The Six Piece, formerly 10-piece, gives you six things to know from each of the Nuggets’ 82-game season.
1. WIND AND RAIN (OF THREES): The Nuggets went to the Windy City and got rained on as the Bulls hit 24 threes on 53 attempts while Denver took only 27 total.
2. TRENDS: This season the Nuggets are just 9-7 against teams with a top-10 three-point rate, and 5-7 against the top-10 teams in three-point percentage. Chicago is both.
3. LAPSED: Denver’s effort mentally defensively was abysmal. They left open good shooters, crashed in on non-threat drivers, constantly confused rotations and were mixed up in mid-transition.
4. BRIGHT SPOT: Christian Braun had a career high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting and was Denver’s best overall player considering defense even with Joker dropping 33-12-14.
5. FAMILIAR: The Nuggets lost the non-Jokic minutes by eight and while Denver wasn’t good enough in Joker’s minutes, it was the smallball minutes with Aaron Gordon that hurt, with DeAndre Jordan picking up a DNP-CD. Jamal Murray had 18 points on just 8-of-20 shooting.
6. Up Next: The Nuggets head to the Big Apple to take on the Knicks who have trounced them in recent meetings. They also take a lot of threes.
