Russell Westbrook really did not always change Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the Denver Nuggets. They do not also practically play the very same placement. Among them is making nearly $23 million this period. The various other is making the minimum. However as the Oklahoma City Rumbling strangled the Nuggets 102-87 on their home court Thursday, it was tough to assume anything besides “the Nuggets resemble a group that changed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with Russell Westbrook.”
Nearly All of Denver’s issues from last period continued right into their debut loss. Numerous were aggravated. Denver tried a league-low 31.2 3-pointers per video game last period. They fired 7-of-39 from deep on Thursday. They rated 29th in cost-free toss efforts at 19.9 per video game. They tried simply 14 versus the Rumbling.
Westbrook was rarely the only culprit on these fronts, however his visibility was a stunning pointer of simply what a go back the Nuggets– that are just 2 periods gotten rid of from an NBA champion– took when they allow Caldwell-Pope stroll. Caldwell-Pope shot over 40% on 3-pointers a period back. Westbrook is probably the most awful high-volume shooter in NBA background, and he completed with just 6 factors as he went 2-of-10 from the flooring and 1-for-6 from deep in the opener. Having Caldwell-Pope room the flooring assisted produce benefits for motorists near the edge. The Rumbling really did not trouble securing Westbrook as he spent time the border. They dedicated those added sources to walling off the paint without requiring to nasty. Caldwell-Pope’s border protection would certainly have been rather helpful versus ruling MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, that racked up 28 for Oklahoma City in the success.
This was all rather foreseeable. Westbrook gets on his 6th group in 7 years mostly as a result of these problems, however presenting him to a lineup that currently shared several of these problems just offered to amplify every one of them. Bench mins had actually currently been a catastrophe for Denver going back to the start of the Nikola Jokic age. Certainly, the Nuggets shed Westbrook’s 21 mins by 24 complete factors.
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