All hope is not lost; the Nuggets need to simply do a better job of taking advantage of the times they get in the lane.  Denver finished with 44 points in the paint, a respectable total, but when you consider how many more points they could have had if they did not offer up so many meek attempts that were thrown back, there is hope Denver can get their offense back on track.  In the Film Room session below, we take a look at what Denver must do to improve their offense in the paint.

Editor’s note: Once again, I am having difficulties with the new software I am using. My non video images are not being displayed (such as the images of the wide open corners and the into and exit image, when I upload the video. Everything is fine when I save it, but when I upload it to Youtube it is different. I apologize for the poor quality.

In our pre-series primer on the Lakers clog-the-lane defensive philosophy I mentioned how the Nuggets cannot simply run their first action and then settle into iso mode.  In game one, they were very impatient and as shown in the first couple of clips, they were constantly attacking the Lakers set defense from isolation sets.  Denver must show more patience in game 2 by moving without the ball and not giving up after the Lakers stop the initial pick and roll.

UPDATE:  Here are the missing frames from the video showing the open corner on penetration.

Afflalo wide open in the corner.

Afflalo needs to move to the open corner and Gallo needs to drift back to cover against the fast break.

Out of Denver’s four centers, the one who does the best defending Bynum is Timofey Mozgov.  In the Film Room segment below I have strung together six clips from the April 13 game where Mozgov is defending Bynum.

Editors Note: I had several technical issues while trying to edit and upload this video, so please do not judge me too harshly.

Mozgov was on the floor for 12 minutes and he was guarding Bynum for all 12.  During that time Bynum was 3-6 scoring seven points and pulled down three rebounds.  In the other 26 minutes Bynum played he was 8-13 compiling 23 points while collecting five rebounds.  One thing to keep in mind of the three shots Bynum converted one was on a defensive goaltending call on Mozgov when he pulled the ball off the rim a split second too early after a Bynum miss and another one was that very difficult fading jump hook Bynum made that was shown in the Film Room clips.

I believe Mozgov should return to being the starter and have his minutes increased to at least 20 while being tasked to cover Bynum.  Bynum is the key player for L.A. offensive and Denver has a player who has proven capable of defending him.  They must take advantage of that fact and put him on the floor.

The film does not lie.  Free flowing offense getting shots in the lane versus standing around and awaiting the inevitable horrible shot.  I have no idea why they get away from what works in an attempt to do things the way everyone else does.  The devotion to iso heavy stagnant sets with one player who is not suited for the role tries to play hero is baffling.  Surely over his long and illustrious coaching career George Karl has picked up a few nice plays to run in that situation.

What is interesting is the group that was moving so well was comprised of players who most fans would expect to struggle to score.  It looks to me like they could teach the starters a thing or two.

With the Nuggets down two and under 40 seconds left Russell Westbrook, who had 38 points on 15-28 shooting ran a pick and roll on the right side of the floor with Serge Ibaka.  Arron Afflalo was covering Westbrook and Kosta Koufos was checking Ibaka.

Ibaka sets a very strong screen and Westbrook does a fine job of directing Afflalo into it.  Koufos does a solid job of hedging.

Koufos forces Westbrook back into the middle of the lane, the other Nuggets all collapse into the lane to force Westbrook to pass, all except for Al Harrington who smartly remains in place to deny a pass to Kevin Durant who had already gone nova.  Miller sags off of James Harden and forces Westbrook to pass.

Lawson, who had been covering Daequan Cook and dropped down to the left block when Westbrook drove into the paint, closed out on Harden.  Miller reacts and rotates to the corner to challenge a potential pass to Cook.

So far, so good, Denver has stopped a pick and roll and rotated.  However, for some reason Afflao and Koufos have both decided to stay with Ibaka.  Westbrook is wide open at the top of the circle.   Harden gets past Lawson after a shot fake and Westbrook is ready for a pass back.

Westbrook, who if you recall is one of the two Thunder players who is making shots, catches the ball at the free throw line and drains a jumper to put the Thunder up by two possessions with only 27 seconds remaining.

In my mind the blame falls on Afflalo, however, it is certainly possible that he could have thought that he and Koufos switched and Westbrook was Koufos’ responsibility.  Regardless, how two players covered Ibaka while Westbrook was wide open is the kind of mind-numbingly poor decision making on defense that has been haunting the Nuggets.  It also goes to show how one mistake can undermine solid defense by the rest of the team.

It also displays the lack of communication that is necessary to play successful team defense.  Afflalo clearly saw both he and Koufos were covering Ibaka.  It was clear they were not on the same page.  If he thought they had switched, why did he not instruct Koufos to return to Westbrook.  If they were playing hedge and recover, as Koufos clearly was, he should have told Afflalo to return to Westbrook because he was back in position to cover Ibaka.

Denver cannot continue to struggle on both ends of the floor in close games.  Hopefully the return of Danilo Gallinari will help on the offensive end, but at this point their defensive shortcomings are not going to be resolved via personnel.

The good news, if there is any, is Denver had stopped Westbrook on the pick and roll and rotated to handle any threat on the weakside.  However, as long as they fail to make simple adjustments, such as cover the red hot point guard, or box out, they will continue to exit the court in defeat.

