SALT LAKE CITY — The Denver Nuggets are just a week removed from being in a position to claim the No. 2 seed in the NBA’s Western Conference. They still entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed, have one of the best one-two tandems in the league in Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, but have been blown out twice in a row.
It’s certainly very easy for anyone, including Denver head coach Mike Malone, to point to the Nuggets’ defense as the main reason for the losses. When double teams on Jordan Clarkson lead to wide open dunks for Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz are getting nearly every open look they want, often by targeting Denver players who are widely viewed as weak defenders, it’s hard to look elsewhere than the defensive deficiencies.