Kenyon Martin is playing his best basketball since joining the Denver skyline.
Entering this season, as Martin was recovering from a second microfracture knee surgery, the Nuggets weren’t sure what he could provide. Of late, he is playing some of his best basketball since his all-star days in New Jersey.
For the season, the power forward has averaged 12.5 points per game and 6.4 rebounds, but in February and March combined, he averaged 14.8 and 6.6.
By comparison, in his best year with Denver — 2004-05 — he averaged 15.5 and 7.3.
What’s hard to quantify is how much Martin has meant to the Nuggets’ low-post defensive presence, which has been a blessing considering the Nuggets’ perimeter defense can be all kinds of awful. Nuggets coach George Karl says Martin is the team’s top one-on-one defender. Martin gleefully, and almost maniacally, yearns to cover the opponent’s best low-post player.
He essentially won Denver a big road game at Toronto last month when he smothered all-star Chris Bosh, notably in the pivotal fourth quarter. But the 6-foot-9 Martin will also check guys on the perimeter, even slippery point guards such as Golden State’s Baron Davis.
And against Golden State on Saturday, Martin essentially won that game with his offense, scoring a team-high 30 points.
The fact that he suits up at all, earning his hefty paycheck, is commendable. If someone said you could make millions by sitting on the beach — or going through painful rehab and then playing in the NBA but perhaps not be at your best — you just might take the former.
But what’s even more remarkable is that it doesn’t appear Martin has lost a step despite two major micro- fracture setbacks. His explosiveness is back.
He started off the season inconsistently while playing limited minutes. In one game he would score in double-digits. The next night he wouldn’t make a shot. He cracked 20-plus points just once in November and December. But in the three months since then, he’s hit 20 or more seven times and the Nuggets won six of those games. And despite his aggressive, smothering defensive style, he rarely fouls out — just three times all season.
If the Nuggets are going to make the playoffs, they will get there, in part, because Martin continues to elevate his game in this team’s stretch run.
