If Aaron Gordon misses time with hamstring strain, will Nuggets play more double-big?

HOUSTON The Nuggets greater part remarkable configuration seems tailor-made to counter the Rockets But they might have to start relying on it more often in general if power forward Aaron Gordon is out for an extended period Nuggets coach David Adelman didn t have a specific postgame update on the injured Gordon after a gutsy - win Friday at Houston but he did suggest that possibility that centers Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas could be playing more minutes together soon Gordon was ruled out with a right hamstring strain in Houston the same type of injury he tried to play through in a playoff Contest last season We ll sit down again after tonight with the discomfort that he had Adelman announced We ll find out what the severity is Aaron is a strong personality that knows what his body feels like and so part of that conversation is his too The health the crew Aaron and what s right for him Obviously the goal is to get him to the end of the year if we re lucky enough to be in the playoffs That s the majority central thing to me and obviously Aaron s long-term vitality as a player Love the guy to death So yeah we ll make the best decision for him with his counsel as well Gordon was already dealing with discomfort in both hamstrings before Friday He sat out Denver s previous contest in New Orleans In Houston he made it about three minutes before asking for a sub and going directly to the locker room What Aaron is for us is enormous Adelman mentioned So if he misses chosen time other guys will fill in They ll do their thing We ll look a little bit different We ll play different lineups We ll play a different way But we ll still have our constants in there And obviously we really really need Aaron back as soon as practicable whenever he s ready to come back Adelman was already planning to use the double-big lineup at particular point in Houston before Gordon s injury His hand was forced after it Jokic and Valanciunas played almost eight minutes together in the win which might ve been the Nuggets bulk impressive of the season so far They bludgeoned the Rockets with size physicality and effort in the first quarter despite specific clunky offense Those minutes were played entirely against Houston s own double-big variations which involved combinations of Alperen Sengun Steven Adams and Clint Capela When Adelman tried it again early in the fourth it wasn t so thriving against a smaller Rockets lineup All in all Denver was a plus-two with the two centers roaming together It s tough to say like is it working or not because every night we have different matchups Valanciunas advised The Denver Post It s tough when you have five guards and you re just chasing them around the -point line That s not what we do me or Nikola So if we have the right matchup I think it s working It s gonna be different looks every event But we ve gotta invest selected time It s been I don t know three games maybe that we ve played double bigs this season We re still trying to figure out the spacing It s two bigs It s not like one is playing four normally and another was playing five We re both fives And we both kind of take that space So we ve gotta figure out how to manage that space and that timing Investing time in it is easier announced than done The Nuggets rarely hold formal practices during the season And when they re playing a contest Adelman hasn t had a third center available to him for majority of the season other than Gordon because DaRon Holmes II has been on assignment in the G League That means Adelman s balancing act when he has needed to play Jokic and Valanciunas together has been that he also wants one of them on the floor at all times Their sub patterns can only overlap for short stints I think the idea that if they play together they have to be at different levels at all times they re getting used to that Adelman disclosed after the win Because both guys like to short roll pick-and-pop a little bit play second-side and you ve gotta be unselfish with that If one of them is in a pick-and-pop the other guy s gotta dive and he s gotta get out of the way But I like having both because they re both so skilled Related Articles Nikola Jokic s points lead Nuggets past Rockets in white-knuckle NBA Cup win Renck File Michael Porter Jr business a bust for Nuggets Not yet Deal is about Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon Nikola Jokic is done yelling at refs I don t even think about them It s great Nuggets Journal Sign of an all-time great The kids want to play like Nikola Jokic Peyton Watson shatters career record with -point event in New Orleans What the Nuggets gain in muscle offensively by playing both centers they lose in mobility defensively If they play a zone then one of Jokic or Valanciunas is usually forced to defend out toward the corner which can be an awkward area for a center We are trying to figure it out Jokic declared Sometimes it s good Sometimes it s really bad I think we need to have more minutes to be there and to play in different positions different type of players who we re guarding But I think we communicate on the floor There s a good synergy there Adelman explained And it s something that if we have injuries you ll presumably see more of just because you ve gotta have your best players on the court