The Denver Nuggets slumped to an 86-105 loss against the Houston Rockets, their second loss in the In-Season tournament thus far. The result came despite familiar dominance from Nikola Jokic. This means that the Nuggets have now crashed out of the In-Season tournament. Currently 3rd in their West Group B, the Nuggets have no hope of even ending up in 2nd place, which would have qualified them for a potential wildcard entry into the knockouts.
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The Nuggets have a 2-2 In-Season tournament record and the loss against the Rockets means that they lose out on the head-to-head as well, as per NBA.com. This means that they cannot finish second even if the Rockets lose their final group stage game to end with a 2-2 record, just like the Nuggets.
The loss came as a result of a poor shooting night from Denver’s players. Nikola Jokic finished with 38 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists on the night which did not prove to be enough to even avoid a blowout loss. Finishing with a shooting efficiency of 34% and 23.3% from the 3-point line, the Nuggets were always going to struggle for a win.
They ended up trailing by 10 points in the 1st quarter and the gap increased to 17 by the second. A 3rd quarter push was averted by the Rockets, who saw Jalen Green lead the scoring with 25 points while Alperen Sengun contributed with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Fred VanVleet also returned with a double-double with 17 points and 11 assists, as the Nuggets simply could not cope on a poor night.
The result means that Nikola Jokic and his men will not be joining the knockout stages of the tournament in Las Vegas next month, set to kickstart on December 4. Instead, they will be left competing for a playoffs berth. The Nuggets will not be concerned with the loss as far as their Playoff ambitions are concerned. The defending Champions are currently without star guard Jamal Murray and have yet to manage a 10-6 start to the season.
Michael Malone takes responsibility after Denver Nuggets’ poor loss to the Rockets
Most fans will not be concerned with the fact that the Nuggets will not be competing in the In-Season tournament anymore. However, the way the loss against the Rockets came about will worry fans.
The Nuggets struggled to make baskets despite Nikola Jokic being at his best and were out-hustled by the Rockets consistently. Michael Malone took responsibility for the loss after the game, claiming that he himself did a poor job of coaching his team on the night, as per Denver Post.
“We all struggled tonight. I did a piss-poor job coaching this team. So this isn’t like the players, this is all of us. Starts with me as a head coach, 1-4 on the road trip,” he said.
The rest of the roster also seemingly took responsibility. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who finished with 20 points on the night, claimed that his team needed to be more aggressive and active in transitions, and too many times simply did not get in the right spots in order to score. Set to face the San Antonio Spurs next, Jokic and the Nuggets will be looking to quickly put the loss behind them.
