The Denver Nuggets' 13-4 start to the season has the organization mostly riding high at this point in the season, but there have been a few small areas of concern that have popped up for the team in recent weeks that coach David Adelman is hoping this recent stretch of three days off could help alleviate. 

One of those areas is the communication between the coaching staff, including Adelman himself, and the players on the court. Those issues were most evident in the team’s 125-115 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, as Memphis was able to make adjustments and exploit Denver’s zone defense in the second half.

“I think (communication) has slowly gotten better,” Adelman said. “Today was good for us, because I thought our zone in Memphis was really impactful, and then it wasn't. They attacked it differently, so it allowed us to clean that up. And that's what we're going to see. We're going to see different stuff against our man defense.”

Adelman further explained why the stretch of three days off will be beneficial for his team, not only because it allows them to improve things like their communication and the implementation of an effective zone throughout an entire game, but also because it allows them to properly rejuvenate and get back to a state of playing with high energy. 

“It's a well-coached league” Adelman said. “You have to slowly maintenance yourself through the season. Having three days off, it does allow you to do some things with energy, as opposed to just walking through everything, which you usually do with the schedule we have. It's been a good process. The guys have been locked in. The whole point is to try to get better every day.”

Home For The Holiday

Adelman also took advantage of the break in the schedule by giving his team the Thanksgiving holiday off, letting them spend the day with their families and whoever else was in town before getting back to the grind on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs.

“No practice (Thursday),” Adelman said. “The guys deserve it. You take advantage of the schedule. See your friends, see your families. Celebrate this however you want to celebrate it. I think it's important for us. We'll get back to it Friday morning."

The Nuggets and Spurs are scheduled to tip off at 9:30 p.m. EST on Friday from Denver’s Ball Arena, where the Nuggets are 6-2 this season.