MINNEAPOLIS — The enduring image of the Denver Nuggets’ title defense in 2023-24 was that of a proud champion with hands on knees, gasping for air as the Minnesota Timberwolves overpowered them in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
Former head coach Michael Malone was so distrusting of his bench that he essentially played six or seven guys on most nights, and after jumping out to a 20-point lead early in the third quarter of the do-or-die game, the Nuggets simply ran out of steam. They had given everything they had during that season, in those playoffs and in that series, but about midway through the third quarter, they had nothing left to give.
Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon watched the Timberwolves find an energy reservoir that Denver couldn’t touch and surge to their first conference finals in 20 years. Malone continued to lean on his starters and veterans last season, which contributed to a rift with the front office so severe that Nuggets ownership decided to fire both him and general manager Calvin Booth just three games before the playoffs started.
After a spirited seven-game loss to eventual champion Oklahoma City in the West semis, the Nuggets named Ben Tenzer as executive vice president of basketball operations, lured Jon Wallace away from Minnesota to become their executive vice president of player personnel and took the interim tag off coach David Adelman in a new-look leadership group. One of the trio’s first priorities was finding a way to add quality depth to the roster, then make sure that depth is utilized during the season so they enter the playoffs fresh and ready for a deep run.
All the efforts being poured into making the Nuggets a deeper team that taxes their starters less than years past are starting to come to the surface during a seven-game winning streak that continued in Minnesota on Saturday. The Nuggets were playing the final game of a three-game road trip without starters Christian Braun (ankle injury) and Cam Johnson (biceps strain), yet they were the stronger, sounder team against the Timberwolves.
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They outscored Minnesota 36-26 in the fourth quarter, won the 11 minutes that Jokić sat on the bench by eight points and got crucial contributions from Tim Hardaway Jr., who scored 23 points and went 5-for-6 from 3-point range, and Peyton Watson, who scored 12 points and played great defense on Anthony Edwards all night long.
Adelman went nine-deep, playing Bruce Brown 30 minutes, Spencer Jones — who was averaging 7.7 minutes in seven games prior to Saturday — for 17 minutes and Jonas Valančiūnas for 11:30. And still, they improved to 10-2, tying the 1985-86 team for the best 12-game start in franchise history.
The goal is simple, in Adelman’s eyes.
“Just to help our main people not get run into the ground,” he said.
Jokić is averaging a triple-double, leading the NBA in both rebounding and assists, and is only getting better. But he will turn 31 this season. Gordon is 30. Murray is 29 but has dealt with numerous injuries over the past few seasons. The Nuggets believe they have a roster that can contend for a championship. They were the only Western Conference team that gave the Thunder problems in the playoffs. They have the best player in the world in Jokić. They just have to make sure they get to the playoffs in one piece and with plenty of gas in the tank.
Nine players are averaging double-digit minutes. Jokić is averaging 34 minutes per game, a tick below his 36.7 last season. And after a shaky start to the season, the bench minutes are starting to look better.
Last season, the Nuggets outscored opponents by 10.5 points per 100 possessions with Jokić on the floor and were outscored by 9.3 points per 100 with him off. For the first three weeks of this season, the disparity was even greater. Denver was bludgeoning teams to the tune of plus-19.2 with Jokić on the floor and was a minus-9.9 with him off. The small sample size, among other things, can create a lot of noise in individual net rating, but it was hard to ignore given how much effort was put into mitigating that weakness.
In two of the last four games, wins over the Indiana Pacers and the Timberwolves, Jokić’s individual plus-minus has been in the single digits. That represents progress for a Nuggets team used to hanging on for dear life when he rests.
“We’re missing two guys and we still manage to play really quality minutes, first unit and the bench unit,” Jokić said after finishing with what appeared to be a ho-hum 27 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against the Wolves. “It’s been really good for us at the beginning of the season.”
Watson was just a second-year player and played 30 total minutes in that 2024 series against Minnesota. Malone did not believe he was ready to be a rotation player in a series that competitive, but Watson saw what the short bench did to his teammates. He worked on developing his game to be ready for a bigger role this season.
“I mean, that was a huge series, and they just got the best of us,” Watson said. “But I think that us being deeper and us being able to rely on other guys is really something that’s going to help with our longevity this season, just helping guys stay healthy and fresh down the stretch.”
