The Nuggets are heading into the playoffs with all the momentum of a moped with a faulty transmission.
Fresh off their 21-point loss Wednesday at Utah, they returned to the Pepsi Center for a limp 100-82 loss to Sacramento on Saturday. The defeat, combined with Memphis’ win at Houston, ensures Denver (44-36) will begin the playoffs on the road, against either the Grizzlies or Los Angeles Clippers.
“We won the division but we don’t have home court? That’s not a good sign,” center Francisco Elson said. “But hopefully we’ll come around on whoever we play in the first round and do a better job.”
Coach George Karl sat stars Carmelo Anthony and Andre Miller for the final 14 and 15 minutes, respectively. Karl said he aimed to rest them and send a message. Miller finished with six points and Anthony 15, on 5-for-13 shooting. Neither spoke to reporters after the game.
Sacramento swingman Ron Artest had a hand in Anthony’s rough night, but Karl found plenty of fault with his small forward.
“If you don’t execute and cut hard and make good decisions and finish plays, you’re not going to score against a great defender,” he said. “I thought Carmelo was close to having a really good game, but I thought we went to more of a jump-shooting and non-executing offense. Artest is going to cover people. You’re going to have to trick him a little bit. You’re going to have to open the court up and get some lucky baskets on him, and we never tried to do it.”
Meanwhile, Artest gave Anthony faint praise, saying, “Hopefully, one day I can be a coach and work with guys like Carmelo Anthony. There are things he does well and a lot of things he doesn’t do well.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be able to move a little bit more. Pass to your teammates a little bit more. Work without the ball. If you’re not scoring, do something else.
“I think that will come over time. I don’t want to give him too much of my tips. But I want to see him do well. He got frustrated. A couple times, guys passed him up. That happens. Sometimes you’ve got to get passed up. It’s a good team game.”
Mike Bibby led the Kings (42-38), who firmed up their playoff chances, with 23 points and 10 assists. Karl called Ruben Patterson, who led Denver with 20 points, one of the few Nuggets to play with energy. Patterson bemoaned his team’s porous defense and lack of cohesion in a game during which Denver trailed by three points early in the third before Sacramento led by as many as 25.
“If we keep playing like we played tonight, we’re going to get put out in the first round,” Patterson said.
Forward Kenyon Martin, playing his first game after missing four with tendinitis in his left knee, said he felt fine after the game. But he sounded similarly ominous notes about Denver when asked if teams can flip a switch to play well in the playoffs.
“I’ve been on teams that have,” he said. “But we played better throughout the year. We need to figure out the way we want to play basketball, whether we’re going to be a running team, a half-court team, a defensive team or let teams score.”
The Nuggets have two more regular-season games to figure that out.
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
