Bob Lemon, a former manager of the New York Yankees, once said that the two most important things in life were good friends and a strong bullpen, which makes one wonder if Lemon instead coached the New York Knicks — if life’s second most important thing would be a strong bench?
We often see its importance in basketball, notably with last season’s Celtics and this season’s Lakers, and of late, the Nuggets’ bench has been bolstered by a familiar face.
Linas Kleiza has often been a reliable reserve, but for five consecutive games he was woefully woebegone, totaling 34 points. But in the next five, through Denver’s last game Tuesday night, Kleiza totaled 71. For the first time in his three- year career, he tallied five straight double-digit scoring nights as a reserve (last season, he had eight in a row, but five came in games he started).
With all-star Carmelo Anthony sidelined with an elbow injury, the Nuggets need all the help they can muster.
“We are going to try to win every game no matter who’s out there,” guard Chauncey Billups said. “That’s who we’re going to roll with.”
Kleiza, indeed, has been rolling, because he has accentuated his best attributes — running the floor and creating space for an open 3-pointer. In the Nuggets’ home win Monday night against Portland, Kleiza made a key fourth-quarter dunk by running harder than the other nine players, catching a lofted pass in transition. And in Tuesday’s road loss at Portland, he had five 3-pointers, missing just two.
The past five games, Kleiza has shot 13-for-21 from 3-point range; in the previous five, he was 3-for-12.
Telling stat(s).
Twenty- nine games into this season, the Nuggets have played pretty good defense in many games, even in some losses. But when the Nuggets allow 100-plus points, including the 101 that Portland scored on Tuesday, they have lost 10 of 11 games.
“We’ve got to continue to play the same way defensively — we need a lot of focus and heart,” Billups said.
On the other side of that stat, the Nuggets are 11-1 when opponents score fewer than 100 points and 8-0 when opponents score fewer than 90, as seen Monday, when Portland scored 89 and lost at the Pepsi Center.
Not too shabby.
The Nuggets are 18-11 entering their next game, Friday night at home against Philadelphia. If Denver wins that game, it will mark the second- best 30-game start in the Nuggets’ NBA history.
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
