Saturday night, the Second-Half Nuggets were at it again.
It is one part curse, one part blessing the way the Nuggets saunter through first halves and turn it up in second halves. Everyone associated with the team would rather have a focused 48-minute effort.
But if uneven play is your trademark, you might as well play solid when it counts. The Nuggets did just that in a 117-101 win over Charlotte at the Pepsi Center.
The stars of this show? Bench players.
Sure, Carmelo Anthony was back from an injury and scored 25 points, but it was Yakhouba Diawara who shut down Bobcats guard Jason Richardson when the Nuggets needed it most. Linas Kleiza scored 23 points with eight rebounds in a reserve role. And Steven Hunter got his first start in Denver for an injured Marcus Camby and produced eight points, six rebounds and toughness on the block.
“This was a bench game,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “This is tip the hats to Kuba, Steven Hunter and J.R. (Smith) a little bit. The energy of our bench was a factor in our confidence.”
Never was it more of a factor than in the second half. Kleiza scored 21 of his 23 points in the final two quarters. Smith hit a big shot in a decisive Nuggets run and didn’t turn the ball over once in the game. Diawara played Bruce Bowen-esque defense on one of the NBA’s premier scorers.
The Bobcats, missing injured leading scorer Gerald Wallace, never flinched in the first half and then into the third quarter. An Othella Harrington bucket on a goaltending call gave Charlotte an 87-77 lead with 1:04 left in the third.
Then the Nuggets turned it up on both ends of the court.
Denver went on a 22-3 run to pull away for good. Diawara was placed on Richardson, who through three quarters had scored 36 points, lighting the Nuggets’ defense up from every angle. But with Diawara hounding the guard, Richardson scored just two points on free throws and missed the only three shots he took in the fourth.
“I like to go against the best player on the other team,” Diawara said. “They were in the game pretty much because of him. The team did a great job of helping me out.”
How much better was Denver in the second half?
Charlotte scored 67 points on 60 percent shooting in the first half. The Bobcats held the Nuggets to 44 percent from the field and outrebounded them by 10 (26-16).
In the second half, the Nuggets held Charlotte to 23 percent (11-of-46) from the field. Only Richardson scored more than 10 points in the half, and 13 of those came in the third. The Nuggets shot a blistering 54 percent from the field, aided by defensive stops that allowed the team a chance to fast break and finish at the rim.
Still, as well as the Nuggets have performed late in games, the trend is troublesome to Karl.
“I don’t think you can be ultra-successful turning the switch on and off on defensive concepts,” Karl said. “It’s fun to coach, and when you win you feel good about making moves and adapting. But there’s got to be a better foundation early in the games.”
Anthony had 10 rebounds in his first game back after missing five straight with a left ankle sprain. “I thought I was going to be a little limited,” Anthony said. “But my jumping ability felt good. The first half I felt pretty good.”
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Carmelo Anthony didn’t score until four minutes left in the first quarter. . . . Ex-Broncos running back Mike Anderson was in attendance. . . . Anthony nearly scored as many points in the third quarter (eight) as he did the entire first half (10).
Final thought
In advance of two huge divisional matchups against Portland and Utah, the Nuggets needed this win badly and got it.
Up next
At Portland, 8 p.m., Monday
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
