Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone wants his players to be sure: Nothing good can come from resting on your laurels.
Monday’s visit to the struggling Chicago Bulls offers the chance for a turnaround after Denver sputtered through a 133-104 loss at Minnesota on Saturday in the opener of a five-game road trip.
Malone called the Timberwolves’ effort “a lot more physical, a lot more aggressive, a lot more urgent” than Denver’s.
“We kind of showed up like we were a team that was 12-3 in our last 15 games,” he added, “feeling good about ourselves.”
One way to return to those good vibes is to get Nikola Jokic back on track.
Denver’s perennial MVP candidate had an off day by his standards, contributing 20 points and 11 assists. He grabbed only three rebounds to snap a stretch of five straight triple-doubles.
Jokic scored just seven points after the first quarter.
“We probably could have featured Jok a little bit more in this game,” teammate Aaron Gordon said. “He came out torching. If he’s doing that, you’ve gotta just feed him.”
Losers of eight of their past 10 games, the Bulls have a pulse on multiple ways to spark a turnaround.
Limiting turnovers tops the list. Chicago had 20 turnovers in Saturday’s 109-97 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, with late miscues keeping the team from maintaining momentum after entering the fourth quarter with a three-point lead.
“Some of it to me is just careless; doing stuff that’s not there,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “We get into the lane and then realize — (Saturday) was an example of it — we have a hard time finishing at the basket.
“Certainly you want to get there because it’s a high-percentage shot. But there are times where we’re getting there and there is such a collapsing of the defense and we are in the air. When you’re in the air, it’s really difficult to make plays from there.”
Zach LaVine has scored at least 24 points in four straight games for Chicago, while Josh Giddey has notched three straight double-doubles.
Playmaker Coby White (ankle) has missed the past three games due to injury, and the rest of the roster knows it must boost its contributions.
“We have the talent, I feel like, the personnel,” the Bulls’ Lonzo Ball said. “We’ve just got to put together 48 minutes. We haven’t done that much this year.”
Monday marks the first meeting of the season between the Bulls and Nuggets. They’re set to play in Denver on March 24.
Denver is 7-3 in the past 10 games in the series, including a pair victories last season.
Nikola Vucevic nearly is averaging a double-double (20.1 points and 9.8 rebounds) in his past 10 games against Denver, while LaVine has contributed 20-plus points in six of his past seven games versus the Nuggets.
Jokic had 28 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in the first Bulls-Nuggets game last season. In 15 career games against Chicago, he’s averaging 17.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists.
