This season, the Nuggets have decided to play defense. The Warriors are still holding out.
Golden State plays the way Denver did the past few seasons — running and gunning its way to 108.5 points per game, second in the NBA to the Phoenix Suns. The Warriors are coming to town tonight, and while few teams know the Warriors’ style better than Denver, the new-look Nuggets have had trouble combating this basketball blitzkrieg they helped popularize.
“We’ve actually had problems with offensive teams,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “Teams that give up a lot of points, we kind of think, ‘Well, we’ll outscore them.’ But teams like Indiana and Phoenix have scored more than we have.
“Golden State has nobody that’s going to really come out and try to stop you, they’re going to run back, run at you, and the pace of the game is going to be athletic and shot selection is going to be wild and crazy. If they’re making shots, you got to make adjustments. I have a feeling we’re going to score 110 points. The question is, can we stop them from scoring 110 points?”
The Nuggets are 1-1 against the Warriors this season, though the Nov. 5 loss happened when Denver didn’t have Allen Iverson or Chauncey Billups, during the week of the big trade.
In the second matchup, the Nuggets won 123-105, on a night when Carmelo Anthony tallied 27 points and nine rebounds, both game highs.
Slump busting.
Nuggets forward Linas Kleiza, one of Karl’s go-to guys off the bench, hasn’t scored in double-digits in any of the past seven games, and he did so just twice in nearly over month of March.
“He’s been doing extra work (in the gym),” Karl said. “He just has to have one of those games, kind of like baseball, where you fall into some easy things and all of a sudden he’ll make a shot. I think we all are rooting for him.
“When he takes a shot, you can almost see half the bench standing up, wanting it to go in. There’s no question that we need him to space the court and give offense off the bench. He’s been such a major part of our last two years, to see him go through this long a slump has been kind of frustrating for everybody.”
Always closing.
Entering Friday, the Nuggets were 36-3 in games they lead entering the fourth quarter. Only one NBA team, Cleveland, has a better record leading after three quarters, at an incredible 47-2.
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
