Former coach George Karl says Nuggets should go small, play four guards
Apr 21, 2022, 1:23 PM
The Nuggets don’t seem to have an answer for the Golden State Warriors.
Down 2-0 in their playoff series, with both games being embarrassing blowout losses, they’re in big trouble.
But is all hope lost? Not according to former Nuggets head coach George Karl. Appearing with Schlereth and Evans earlier this week, Karl offered a solution for how Denver can get back in the series.
“Everyone’s going to talk about how great Golden State’s offense is and our defense isn’t doing much of a job of messing with them or taking anything away. We’ve had too many spells where our offense goes dead. You can’t have those, the dry spells. My answer would be be go small,” Karl said.
It’s an interesting thought, as the Warriors have certainly gone small throughout the series. The “death lineup” features three guards in Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole, along with smaller “forwards” in Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green. Karl would also take a key Nugget (and a high-priced one) out of the starting lineup.
“Jokic gets his 35 (minutes) at center. Aaron Gordon would be my backup at center. When they go small, I would go small. I would play four guards, I would try to find a couple better defenders right now. Whoever can defend anybody and make them just a good player rather than a great player,” Karl said.
The problem is the guards for the Nuggets that are available aren’t exactly All-Stars. Between Monte Morris, Will Barton, Austin Rivers, Bryn Forbes and Facundo Campazzo the options are pretty limited. Still, Karl would explore everything.
“I think (the Nuggets) guards are getting dominated in just about every area of the game, both offensively and defensively. And (the Warriors) put four guards on the court a lot of minutes in the game. And so if I was coaching the team today I would just go small more often and maybe be more demanding on my guards to be more defensive minded,” Karl said.
Will head coach Michael Malone take any advice from one of the greatest coaches in franchise history and go small? It’s worth a shot, seeing as nothing in this series so far has worked.
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