Meet the double-double machine no one’s talking about
Here is your mystery man
Despite not getting regular minutes until the middle of February, Faried has authored four double-doubles in a span of 13 games. In three other contests during that stretch, Faried was either a rebound or two points away from the feat. That’s not too shabby for any rookie, much less one averaging just over 19 minutes a night.
How does he do it? In a word; energy. Most “experts” list things like dribbling, passing or shooting as the skills a certain player does or does not possess. Energy (and the related “hustle player” tag) gets chalked up as some intangible trait, a mere bonus for players that can also finish with both hands or shoot pull-up jumpers. ESPN’s own David Thorpe, perhaps due to his relationship with player’s like Joakim Noah and Udonis Haslem, has argued that energy is, in fact, a skill.
With Faried, his limitless supply of vigor and mentality to attack every ball coming off the rim like it owes him money, fuel his rebounding prowess. The Denver rookie also excels at gathering in out-of-area rebounds, something that separates the elite from the merely good in that category. Against the Kings last night, six of his 12 rebounds (as well as eight of his 20 points) came in the last three minutes of regulation and overtime. About a handful of those dozen rebounds were of the esteemed out-of-area variety.
Down three with 3:16 left on the clock. After Al Harrington misses on a deep jumper, Faried cuts across the lane and snatches a rebound between three Sacramento players. To top it off, he draws a foul and sinks both free throws to cut the Kings lead to one.
Down five with just over a minute left, Faried again goes to work on the glass. Andre Miller attacks the paint after the Nuggets inbound. His drive sucks up Faried’s defender (DeMarcus Cousins) enough for Faried to find an angle for a putback dunk that keeps the game within reach for the Nuggets.
Faried’s most impressive rebound came on the first possession of overtime. In the following video, you will see Faried defend a pick and roll, recover back to the body of Cousins, rotates and leaves his feet to contest a drive, then somehow gathers himself and explodes to snatch the rebound with two hands. Just an incredible effort play.
This eight minute stretch showcased why Faried has been so incredibly productive in his limited time. Since becoming a regular rotation member on February 9th, the Morehead State product has done his fair share to help the Nuggets right a listing ship. More recently, Denver has ripped off four straight wins to crawl back into the thick Western Conference playoff race. Who says energy isn’t a skill again?
