SALT LAKE CITY — The “Middle Eight” may be known best as a principle of game management tracked by football coaches, but Michael Malone and the Nuggets are encountering their own version of it in basketball.
There’s an essential difference, though. For the Nuggets, the minutes that seem to matter most are not the last four of the first half combined with the first four of the second half.
Look earlier in the game instead, and there will lie the answer to Denver’s baffling habit of playing from behind.
“We were talking about that the other day, about how I think there’s only one time in the first 16 games this season that we’ve won the last four minutes of the first quarter and the first four minutes of the second quarter,” Malone said Wednesday night before taking on Utah. “Toronto at home. Every other game, (we lose) that eight-minute stretch, which coincides usually with Nikola being out. So there are a lot of nights where I think we actually get off to good starts. That we’re actually playing well. And then we have that stretch, that four-, six-, eight-minute stretch where the bottom falls out. … And the second half for whatever reason has been better.”
That would be an understatement. Entering their matchup with the Jazz, the Nuggets ranked No. 2 in the NBA in second-half net rating — despite ranking No. 29 in first-half net rating. It’s a discrepancy so dramatic that it’s almost inexplicable. Except for those eight minutes.
Malone’s point is accurate, even if the details are a tad hazy. The Nuggets haven’t trailed by more than five points this season at the four-minute mark of the first quarter. They’ve led by as many as 10. On a nightly basis, they are in the game at that precise point.
But in the ensuing eight minutes, they were outscored 354-247 through 16 games. That means they lost their “middle eight” by an average of 6.7 points.
Some nights are worse than others. The Nuggets’ all-around meltdown against the Knicks on Monday was one of the worst: New York 30, Denver 14.
The home game against Toronto that Malone referenced? Even that night, the Nuggets lost 20-18 during the eight-minute window, unless DeAndre Jordan’s dunk at the 7:59 mark of the second was allowed to count.
The only “middle eight” in the black was a game without Jokic, ironically. In their second game at Memphis last week, the Nuggets snuck out a 17-15 advantage.
Much of the damage is often done during the second-quarter window when Denver’s bench is on the floor. But Jokic isn’t resting for the entirety of the eight-minute stretch. Only half of it. Malone’s substitution patterns have been leaving him in the game for the entire first quarter. The Nuggets aren’t getting strong enough finishes to that quarter even with their three-time MVP aiding the lineup.
Malone was furious at his team’s defensive effort in the loss to New York, but he was measured two days later in his assessment of Denver’s Jekyll-and-Hyde season so far — particularly in regard to how injuries have impacted his approach to game management during those eight minutes. The Nuggets still don’t have a return timeline for Aaron Gordon, who traveled with the team to Utah despite sitting out with a calf strain.
“Sixteen games in. Still some weird lineups,” Malone said. “Different things going on with the players out. So, still trying to figure it out. But it would be great if we could play a lot more consistent for closer to 48 than we have. … We like gentle, rolling hills. We’ve had some really severe peaks and valleys.”
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