When the ball goes up, start the stopwatch.
The Nuggets and Phoenix Suns play basketball in seconds. Split seconds.
The Western Conference’s two most prolific offenses take the court tonight at the Pepsi Center in a makeup game of the snowed-out game Dec. 20. The scoreboard should light up, and what’s interesting is how each team sprints to the 100-point mark. They are different forms of the basic principle of up-tempo basketball.
On average, the Suns look to shoot within the first seven seconds of the shot clock. The Nuggets? Double that.
“My desire is to shoot 70 percent of the shots within the first 14 seconds of the shot clock,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “That’s how we want to play.”
Then there is how the Suns score, as opposed to Denver. Forward/center Amare Stoudemire poses the threat of throwing down an easy dunk, and he soaks up defenders on the fast break while shooters fan out across the 3-point line. Phoenix shoots a league-high 39.9 percent from 3-point range and makes 9.8 shots per game from behind the arc.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets get to the rim to finish, relying on dribble penetration and employing alley-oop passes for easy buckets. Because Denver doesn’t have the same caliber of shooters, the threat of quick-strike 3-pointers isn’t the same, nor is taking high numbers of those shots beneficial to keeping the scores high.
“I think we’re different,” Suns guard Steve Nash said. “We’re both running teams. But we’re more of a perimeter jump-shooting team and they are a team that takes it to the basket a little more. They have a lot of big guys on their team as well. Different, but we both like to run, that’s for sure.”
That fondness for running has resulted in Denver averaging 105.3 points per game, which ranks third in the NBA. Phoenix tops the league at 111.3 points per game and has looked as dominant as ever.
Though Karl says he can see improvement in the Suns’ transition defense and calls it an underrated defensive unit, statistics suggest that, unbelievably, Phoenix’s run has been built on improving its offense.
The Suns average three more points per game than last season. They are shooting an NBA-high 49.9 percent from the field this season, compared to 47.9 in 2005-06. That efficiency has led to a slight drop in their shots taken per game, from 87.4 a year ago to 83.2.
Defensively, all the numbers are nearly identical. Phoenix allowed 102.8 points per game last season and gives up 102.3 now. Opponents shoot 45.4 percent from the field, which is identical to what the Suns allowed last season.
“We’re playing pretty well,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “The defense is getting better. The offense is still good. Guys have been healthy. It’s been good.”
Denver averages an NBA-high 84.3 shots per game, but its field- goal percentage (45.5) undermines that.
“Phoenix has shown if you play with good shot selection, playing fast is the best way to play,” Karl said. “I think the controlling of the game with moving the ball and playing later in the shot clock, some coaches believe in that. Personally, I believe it’s a little overrated, unless you have a great post player. Playing fast is my desire.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears contributed to this report.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
