Chris Humphreys – USA Today Sports Images
The Denver Nuggets will be looking to tie their series with the Golden State Warriors at two games apiece on Sunday night and avoid being one loss away from being eliminated from the NBA Playoffs. They took game one of the series, but were blown out in game two and were unable to convert on opportunities to win game three. Now they face this dire situation in game four.
Ty Lawson, Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala have been the key offensive players in the series thus far for the Nuggets. They are the only players for the Nuggets that have averaged over 10 points per game and shot above 45 percent from the field in this series. However, that’s proven not to be adequate to match the Warriors’ potent offense. To be successful in game four and moving forward, Denver needs to get more production on offense from Wilson Chandler.
Chandler has started all three games in the series thus far for Denver and has played 35.9 minutes per game. During the regular season, Chandler was a big offensive threat for them off the bench, averaging 13 points per game on 46.2 percent shooting and 41.3 percent three-point shooting. With his larger role in this series, though, Chandler has averaged only 12 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting and 27.3 percent shooting from long range. It’s been a struggle.
The Nuggets don’t necessarily need Chandler to be other worldly offensively, but they need him to take smart shots and, more importantly, they need him to knock down outside shots. Without Danilo Gallinari in the lineup, the Nuggets don’t have many three-point shooting threats. Chandler is probably their best healthy option in that department, but he hasn’t been effective from deep in this series.
Given that the Warriors are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league and have been lights-out from three in the series, the fact that Denver is shooting just 31.7 percent from three has really hurt their cause. The Nuggets need someone to step up and consistently knock down outside shots and Chandler is the most capable in that department.
If Chandler doesn’t increase his offensive efficiency and productivity, the Nuggets will likely to continue to struggle in this series and may be upset by the sixth seeded Warriors. Their defense has shown that it can’t really limit Golden State, so their offense has been forced to match the Warriors’. Without Chandler performing well offensively, that’s not going to work for Denver.
Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
