David Adelman Finds Silver Lining in Nuggets' Game 3 Loss vs. Timberwolves

Despite an atrocious offensive showing in Game 3, the Denver Nuggets' defense was a slim positive.

Apr 23, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman reacts to his team's play against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second quarter at Target Center. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

The Denver Nuggets now trail the Minnesota Timberwolves 2-1 in their first-round playoff series after a crushing Game 3 loss. On Thursday, the Nuggets fell 113-96 with their worst offensive performance of the season. Now, they have to move on to a must-win Game 4 to avoid falling behind 3-1 on Saturday, but is there anything positive we can take away from the shattering Game 3 loss?

After the game, Nuggets head coach David Adelman said that the Nuggets simply lost because they were not hitting their shots, and the defensive effort was actually a silver lining in an overall brutal performance.

"Well, I mean, the shooting was, you know, really put us behind to start the game. They only gave up 25 points in the first quarter; that’s actually a very good number," Adelman said. "We just had a hard time making shots tonight and I think, you know, we talked about it after the game, our physicality, offensively, it’s got to get better. I thought our physicality defensively in the second half was much better."

An improved defense?

Outside of giving up 36 points in the second quarter, the Nuggets' defense looked a bit better on Thursday night than what they showed in Game 2. After Jaden McDaniels called them out for poor defense, fans were hoping they would step up on that end of the floor. Fortunately, they did step up defensively. Unfortunately, they forgot how to play offense at the same time.

The Nuggets shot a season-low 34% from the field and just 25% from three-point range, scoring fewer than 100 points for just the third time this season.

Defense is saving the Nuggets for now. They're 2/17 from the field to start this game.

— Bennett Durando (@BennettDurando) April 24, 2026

Of course, the Nuggets still have plenty of work to do defensively, especially in the paint, but they would have won this game with a better offensive showing, given the defensive effort. The Nuggets still allowed 68 points in the paint, which will always be a huge weakness with Nikola Jokic as the man in the middle and no real rim protector on the roster, but defense is a slim positive takeaway from the loss compared to what the offense showed.

"They got to the paint, and then if you doubled that with transition, you know, it’s just, you’re gonna put yourself in a tough spot. Not to mention only 39 points in the first half. So, I did think throughout the second half, we found some things defensively, but offensively, we gotta screen better, we gotta cut better, we gotta handle the pressure much better than we did tonight," Adelman said.

Game 4 is always one of the most pivotal games in any playoff series, as the Nuggets will either even the series 2-2 or fall to a 3-1 deficit. Either way, they will need to bounce back after this atrocious showing on Thursday. They can stay positive in thinking that if they have their typical offensive showing with Game 3's caliber of defense, they should be able to walk out of Game 4 with a win.

It is challenging to stay optimistic after a loss like that, but with such an outlier of an offensive outing, we can assume the team will be back to normal in Game 4.

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