“Floppy” was one of several New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets sets diagrammed in their locker room before tipoff Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.
It is a common NBA ploy – a single screen set on one side, a double-screen set on the other and the shooting guard works off both, deciding his angle, his attack.
“Floppy” sounds a lot like “flop,” and that was a sensitive word in the building. George Karl, only four hours before the game, was slapped again with a two-game suspension, this time over his salty assessment of officiating in this spot Monday night.
Did Vince Carter flop or not?
Karl thought so, initially said so, backed off it a tad the day after but still flipped on the officiating in the Nets game that wound up a Nuggets nine-point loss.
So, no Karl against the Hornets. No Carmelo Anthony because of a bum ankle.
The Nuggets flopped without both.
They sleepwalked through the first half. The body language from the start was faulty, and the team looked bored and the crowd snoozed right along with them.
It was a 102-95 Hornets victory and it emphasized the importance of Karl, Anthony, strong post play, fast-break usage – all the elements the Nuggets nurtured last season that were supposed to provide an enduring identity.
No Karl meant a lack of leadership from the start.
What makes Karl special is his irascible nature, but it also has hurt him, saying what he thinks, nipping at officials’ heels in messages both blunt and challenging. I imagine Karl got the message from the league: Shut up. On officiating, no doubt, he will.
Anthony is special to the Nuggets, and we see it most when he is absent. It is a team that lacks inspiration and confidence without him.
I cannot recall enough plays against the Hornets where the Nuggets brought the ball up, dumped it down and either Marcus Camby or Kenyon Martin or somebody big made a strong post move and punished the Hornets. I did, however, see plenty of post players shooting long, wild jump shots. That will get you nine fewer shots at the free-throw line than the Hornets, which the Nuggets had, and helped lead to a 10-point disadvantage for the Nuggets in free-throw points.
The Nuggets won in fast-break points 25-12, but it should have been 45-12. Too often, they looked stuck.
“A lot of times a team that likes to run isn’t willing to get back and play defense,” Hornets center P.J. Brown said.
Nobody played defense on Desmond Mason (26 points).
Andre Miller led all scorers with 33 points in 34:51 minutes.
He should have been on the floor even longer.
Chris Paul (39:18) was for the Hornets.
Paul had a chance to extend the Hornets’ halftime lead of 55-54 on a fast break in the final seconds, when he made one too many passes and time expired. Hornets coach Byron Scott simply smiled and clapped and commended his rookie point guard as both walked off the court.
Scott knew even then his team had a wounded duck by the neck and that Paul would be central to the outcome.
He was, scoring 10 points and adding nine assists and eight rebounds. Paul hit two free throws with 21.5 seconds left that helped sap the Nuggets.
“I tried to lead the team, keep everyone involved,” Paul said.
He is 20. He left Wake Forest as a sophomore.
He is leading while learning.
“Chris is fearless, no matter what,” Brown said. “He keeps coming at you. He is always going to hang tough. I try to encourage him to lead even more, to take charge even as a rookie. He has the ability and he is the franchise. And the sooner he gets it, the better.”
Brown is on to something there, because those were the kind of traits missing from the Nuggets on Wednesday night. Along the way this season, in this bumpy start, they have forgotten what they had built and what they had become. Integral pieces were missing Wednesday night but not enough for the spotty play they offered against a team that just climbed to .500, to a 7-7 record.
Oh. Almost forgot. At 8-8, that is exactly what the Nuggets are right now – average.
“We only won 18 games last year,” Paul said, being kind, because he was not a part of that Hornets flop. “We want to prove critics wrong.”
Suddenly, unexpectedly, the Nuggets find themselves rebuilding their spirit – and game – just the same.
Staff writer Thomas Georgecan be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
