AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Apparently, this thick air in the other 49 states is really messing with the Nuggets.
On the road, the Nuggets are consistently a step slower on defense, whether it’s against a lottery-bound team like Milwaukee or a title contender like Detroit.
With the Nuggets’ 136-120 loss to the Pistons on Tuesday night, Denver dropped to 12-20 on the road, including losses in seven of its past eight games away from the friendly high altitude.
“We have a defensive personality on the road that’s scary right now,” Denver coach George Karl said. “It seems like we give up a lot of points to any team. It doesn’t matter who. They score on us. We need to change that — quickly. Though Detroit probably would have beaten anyone in the league tonight.”
On Sunday, in a historic rout of Seattle, Denver tallied 44 assists, the most by any NBA team this season. Forty-eight hours later, Denver allowed 42.
The Pistons’ offense was textbook Tuesday, as guards Richard Hamilton and Denver native Chauncey Billups controlled things with their ball-handling, finding the open shooter with relative ease. Denver didn’t play defense like it was fighting for its playoff life.
Only Phoenix has scored more points against Denver (40-27) this season. The Pistons (49-18) shot a season-high 60.4 percent from the field — 60.4! — while shooting 60 percent from 3-point range (12-for-20). Seven Pistons scored in double figures, including Rasheed Wallace, who made three 3s in the fourth quarter after Denver had cut the lead to 100-89 after three quarters.
So, what does Denver need to do to jolt this lethargy?
“We’ve got to help each other and have to talk a lot more than we’ve been doing,” guard Allen Iverson said. “It’s important we do that, because it’s that much harder on defense on the road.”
Funny enough, Denver played one of its better offensive games of the season — and did so at the home of one of the better defensive teams. Denver’s 120 points were the most allowed by Detroit all season. The Nuggets shot 56.6 percent from the field, making 10-of-20 3-point attempts. And Denver tallied 31 assists; entering the night, the Nuggets were 19-0 with 29-plus assists in a game.
“The stat sheet lied a lot tonight,” Karl said.
The Pistons had a smothering game plan, taking Denver all-star Carmelo Anthony out of the first half with their double-teams. Anthony averages 25.5 points per game, but at halftime he had just four on 1-for-5 shooting.
“They weren’t going to let me do anything,” he said.
Down 73-51 at the half, the Nuggets and Anthony, who scored a game-high 27 points, opened up their offense, outscoring the home team 38-27 in the third quarter. But Wallace’s early-fourth deep balls buried Denver.
And tonight, the Nuggets play a back-to-back. Denver is awful in back-to-backs. And tonight’s opponent is Philadelphia, which beat Detroit here last week.
After the Philadelphia game are three more road games, the toughest road stretch of the season for the horrendous road defenders.
“We can go get all four of these,” Anthony said. “I know we can.”
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
The Nuggets have lost 12 consecutive
games in Detroit, last
winning in the Motor City on
March 10, 1995. On Tuesday, Detroit
had 40 rebounds to Denver’s
22. The Pistons had 42 assists.
The last time they had
40-plus assists was 43 against the
Hornets on April 10, 1992. In the
first quarter, Richard Hamilton’s
jersey read “HAMILTION.”
Final thought
George Karl said of the Pistons:
“They’re probably as intelligent
of an offensive basketball team
(as there is) in the NBA.” And
the Pistons did an excellent job
at picking apart Denver’s defense – or lack thereof.
Up next
At Philadelphia, 5 p.m., tonight.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
