The Nuggets didn’t use short rest as an excuse for Sunday’s poor shooting

The Denver Nuggets put up one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history on Sunday as they squandered a golden opportunity to take a 3-1 lead over the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals. The rims at Ball Arena seemed to have a lid on them all afternoon as both teams struggled after having a minimal amount of rest after an overtime battle in Game 3.

The two sides scored just 25 points in the first quarter, which tied the lowest combined total in a quarter in NBA playoff history. Denver shot 31% from the field and 24% from three while Oklahoma City shot 37% and 24%. There were a lot of tired bodies out on the floor on Sunday for a game that tipped off at 1:30 p.m. from the Mile High City.

Did the short turnaround play a factor in both teams playing poorly on offense?

“Absolutely,” Aaron Gordon said after the loss. “You have an [8 p.m.] game that goes into overtime, and then you have a [1:30] p.m. game. And 36 hours turnaround, playing the highest level of basketball that you can possibly play, but, it’s part of it, and it’s something that we’ve got to get through.”

Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman avoided commenting on the scheduling decision by the NBA, most likely to keep a couple thousand dollars in his pocket and avoid a fine from the league office.

“I will say that I think both teams are very tired coming off an unbelievably physical overtime battle on a late Friday night. If it affected us, it surely affected them as well,” Adelman said. “Both of us had super tired legs, so it was about who’s going to make that final run. When we got up eight, I thought we were making the push, and to their credit, they were the ones to make the final run.”

For Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the answer was simple regarding the effect the short rest had.

“When I play, I don’t think about [the rest],” Jokic said. “So, not a lot.”

“Not at all. Everybody’s tired. It’s almost summer,” Murray said.

All season long, the Nuggets were actually one of the best teams in the association on little-to-no rest. On back-to-backs, the Nuggets went 12-4 while putting up a 36-23 record with one day of rest in the regular season. However, the physicality of the postseason clearly caught up with them on Sunday, as the tired legs resulted in the poor shooting performance.

The Nuggets now head back to Oklahoma City, as they play Game 5 against the Thunder on Tuesday, yet another game in these playoffs with just one day of rest in between. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. on TNT.

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