David Adelman offered high praise for his team after winning their third straight game on the road Sunday.
The Denver Nuggets kept on rolling with a 115-106 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. The performance marked Denver’s third straight win in five days on the road and pushed their record to 17-6 on the season.
Following the win, Nuggets coach David Adelman insisted that it was the team’s most enjoyable win of the season because of the lengths they had to go to earn it on the offensive end, despite having entered on a ridiculously hot stretch on that end of the floor.
“The most enjoyable win in a while because it was a little bit grimy,” Adelman said. “We've been scoring the ball so easy. We did early. I think the way they played, they made some tough shots. They were playing super hard defensively. They made the game a grind. It was good. It was good for us to win a game like that.”While 115 points is certainly on the low end for the Nuggets, Adelman praised the way his team picked things up on defense to make up for the lack of production.
“The opponent doesn't matter when you're just thinking about yourselves and you're trying to get through the season,” Adelman said. “Only 115 for us is extremely low as of late. The 106 number, I thought the way we switched all their small, small stuff led to a really solid win.”
Best Screeners In The League?
Despite trailing late in the first half, it was clear the Nuggets were in position to maintain control for the rest of the game.
“Once we took the lead, I thought we, for the most part, really controlled the game from there,” Adelman said
Adelman also explained that perhaps the Nuggets’ best and most valuable skill is a somewhat underrated one, which is their collective ability to set screens that open things up for their teammates to have offensive success.
“I told the guys in there, this is the best Nuggets screening team we've had in a long time. Guys giving themselves up. I can go down the line. Bruce (Brown), Peyton (Watson), Spencer (Jones), Nikola (Jokic), Jonas (Valanciunas), I mean, all these guys. Tim (Hardaway. They’re making the effort to get a hit for somebody else to allow them to have success.”
The Nuggets will continue their road trip against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, as they’ll get three days off to travel and regroup before taking the court again.