Even though the Denver Nuggets losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves was incredibly shocking, there was one common occurrence in every single one of the Nuggets’ losses – a lack of scoring.
As much as critics want to analyze why the Denver Nuggets failed in the Western Conference Semifinals, one of the biggest takeaways was just a lack of shotmaking. It’s a cold-hard fact that even Nuggets head coach Michael Malone couldn’t dispute.
“As I said all series long, are we going to be able to score enough in this series? Once again, in the four losses we couldn’t score,” Malone said. “I think now after the four losses we probably averaged around 85 points per game and 115 in the three wins. So, we had it going, Jamal had it going in the first half, we scored. Obviously at halftime they picked up their aggression, ran off of our misses, they became aggressive. In the second half they totally dominated the glass.”
"I'm not an excuse maker. The better team won… They [Nuggets] gave me everything I could ever ask for… As much as this hurts, I will walk out of this building tonight with my head held very high."
Denver HC Michael Malone after Game 7 pic.twitter.com/R4C8sUugI4
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 20, 2024
Here’s what the Nuggets scored in all four of their losses against the Minnesota Timberwolves:
Game 1 – 99 points
Game 2 – 80 points
Game 6 – 70 points
Game 7 – 90 points
The root cause of those struggles could simply be a combination of role players not showing up, and also starters getting tired from Denver lacking a bench this season. Whichever the cause it may be, it has to be improved upon for next season.
