Hawks @ Nuggets Thoughts

I was at this game and was excited because the Nuggets have been competitive if nothing else, however that was not the case tonight. They trailed by about 12-20 points for most of the game and never really had a run to back into the game. These types of games are the type that the Nuggets need to not have in order to take the next step in their development.

The team struggled to shoot the ball all night and finished 39% from the floor. They still could have been in the game if the defense was able to do anything at all. The Hawks shot 50% from the field; Millsap and Horford could not be stopped. The duo combined for 40 points on 16-27 from the field. Nurkic must still not be at full strength or else he would have seen the court for more than a measly seven minutes. He makes the Nuggets a much better defensive team when he is on the floor and is the only big on the team that has any interior presence.

Nikola Jokic obviously still needs to work on his defense, but he was still the only starter on the Nuggets to have a positive plus/minus. I'm of the belief that Coach Malone should play Jokic much more. He was only on the court for 18 minutes despite being the only starter who wasn't a net negative.

Will The Thrill played a very good game off of the bench like normal, but they need to get better performances off the the bench from just about anyone else. Foye finished with 0 points, though he was injured during the game. Darrell Arthur was awful from the field in this game (1-7). Other than Barton, he seems to be the only player who can put up points off of the bench, but when he has games like this the bench has no chance.

Sean Kilpatrick played well and finished with 11 points. He is the type of scoring option this team desperately needs off of the bench. I think the Nuggets should sign him for the rest of the season after they re-upped his 10 day contract earlier in the week.

This was a down game for the Nuggets. They came out flat, much like they did against the Grizzlies and Pistons, but they were never able to make a comeback. When Nurkic is at full health in the coming weeks, Malone should experiment with some lineups that utilize him and Jokic. These are the big men of the Nuggets future and they need to get as much court time as possible this season while there isn't much at stake.

The Nuggets will take the floor next in Boston on Wednesday.