If there has been one consistently reliable element to the Nuggets’ success in recent years, it has been their play in the clutch. Denver was a top 10 clutch team in the 2021-22 season; they were top 5 the next season, when they won the title, top 3 in 2023-24, and 9th last season. But this season, they’ve inexplicably fallen off a cliff.
This season, the Nuggets are just middle of the pack, tied with three other teams for 14th in the league. They’ve been in 26 clutch games, and their record in those games this season is just 13-13.
Clutch games are defined as any game that is within a 5-point margin at any point in the final five minutes of the game. In past seasons, the presence of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Nuggets’ general infrastructure has been enough that when games get tight, we’ve just expected Denver to pull it out, and that has usually been a safe bet.
But for whatever reason, things just haven’t quite clicked this season in crunch time, and it’s becoming an issue.
Nuggets choke away another game against Cavaliers
The team’s warts were on full display on Monday night when Denver played host to the new-look Cavaliers. The Nuggets held a double-digit lead with just a few minutes left to play, and then the floor fell out.
Denver couldn’t get stops on the defensive end, and perhaps even more concerning, the offense looked completely out of sorts. Cleveland finished the game on a 23-11 run, with Donovan Mitchell sinking two free throws with under a second to play, giving the Cavs the 119-117 win.
Jokic had a very uncharacteristic 7 turnovers, including a costly one in closing time. One of the strangest parts about this concerning trend is that the team seems to actually be struggling more since the Joker returned from his injury.
Somehow, after enduring a month-long stretch without Jokic and other starters, the team looks worse after getting healthy. They’re just 2-4 with Jokic back in the lineup, and that has included a couple of ugly crunch-time losses.
Obviously, the All-Star break is right around the corner, and that will give the team a better opportunity to get rested, healthy, and reacclimated. But this clutch time problem needs fixing. It has been the Nuggets’ saving grace and bread and butter in the playoffs, and if they can’t rely on that, winning a title is going to be a lot harder.