Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:<\/p>\n
NBA Insider<\/p>\n
There was no moral victory Monday at Ball Arena, but there was a silver, if not gold, lining in the Nuggets\u2019 loss to the Bulls.<\/p>\n
\u201cCam took the same shots that everyone\u2019s been saying \u2018What\u2019s going on with Cam?\u2019 It\u2019s going to happen. Cam is going to make shots. That\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said after a disappointing loss to the Bulls. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve been patient with this. It was really good to see. There\u2019s always silver linings in these games as you work your way through a really long season. He was confident to shoot the ball. Hopefully that\u2019s just kind of a launching pad for Cam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cam Johnson had his best game in a Nuggets uniform after missing the previous game with a right biceps strain. Denver\u2019s starting small forward scored a season-high 19 points, making 5-of-7 attempts from 3-point range. He grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists. The Nuggets won the 37 minutes he played by 13 points but lost by three.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a rough stretch, one of the worst ones that I\u2019ve had in my entire career,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou just got to try to count on the fact that you\u2019ll get out of it at some point. Hopefully, for me personally, I can grab a little momentum from this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old joined the Nuggets this summer in the trade that sent Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn. The career 38.8% 3-point shooter started his Nuggets\u2019 tenure 8 of 38 (21%) before his best shooting night of the season. Throughout the slump, Johnson maintained a sometimes-shots-fall-sometimes-they-don\u2019t approach. His teammates and coaches have stayed consistent with their support.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great player. Sometimes you just need to go through that stage,\u201d Nikola Jokic said. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing that concerns us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamal Murray felt similarly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking shots is the least of the worries. If it was all the other stuff, it would be something to talk about,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWhether his misses or makes, that\u2019s part of game. We all do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the nights shots aren\u2019t falling, Johnson said he judges his output on the energy with which he plays, his defensive impact and ability to make the right play with the ball. That\u2019s been more consistent than the shot, but there\u2019s one priority after watching the playoffs from afar the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill a lot of room for improvement,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAt the end of the day, man, I just want to contribute to wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m Thinking<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not much to criticize from Adelman\u2019s first 13 games of the season, but the first-year head coach owned up to one costly misstep after Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Adelman was down to his final timeout in the final 40 seconds when Jokic poked the ball away from Nikola Vucevic. The referees awarded Chicago possession, and there wasn\u2019t much time for Adelman and his assistants to deliberate. He quickly made the decision to challenge the call and risk his final timeout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked up, and then our guys got a different view of it as well on the computer,\u201d Adelman said of his assistants who advise him in such situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it looked like the ball changed direction down low. I was surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The referees determined there was not conclusive evidence to overturn the call, and that was it for Denver\u2019s timeouts. Vucevic\u2019s 3-pointer on the possession in question made Denver\u2019s hill to climb even taller, especially without the timeout.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind, I thought if we win this challenge, I still have my timeout, (and) we have a two-for-one situation with 30-plus seconds on the clock,\u201d Adelman explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, I lost the challenge. That\u2019s on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It looked like Adelman\u2019s decision would be a true killer after Murray hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with a few seconds left. Denver fouled Kevin Huerter, who put the Bulls back up three points with 2 seconds left, before Jokic drew a foul that advanced the ball the same as a timeout.<\/p>\n
Jokic\u2019s look at a long 3 just before the buzzer wasn\u2019t close, and Denver dropped to 0-3 in games decided in the final minutes or overtime. It started with a defensive breakdown that allowed Warriors guard Stephen Curry to hit a 3 that forced overtime in Denver\u2019s season opener. A close loss in Portland dropped Denver to 0-2 in the clutch, and the trend continued in the Nuggets\u2019 first home loss. On the flip side, Denver\u2019s only win by fewer than 10 points was 130-124 over Sacramento, and the Nuggets led by 13 points with 2:30 minutes to go before the Kings scored the final seven points.<\/p>\n
The clutch performances have been a blight on an otherwise promising start to the Adelman era.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I didn\u2019t have the timeout at the end. That\u2019s on me. That\u2019s a learning experience for me,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will learn from all three situations going forward. It\u2019s good tape to watch, to learn from as a team. I have major belief in this group in the clutch. We\u2019ll have more of these games, and we\u2019ll get better as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
What They\u2019re saying<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s starting point guard also shouldered some blame for Monday\u2019s loss. With Denver down a point with a little more than a minute left, Murray and Jokic initiated the lethal two-man game, but the wrong Nikola got hands on the ball. Vucevic tipped the ball to Ayo Dosunmu, who finished the play with a transition dunk that made it a three-point game. It was just Murray\u2019s second turnover of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a big turnover late. I think that was the key to the loss, honestly,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWe can talk about everything leading up to it, but when it comes down to it, it was a big possession.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nuggets\u2019 three-time Most Valuable Player said last week that his days of yelling at referees were over. Jokic explained why that was the case Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so much better out there. I don\u2019t even think about them. It\u2019s great,\u201d Jokic said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was a perfect moment for me to talk with them. I don\u2019t need to yell at them \u2013 or we don\u2019t need to yell back and forth. When the season starts, I think it\u2019s really helping me to focus on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m following<\/p>\n
Julian Strawther will miss a second consecutive game Wednesday due to low back pain, but Jokic and Johnson are no longer listed on Denver\u2019s injury report. The Pelicans will be without Jordan Poole and others, while Zion Williamson and Saddiq Bey are questionable.<\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s trip to Denver on Nov. 28 probably won\u2019t be the must-see matchup that was expected. Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama will be reevaluated in two or three weeks after suffering a left calf strain Friday.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets will also avoid Ja Morant on Monday in Memphis. The Grizzlies\u2019 star guard suffered a right calf strain in Saturday\u2019s game against Cleveland and will miss at least two weeks.<\/p>\n
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo left Monday\u2019s loss to Cleveland with a groin strain and is expected to miss one or two weeks.<\/p>\n
The NBA fined the Cavaliers $100,000 Tuesday afternoon after Cleveland held out Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley for the Nov. 12 game at Miami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room: NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-300280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}