Five Mistakes The Denver Nuggets Made This Season
By Andrew Dill
Apr 2, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the second half against the New Orleans Pelicans at Pepsi Center. The Nuggets won 137-107. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Brian Shaw’s Slow-Down Philosophy
According to David Ramsey of TheGazette.com on November 1, 2013:
“Brian Shaw is preaching a tougher, slower philosophy with the Denver Nuggets. He’s looking for a more rugged defensive style. He’s not going to try to outrun his opponents.”
The Nuggets were used to an up tempo style while under George Karl. When Shaw instilled his strategy, the team struggled to adjust.
They had a December that was not one to remember: 5-10 and losing eight straight games. In December, the Nuggets were managing only 82.6 field goal attempts per game compared to 86 in November, January and February. They averaged 85 field goal attempts in the month of March. The Nuggets were scoring just 95.2 points in December, while their 2014 average is 105.4 points per game. They were only averaging 96.1 points per 100 possessions; which was good for 28th in the NBA for the month of December. The once high scoring team scored 100 point only twice in the month of December after December 4th.
But it wasn’t just that their pace slowed down. The Nuggets also shot a paltry 30% from the three-point area in December, the lowest in the league for that month. That added to their struggles.
As Andre Miller said on December 23, after losing to the Warriors:
“We haven’t had a good month. We need better practices. We need to get better when we come back from Christmas. It is always frustrating when you are struggling.”
It seemed that there was already trouble here, but the Nuggets played through it and continued their losing ways. After an eighth straight loss on January 1, Coach Brian Shaw talked about the latest loss to the Denver Post:
“That’s on me. I’ve got to keep on seeking and searching, try to find ways to motivate our team to play harder. We can coach a lot of other things, but I still have to continue to try to find the guys who want to get out there and play hard, and I’m doing a poor job at that.”
They had their team meeting after the loss and Miller time started. And so did their fall.