The Denver Nuggets got the kind of defensive night that can reset a team’s early-season tone in Wednesday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans, and David Adelman was quick to point to the details behind it.
After four games, Denver is 2-2, and both of those victories have come against New Orleans. But the two games hardly looked alike.
The first meeting turned into a track meet the Nuggets had to survive, with Denver digging out of a 23-point deficit, forcing overtime, and still giving up 135 points. Wednesday was the opposite: the Nuggets controlled the night from start to finish and held the Pelicans to 91 points, their best defensive output of the season.
That kind of flip mattered because the offense never really exploded. Denver barely crossed the 100-point mark, which made the work on the other end even more valuable. The Nuggets have already shown they can get into trouble defensively this season, giving up 135 to New Orleans and 134 to Golden State, but this time they were much more connected.
“I thought our rotations were really good, but I thought the intensity to stop the ball earlier-if you don't touch anybody until the paint, you're in trouble. We don't block a lot of shots.
Our team has to be reliant on each other. It was just strides in the right direction, you know, [it's] game four, so it was good to see," Adelman said.
The biggest difference showed up in the scoring quarters. In the earlier win over the Pelicans, New Orleans topped 35 points in each of the first three periods before being limited to 18 in the fourth. On Wednesday, the Pelicans were held to 18 points in both the first and fourth quarters.
“18 points in the first, 18 in the fourth. Those are really good numbers,” Adelman said.
“Obviously, that's led to the two wins we've had have been three really good defensive quarters. I think all the other stuff will come, but I was really proud of the young guys too.
When you're 1-2, there's a sense of urgency early in the season to get a win. You've got a couple of rookies out there, and I thought they were really good.”
Adelman also singled out Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins, with Brazile earning his first career start on Wednesday after showing what he can do through Denver’s first three games. His defensive work may have been exactly what the Nuggets needed in the starting five.
There’s still plenty for Denver to clean up, but this was the kind of step that can matter. The Nuggets looked sharper on that end, and getting Spencer Jones, Cameron Johnson, and Alpha Diallo back in the lineup would only give them more help moving forward.
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