Before there can be a four- or five-game winning streak, there has to be two.
The Nuggets accomplished that Tuesday, holding off the Portland Trail Blazers 107-99 at the Pepsi Center to mixed reviews. A standing ovation at game’s end showed the fans liked what they saw. Players were happy. The coach? Well, that was a different story.
George Karl fumed out loud. He talked about slow-starting third quarters. He talked about coming close to benching all five starters, who came out sluggish in the second half. He said he was uneasy about Denver’s playoff positioning, which going into a big game Thursday night against the Los Angeles Lakers has the Nuggets just one game behind the Lakers for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.
“Twenty-four great minutes, and then 24 minutes of frustration,” Karl said. “There’s a part of me that says our energy, our fatigue, our pace, has to be coached. We run in the first half, run out of gas and play a possession, slow-down game in the second half.”
And in that environment, Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge flourished.
The rookie pounded the Nuggets inside, scoring 24 points with a career-high 17 rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots. He had a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) in the first half alone.
Karl said he challenged the Nuggets to hold Portland to under 30 percent shooting in the second half. That didn’t happen. Not even close, in fact, as the Trail Blazers shot a blistering 59.5 percent in the second half and scored 62 points after tallying just 37 in the first half.
Karl wasn’t happy about that.
“I’d like to have a 48-minute game where we go and play well in both quarters, both halves and only small moments of lulls,” Karl said.
But count Carmelo Anthony in the camp of those who liked what they saw.
“It was an ugly win, but we won the game, and we can carry this confidence over to Thursday against the Lakers,” said Anthony, who finished with 29 points and eight rebounds.
At the all-star break, catching the Lakers seemed more of a pipe dream than an achievable goal. Now, with a win Thursday, the Nuggets (31-31) will be in a virtual tie with the Lakers (33-31) in the playoff race, though L.A. would still be percentage points ahead of the Nuggets by virtue of having one more victory.
Karl, however, said the Nuggets have “postponed our playoff preparation” in order to concentrate on actually getting there.
“We’re just trying to play well,” center Marcus Camby said. “We’re not going to get home-court advantage. We just want to be playing well towards the end of the year going into the playoffs. We still have a whole lot of work to do. Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th are only like a couple of games apart.”
Asked what it says about the Nuggets that despite their issues they can still improve their playoff positioning, Camby said, “A little bit of luck. We definitely feel our record should be a whole lot better, but it is what it is. Now we just have to step up and play these last 20 ballgames. If not, we’ll be going home on April 18.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
