The Denver Nuggets may be trying to find a cure for their championship hangover.
The Nuggets suffered their second straight loss on Friday (as well as their fifth in the last seven games). They lost to the Houston Rockets in a 105-86 blowout, thereby eliminating them from In-Season Tournament contention.
After the game, Denver coach Michael Malone indicated that he could make a notable change to his lineup — flipping out some of his young players on the second unit and giving a bigger role to veteran wing Justin Holiday.
“I just told them, I’m going to start playing different people,” Malone said of his players, per Sports Illustrated. “You just can’t go out there because you think you’re going to play and go out there and do nothing. You’ve got to bring something to the party.
“I thought Justin Holiday, give him credit,” continued Malone. “I thought he went out there and was one of the few guys that had a positive plus-minus. I thought Justin played pretty well. So, we’ll see … That is a challenge, when you have so many young, unproven players off the bench, but we also have games to win.”
Nikola Jokic has been his usual sublime self for the Nuggets and is now up to 28.2 points and 13.5 rebounds per game this season (both career highs). But it is Denver’s supporting cast that has really dropped the ball lately. Aaron Gordon is putting up donuts (two points on a hair-raising 0-of-12 shooting Friday), Reggie Jackson can’t throw a rock into the ocean right now, and Michael Porter Jr. is passing the ball about twice a month.
Denver really only ran eight-deep during their title run last season with Bruce Brown, Jeff Green, and Christian Braun supplementing the starting five. But both Brown and Green left in free agency, and now the Nuggets are dealing with an ill-timed injury to starter Jamal Murray as well. As a result, Braun (22), Zeke Nnaji (22), and Peyton Watson (21) have had do a lot of heavy lifting with underwhelming results.
The 34-year-old Holiday has only played 49 total minutes for Denver thus far this year. But he is a 36 percent career three-point shooter and makes an impact on the defensive end as well. Holiday, who won a ring on the Golden State Warriors in 2015, will not be the savior for the Nuggets. But he sure might help stop the bleeding when Jokic and Co. are sitting on the bench.
