Nuggets game takeaways
Note: I missed the bad part of the 1st quarter and 2nd quarter due to dinner so all the stuff that went wrong I can only sort of guess at from what I heard from the commentary. Also, sorry I had no takeaways from the Bucks game. Actually missed that game due to being out of town.
Rose continues to look good. Hoping it carries into the regular season. His shot could stand to be more fluid in its motion imo, but he did knock down a 3 that was a very in rhythm shot. He took a few bad 3s imo, but it's at least nice to see him being confident with his jumper in a way. I thought he got mugged again on a few drives...that's just gonna be part of the game I'm guessing. Still, he's looking like he is rounding into form so I'll take it.
Butler looked fantastic tonight. He was knocking down his midrange shots which I think was the best part. Obviously won't be expecting that high of a shooting percentage every night, but if he can knock down a couple of those midrange jumpers like he did tonight, that'll be huge for our offense.
McDermott's offense is looking better every game. I have already gotten into the habit of thinking every jumper he shoots is going in, much like I did with Korver. He had a good amount of success coming off of those Rip Hamilton type screen plays. He's very good at running his man into those screens and freeing himself for wide open shots. He almost had a great move in the paint, but he got blocked. The scoring instincts are definitely there, hopefully he'll be able to use more than just the shooting aspect of it. I think his passes themselves could be a little more crisp, they seemed forced at times, as if the pass itself was too difficult to make. These are mostly when he comes off screens and his defender is still with him and he tries to make the pass into the post. I think he'll improve that as the season goes on.
Gasol - Thibs definitely is having the defense funnel guys into Noah and Gasol and it's resulted in Gasol getting lots of blocks and altered shots. He's a great team defender. His post moves though...definitely not sharp this game. A lot of his hooks and such were way off. I'd like to see him get deeper in the paint. Otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied with what I see from him every game.
Taj is basically a black hole with the ball now, but I think he can be the go to scorer for the bench unit as a result. I want him to pass more even though he's done very well with getting his shots off and such. He's improved so much on the offensive end though so I can't be too upset.
Mirotic showed some very quick hands today. He got lots of deflections and was credited with 4 steals. Also put up a solid 12 points. His and-1 drive near the end of the game was very nice. He definitely has more handles than I gave him credit for before preseason. I think he'll get to the point where he's knock down from 3 as well. He struggled a little tonight, but did get one to fall late.
Other random thoughts:
I still love Nate Robinson. I cheered when he hit that ridiculous turnaround buzzer beating 3. That's just what he does.
How in the world did this Nurkic guy score so well on us? Neil and Stacey said he came into tonight averaging 5 points and 31% shooting before this game. That's embarrassing...but not as embarrassing as
Gary "we should have taken him over McDermott" Harris. 0 points. 3 fouls. Couple rebounds and assists. Whoopdeedoo.
Faried looks like he's gonna have a monster year. He shot his jumpers with a lot of confidence and knocked down all his free throws. If that's a consistent part of his game, he's going to be a huge offensive threat for them.
