Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets

NBA Insider

New year, same Aaron Gordon for the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets’ starting power forward returned to the lineup on Jan. 1 after missing a couple of games while recovering from a dog bite that reportedly required 21 stitches on his right shooting hand and face. Since he’s returned to the starting lineup, Gordon’s continued to be the efficient, low-maintenance producer that completes arguably the NBA’s best starting lineup. He’s scored in double figures in six of seven games, shooting better than 58% from the field in each one and helped the Nuggets get off to a 5-2 start to 2024. He’s averaging 15.9 points, 5.7 assists and 2.1 assists while shooting 67.7% from the field, 50% from 3 and 74.1% on free throws in the new year.

Gordon continued the trend with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance Sunday against the Pacers when he made 7-of-10 shots and 6 of 8 free throws.

“Whether it’s from the field, from the 3, from the foul line, he’s doing a really good job of playing efficient basketball,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after the win. “I love the fact that he had 10 boards tonight. He only had one at halftime, and that was a huge (emphasis). The two things I hammered home at the half were the rebounding and the turnovers. I thought Aaron really led the charge in that second half of being active on the glass to get nine of those 10 in the second half. I just love Aaron’s efficiency right now.”

In the wake of the dog bite that occurred after Denver’s Christmas Day win over the Warriors, when Gordon had 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds, Malone called it a traumatic experience and said the team was willing to give Gordon as much time as necessary to heal physically and mentally.

That turned out to be only a week. Gordon sported a bandage on his right hand when he first returned to the court, but he’s since shed the last remaining sign of the incident and gotten back to being the guy the Nuggets rely on during the quest for a second consecutive championship.

“An aggressive Aaron Gordon is a very effective Aaron Gordon,” Malone said.

WHAT I’M THINKING

Rust Cohle was right.

“Time is a flat circle,” Matthew McConaughey’s character said in the first season of True Detective. “Everything we’ve ever done, or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again.”

At the midway point of last season, the Nuggets were 28-13 after Nikola Jokic’s Sombor-double – a game where Denver’s superstar comes up one point, rebound or assist short of a traditional triple-double in Nuggets nomenclature – in a win over Phoenix. Through 41 games of this season, the Nuggets are – wait for it – 28-13 after Jokic put up 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists against the Pacers on Sunday. A year ago, 28-13 was good for the best record in the Western Conference. That same record has Denver a game back of the conference’s best record.

Denver’s still looking for a steady option at backup center, and the Nuggets’ second unit is a work in progress, just like it was at the midway point of last season.

Jokic is again on the precipice of averaging a triple-double and will likely be Denver’s only All-Star selection for a second consecutive season. The starting five is the same. Denver’s bench is still finding its form, as was the case last year at this time, but if history continues to repeat itself, the Nuggets will be celebrating a second championship this summer thanks to a Cohle-like level of collective self awareness.

“I know who I am,” Cohle said. “And after all these years, there’s a victory in that.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

“I jump on my jump shot, so I have time to kind of think if I feel like they are going to get a good contest. Sometimes, they jump after me, so when I’m in the air, I feel like they’re going to get a good contest, I might kick it real quick, and they’re going to land after me. So, I can cut real quick. It’s just something, just reading the game, I think,” Michael Porter Jr. said after Sunday’s win over Indiana of his ability to pass out of his jumper and create an even better look by cutting after he gives up the ball.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone touched on Porter’s toughness. After undergoing two back surgeries before his first NBA game and enduring another in the middle of his career, Porter is playing some of the best ball of his career.

“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves in regards to what he’s doing has never been done before from a medical standpoint. If you really understand and look at what he’s doing from a medical standpoint, the brace he wears every single night, and for him to go out and do what he’s doing, if you just take a step back, it’s just incredible. You have to give him so much credit, not just for the game he played tonight and player that he is, but everything he’s been through. I got to remind myself of that, because no one else has done what he’s doing. I really admire that in him,” Malone said.

WHAT I’M READING

Taking fans to task can often be a fool’s errand, but Chicago Tribune Paul Sullivan picked a good time. Bulls fans booed while the late Jerry Krause was honored in the team’s Ring of Honor in front of his widow, Thelma. The man who crafted the roster for the franchise’s best teams was not the warmest person, per Sullivan’s column, and “The Last Dance” did him few favors. But his family didn’t deserve what happened Friday.

THE LIST

Vinny’s five biggest surprises this NBA season:

1. Midway through the season, the best players on the two best teams in the Western Conference have combined for zero championships and zero Most Valuable Player awards. Anthony Edwards has led the Timberwolves to the best record in the Western Conference, 28-11, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder sit a half game back at 27-11. Both players are top-10 candidates for this season’s MVP.

2. On the flipside, age is not just a number in the NBA. The Suns, Warriors and Lakers entered the season with favorable odds to be contenders this season. After Sunday’s slate, the Lakers and Warriors are on pace to miss the postseason entirely, while the Suns would have to survive the play-in stage to make a playoff appearance.

3. Sometimes infusing a little experience into the equation can be a good thing. Houston and Orlando have both been better than anticipated after introducing a couple of steady veterans. The Rockets are in line for a spot in the play-in tournament after adding Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green. Orlando, which sits eighth in the Eastern Conference, has benefited from having Joe Ingles around their mostly young roster.

4. It’s little surprise that San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren are the favorites for Rookie of the Year, but the player with the third-best odds to win the award would’ve been hard to predict. It’s not Bradon Miller, the second overall pick in last summer’s draft. It’s not Scoot Henderson or Amen Thompson, the third and fourth picks, respectively. Instead, it’s Thompson’s twin brother, Ausar, who’s making a strong defensive impact for the Pistons.

5. Hopefully Detroiters are enjoying the Lions first playoff win in more than 30 years. Few, if any, prognosticators had the Pistons penciled into a playoff berth, but the historically bad 3-36 start, the worst record in the NBA, heading into Monday’s game is worse than most could’ve predicted.