The Denver Nuggets’ Peyton Watson (8) had the tough task of defending Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards on Saturday night. Edwards was held to 12 points in Denver’s win. (Jesse Johnson / Imagn Images)
Hardaway is looking like a steal on the one-year, veteran’s-minimum contract he signed last summer. He entered the game against Minnesota averaging 11 points and shooting 46 percent from 3-point range, thriving while playing alongside Jokić, who creates wide-open looks for him with his unstoppable passing.
“If you’re a guy that you go to Saturday morning and you go hoop with your friends, our team’s fun to play pick-up with,” Adelman said. “Tim’s a guy you’d like to play pick-up basketball with.”
Brown helped the Nuggets win the title in 2023, then left for, literally, greener pastures when he got a two-year, $45 million contract from Indiana. But he has bounced around the Pacers, Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans over the last two years. He has been all smiles at the reunion while getting 22 minutes per night.
And after some intrigue about his willingness to remain in the United States playing basketball, a notion he adamantly refuted before ultimately coming to play for the Nuggets, Valančiūnas has offered just enough size and offensive skill to hold the fort while Jokić sits.
Add to the veterans a maturing group of young players in Watson, Julian Strawther and Jalen Pickett, and the Nuggets appear to be much more prepared to ease the burden on their leaders. It doesn’t hurt that Jokić is routinely so overpowering that he only has to play sparingly in the fourth quarter.
“We have different type of players, and they’re gluing into our system really good,” Jokić said. “Different positions, different personnel, different types of players, and everything is working out for us, defensively first and then offensively. Everybody’s buying in.”
Watson was excellent against Edwards, whose supreme athleticism has often made him a nightmare for the Nuggets to cover. Edwards scored 26 points, but he was just 8-for-23 from the field — including 0-for-8 from 3-point range — with three turnovers.
Donte DiVincenzo also shot poorly, missing five of his six 3s, and Gobert had just four points and was a minus-22 in 23 minutes.
“My fault,” Edwards said. “I play better, we win the game. It’s that simple.”
The Wolves, who had a four-game win streak snapped, are also looking for a little more punch from their second unit. The starting five has been one of the most efficient in the league, but this week Wolves coach Chris Finch has been prodding his bench group to give the team more energy.
Naz Reid is showing signs of breaking out of his slump. He scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday, then put up 17 points and hit 4 of 5 from deep to help the Wolves take a five-point lead into halftime against the Nuggets. But he managed only two more points in the second half, and Mike Conley, Jaylen Clark and Rob Dillingham combined for 11 points.
“I think the pace should go up when they come in a little bit,” Finch said. “It doesn’t necessarily do so. Maybe a little too focused on trying to score rather than just ball movement. All that stuff needs to go up a bit more.”
The Timberwolves appeared to be coming together after a rough start to the season in which the Los Angeles Lakers (twice), Nuggets (without an injured Edwards) and New York Knicks blew them out. They had won four straight, albeit in a billowy soft portion of the schedule. Minnesota is now 8-0 against teams with a record under .500 but 0-5 against teams over .500.
Even though the Nuggets have been one of the best teams of the league in recent years, the Wolves had grown accustomed to beating them. They won the last two games of that conference semifinal in 2023, then swept the Nuggets in four games last season. But the dynamics appear to have changed.
On one hand, Denver has played Minnesota twice this season, both on the second night of a back-to-back. Edwards did not play in the first game against the Nuggets and experienced some uncharacteristic struggles to shoot the ball on Saturday.
On the other hand, the Nuggets were missing two starters Saturday and only got a superb game from Jokić, not the otherworldly version with whom the entire league is familiar.
“I just think we struggled to find easy baskets and then just kind of made it hard,” Finch said. “We fought the game, really. Offense didn’t come easy to some of our guys who have been scoring well, and I think they got a little frustrated.”
Braun is expected to miss six weeks with his ankle injury. Johnson is off to a slow start after coming over from Brooklyn in a trade. Thanks to the work on the roster by Tenzer and Wallace and Adelman’s willingness to expand the rotation, the Nuggets are looking deep and dangerous.
“I want it to be where there’s no drop-off for our team,” Watson said. “If a guy goes down, or I gotta step up and I gotta start, I’ve got to help us win a game. I don’t want it to be where we’re shorthanded. I don’t want it (to) feel like that. I want it (to) feel like we got everything we need to win this game.”
