DENVER — He says he wants everything that comes with guarding Anthony Edwards.
The potential for being embarrassed by a dunk. Or burned by a stepback 3. Of absorbing the inevitable trash talk when Edwards is rolling, and the predictable elbow and push when it is not.
Give it all to Christian Braun; he’ll wear it.
“It’s my job,” the Denver Nuggets guard said. “I mean, I don’t really have a choice … (but) it’s what I want. I want the assignment. I want that challenge.”
Saturday, Denver coach David Adelman singled out Braun as the unsung hero of the Nuggets’ 116-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of this first-round series. Edwards, the Timberwolves’ explosive and showy superstar, had a rather quiet debut.
And it was Braun who was holding the mute button after Edwards finished with 22 points on 7-of-19 shooting. Adelman called Braun’s defensive performance “great” in large part because Braun took it upon himself to switch his own defensive coverages on Edwards. On the Timberwolves’ pick-and-rolls, the Nuggets were playing up and chasing over the top of the screen. Braun, at times, would deviate and change the gap between the ballhandler and the roller.
By doing that, Adelman thought Edwards never got the same looks at the basket throughout the game.
Allowing a defender to stray from the principles of a team’s defense is not common practice in the NBA. Only the special, game-changing talents have that kind of freedom. Adelman said Braun earned that flexibility last season.
“You can trust CB and what he’s doing, because there’s a reason for it,” Adelman said. “I realized this last year, in the playoffs, when he really had an enormous role guarding the better players with (James) Harden, and then on to Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). He has that ability, so you can trust him. Not all players are like that. CB does things for the right reasons. You can trust that.”
As the Nuggets begin the pursuit of their second NBA title, there are few questions about their offense, which was the most efficient and prolific operation in the NBA this season. Their defense? Wellllll, let’s just say it has left Adelman red and screaming at times this season.
“I wish you guys would come in there at halftime when we’re struggling and hear from him personally,” Tim Hardaway quipped. “But yeah, he gets fired up, man.”
Defense — or “sitting down and guarding,” as Adelman likes to say — figures to be the challenge of the playoffs for the Nuggets. And it’s why the 25-year-old Braun has become such an important facet to this team in his fourth season.
He says he first took to defense at Kansas, where he helped the Jayhawks win the 2022 national title.
“To get on the court at Kansas my freshman year, that was kind of a big thing. To get on the court, you have to guard,” Braun said. “That’s kind of where I embraced it.”
The Nuggets took him with the 21st pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and he observed how Nuggets veterans Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown not only accepted but also thrived at taking defensive roles.
“Those guys carved out a role playing defense,” Braun said. “On the offensive side, it was easy for them because of how good everybody else is. So I understood that. I understand defense is what was going to get me on the court. And it’s kind of wonderful, you know. It’s what’s going to keep me on the court, too.”
Last season during the playoffs, Braun graduated from a reliable defender to an essential defender. It started in the opening round against the LA Clippers, when he was tasked with checking future Hall of Famer James Harden.
Game 1 did not go well. Harden had 32 points and 11 assists.
“He kicked my ass that night, for sure,” Braun said.
But Denver won. And while Harden played 43 minutes and finished with an even plus/minus, Braun played 45 minutes, during which the Nuggets were plus-5. In the aftermath, Braun studied and made calculated adjustments.
In the final six games of the series, Harden averaged 16.5 points and 8.9 assists while making only 41.7 percent of his shots. The topper: In Game 7, Harden went 2-for-8 from the field and finished with 7 points.
“Game 7 was a completely different story,” Braun said, smiling. “And that’s part of what’s fun about going up against those guys. I love taking those challenges. But it was a really fun series for me. I learned a lot, and I think me and James obviously respect each other a lot more after that.”
The next series, against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Adelman put Braun on Gilgeous-Alexander, the league MVP. The Thunder won in seven games, and Gilgeous-Alexander was a big reason: 29.7 points and 6.6 assists while making 53 percent of his shots. Braun could take solace, however: In the Western Conference finals, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points against Minnesota, then 30.3 against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals.
The Game 1 explosion by Harden and the success of Gilgeous-Alexander were humbling reminders to Braun that, oftentimes, good defense in the NBA isn’t rewarded with a stop.
“I think you understand you’re guarding great players, and they are going to score,” Braun said. “I said that earlier about Ant — especially in the West, you know you’ve got a good player every single series.”
He figures this series will be a lot like last year’s playoffs, where he learns a little about his head-to-head opponent each game, then makes adjustments on the fly. Braun certainly wasn’t resting on his Game 1 laurels, repeating several times that the playoffs are not one game but a series of games.
“I’m gonna learn what Ant does throughout the series … and it’s a series for a reason,” Braun said. “But I love the challenge. I love being able to guard the best players every night. I take pride … and obviously, it’s my job. So I gotta do it.”
Added Nikola Jokić: “I think he is accepting his role: just being annoying the whole game, guarding full court.”
Minutes before, as he was getting dressed, Braun pointed to his left ankle. His malleolus, the area by the ball of the ankle, is swollen like a cue ball, the residual from a sprained ankle in November. He says he hasn’t become used to the pain or lack of flexibility the swelling causes. He has only become used to treating it.
Later, Jokić would poke fun, noting that Braun has been good all season … before catching himself.
“OK, maybe after the injury he was (so-so) a little bit,” Jokić deadpanned. “But he is doing a good job now.”
Adelman and a sellout crowd thirsty for Wolves blood would concur. The Nuggets have some of the best offense this league has ever seen. And now they also have a budding defender to help slow opposing stars and do the little things that turn into big things in playoff series.
“I was really proud, honestly, of his eight rebounds also,” Adelman said. “When you guard the best player on the other team and still get back into the fray and come up with defensive rebounds, that wins playoff games. It’s not sexy. It’s just the facts. And to have eight of them while guarding that guy is very impressive.”