Cheers to the end of the regular season, Nuggets fans. Before the playoffs get started next weekend, here are 10 stats that have defined the first 82 games of Denver’s title defense. Maybe, just maybe, some of these will be relevant down the road.
130: Nikola Jokic’s career triple-double count after 25 more this season. He is eight away from catching Magic Johnson for third-most in NBA history. Jokic finished fifth in total points, third in total rebounds and second in total assists — top-five in all three categories for the second time in his career. He seems to be on a collision course with a third MVP award in four years, elevating him even higher into the echelon of all-time great basketball players. He averaged 101.3 touches per game this season, nearly 10 more than anyone else in the league, and 75.1 passes per game, 3.5 more than any other player. There are teams that depend on one individual to an extreme extent. No team orbits around an individual like the Nuggets.
16-2: The Nuggets’ record when Jamal Murray scores 25 or more points. They went 13-10 when he doesn’t play, and 8-9 when he played but scored 17 points or fewer. Those circumstances account for 76% of their losses. It’s pretty simple and has been for years: Murray’s availability and scoring impact are enough to raise Denver’s ceiling from playoff- to championship-caliber. He had a career-best season in field goal percentage (48.1%), 3-point percentage (42.5%), assists per game (6.5), rebounding percentage (6.6%), usage percentage (27.3%) and turnover ratio (8.0). His assist-to-turnover was over three for the first time. On his current trajectory, the 65-game rule is the only thing holding him back from finally achieving an All-Star or All-NBA nod in the not-so-distant future.
1: Number of games missed by Michael Porter Jr. He appeared in more games than any other Denver starter and played more minutes than anyone on the roster except Jokic. That might have seemed impossible as recently as two years ago, after Porter’s third back surgery. He set a career high for games played in 2022-23 with 62. He has shattered that personal record this season. That he has become a model of durability, leg brace and all, is remarkable.
88: Shots blocked by Peyton Watson. The pseudo-rookie ranked 14th in the NBA in total blocks. Why’s that so impressive? Well, he’s a 6-foot-7 wing in a bench role. It’s his first season as a rotation player in the NBA. All 13 players who blocked more shots than him are 6-10 or taller. The only non-centers in Watson’s statistical stratosphere are Kevin Durant (90), Scottie Barnes (tied with 88) and Derrick White (87). Durant played the sixth-most minutes of any individual in the league (2,791). White and Barnes both finished in the top-85 in total minutes with over 2,000. Watson ranked 188th with fewer than 1,500.
40.1%: Aaron Gordon’s defensive field goal percentage after the All-Star break. The Nuggets went into the break on a three-game skid, with exhausted legs. After that point, 186 players in the league defended 200 or more shot attempts the rest of the year. Gordon (299 FGA defended) leads the league and was the only player holding opponents worse than 40% until the final weekend. Nicolas Batum, Maxi Kleber and Trey Murphy III are the only other players with a DFG% of 41% or lower in that span. Gordon’s defense was critical to Denver’s 21-6 push after the break.
19.9: The Nuggets’ free throw attempts per game, ranking second-fewest in the league. (Congrats, Charlotte.) Their style of offense isn’t particularly conducive to drawing fouls, but Jokic’s frustration with no-calls became a significant storyline early in the season when he was ejected twice. But here’s why this number is important: Data shows that NBA referees have suddenly swallowed their whistles in the second half of the season, after league-wide grousing over the steady erosion of defense reached a fever pitch. Players aren’t getting bail-out trips to the line anymore for veering into helpless defenders on drives. That’s fine with Denver. Common sense says the stark officiating change benefits the Nuggets, who rank fifth in offensive rating without depending on free throws. The tendency is for whistles to decrease even more in the playoffs.
62.7: Average number of 3-pointers attempted in a Nuggets game. On offense, they rank last in the league in 3-point attempts at 31.2. (Consider that combined with the free throw stat: This team’s reliance on 2-point range makes it a true throwback.) And at the opposite end of the floor, opponents are limited to only 31.5 per game (second-fewest for any defense), partially a product of Jokic’s at-the-level pick-and-roll coverage with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope fighting around screens. Only the Pacers allow fewer outside attempts, and that has more to do with their deficiency at defending the restricted area. Denver’s numbers in this region of the floor signify a fascinating discrepancy from the best team in the East — the 3-point-pilled Celtics and their five-out offense. Will we find out which style wins in a series?
-10.7%: The difference between Reggie Jackson’s shooting percentage through Dec. 18 and his percentage since then. He was a revelation off the bench those first 28 games, a major reason the Nuggets stayed afloat while Murray missed 14 games in November and early December. Denver’s pre-Christmas road trip seems like the clearest moment to circle as the beginning of Jackson’s downturn. Going into that trip, he was 49.5% from the floor and 40.7% from three. Then he went four games without making a 3-pointer, and his splits are 38.8% and 32.5% since then. If he can locate his early-season efficiency again in the playoffs, it completely alters the outlook on Denver’s bench.
24.5: Denver’s net rating in “clutch time,” defined as a five-point game or closer in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime. According to NBA data, the Nuggets played 135 “clutch” minutes in the regular season, holding their opponents to 98.2 points per 100 possessions in those situations. Opponents shot 40.1% and 23.3% beyond the arc — a reminder of how dramatically the defending champs can ratchet up their intensity when they want to (i.e., the playoffs).
57: Denver’s single-season wins record, set in 2012-13 and matched over the weekend in Memphis. The Jokic-era Nuggets are a bowling ball, plowing through old precedents and reshaping the 50-year history of an entire franchise.
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