DETROIT — Nuggets coach George Karl calls his bench a bullpen. On Sunday, he utilized it liberally.
He had to.
Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson were on a list of eight Nuggets who did not play in the 109-106 loss to Detroit at the Palace of Auburn Hills. This was a time to rest regulars and get a look at different faces.
“There’s always somebody in the bullpen,” Karl said. “I’m a believer that sometimes when you split 30 minutes – 15, 15 – it’s better to give a guy 30 minutes in a game, and then give the next guy 30 minutes. Sometimes 15 minutes isn’t enough to feel like you’re involved.
“So, I’m just trying to give them good opportunity and trying to be as fair with the evaluation of the process of training camp. Some guys are playing well. Some guys are playing ahead of other guys. But we want to make everybody, at the end of the day, feel like they’ve had an opportunity.”
Bobby Jones took full advantage.
The guard was singled out by Karl as the Nuggets’ standout of the game. The box score fairly well reflected his effectiveness: 17 points (7-of-11), six rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes.
“He was a factor defensively, he was a factor physically in the game,” Karl said. “I thought Bobby did a great job for us. I thought he was a key that we needed to kind of stay in the game and almost won.”
Said Jones: “I made a lot of good decisions. I was able to stand out offensively and defensively this game. It would have been nice to win, but I’m just trying to show Coach that I can do a lot of things to help the team out if I get the opportunity to be out there. It’s a great compliment to hear that from him. Hopefully he can say that a lot more.”
The Nuggets’ shooting star was guard Anthony Roberson, who made four 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 22 points. His 22-foot jump shot with 27.6 seconds left cut the Nuggets’ deficit to 105-104.
“He makes shots,” Karl said. “My only complaint is I thought a couple of times defensively he let the ball get out of control, when he could have been a little better.”
Guard Von Wafer had a solid shooting game, but Karl remains concerned with his decision-making and defense.
“I just want to get better with the system and get better defensively,” Wafer said. “I think I’m getting better out there. I was very excited to play (against Detroit), because they are going to be one of the teams that’s going to be pretty good in this league. I just wanted to see how I would feel out there. I feel pretty confident out there.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
