The Denver Nuggets are stumbling at a critical point in the season. After winning eight of their last nine games, they’ve now dropped two straight, raising concerns about their defensive vulnerabilities.
Monday’s 129-121 defeat against the Chicago Bulls was a particularly painful one. The Nuggets entered the game as heavy favorites and even held a 68-61 lead at halftime. Before this matchup, they had been a flawless 17-0 when leading at the half—now, that perfect record is shattered, falling to 17-1.
One glaring issue in the loss? Denver’s disastrous defense—especially their inability to contain Chicago’s three-point barrage. The Bulls are known for their perimeter shooting, yet the Nuggets still allowed them to rain down a staggering 24 three-pointers.
Malone Calls Out Defensive Collapse
Head coach Michael Malone didn’t hold back when addressing his team’s defensive shortcomings.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good enough,” Malone admitted via the Denver Nuggets’ YouTube channel. “Early in the game, we thought we could just outscore them, that it was going to be easy. You mess around with the game, this is what happens.”
For the Nuggets, defensive struggles aren’t a new problem—but Monday’s performance left Malone particularly frustrated. The Bulls, a young and energetic squad, seemed to expose every weakness in Denver’s defensive effort.
“Once again, us messing with the game. Thinking we could just show up and score at will,” Malone vented. “We warned them all morning—this team runs, this team runs, this team runs. And yet, we showed an inability—or even an unwillingness—to get back in transition, to defend one-on-one, and to fight for rebounds. It was all on full display.”
Beyond getting torched from three-point range, the Nuggets also struggled to defend the paint. According to NBA stats, Denver allows an average of 51.1 points in the paint per game—ranking among the league’s bottom five in that category.
Malone didn’t sugarcoat his assessment of their effort.
“It was just one-on-one basketball. We couldn’t guard them,” he said. “They kept attacking, over and over again. And when they did miss? We had five guys standing around, watching, not engaged in the fight at all. That team played so much harder than us. Really, really disappointing.”
With the Nuggets suddenly on a skid, Malone’s words serve as a stark warning—without a defensive turnaround, their championship aspirations could be in serious jeopardy.
