One month into their season of great expectations, the Nuggets are hard to analyze.
How good are they?
There are 10 victories. Coach George Karl is proud of that. Seven of those wins were by an average of 21.6 points.
“We’ve played some great games,” Karl said. “We’ve played very well at times.”
There are seven losses. Three were by an average of 27.3 points. Three were decided by seven points or less and appeared to be giveaways. No one is happy with that.
“It’s a little frustrating,” guard Allen Iverson said. “Because out of the seven games we lost, we feel like four or five of them we should have won.”
There are extenuating circumstances. Injuries ensured the Nuggets did not start with either of their signed point guards, Anthony Carter and Chucky Atkins. Nene was lost for six weeks to injury. Linas Kleiza missed two games to injury. Stephen Hunter and Kenyon Martin missed games, leaving the Nuggets with virtually no big men for a small stretch. Martin started the season as a limited minutes player and to some extent still is. He was on the bench for many fourth-quarter situations in which the team could have used him.
Still, Karl is not worried.
“I think we’re fine,” Karl said. “I don’t expect us, with the injuries and the travel and the 17 games in the month, to come out with this polished product. We’re in what I call a funky stage, but it’s not because we’re not focused or committed. Early in the season, what you do is you take the things that happen, the information, and you get better. And our guys are really into that, focused on that. I think we will get better.”
Defensively, the Nuggets are better, but still a work in progress. At the end of November, Karl pointed out the team was in the top three in the NBA in half-court defense.
Yet transition defense is still a problem. It is that tug-of-war that has opponents shooting a healthy 44.5 percent from the field against Denver, which shoots 45.4 percent from the field.
“We have weaknesses,” Karl acknowledged. “We give up too many second shots. We give up too many transition points. But when we can take this team and defensively go into the top five in half-court defense, there’s things to be happy about.”
Statistically, the Nuggets rate among the NBA’s best in most categories. Scoring points has not been an issue. At 106.1 points per game, only Phoenix, Golden State and the surprisingly potent Utah Jazz average more.
Defensively, the Nuggets are in the top 10 in rebounding (44.11) and lead the league in blocks (6.17) and steals (10.23).
“That’s what the whole training camp was about, about playing defense,” Carter said. “If we get our transition defense better, we’re going to be very, very good. We’re kind of struggling right there, so we have to take care of that.”
Still, the competition hasn’t been top-notch, and the Nuggets haven’t fared well when it has been tougher. By the end of November, the Nuggets were 1-4 against teams with winning records. This month, the competition steps up considerably, with eight of the Nuggets’ 13 games against teams with .500 or better records. It includes Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.
“We’re just still figuring things out,” Kleiza said. “We just got to get consistent because it looks like some nights we don’t bring it. We can’t do that. We’ve got to go out and play every night. We had a stretch where we did that and we were very good.”
Guard J.R. Smith added: “You can never say it’s a bad month when you have 10 wins.”
But he and others recognize there needs to be improvement to reach the team’s goals.
“We’ve played OK,” Carter said. “But we had a lot of games that we still could have won, and we let them get away. We still have a lot of work to do. It’s nothing to brag about because we’ve won 10. We still got a long way to go.”
Denver’s bests, worsts, so far
Chris Dempsey looks at the Nuggets’ highs and lows so far this season.
PEAKS…
Nov. 9 — Two nights after being hammered by the Celtics, Denver bounces back with a 26-point whipping of Washington.
Nov. 10 — Arguably the Nuggets best moment of the month: Trailing by as much as 25 points in the first half, Denver held Indiana to 32 points in the second half and won 113-106.
Nov. 20 — Nuggets rout Bulls, 112-91, capping a six-game winning streak.
AND VALLEYS
Nov. 6 — The Nuggets blew 15- and 10-point leads in a 119-112 loss to the Knicks.
Nov. 7 — The Boston Celtics blitzed the Nuggets from tipoff, crushing Denver 119-93 in a game Allen Iverson called the worst defeat of his career.
Nov. 29 — Nuggets start strong against Lakers, building a 17-point halftime lead, then collapse and get blown out by 28.
MIAMI AT DENVER
6 p.m. tonight, Altitude, KKFN 950 AM
Spotlight on Dwyane Wade: Wade continues to come back from shoulder and knee injuries that sidelined him for the first seven games. Since his return, the Heat is 3-5. Miami started 1-6 without Wade, who has led the team in scoring in four of his eight games.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony hosted a party at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night that was expected to draw some big-name celebrities. Included on the invitations were Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Dwyane Wade, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. Anthony Carter’s 10 assists against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday were a season high for the Nuggets.
Heat: Miami will be without guard Smush Parker, who has been made inactive while the team investigates an altercation early last week between Parker and a valet parking attendant. Parker was inactive for Miami’s home game on Friday against the Celtics and is not expected to be with the team tonight for the start of a six-game road trip.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
