DENVER (AP) — The scars of the Denver Nuggets' season aren't just the fresh ones from the clobbering they endured in Game 7 at Oklahoma City but the short bench they dragged through the playoffs courtesy of Calvin Booth and Michael Malone.
The duo's unrelenting wrangles led to their firings as general manager and head coach, respectively, on the eve of the postseason. Behind interim coach David Adelman, the Nuggets won their last three regular-season games to avoid the NBA's play-in, dispatched the Clippers in seven games and took the top-seeded Thunder to the brink in the semifinals only to get beaten 125-93 Sunday.
“It's a tough spot to be,” Nikola Jokic said. “He had three games to change something and I think he changed the energy. I think the guys were (awakened) a little bit. He made us believe in something and we were playing good. We played a seven-game series with probably the best team in the NBA. We had opportunities. We had changes. I think he did a really good job.”
Both Jokic and Jamal Murray, however, demurred when asked if Adelman should get the gig fulltime, saying it was above their paygrades, but Aaron Gordon endorsed Adelman, saying, “I love D.A. I hope he's here next year. I hope he's our coach. I hope he gets an entire training camp and offseason to figure out his philosophies.”
Adelman dodged the question himself, saying, “Decision-makers will make that decision. Obviously, blessed to have the opportunity, take the helm and lead the team. It's been an incredible experience and to have the buy-in from the guys was really special.”
For the second straight season, the Nuggets were gassed in Round 2, Game 7 and not even the presence of the best player on the planet could keep them from blowing a double-digit lead against a team coming at them in waves with fresher legs.
“The teams who have a longer rotation, a longer bench, are the ones who are winning,” Jokic said.
Now comes some big decisions for Josh Kroenke, including whether Adelman's audition was good enough to earn him the full-time head coaching job and whether anyone other than interim GM Ben Tenzer is the one to reassemble the roster around their Serbian superstar who turned 30 in February.
Booth put together the final pieces of the Nuggets' championship puzzle in 2023 but not re-signing the likes of Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Kantaveous-Caldwell Pope loomed large as the Nuggets bowed out in the Western Conference semifinals two years in a row.
Denver's two big moves last summer backfired when draft pick DaRon Holmes II tore an Achilles tendon in his Summer League debut and free agent addition Dario Šarić never earned the coaches' trust or a spot in the regular rotation.
Injuries exposed Denver's lack of depth all season but especially against the Thunder, who sport the youngest roster and deepest bench in the league.
Murray was sick throughout an up-and-down playoffs. Gordon was hobbled by a strained calf much of the season and played through a pulled hamstring Sunday. Jokic played massive minutes and the three-time MVP posted his best season ever, becoming the first non-point guard in NBA history to average a triple-double. Despite an elbow injury, he led all playoff participants through two rounds in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, double-doubles, triple-doubles and buckets.
Third-year pro Christian Braun dealt with foot injuries but he, too, posted his best statistical season and Michael Porter Jr. basically played one-handed in the playoffs after spraining his left shoulder.
Russell Westbrook was, well, Russell Westbrook.
Sometimes he was a boon off the bench; other times he was a bane.
Sometimes he'd commit the costly mistake like the one that ruined Jokic's 61-point triple-double against Minnesota late in the season. Other times, he came up big, like when he dished to Gordon for the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 1 against OKC.
The bench just wasn't much of one.
Julian Strawther had a terrific Game 6 in Round 2, scoring 15 points and helping the Nuggets force a Game 7. Peyton Watson provided defensive energy but was 1-for-8 Sunday and Denver was a whopping minus-34 during Westbrook's minutes in the decisive game.
“Next season, whether I'm here or somebody else, it's just about getting to the finish line healthier," Adelman said. “And that's going to be a challenge. As these guys get older year by year we have to maintain them. And when you play a young team like this that has unbelievable depth, you have to have the freshest version of yourself."
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press
