NBA Awards 2019: 3 reasons why Mike Malone should win the Coach of the Year Award

#2 The Nuggets improved on the defensive end

The Nuggets improved drastically on the defensive end

The Nuggets are an impressive offensive team, but they also improved on the defensive end. In the regular season, Denver ranked 10th in team defense. They had a defensive ranking of 108. Their defensive ranking this year was an improvement from last year when they were 23rd in the league. Like their playoff seeding, this is a significant jump from their previous season. Their improvement came from things such as communicating more on the defensive end and giving an overall better effort.

Denver also had one of the worst teams in terms of defending the 3-point line last season. This year, they reached the top 10 teams in terms of perimeter defense. They ranked eighth towards the end of the season. Denver also ranked first in opponent fastbreak points with 9.1 points per game. They managed to stop opposing teams from scoring on fastbreaks. With Denver's speed, this comes as no surprise.

The Nuggets also made strides in other areas. They ranked 13th in steals with 7.7 steals per game and fifth in opponents' second-chance points with 12.1 They also had the best fourth-quarter defensive rating of 101.9. In this case, their opponents only scored roughly 25 points in the fourth quarter. Their fourth quarter ranking helped them close out games and beat their opponents in the clutch. While the Nuggets need to improve slightly in defensive rebounds (they ranked 17th with 34.5 rebounds per game), their defense progressed.

Their progress came as a surprise, but Malone worked hard to make a legitimate defensive team. He stressed the importance of defense and helped a skilled offensive team develop. If the Nuggets keep up their defensive efforts next season, it will make their team even better.