David Adelman Challenges Nuggets Players After Timberwolves Loss

Finding the players who compete

As Adelman preaches about leadership, which the Nuggets desperately need as they spiral, it is also about their on-court product. In the first two minutes of the second quarter of Sunday's game, the Timberwolves went on a 9-0 run to get themselves back in the game after a dominant first quarter by Denver.

Unsurprisingly, Adelman was not pleased with the team's effort in those two minutes, as he feels like that ultimately decided the game. After the game, he said that he will have to find lineups composed of players who actually want to compete.

"We gave them life. I really thought it was us, not them. It's something we have to learn from. I have to find a unit that'll actually do it, compete at a higher level. Because to me, that was the game," Adelman said. "... Just need more from everybody."

In those two minutes, the Nuggets had a lineup of Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Cam Johnson, Zeke Nnaji, and Jonas Valanciunas. Most notably, they did not have either Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray on the court in what should have been an attempt to come into the quarter firing and extend the lead.

This five-man lineup has played 42 minutes together this season, with a net rating of -7.5, headlined by an atrocious 131.0 defensive rating. It felt obvious that the lineup was not going to work, as Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland quickly tore them apart.

In a playoff series, the Nuggets cannot afford to make those mistakes. Of course, part of it is their injuries, as the Nuggets did not have Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson, or Spencer Jones available for Sunday's game. When fully healthy, Adelman's job with rotations becomes much easier, but the simplest solution is to keep either Murray or Jokic on the floor at all times.

The Nuggets will have a good opportunity to clean up their mistakes and get back in the win column on the second leg of a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz on Monday.