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

NBA Insider

The last couple of weeks have highlighted how little margin for error the Nuggets have this season.

Aaron Gordon’s calf and ankle injuries preventing him from consistently completing Denver’s ideal starting five and Julian Strawther’s absence from the second unit, have placed a lot of stress on the rest of the rotation. Strawther is still expected to be out for a couple more weeks before having his sprained left knee reevaluated.

“When it happened and I heard (he’s out for) four weeks, I knew that was going to be a significant loss for us, because of his ability to catch and shoot, his ability to get downhill, play off the bounce,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Saturday’s loss to Washington. “It’s tough every night.”

The Wizards used a 28-8 advantage in points off the bench to beat Denver. Zeke Nnaji scored six points on five shots in 21 minutes. Peyton Watson scored two points on three shots in 23 minutes, while Jalen Pickett (nine minutes) and Vlatko Cancar (three minutes) missed the only shots they attempted. Pickett scored the new second unit’s only points in Wednesday’s loss to Minnesota, as Watson (16 minutes) and Nnaji (11 minutes) went scoreless.

Malone admitted the lack of bench production has led to Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. getting less rest.

“Our bench production hasn’t been great the whole season,” Malone said. “That’s not just on them. That’s also on me to try to help those guys a little bit.”

Despite the changing members of the second unit over the last few seasons, Malone’s mantra for the group “defend, rebound, run” has remained. The bench embraced that approach briefly Saturday when Watson and Nnaji blocked a series of shots that produced a transition dunk for Nnaji on the other end, but that was one of just three made shots from the second unit.

“Plays like that change a game. It definitely gave us a lot of momentum,” Watson said. “Obviously, we could’ve utilized it better, but I think that definitely is the name of the game for us – defend, rebound and run – and the offense will come.”

What I’m Thinking

Michael Malone is going to earn his money in the final month of the regular season.

The Nuggets’ coach finds himself in an unenvious situation. The way the Western Conference is bunched between the second and seventh positions means positioning will be on the line in most, if not all, of Denver’s 13 remaining games. Four of Malone’s starters are battling real injuries. Nikola Jokic has elbow and ankle issues. Jamal Murray has dealt with knee and ankle inflammation before spraining an ankle Saturday. Aaron Gordon’s calf continues to be of significant concern, while Christian Braun has been on the injury report with foot inflammation. Gordon returned for Monday’s game, but Jokic, Murray and Braun were held out.

Malone has previously said striking the perfect balance is going to be almost impossible, but it’s his job to get it as close to correct as humanly possible. He shared a little bit about the process and the data he and the training staff use before determining when might be the right time for rest prior to Saturday’s game. Malone said he mostly leaves it to vice president of sports performance Steve Short and his staff to sort through all of the metrics that measure performance and health.

“I trust my gut, and I trust my eyes, and I trust my conversations with our players, with our training staff to kind of make those determinations,” Malone said.

“It’s great information to have. Then, how you use that is obviously up to you and your respective staff. I met with Steve Short and some of our training staff last night after the game, and (we’re) not just thinking about tonight but just these last 15 games and how we can maybe best plan that out accordingly to try to take emotions out of it, because when you get the emotions involved, sometimes you don’t make the best decisions.”

What They’re Saying

Most of the Nuggets know what it takes to win a championship, but Jokic doesn’t believe that means the team can turn it on and off.

“I think who you are in the regular season, that’s who you are in the playoffs. I think you cannot flip the switch,” Jokic said after Saturday’s loss. “I think that doesn’t really exist.”

Add Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff to the list of people bothered by the way Oklahoma City is officiated. Detroit star Cade Cunningham was ejected for arguing with the officials in the third quarter. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is second in the league with nine free throw attempts per game, but only three teams take fewer free throws per game than Oklahoma City.

“I’m disgusted by the way that game was officiated. The level of disrespect was above and beyond,” Bickerstaff said his team’s loss to the Thunder on Saturday. “They have a guy fall down and trip on his own teammate’s foot; they review us for a hostile act. … The disrespect has gone far enough, and I’m not going to allow our guys to be treated the way they were treated tonight.”

What I’m Following

– Former Nuggets wing Will Barton III announced on Instagram that the upcoming season in Puerto Rico will be his last as a professional basketball player. Barton had a 10-year NBA career, spending parts of eight seasons with the Nuggets before being sent to Washington in the trade for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith.

– Paul George has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after receiving injections in his adductor and knee. George played in 41 games, averaging 16.2 points.

– The second-best team in the Eastern Conference got Kristaps Porzingis back. Boston’s center missed eight games with an undisclosed illness. Porzingis scored 24 points on 16 shots in 32 minutes of action in Saturday’s win over Brooklyn.

– Steve Kerr passed Al Attles for Golden State’s franchise record for career coaching wins after the Warriors beat the Knicks on Saturday.

What I’m Reading

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton released his latest Western Conference tiers Monday morning. He’s not overreacting to Dever’s recent struggles, putting Denver in the second tier of contenders.