For much of this 2022-23 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets were looking like the best team in the Western Conference, but they are stumbling toward the finish line.
The latest setback came in the form of an embarrassing 124-103 loss to the lowly Houston Rockets and head coach Michael Malone blasted his team after the game.
“We had a chance to clinch number one tonight,” Malone said. “And we talked about it this morning, the opportunity at hand and we definitely did not take that opportunity seriously, because the way we played tonight was unacceptable. Playing like that this late in the year, if that’s how we’re going to play, we’ll be out in the first round.”
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The Rockets, who remain at the bottom of the West, had 20 offensive rebounds and forced 20 turnovers as they dominated the top-seeded Nuggets, who have now fallen to 52-27. This was the third loss in the last four games for Denver and while they had the excuse of Nikola Jokic being absent for the first two losses, he was available here.
Jokic struggled on his return too, as while he had 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists, he turned it over 8 times. The Nuggets suffered another blow as well in this one, as Jamal Murray suffered an injury and they just seem to be falling apart at the worst possible time.
The Nuggets Reportedly Held A Team Meeting Last Month
Prior to this recent bad run, the Nuggets had also lost five out of six games in March. Jokic had admitted at the time that they were concerned with how things were going and it got bad enough to the point, that a team meeting was held.
It is safe to say at this point, that teams won’t be fearing the Nuggets going into the postseason. They just look like a shell of the team that was so dominant earlier this season and they look set for another defeat on Thursday when they head to Phoenix to take on a Suns team that is still unbeaten with Kevin Durant in the lineup.
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