It’s an only partially complete picture, one that doesn’t touch on the individual player performances which will greatly influences the team’s success (or lack thereof). These three stats – remaining SoS, clutch winning percentage and the net rating of their regular starting five – were selected to establish a zoomed-out overview of Denver’s general state of affairs coming out of the All-Star break. There are, of course, many more ways to slice and dice this Nuggets season, and boatloads more data to delve into to get a clearer picture of where they’re at and where they may be headed. Barton as well should be nearing a return soon, and if Denver is able to maintain a fully intact roster down the stretch run and through the postseason, it should greatly increase their chances for desirable seeding and a deep playoff run. In fact, the Nuggets injury report is down to just Barton and rookie Bol Bol, who is effectively out of the rotation this season anyhow. However, as Ryan Blackburn of the Denver Stiffs recently pointed out, due to the many various injuries they’ve incurred, the last time this lineup played together was on Christmas Day, and with Barton remaining out for at least another game as of this writing, that means by the time they reunite it will have been a full two months or more since the Nuggets had their full starting five on the court. In other words, the Nuggets’ five-man starting unit has basically been dominant when they are all playing together. Among these, Denver’s regular starting five of Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton III, Paul Millsap and Nikola Jokic have the sixth-best net rating of plus-12.1, meaning that when they were on the floor they outscored their opponents by 12.1 points per 100 possessions (an approximation for the number of possessions in a game). So far this season, there have been 27 five-man lineups in the NBA which have logged 200 or more minutes. Plus-12.1 Net Rating Of The Murray-Harris-Barton-Millsap-Jokic Five-Man Lineup While head coach Michael Malone would still prefer his team to get off to stronger starts, continuing to tap into their ability to find resilient ways to come up with wins late in games should continue to be central to Denver’s hunt for a top playoff seed and their postseason success. 500 when behind after the second quarter. Moreover, The Nuggets have the third-best record in the league at 16-13 (.552) after trailing at halftime of games after only the Milwaukee Bucks and the Lakers, and are among only four teams to be above. The two-man game the duo established last season and elevated to a higher plane in the playoffs has continued to produce wins for the Nuggets at a high rate, and will undoubtedly continue to be their offensive keystone down the stretch and through the postseason.ĭenver’s winning ways in clutch time also track with the average arc of their overall game performance, in which their net rating in the first half of games this season is plus-0.8, or 14th in the league, while their second half net rating is a much better plus-7.4, good for fifth best. The Nuggets largely have their two maximum contract players to thank for their clutch time proficiency, with both Jokic and Jamal Murray in the top five in individual net rating among players with at least 20 games and a usage rate of at least 25% in clutch time. Additionally, they’ve played the second-highest number of games (34, tied with Philadelphia) which were decided in clutch time, after Oklahoma City’s 37, giving them an above-average sample size of clutch time performance this season, possibly giving a stronger indication that their strong clutch play is more “real” than “fluky.” ![]() ![]() 676 clutch winning percentage is third best in the NBA after Milwaukee and Utah, according to data from NBA.com. ![]() But drilling down into the deeper context of how they have won, there is a strong case to be made that they have instead (or perhaps additionally) been clutch.Īt 23-11 in games which were within a five-point margin with under five minutes remaining, Denver’s. In other words, if the Nuggets’ record reflected their actual efficiency, they might now find themselves with 34 wins rather than 38.Īt face value, the first conclusion to be drawn from their win differential might be that the Nuggets have simply been a bit lucky. The “win differential” metric at, for example, which is defined as “the difference between the number of games the team has won and what would be expected based on their efficiency differential,” has Denver with the highest differential in the league at 4.3 games. 676 (Third Best) Clutch Winning Percentageīy certain measures the Nuggets’ win-loss record reflects outperforming their true quality of play thus far.
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