BOSTON — It’s becoming obvious that Linas Kleiza is one of coach George Karl’s favorite weapons. Kleiza, Karl said, is arguably Denver’s best runner and 3-point shooter, and he can chameleon from power forward to shooting guard.
Kleiza started at guard Tuesday night in New York, scoring 18 points, and should be a key part of the offense tonight against Boston.
“I liked LK’s performance,” Karl said after the loss to the Knicks. “But I didn’t like how he played defense. It was our weakest defensive performance, and it kind of made me feel like we played last year, just kind of outshooting people.”
At times, Karl has to decide if he wants to play the defensively deficient Kleiza or Yakhouba Diawara, who earns his check as a defender.
But in a high-paced offense, it’s hard to keep a high-octane scorer on the bench, and that’s what Kleiza has proven to be thus far, twice scoring 18 points in the first four games.
His minutes are up from last season — 25.0 per game, compared to 18.8 last season.
But guard J.R. Smith returned Tuesday night. And forward Kenyon Martin will tonight after resting his knee in New York. Karl said these first 10 weeks will be an evaluation period, to see which players match best in which situations. We’ll see if the added Nuggets firepower has an effect on Kleiza’s minutes.
