Keeler: Thunder’s Alex Caruso manhandled Nuggets in Game 7 — which is why Denver needs two of him

How can Nikola Jokic be expected to cook up a dynasty if he keeps running out of gas Alex Caruso plays basketball like he s trying to total a bonus from Dana White That noted the Nuggets seemingly could use at minimum two of him Or two more of something relatively close to him if they re to get the Joker another title in Denver before the horse is out of the barn Alex did a great job interim Nuggets coach David Adelman declared of Caruso who attached himself to Jokic s hip in the paint scored points collected three steals and put up a ridiculous plus- in the plus minus column during the Thunder s blowout achievement in Challenge Like I explained when I talk about substance that s what he is He s a competitor where the stat sheet doesn t matter He impacts winning The Nuggets boast arguably the best pure offensive center in modern NBA history The part where they ve been swinging and missing since July is landing the complementary pieces to help him The players who make Jokic s superlative IQ passing hands footwork and instincts look better while simultaneously helping paper over the parts he doesn t do as well protecting the rim for instance One way to do that Add tenacious wing defenders Caruso types who can either prevent the rock from reaching the rim in the first place or annoy players to the point where they can t ever get comfy in the paint should the ball make it through As Paul McCartney once sang there will be an answer and D For the second straight spring the best core four in the NBA got sent fishing by a deeper fresher roster Before Sunday Jokic was averaging minutes per postseason challenge in Jamal Murray averaged Aaron Gordon averaged If you re curious the Joker averaged during the playoffs Murray averaged Gordon I mean did we learn nothing from the Minnesota series a year ago The Nuggets the champs featured a rotation of eight players who averaged at least minutes per postseason appearance By last year s playoffs that rotation of -plus minutes had shrunk to six players This year s Thunder went into Battle with eight guys who averaged at least minutes per playoff tournament Last spring same story Ditto for the - Celtics who won it all And for the Mavericks they wound up beating in the Finals It s not hard to miss the pattern here Stars are expensive to keep Yet top-heavy teams peril running out of juice after or playoff games Caruso is old-school in that he plays defense the way John Starks and Anthony Mason did with Pat Riley s mid- s Knicks Bump shove poke bump shove poke The offensive participant either loses his handle or loses his mind and throws a retaliatory elbow hello Flagrant Still as postseason evils go agitators are among the the greater part necessary Once Bruce Brown stuck his head inside the Suns huddle in the Western Conference semis three years ago Phoenix was never really heard from again Now Brucey B s an unrestricted free agent Hint Hint Former GM Calvin Booth claimed he saw this coming and planned to buffer his starting five with young bucks who could do what Brown Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jeff Green did at a fraction of the cost Because of the massive contracts thrown at Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray preponderance of those lottery tickets had to hit The Nuggets scratched off a winner in Christian Braun and well that s about it No coincidence then that the Mile High City s seen two consecutive second-round exits where the spirits were willing while the legs were shot It s just about getting to the finish line healthier Adelman advised reporters on Sunday You have to have the freshest version of yourself That s part of why I m so proud of these guys to get to seven games As constructed by former GMs Tim Connelly and Booth the current core feels stuck together either until somebody finds the courage to blow certain big parts up or until several of those max contracts expire Denver can t afford better veteran options at say rotational spots six through nine unless it s willing to make a big agreement and accept all the risks therein Otherwise the Nuggets are going to keep rolling the dice with kids or veterans on minimum deals And that s no way to gamble away Jokic s prime