Thirty-five games into the regular season, there are those on the team satisfied with the position the 23-12 Nuggets are in — and those who aren’t.
Count coach George Karl and forward Carmelo Anthony among the faction happy with the direction of the team. Put Nene in the “concerned” category, especially after the Nuggets’ near giveaway of their game against New Orleans on Saturday night. Denver lost a 26-point lead and had to rally to win.
“We need to be consistent, playing together,” Nene said. “Not forcing shots. Not trying to play individual (basketball). We need to play as a group, pass the ball to who is open. We won the game and that is good, but we can’t have these kinds of mistakes.”
As the Nuggets close in on the halfway point of the regular season, they have started to get the reputation of a team that is susceptible to giving up leads and doesn’t close out its opponents.
“I told (the players) at halftime that this team (Denver) will let you back in,” said Hornets coach Byron Scott, whose team trailed 58-40.
Asked what the Nuggets need to improve on, guard J.R. Smith didn’t hesitate.
“Close out games,” Smith said. “We were up 26 (on Saturday), and they came back and were even up one. No matter who we’re playing, Oklahoma or New Orleans, we’ve just got to close out games.”
The Nuggets’ second-half collapse at Atlanta on Dec. 29 prompted a team-only meeting to hammer home the details of winning basketball games and to make sure the players were on the same page. The Nuggets then held on to win their next game, at Toronto.
Anthony struggled to find anything that his team, which leads the Northwest Division by 2 1/2 games over Portland, could do to get better.
“It’s tough to say,” Anthony said. “We’re not playing as good as we’re going to play. But we’re still winning basketball games, so that’s a good sign.”
In fairness to some of the rough-around-the-edges play, a schedule loaded with a lot of games in a limited amount of days has meant the Nuggets have had almost no practice time in the last three weeks. The last real practice the team had was Dec. 18. They will likely not have another real practice — two hours or more of full contact with all of the players in full participation — until Sunday. So tying up some of the loose ends could be tough until then.
“You’re not going to play 82 (games) with perfection,” Karl said. “Once we get back to practicing some, we’ll get our defensive edge back on the court a little bit.”
On the month, Karl said he wants to see continual improvement.
“It’s an exciting stretch, but I don’t think there’s a priority of win-loss as much as understand that we’re playing good teams,” he said. “Let’s continue to be professionally focused, continue to grow up and mature as a professional, and take the challenges that are thrown at us as a basketball team.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Indiana at Denver
7 p.m. tonight, ALT, KCKK 1510 AM/KRCN 1060 AM
Spotlight on Danny Granger: The Indiana swingman has quietly become one of the NBA’s brightest stars. Granger, whom fans in the Rocky Mountain region saw on a regular basis when he played at New Mexico, is averaging 25.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He ranks fifth in the league in scoring.
Nuggets: Nene is emerging as a strong candidate for the NBA’s most improved player. The Nuggets’ center is averaging 9.4 points per game more than he did last season, 2.4 more rebounds and is shooting 21 percent better. “He’s a big target, he’s got great hands, and I think he’s kind of proud of trying to shoot a high, high percentage,” coach George Karl said of Nene’s season. . . . The Nuggets have 10 home games in January, including seven in a row. Said Carmelo Anthony: “This stretch, we really can make a statement, really separate ourselves.”
Pacers: Indiana has played the entire season without forward Mike Dunleavy, who has been rehabbing a knee injury. Dunleavy has begun on-court work and is hopeful of being back in the lineup soon, perhaps by the end of their five-game road trip, which starts tonight. . . . Pacers guard Jarrett Jack was originally drafted by the Nuggets in 2005 and traded on draft day for the rights to Linas Kleiza.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
