Nuggets win game four 121-63 – Offense

April 28, 2009
by Jeremy

Even though the Nuggets went into brain dead jump shooting mode in the middle of the third quarter this was one of the best offensive performances Denver has put together all season.  On several occasions they gave up an open look to make the extra pass to an open teammate under the basket.  Even shoot first don’t ask questions players like Melo and J.R. Smith were working in the flow of the offense.

Denver came out of the gate on fire as they scored on 17 of their 22 first quarter possessions.  The key was taking high quality shots and working together to get the shot they wanted.  They took a few more jumpers than I would have liked, but none of them, save for a shot Chauncey put up only because he thought he was fouled, were contested.  We have seen New Orleans pass up decent shots only to be forced to take a more difficult one towards the end of the possession.  There is no formula for when yu should shoot.  If you get a lane to drive down or have an open 15 footer take it. 

Nearly every timeout the report was that Denver talked about being aggressive and they were able to pull it off.  It was as complete an offensive game as Denver has played in a long time.  They made 56.6% of their shots and hit half of their threes, 10-20.  After a poor showing at the free throw line they rebounded nicely to make 25 of 30 good for 83.3%. Their lowest scoring quarter was 25 points and they posted 61 first half points and 60 second half points.  It was not just a matter of getting hot for a few minutes here or there, but it was a consistently great offensive game apart from the few minutes in the third quarter where they entered one pass and shoot a bad jumper mode.

The Nuggets were still only credited with 34 points in the paint, which I think is a little shy of what they actually did, and they worked the ball around until they had an open shot.  They did a great job of making creative interior passes.  New Orleans had been tipping a lot of passes, but Denver was successful in shuffling the ball around to the open man in the lane tonight. 

You shot will come and go, but as long as you are working for good open shots your offense will have a chance against even the best defensive squads. 

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Posted on April 28, 2009 at 2:35 am | filed in | Comments Off

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