David Adelman made a critical mistake in Game 7 for the Denver Nuggets, but he didn’t realize it at the time. Adelman went with a lineup that didn’t include Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, which had a -24 NET rating in the regular season, according to NBA analyst Carson Breber.
In one minute, that lineup gave up a 6-0 run to the Thunder, which seemingly jumpstarted Oklahoma City's offense and propelled them to an emphatic Game 7 win over Denver.
In the grand scheme of things, it probably didn’t critically affect the Nuggets' ability to get past the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. But it showed Adelman’s coaching inexperience. It’s one of those moments that the Nuggets front office could look to when they decide if they want to strip the interim tag off Adelman or turn to a more experienced coach.
Adelman was dealt a bad hand, having to take over the team from Michael Malone at the end of the season. He did as good as he could have considering he took the Nuggets to two straight, Game 7 series. But little moments within the series will determine whether the Nuggets believe he’s the perfect successor to Mike Malone.
His mishap in Game 7 is proof the Nuggets might miss Malone more than they realized.
David Adelman might have failed his interview for Nuggets full time job with Game 7 mishap
The Nuggets weren’t supposed to take the No. 1 team in the NBA to a Game 7, so Adelman deserves credit for that. But the small mistakes are what make the difference. You could point to that or that Aaron Gordon had a Grade 2 hamstring injury and was thrown into the starting lineup.
Sure he needed to be out there, but is it worth losing him long term to a potential injury? It didn’t happen, but what if it would have? I’m not sure it was worth playing Gordon 25 min when the game was pretty much decided by halftime.
However, the mistake from Adelman was glaring enough that several Nuggets fans were wishing that Michael Malone was still on the Denver sidelines.
Adelman has a lot to learn to get a full-time head coaching job in the NBA. We could probably point to quite a few mistakes that could affect his chances at getting the full-time job. But the two that stood out happened in the most important game of the season.
Murray and Jokic have become two of the best duos in the NBA. I understand subbing out one to get some rest, but taking them both out for a unit that wasn’t good together all season was a mistake. It’s one that the Nuggets front office might not overlook.