Long after the rest of the Nuggets had left the practice gym, Linas Kleiza remained, shooting 3-pointer after 3-pointer, his gray shirt almost black due to sweat.
Kleiza, Denver’s key reserve, has seemed inconsistent with his shooting during training camp, so the forward put in extra time with assistants John Welch and Larry Mangino.
And for the rest of the Nuggets, coach George Karl said: “We’re banged up a little bit, tired of hitting each other, but some good stuff out there. Offensively, we’ve put some stuff in the last couple days that make us smooth, but at the end there, we kind of ran out of gas.”
The Nuggets, who play their first preseason game on Friday at Pepsi Center, have numerous players nursing injuries, notably Kenyon Martin (left knee inflammation and right shoulder inflammation), Sonny Weems (sports hernia), Chris Andersen (left Gastroc contusion), Ruben Patterson (right hamstring strain) and Allen Iverson (left knee contusion), who missed practice to be with his wife, who went into labor with their fifth child, a Nuggets spokesman said.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
