Denver Nuggets

Defense Is More Important Than Offense

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:06 p.m. ET

Fansided, Charles Murray/FanSided via Nugg Love

Dec 30, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) defends Denver Nuggets forward Nikola Jokic (15) in the first quarter at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Defense Is More Important Than Offense

Concentrate, Con-test or else you give Confidence; Change, play Consistent, play Correctly, or Cry.

There were lots of “C’s” to go with this game. But it wasn’t a “C” that lost the game.

It was a “D”; a “D” as in lack of consistent effective DEFENSE. And there was weak DEFENSE by the Nuggets tonight on the ball and on the threes from the get go.

Weak, as in no hard effort. Weak as in no determination or focus on their match-ups.

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The other player beat them to death.

Jameer won at title. A Pro. But he didn’t win without his team playing defense.

A Pro is a Pro

Listen, a pro is a pro, and the Nuggets better understand this going forward.

Let your man hit a few, and he will eat you up the rest of the night.

Bad news. The Nuggets lost another close one.

They were knocked out of the eight seed.

Good news?

It is not a loss from skill or coaching; it is a loss based on heart and mental preparation; a loss based on lack of focus, determination, and lack of DEFENSE.

This is something a man can change.

Gary Harris is one of our defensive stalwarts. Where was he tonight?

Defensive Stats

We need to re-prioritize. If I were the coach, I would keep defensive statistics:

How many times did your man score on you?

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How many times were you within one foot of his shot? How many blocks did you get? How many effective helps did you get?

How many times were you able to go over the screens and stop your man? How many times did you close the lane or steal the pass?

How many times did you box out?

How many times did you physically and mentally overcome the man you are guarding?

Or how many times did you fail due to lack of smarts and effort?

Get up on the player you are guarding; in his face, body up, anticipate! Be better and smarter!

Mudiay played a good game; but his man still scored

Were They Lazy on Defense?

Listen, Michael Jordan won best defensive player of the year even though he was the best offensive player of all time.

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Why?

He wanted to win, to stop his man so bad, you could see blood on his brow.

Was he lazy like our guys are sometimes?

Just look at our slow, flailing arms on closeouts.

Guys, you should be embarrassed at your level sometimes.

You know who you are.

Faried plays with effort, but he needs to close out better.

We Are Learning But Where is the Heart?This game showed reasonable preparation, good positioning on offense, good shooting, good substitutions, and less turnovers, OK?More from Nugg LoveTakeaways from Nuggets vs. 76ers45m agoThe Last Game of the Year for the Denver Nuggets14h agoGeorge Karl: Criticisms for Past and Present Players23h agoWe Must get Nikola Jokic to the All-Star Game1 d agoAre The Nuggets Learning How To Close Out Games?1 d agoBut DEFENSE is all heart and focus and is ultimately more important the other skills.This game would not have been a loss if our team would have played harder on DEFENSE from the onset.Every player.Don’t let the next guy do it, YOU DO IT!Philly would not have gained confidence;once they gained confidence, they couldn’t miss the rest of the game.Next: Focusing on Golden State Our new focus in practice has to be on close outs. Our new FocusDid the Nuggets learn anything?Yes.DEFENSE is all they should principally concentrate on for the foreseeable future.Conversely, Philly did play good DEFENSE. They were on the ball with an all-out effort on most possessions.But sometimes when the Nuggets were on DEFENSE? The “D” isappeared.The Denver Nuggets had better realize that they will not bring more people to the games by losing because of their poor defensive effort.People would rather stay home and watch the last two minutes on TV.Next: A little guy is a top offensive man, AND defenseive man because he cares Will our defense be better than theirs? Offense is Fun, but DEFENSE Wins GamesThe Nuggets did not play bad on offense. Offense is fun. They have one of the best offenses in the NBA. It helps the player get statistics so that the coach will give you more time. They get cheers.nuggetsNugg Love 2wDenver Nuggets: What It Means To Win in the Mile HighMore headlines around FanSided:9w - Denver Nuggets: DFS Picks for the Season Opener against the Pelicans12w - Denver Nuggets Fantasy: Implications From Preseason Opener12w - Emmanuel Mudiay: Analyzing the Art of Passing15w - Denver Nuggets: Will Malik Beasley Sadly Only Get Insurance Minutes?16w - Top 5 Denver Nuggets with Any Fantasy Basketball ValueMore News at Nugg Love We actually have an excellent offense. Just good enough to be over confident and not play DEFENSE.Let’s not point a finger, but don’t we have a defensive coach?Is he doing the right things?This is a team lack of effort loss.Just look at those threes Philly shot… uncontested.Just a cursory hand lift. Slow to put pressure on the man with the ball.Just look at the game!Why did the Nuggets not pressure the ball? Why did they not body up?Don’t they know that DEFENSE makes champions?Next: Not closing out loses games. Period. Philly hit so many uncontested threes that their confidence went through the roof. The effort was sorely lacking.Effort. Effort.Poor closeouts, poor recognition, poor mental defensive preparation; letting their guards in the lane.Not boxing out on rebounds which leads to sickout and threes.And Philly shot threes, and threes.Sixteen threes.Want your voice heard? Join the FanSided team!Philly deserved the win and good for them.Next: Discuss our win or our loss? We want to talk about wins We Would Rather Discuss WinsIf we had made that last shot and gone into overtime and won, we would be talking about Jokic’s terrific first quarter, the return of the Nurkic, and the comeback effort in the end.DenverNuggets122Philadelphia76ers124But no, we are discussing the loss.As already stated, we really deserved to lose this game.Philly controlled the tempo right from tip-off.Even if we had won, our DEFENSE was poor.Next: We have the goods; now prove it with defense. The offensive player has the one move advantage Automatic Advantage of an Offensive PlayerThere is an automatic advantage a good NBA player has on who ever guards him due to the fact that he has a split second to initiate the direction of the play.More from Nugg LoveTakeaways from Nuggets vs. 76ers45m agoThe Last Game of the Year for the Denver Nuggets14h agoGeorge Karl: Criticisms for Past and Present Players23h agoWe Must get Nikola Jokic to the All-Star Game1 d agoAre The Nuggets Learning How To Close Out Games?1 d agoSo, the defensive player has to anticipate, react and over extend his effort beyond the offensive player at each confrontation in order to not let his man beat him.Overextend his effort.Play harder on defense than offense.Did you hear? Do not let your man beat you.It would be better for you to physically foul the man hard than let him score on you.A good shot effects an outlook. Concentration leads to confidence. The game is a game of ebbs and tides; flows. You get some, we get some. But we will get more if we play DEFENSE.Once Philly hit a few shots, their confidence went up, and they could not be stopped. Denver let them.We let them beat us because it was too hard to play tough DEFENSE.Next: Guys, you should be embarrassed and play your best game against a championship team. They can beat Golden State, coach; WILL it; play DEFENSE The Nuggets Will Beat Golden State If They Play DEFENSEDenver will play Golden State next.Great. We only lost by 24 on November 10th to them. Our offense can be almost as good as theirs. So why did we get blown out? Because Golden State plays DEFENSE and because Denver did not.Let’s see how our men focus against the best team in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors.The best team perhaps in many years (time will tell).Can they get up for Curry, Durant, Draymond and Klay? Can they stop their man? They are physically capable if they help each other and talk. They can only do it if they play harder than they ever have on every play. And play smart.Must Read: Takeaways from 76ers vs NuggetsAnd play DEFENSE.This article originally appeared on