Before the season, Nuggets assistant coach Doug Moe leaned back in a folding chair just outside of the Pepsi Center practice court and took stock of this team and what its chances were to be successful. He had a swift initial observation.
“We’ve got to get it started off good one time,” Moe said. “We never start off good.”
Now they have.
Nine games into any season is never cause for partying or panic, but the Nuggets’ 6-3 start to this one holds significance. It is their best start under fourth-year coach George Karl, and it is the team’s best record through nine games in 13 years.
If the goal is to get 55 to 60 wins, this is the right path.
“I don’t want to overexaggerate,” Karl said. “We know that to have a great year, we gotta have a great month of November. I think so far we’ve done our job there, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“It’s the time of year not to get happy because we’ve got to keep getting better, and we’ve got to keep moving forward as a team, and hopefully get healthy, too.”
Karl and the players credit improved defense for the start. Catching each of the past four opponents on the second of back-to-back sets helps, but the early returns on defensive stats are better than last season.
Denver’s opponents shot 46 percent from the field last season. So far this season, it’s 44 percent. The Nuggets allowed 103.7 points last year and had a differential of 1.7 points per game. This year, the differential is 6.5 as the Nuggets score 108.3 points and give up 101.8.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, building up to being a good team, but our key is our defense,” forward Linas Kleiza said. “We’ve been playing defense pretty good the last couple of games. That’s what gets us the wins.”
Entering Thursday, Allen Iverson ranked second in the NBA in steals per game at 2.89.
“We understand it’s easier to play offense if we play good defense, being that you get a chance to get out there and run,” Iverson said. “Once we get out there and run, there’s not too many people who can stop us.”
Attitude-wise, Karl notes a 180-degree adjustment. Games the team should win, it mostly has. Losses, particularly bad ones, don’t stick with these players.
“I think there’s a unity to the team that we didn’t have last year because of the fight and injuries and then the big trade. We’re more unified,” Karl said.
“After the Boston game, we didn’t have a separation. We just knew that we mentally didn’t come ready, we got handled by a team that has a great spirit to it, and we got to remember that game whenever they come play out here.”
Footnote. Steven Hunter is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery today to clean up an inflamed right knee. His return will be determined after the procedure. The 7-foot center was brought to the team in the summer via a trade with Philadelphia. He has played in four games this season, for a total of only 19 minutes.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