In this segment I take a look at what Al Harrington can do, and not do, offensively. We had a lot of material to work with thanks to his 43 point outburst against Denver last season. Watch the video and then we will dig a little deeper into what Harrington has to show us.

Video after the jump.

Obviously we all know Harrington can hit the three. His three point shooting will undoubtedly help the Nuggets offensively. He is a mediocre 35.5% shooter from behind the arc for his career and last season only converted on 34.2% of his chances. That may sound foreboding, but I think it is important to take note that during his time in Golden State he converted 38.8% of his threes. The difference is in New York when he was on the floor he was the primary scorer. No rotation player for New York took more shots per minute than Harrington did. That means he is the focus of the defense more often than not. As a result he was forced to take more difficult shots more frequently. In Golden State he was the fourth option on a team with Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson. With more players for the defense to focus on came better attempts and a higher rate of success.

I believe Harrington’s experience in Denver will be more like Golden State than New York thanks to having players like Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith as well as Nene and Ty Lawson. Harrington should never have to be the primary scorer when he is on the court and thus should be able to get better looks at the basket.

I am worried about his love of the outside shot as represented by the clip where he launched a bad heat check three with 11 seconds left on the shot clock. We already get those horrible heat check threes from J.R., Chauncey and to a lesser extent Melo simply because he rarely appears to be on fire from long range. For a team that falls in love with the jump shot far too frequently Harrington will likely add fuel to the fire as opposed to a calming influence.

As I mentioned in the video, I loved Harrington’s ability to drive with either hand. Players who can shoot, and drive in either direction are very difficult to guard because an individual defender can only take away one of those options. He can play tight to defend the jumper, but will open himself up to a drive. If you shade him one way or the other he can simply take the opening and get into the lane.

As long as the Nuggets play unselfishly Harrington can be a tremendous weapon as a weak side shooter, a cutter or a player who can receive a pass and slice through the defense. While I wish he was a better passer, he did show decent accuracy when he passed and a sense of timing.

Harrington will be a very nice addition to the Nuggets’ offense and can be a more efficient player as long as he does not have to carry too heavy of a workload. Plus he is another player who is not afraid to take the final shot if he finds the ball in his hands. Even at his worst, he is a player that must be accounted for and can get to the foul line by attacking slower defenders.

The one thing that is missing from these video clips is a post up game.  Harrington does his damage either behind the arc or at the rim after an aggressive drive.  When Al and Chris Andersen are in the game together the Nuggets will have no big man with a reliable post game and that will only make the Nuggets more likely to chuck long jumpers.

With the Nuggets already a highly efficient offensive team when they have all their weapons I am not sure how much better Harrington, despite all his talents, can make them when it comes to putting the ball in the hoop. However, he will replace the scoring Denver lost when Linas Kleiza departed and then some and will make them a more explosive team which will help them win (regular season) games.

Fortunately, Denver does not have to play perfect defensively to defeat the Jazz, but the clearly must play better. Below you will see clips of individual mistakes that can be easily remedied through communication or increased focus and attention to detail.

A couple of things I forgot to mention in the video was that switching defenses are usually employed to prevent a team from getting open perimeter shots. Give the coaching staff and players credit for having the guts to implement the switching scheme and stick with it. Secondly, I forgot to mention that Nene and Kenyon did a very good job of not reaching.  It is easier to reach than move your feet and they both expended the additional energy to play defense with their legs and not their arms.

The one comment I will make is I was disappointed that George Karl fell off the wagon and chose to play Anthony Carter over Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo. The Nuggets won and Carter obviously did not make any crippling plays, but I thought Lawson was doing a good job of defending Nash and Afflalo was playing exceptionally well defensively. I would have greatly preferred to see Afflalo in the game down the stretch, but as the Nuggets did pull out the victory it does not make for a very convincing case.

Even so, as was pointed out during the Altitude broadcast, give Carter credit for answering the bell and playing solid basketball.

I also thought the Suns desire to push the pace probably contributed to their downfall. Coming off a tough home game the night before against the Magic, their breakneck pace probably contributed to the outcome in the Nuggets’ favor. The Suns ran Denver out of the gym in the second quarter, but in the second half the Nuggets were much quicker to loose balls and seemed to have a little more spunk to their movements. Plus we have seen the Nuggets settle for jumpers when they become fatigued and I think the Suns played into the Nuggets hands a little bit as they settled for jumpers for much of the second half.

Congratulations to Denver on a good win, but as I pointed out after the loss to the Pistons, the Nuggets do not prove their worth winning home games, but winning road games. Still, a loss to the Suns in that situation would have been devastating and Denver deserves credit for pulling out a hard fought win.

Featured Blogs: Valley of the Suns | Bright Side of the Sun

I thought it was interesting Michael at Valley of the Suns mentioned the game last January where Grant Hill lost his balance at the end of a game in Denver. I expected the no call against Nene at the end against Nash would bring back old memories of that finish for Suns fans and I guess it did.

For my very first Film Room segment  at RMC I have compiled some clips from both halves of the Detroit game to show the stark contrast between how the Nuggets have played offense in the first half compared to the second half.