CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It seemed as though George Karl had gone George Carlin.
This had to be a joke — “We’ve transformed from an offensive team to a defensive team. I wish we would be a little better offensively.”
Nope, the Nuggets’ coach was serious. The offensively ravenous Nuggets won Tuesday at Charlotte, 88-80, thanks to their defense — and without their best defensive player. Forward Kenyon Martin (left wrist sprain) is questionable for Thursday’s game, but Tuesday, his teammates emulated his attitude, communicating early and often, making smart decisions with help on defense and never letting the home team take over the game.
“I asked a couple of guys when’s the last time they scored 88 points and won a game,” said point guard Chauncey Billups, who would be interested to know it happened just once last season, an 80-77 win against San Antonio on Jan. 3 . “But if you’re going to be a good team in this league, you’ve got to win ugly games sometimes. You’ve got to win when you’ve got guys out and less numbers.”
Yes, the Nuggets beat the Bobcats, who are not good. But the victory proved what Karl had preached from the first day of training camp — that if this team is going to improve from last season, it can’t win just by outscoring teams.
On Tuesday, the Bobcats (2-5) shot 40.3 percent, making seven 3-pointers on 27 attempts. Starting center Emeka Okafor scored two points.
“Almost every win we’ve had this season has had a defensive formula to it,” said Karl, whose team is 4-3. “I’ll be honest, there’s a comfort there that I’ve forgotten about. Most coaches like to have trust in the defensive end of the court.”
Funny enough, one of Denver’s more reliable defensive sparks was a key offensive spark Tuesday. Renaldo Balkman, again, played admirably, finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench.
The 6-8 Balkman got minutes not only because the Nuggets were without posts Chris Andersen (fractured rib), Steven Hunter (knee surgery) and Martin. Balkman also got minutes because Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith played awfully.
Kleiza, who started for Martin, finished with five points on 2-for-7 shooting. And Smith scored just three points on 1-for-7 shooting. It was the third game in the past four that Smith scored five points or fewer.
Asked what Smith needs to do to find his rhythm, Karl said: “I would say run and move, rather than try to play one-on-one all the time.”
After the win, Karl stood in front of his victorious team, giving a speech that last year would have sounded like stand-up comedy:
“Coaches like to win games with defense. But somewhere along the way, we’ve got to play better offense.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
