On Monday, after Nene was ejected for a flagrant foul and arguing the point in a Nuggets’ loss at Phoenix, coach George Karl openly worried about his team’s penchant to lose its cool.
“We’ve just got to be more emotionally mature,” Karl said. “It seems like we have something (negative) on a weekly basis.”
Saturday, Karl didn’t say the issue was resolved, but did say the Nuggets were taking positive steps toward just playing and not arguing as much with refs.
“I think the mental focus in the last two games is about as good as you can ask,” Karl said. “We had a lot of breaking points (against Dallas). We could have thrown away a possession or two, and we didn’t.”
Still, the Nuggets have more technical fouls than any other team, a total of 63 going into Saturday’s game. Boston had 51 going into Saturday’s action, and Phoenix had 50.
Almost every player on the Nuggets’ roster has at least one. Carmelo Anthony was tied for second in the league with 13; Chauncey Billups was tied for fifth in the league with 10; Kenyon Martin was tied for sixth with nine; Dahntay Jones, Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith all had four; Anthony Carter and Nene both had three; Chris Andersen had two; and Renaldo Balkman had one. Karl was tied for third among coaches with 10.
Anthony’s total should be of immediate concern. He is three technical fouls away from incurring a mandatory one-game suspension. According to NBA regulations, that happens on the 16th technical.
“I think we’re all a little bit trying to find the routine, how to interact with them,” Karl said. “I think we all feel like we’re frustrated a little bit with the direction of the whistle. I can’t deny at times we don’t have a great comfort zone with how the game is being refereed. But a part of being an NBA player is figuring it out, letting that go, and just play with intensity and emotion.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
