The Denver Nuggets opened their regular season with a rough one offensively, but the 96-84 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder did come with a development they didn’t have much of last season: a defense that looked alive.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray struggled badly on the other end, and there’s no cleaning that up. But Denver showed real promise on defense, especially in how it dealt with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Nuggets consistently swarmed him, threw double-teams his way, and snapped his NBA-record streak of 141 straight games with at least 20 points. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
That part of the night stood out immediately. Jokic was moving away from the paint more often than usual and was more active as a help defender than he has been in a long time.
Christian Braun, who had his "explosiveness" back, helped make life difficult for the Thunder star. Denver also used the sideline smartly, with Jokic and Braun helping trap SGA near the boundary to turn the sideline into an extra defender.
Alpha Diallo did his part too, battling through screen after screen to keep Oklahoma City from getting clean looks or easy drives into the lane. His ability to get around the screener mattered because it kept the Thunder from settling into open shots or uncontested attacks into the paint.
The bench group offered more encouraging signs as well. Its plus-minus was better than the starters’ by a wide margin, and the second unit played a zone with an emphasis on double-teaming on the perimeter while recovering quickly when the ball moved. Marvin Bagley III gave Denver a much better look than what it got from the backup center spot last year behind Jokic, and rookie second-round pick Trevon Brazile was everywhere, flying around the floor and grabbing 12 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Even the transition defense, which was a major problem last season, showed some progress. It wasn’t perfect, and Denver still gave up some easy baskets, but the Nuggets also made a point of crashing the offensive glass to slow Oklahoma City’s push the other way. That was part of head coach David Adelman’s plan entering the season.
Denver finished with 19 offensive rebounds, while the Thunder scored only 10 fast-break points and posted 1.19 points per possession. Last season, the Nuggets allowed 1.22 points per possession in those situations. There’s still plenty of work to do there.
Still, for all the mess on offense, the bigger takeaway was hard to miss: Denver’s defense looked more physical, more active and more athletic than it did a year ago. After one ugly opener, that gave the Nuggets at least one thing to feel good about.
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