The Nuggets have reached the point where wins are the silver lining. Style points are icing.
Friday night’s 116-105 win over the Washington Wizards at the Pepsi Center could have been more aesthetically pleasing, but it wasn’t bad. The Nuggets will take it. If they’re going to fix problem spots, it might as well be as they win.
And to date, they’ve collected five straight wins, four of them at home.
“I don’t think there’s any question the last couple of weeks we’ve moved in a good direction,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “Defensively, we’ve had some bad games, but for the most part we know that if we defend and keep a team under 100 points, it’s tough for a team to keep us under 100 points.”
Washington couldn’t keep the Nuggets under 100. In fact, in two meetings this season, the Nuggets averaged 120 against the helpless Wizards, who found it near impossible to conjure up defensive stops. J.R. Smith feasted, scoring a game-high, season-high 40 points, three short of his career high.
“He came on strong,” Carmelo Anthony said. “He was just being aggressive, finding everybody. They opened a lot of things for him.”
Said Karl: “J.R. was pretty good, pretty efficient. The efficiency is something that doesn’t come every night. When he was responsible, he was great. His shot selection was good. His ability to get to the rim was incredible. Made some big threes for us. Hopefully, we’ll have one or two more like that.”
And Smith wasn’t the only player in career-high territory. Chris Andersen slammed in a career- high 18 points with 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Andersen knew all along that he broke his career high.
“That 17 has been haunting me,” Andersen said.
The Nuggets shot 53 percent from the field despite a 6-of-16 performance from Anthony, who still finished with 20 points and five steals.
Antawn Jamison led Washington with 27 points and seven rebounds.
But of greatest concern to the Nuggets is the division race and conference standings. With the win, the Nuggets gained ground in the Northwest Division and held ground in the Western Conference.
In the Northwest Division, they moved to 1 1/2 games ahead of Portland, which did not play. Utah, with its win over Oklahoma City, tied the Trail Blazers for second in the division. In the conference, the Nuggets remain in fourth, a half-game behind Houston, which won as well.
Karl said he has given up on guessing a win total that will get the Nuggets the division crown.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take. I have no idea,” he said. “A couple of weeks ago I thought 51 or 52 was good. But I’m not sure anymore. It might be 53 or 54.”
Whatever it is, Karl says he’s pleased with his players rededicating themselves to some fundamental items that made the Nuggets successful earlier in the season.
“I think they understand the importance of the pass, of creating shots for each other rather than individual shots,” Karl said. “I think we’ve gotten stronger in that area, and that will become even more of a magnifying force in the playoffs. So, I think there’s some good steps and some great challenges.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Former Bronco Jashon Sykes was in attendance. . . . J.R. Smith eclipsed his season average for points per game in the second quarter. . . . Chris Andersen’s 12 fourth-quarter points were more than he had scored in any game since scoring 13 against Washington on Feb. 6.
Final thought
The Nuggets did what they had to do, finish off a stretch of inferior opponents without a loss. From this point forward, we’ll find out if they have actually cured what ailed them.
Up next
At Phoenix, 8 p.m. Monday.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
