At long last, Ty Lawson will return to the court tonight when the Nuggets host the Utah Jazz.
And the Nuggets’ push-the-pace philosophy is certain to benefit.
“We want more quickness and speed without crazy,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “It seems like we’d gotten slow and crazy. I can accept some crazy with speed and quickness. I thought we got that in the Orlando game. . . . But Ty’s important. If he’s healthy, he’s going to get some opportunity to play.”
Lately in practices, the Nuggets have tried to drill speed back into what they do offensively. It paid off against Orlando, as they got out and ran, and made plays in the open court. The return of Lawson will help that even further.
Lawson has missed four consecutive games since injuring his left ankle against Golden State on Jan. 5.
“It feels good, so hopefully I get some minutes and play,” Lawson said. “Sitting on the sidelines, sitting in the locker room is frustrating. So I can’t wait to get my feet wet and get back out there.”
Lawson admitted getting back from the sprain has taken more time than he previously thought.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Lawson said. “It took a little longer than expected because I didn’t think it was as serious as it was. I can’t wait to get back out there, though.”
When Lawson was injured, he was beginning to ease into a nice groove on the court. He had been adjusting his game to what defenses were taking away from him and finding ways to be successful. He’s averaging 22.3 points and 8.6 assists in his last three games.
And coming back against Utah could be a boost for the Nuggets since he played so well against the Jazz the last time the two teams squared off. Lawson scored 23 points with nine assists and three steals as a depleted Nuggets team went to Salt Lake City and came out with an improbable, but impressive, 105-95 victory.
A win against the Jazz tonight would give the Nuggets the head-to-head tiebreaker, with a 3-0 series lead in a too-close-for-comfort Northwest Division race.
The Nuggets are slowly getting healthy at the right time.
“He looks good,” guard Chauncey Billups said of Lawson. “He’s not going to come back unless he can be Ty Lawson. He’s going to be out there causing havoc, pushing tempo, getting into the paint. And we feed off of him too. We need that.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Utah at Denver
7 p.m. tonight, ALT/ESPN, KCKK 1510 AM
Spotlight on Carlos Boozer: The Jazz has played much better in the middle of January and Boozer has been the biggest reason. In the Jazz’s three-game winning streak going into Saturday night, Boozer averaged 19.6 points and 10.3 rebounds.
Nuggets: For the second consecutive home game, the schedule has been kind enough to send the Nuggets another team playing the second of back-to-back games. The Jazz played at home against Milwaukee on Saturday night. . . . Carmelo Anthony is fourth in the NBA in technical fouls with eight. He picked up his eighth Wednesday against Orlando.
Jazz: Guard Deron Williams has been playing through an injured right wrist. He was unable to finish Utah’s win over Cleveland on Thursday after aggravating it. . . . Utah has been hot and cold on the road lately, going 2-2 in its last four. . . . Utah hasn’t won in Denver since Feb. 6, 2008.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
