The Denver Nuggets were run out of Target Center on Thursday night, and head coach David Adelman’s postgame diagnosis amounted to a shrug.
Denver dropped Game 3 of its second-round series to the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-96, a result that saw the Wolves pour in 68 points in the paint, outscore the Nuggets 21-7 in fast-break points and build a lead as large as 27. Yet Adelman, pressed repeatedly on how his team came out so flat, kept circling back to shot-making.
“The shooting, you know, really put us behind the 8-ball to start the game,” Adelman said. “They only gave up 25 points in the first quarter. That’s actually a very good number. We just had a hard time making shots tonight.”
Denver was held to 11 first-quarter points on 3-of-21 shooting and trailed 61-39 at the break.
It was just the 11th time since Nikola Jokic debuted that the Nuggets scored 11 or fewer points in any quarter and it was just the 13th time in the Jokic era that Denver was held under 40 for an entire first half. Jokic, who finished 7-of-26 from the field with 27 points, was uncharacteristically erratic. It was the first time in his career he hit seven or fewer shots in the 81 games he’s taken 25 or more. Adelman brushed it aside.
“He just missed. I mean, I really mean it,” the coach said. “This guy’s played a million playoff games. There’s nights that are poor, and I think he’ll bounce back.”
Adelman, who was without Aaron Gordon (left calf) and Peyton Watson (right hamstring), acknowledged gambling with a smaller lineup that never paid off on the other end.
“You’re gambling if you play small against their team, but you’re hoping that translates offensively, that you can get better shots,” Adelman said. “And we did not do that tonight in the first half.”
Jokic’s tough shooting rolled over to the rest of the team. It was the first time the Nuggets shot under 40% this season — finishing at a woeful 34%.
The Nuggets didn’t just miss; it was a lot of the same Wolves pressure that brutalized the Nuggets in the last three quarters of Game 2 as well. Minnesota turned seven first-half Nuggets turnovers into 12 points. Ayo Dosunmu carved up the Denver defense for 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting off the bench, while Jaden McDaniels added 20 through his trash talk and Anthony Edwards chipped in 17 while battling knee issues and foul trouble.
Where the Wolves cast thrived, the Nuggets’ cast was rough. Christian Braun went 0-of-4 for two points and Cameron Johnson managed just six.
“To get those guys going, they have to screen better,” Adelman said. “If you can free up your best players, that’s going to bring rotations … If I have to simplify actions to make it easier for these guys, we can do that.”
Despite trailing 2-1 in the series, Adelman insisted panic isn’t on the table heading into Game 4.
“It’s very similar to the Clipper series last year,” he said. “We’ve been down 0-2, tied 2-2, we’ve been down 3-1. We’ve seen all these things. So the panic is not going to be there. But without the panic, there has to be responsibility to get better for Game 4.”
In series that were tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 goes onto take the series 74% of the time. Denver is officially behind the 8-ball.