Injuries and an off night forced Adelman's hand for upcoming games.
Sometimes you just have to know when to wave the white flag, and that's exactly what David Adelman did on Sunday night as his Denver Nuggets got steamrolled 110-87 by the Charlotte Hornets at Ball Arena.
It was ugly from the jump.
Denver trailed by 18 after one quarter and found themselves staring at a 30-point hole heading into the fourth, so Adelman did what any smart coach would do with a banged-up roster playing the second night of a back-to-back and he shut it down early and saved his guys for another day.
"It hit a point where I just felt like it wasn't worth playing the guys heavy minutes," Adelman said. "We had a really poor shooting night, and once they took that lead and shot it like they did, it was enough."
Denver's Injury Woes Made This One Tough
Hard to win when you're missing five of your top eight scorers, and that's the reality the Nuggets (29-14) faced Sunday.
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic is still working his way back from a left knee bone bruise, and without him, Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, Christian Braun, and Jonas Valanciunas, Denver was left trying to piece things together against a hungry young Hornets team that smelled blood in the water.
The missing bodies showed up most on the glass, where Charlotte absolutely crushed Denver 52-29 and turned all those extra looks into a 62-32 edge in the paint.
Nothing Was Falling for Denver
The Nuggets shot a rough 40.5 percent from the floor and just 21 percent from deep, which pretty much killed any chance of making a run.
Jamal Murray, who's been carrying the team with Jokic sidelined and is putting up 25.9 points and 7.3 assists per game this year, had one of those nights where nothing felt right and finished with just 16 points.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak and dropped Denver to 7-4 without Jokic, but the bigger picture still looks fine.
The Nuggets have proven they can hang tough when guys are out, and Murray has really stepped into that leadership role over the past few weeks.
Charlotte Came to Play
The Hornets (16-27) deserve credit though.
Brandon Miller went off for 23 points, rookie Kon Knueppel chipped in 14, and six different guys hit double figures.
They played some of their sharpest defense all season, and Adelman was quick to tip his cap to them after the game.
Looking Ahead
Denver gets the Los Angeles Lakers at home Tuesday night, and Adelman's hoping to get some bodies back soon.
Until then, it's all about keeping the guys who are healthy fresh for when it really matters.