The Nuggets are haunted by the ghost of Trae Young
The 7-3 Denver Nuggets lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, 125-121, with Trae Young burning their defense for 42 points and 11 assists. Unfortunately for them, they have an even more talented point guard to deal with tomorrow.
The Nuggets still have the fourth-ranked scoring defense (102.8 PAPG) in the league despite the poor performance, but they ought to be more prepared this time, with Kyrie Irving coming to town.
Improvements on shooting must come as well. They are currently 28th in field goal percentage (43.8%) and it has also gone down in their last three games (42.5%). The team’s two leading scorers, Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, are collectively at the 38.1% mark in their last two.
Murray and the rest of the Nuggets’ guards are in for a night of chasing down Irving, while Jokic is in an exciting clash with Brooklyn Nets big men Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan.
The Nets are seeing ghosts too
It isn’t their opponents, though, but rather ghosts of themselves, particularly on defense. The Nets let another win get away on Wednesday, as they blew a 15-point, second half lead to the Utah Jazz and lost, 119-114. They are now 4-6 on the season.
Along with ranking 29th in scoring defense (121.4 PPG), they also allow the fifth-highest points per game in the all-important fourth quarter.
Another glaring stat that might help see through the Nets’ underachieving start is post play, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s literally non-existent. They have not attempted a single shot from a post-up in 10 games this season.
However, even with that post up insanity, if the Nets can fix their defensive woes, they can become a pretty solid team. Their wing players are arguably one of the toughest match-ups out there – Kyrie is a classic scoring point guard (29.7 PPG), Spencer Dinwidde is an all-around playmaker, Caris LeVert is a rising scorer, Joe Harris is a deadly shooter, and Taurean Prince is a very good “3 and D” player.
PREDICTION:
The Nuggets get back on track and win.
