to each other.
"It's still the beginning of the season. People act like the playoffs are right around the corner...together we have to buy in as a team, which we will. That takes time."
Jeff Green today on why the Nuggets' defense hasn't clicked: "It's still the beginning of the season. People act like the playoffs are right around the corner...together we have to buy in as a team, which we will. That takes time." https://t.co/W5rrjWdCGj
Denver Nuggets' defense problems
This isn't a new issue for the Denver Nuggets. Throughout the past few seasons, people have had concerns about their ability to get stops at a high level.
One reason why people do get a bit worried about what this team can do defensively is because of their best player Nikola Jokic. He is a good defender inside and around the rim, but in the playoffs, teams like to go small and he does have trouble at times defending smaller players that are quick.
Most NBA teams have trouble with this as well, and outside of teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and a few others, most are below average in small-ball lineups. That's unless they have a small ball rotation that they can turn to with their best player on the court. Unfortunately, for the Denver Nuggets' defense, that doesn't seem to be the case for their side.
According to basketball news, Nikola Jokic had the following to say on media day.
"Maybe I can be a bad 1-on-1 defensive player, but I can be a good team-defense player... I think that's how we can plug holes if we have some holes in our defense."
Hearing arguably the best player in basketball say things like this can't be a good thing from the Denver Nuggets fans' perspective.
However, their head coach Mike Malone realizes they need to make some changes to be a team that wins an NBA championship. They need to take a page out of the book from what the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were able to do a season ago on the defensive side of the basketball.
"We understand that you can't be 15th in the NBA in defensive efficiency and be serious about winning at a high level... You look at the two teams in the NBA Finals; they were (No.) 1 and 2."