Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:
NBA Insider
Count Bruce Brown among the Nuggets ready to make life easier on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
“The way that we’re being guarded, somebody else is going to have to make a big shot,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said after Wednesday’s practice at Ball Arena. “Those guys, I have immense confidence in them. If those two, Jamal and Nikola, bring three people — sometimes four, if you consider the Utah game — other people have to make shots.”
Brown has been doing that lately. He’s coming off his best shooting month of the season after hitting 43.8% of his 3-pointers in February.
“I just think I’m being aggressive,” Brown said.
“If I get an open 3, I get an open 3. If it’s my first shot, it’s my first shot, which I hate, but they’ve been going in recently.”
That wasn’t the case at the start of the season. The reserve guard said he had a conversation with assistant coach Jared Dudley about how he could earn more playing time earlier in the season. Dudley helped Brown realize he was being too passive.
“I didn’t feel like myself out there,” Brown admitted. “I guess I was just passing up open shots, which I didn’t even see, because I wasn’t looking at the rim, which was my fault. Now, I’m just being aggressive.”
Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown (11) dribbles during an NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Teams crowding Murray and Jokic is nothing new. The Nuggets’ coach pointed out that Aaron Gordon and Russell Westbrook hit some of the biggest shots in last season’s playoffs. Peyton Watson, on Dec. 23 in Dallas, and Cam Johnson, last week in Oklahoma City, have gotten good looks at big shots already this season. The trend is going to continue until someone is able to step forward and make opposing defenses pay.
Adelman said running more pick-and-roll sets on one side of the court will force the third defender to cover more ground, but it all gets back to one thing.
“Other people have to make shots, but our main two people have to be clean with their decision making. If they do that, then those other guys are going to get great looks. We have to trust them,” Adelman said.
“You have to live with some of those shots if you’re going to win big in the playoffs.”
The last season Brown spent in Denver, the Nuggets won the championship. He took a career-high 3.2 attempts from 3-point range in 2022-23. February was the first month this season where Brown took more than two 3s per game.
“I was being too passive, just trying to, I guess, fit into the scheme of the offense and just move the ball,” Brown said.
“It wasn’t working for me, too much, personally.”
What I’m thinking
Ignore the situation. There’s no reason for Aaron Gordon to play in another back-to-back this season.
Gordon’s recovery from another hamstring strain continued after Wednesday’s practice. He looked good while playing one-on-one against player-development coaches. While Denver’s coach didn’t disclose a timeline for Gordon’s return, multiple reports indicate the Nuggets have circled Friday’s home game against the New York Knicks.
Injured Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (32) n the second half of an NBA game Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
That would take care of one back-to-back, as the Nuggets host the Lakers on Thursday, but there are three more to get through: March 11 vs. Houston and March 12 at San Antonio; March 17 vs. Philadelphia and March 18 at Memphis; March 24 at Phoenix and March 25 vs. Dallas. Adelman didn’t commit to holding Gordon out of some of those games to prevent him from playing on consecutive days.
“I do think the back-to-back thing will be situational depending on the stress level of the game he plays. That’s kind of what it was before as well. Those things are tedious,” Adelman said.
“(The) medical (staff) has a ton of information. Obviously, selfishly, as a coach, I would love to play him 38 minutes every game, but we have to do what’s right for him to get us to the finish line.”
The information available to the public shows Gordon suffered his second hamstring strain of the season Jan. 23 in Milwaukee. He played 33 minutes the night before in Washington.
With the Western Conference standings tightly packed heading into the final quarter of the season, there will be temptation to try to get back into the top four and earn home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Gordon’s production on both ends would help that cause, but Denver’s priority must be getting a healthy Gordon to the postseason when back-to-backs are nonexistent.
“Being fully healthy, I’d rather have that than have the home court and not have a full team,” Adelman said.
That’s more like it.
What they’re saying
Lu Dort’s flagrant 2 foul on Nikola Jokic remained a hot topic of conversation after the Thunder wing told The Athletic he crossed the line. Neither Adelman, Brown nor Jonas Valanciunas said Dort’s acknowledgment changed things.
“Nobody is being guarded like him in the league — nobody. Nobody is going at the knees of other MVPs. No one is taking shots like he is taking, but that’s our reality, so we have to continue to try to win games. He has to play through that physicality. I have to find places on the court where he can play in space. That’s on me,” Adelman said.
“We’ll deal with it as long as we can. At the same time, I have no problem with him reacting. Reacting is part of being a human being. … If it continues, we’ll react accordingly.”
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) in the second half of an NBA game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Brown offered one solution to the problem.
“I think you send clips to the NBA office and show them where there’s fouls, and hopefully, the refs call it,” he said.
Valanciunas knows what Jokic is going through when playing against the Thunder and other teams that deploy physical guards on the three-time MVP.
“Couldn’t be more annoying than a ‘small’ guarding you,” Valanciunas said. “They’re more active, quicker.”
What I’m Seeing
Tyus Jones snuck onto the Nuggets’ practice court after the rest of the team exited Wednesday. It looked like Denver’s assistant coaches were teaching the new guard the basics of the offense before media were asked to exit.
Peyton Watson was jogging on a treadmill, while Cam Johnson was riding an exercise bike in the gym next to the court, as the Nuggets wrapped up practice.
What I’m following
Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones and other defendants in an FBI probe into rigged high-stakes poker games will stand trial starting Nov. 2, a federal judge said Wednesday. Some of those defendants will receive plea offers, though it’s unknown if Billups is one of them.
Cooper Flagg is close to resuming his run for Rookie of the Year. Flagg, one of the favorites alongside Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, was upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game in Orlando. The Mavericks forward has missed the last eight games with a midfoot sprain.