{"id":504232,"date":"2026-03-05T00:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/504232\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T00:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:52:08","slug":"how-nuggets-guard-bruce-brown-got-back-to-being-himself-nba-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/504232\/","title":{"rendered":"How Nuggets guard Bruce Brown got back to being himself | NBA Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:<\/p>\n

NBA Insider<\/p>\n

Count Bruce Brown among the Nuggets ready to make life easier on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that we\u2019re being guarded, somebody else is going to have to make a big shot,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said after Wednesday\u2019s practice at Ball Arena. \u201cThose guys, I have immense confidence in them. If those two, Jamal and Nikola, bring three people \u2014 sometimes four, if you consider the Utah game \u2014 other people have to make shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown has been doing that lately. He\u2019s coming off his best shooting month of the season after hitting 43.8% of his 3-pointers in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think I\u2019m being aggressive,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get an open 3, I get an open 3. If it\u2019s my first shot, it\u2019s my first shot, which I hate, but they\u2019ve been going in recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like myself out there,\u201d Brown admitted. \u201cI guess I was just passing up open shots, which I didn\u2019t even see, because I wasn\u2019t looking at the rim, which was my fault. Now, I\u2019m just being aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenverDenver 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)<\/p>\n

Teams crowding Murray and Jokic is nothing new. The Nuggets\u2019 coach pointed out that Aaron Gordon and Russell Westbrook hit some of the biggest shots in last season\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther 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,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to live with some of those shots if you\u2019re going to win big in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was being too passive, just trying to, I guess, fit into the scheme of the offense and just move the ball,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t working for me, too much, personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m thinking<\/p>\n

Ignore the situation. There\u2019s no reason for Aaron Gordon to play in another back-to-back this season.<\/p>\n

Gordon\u2019s recovery from another hamstring strain continued after Wednesday\u2019s practice. He looked good while playing one-on-one against player-development coaches. While Denver\u2019s coach didn\u2019t disclose a timeline for Gordon\u2019s return, multiple reports indicate the Nuggets have circled Friday\u2019s home game against the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

\"DenverInjured Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon (32) n the second half of an NBA game Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n

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\u2019t commit to holding Gordon out of some of those games to prevent him from playing on consecutive days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think the back-to-back thing will be situational depending on the stress level of the game he plays. That\u2019s kind of what it was before as well. Those things are tedious,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(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\u2019s right for him to get us to the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s production on both ends would help that cause, but Denver\u2019s priority must be getting a healthy Gordon to the postseason when back-to-backs are nonexistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing fully healthy, I\u2019d rather have that than have the home court and not have a full team,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s more like it.<\/p>\n

What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

Lu Dort\u2019s 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\u2019s acknowledgment changed things.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is being guarded like him in the league \u2014 nobody. Nobody is going at the knees of other MVPs. No one is taking shots like he is taking, but that\u2019s 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\u2019s on me,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll 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. \u2026 If it continues, we\u2019ll react accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"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)<\/p>\n

Brown offered one solution to the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you send clips to the NBA office and show them where there\u2019s fouls, and hopefully, the refs call it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Valanciunas knows what Jokic is going through when playing against the Thunder and other teams that deploy physical guards on the three-time MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouldn\u2019t be more annoying than a \u2018small\u2019 guarding you,\u201d Valanciunas said. \u201cThey\u2019re more active, quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m Seeing<\/p>\n

Tyus Jones snuck onto the Nuggets\u2019 practice court after the rest of the team exited Wednesday. It looked like Denver\u2019s assistant coaches were teaching the new guard the basics of the offense before media were asked to exit.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m following<\/p>\n

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\u2019s unknown if Billups is one of them.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg is close to resuming his run for Rookie of the Year. Flagg, one of the favorites alongside Charlotte\u2019s Kon Knueppel, was upgraded to questionable for Thursday\u2019s game in Orlando. The Mavericks forward has missed the last eight games with a midfoot sprain.<\/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":504233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-504232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504232","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=504232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}