Everyone knows about Ty Lawson’s offense. But what about the rookie’s defense?
The 5-foot-11 guard is learning on the job, and he played particularly well Tuesday against Golden State, when “he had a 4-5 minute stretch where (Monta) Ellis was surprised he couldn’t get by Ty,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “Then he posted him up, and I thought the referee gave the rookie some tough calls. But with the (overall) control of the speed of Ellis, we got in better control.”
The reserve guard has quick hands (though his 1.88 steals per 48 minutes are just 50th in the league), and he has proved to be fearless against some bigger names.
“I think we’re excited about (his defense) — I don’t think he’s a prime- time defender because of the reads and mistakes,” Karl said. “I think that’s probably the area he makes more rookie mistakes at than at the offensive end — the concepts, knowing all the NBA sets, and the priorities in those sets is not as easy as you think it is. And the biggest thing since they’ve taken away (hand-checking) is to keep control of the ball.”
Entering Thursday, Lawson was 10th among NBA rookies with 8.9 points per game and sixth with 3.6 assists.
An old friend.
The Nuggets still own the NBA rights to Linas Kleiza, the reserve who signed a two-year deal this summer with Olympiacos, and Kleiza is having a big season thus far, averaging 18.3 points and 7.1 rebounds, both stats ranking in the top 10 in Euroleague competition.
Kleiza’s squad will be featured on NBA TV this Saturday at 11 a.m., in a game against Entente Orleanaise.
Anticipating A.I.
It indeed appears that Allen Iverson’s first game back with Philadelphia will be against Denver on Monday. The Altitude network has moved the game from Altitude2 to its main Altitude channel. The Avalanche’s game at St. Louis will be on Altitude2.
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
