Back-to-backs are an easy excuse for a loss. They are rough with late-night flights, draining games the night before, and the request that players amp up the energy again sometimes less than 24 hours later.
But the elite teams win anyway, particularly when the second game is against an inferior opponent. The Nuggets are on a shortlist of NBA Finals contenders. These games are musts. Friday night, the Nuggets treated the game that way in a hard-fought 107-102 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
A day earlier, the Nuggets had their legs run ragged in Oakland, scoring 127 points at Golden State. The toll was apparent in a slow start Friday, but the team kept its composure and walked away with an important victory, with Utah still hot on the Nuggets’ heels.
“The biggest concern that we faced was having a tough game against Golden State last night, getting to bed at 4 in the morning, and having to grit and grind against a team that was waiting on us and was fresh,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said. “It’s a good win for us.”
Billups wouldn’t let the Nuggets fade. In a display that the Pistons have surely seen time and again when he wore the blue-and-red, Billups took over in the fourth. He scored 10 points in the period, including five in a 9-2 run that took a 93-93 game and turned it into a 102-95 Nuggets lead with 1:36 left.
“I just wanted to be aggressive and attack them, knowing that this was the biggest part of the game and this is where the game is going to be won or lost,” said Billups, who led the team with 25 points.
Denver held on from there to collect its third straight victory. It was the first time the Nuggets have beaten Detroit in four years. The Pistons had won seven in a row in the series.
“I know my record against Detroit is terrible since I’ve been here,” Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. “But it’s good to get this one after the grueling trip that we had.”
It took time for the Nuggets to get their legs under them — they started 3-for-10 from the field — but things started to come together in the second quarter.
Joey Graham was active and running the court, scoring eight of 12 points in a run that erased a seven-point deficit at the end of the first quarter and gave the Nuggets a 34-33 lead. Graham scored 11 points in the second.
“I just wanted to continue the flow of (Thursday night’s) game,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “It didn’t get that way. Offensively, it was more of a Detroit Piston-type game. Without our bench tonight, we wouldn’t have won the game.”
Speaking of the bench, Karl was back on it. He smiled wide during pregame interviews being back around the sport he loves. He missed Thursday’s game because of doctors’ orders to rest that day during his treatment for throat cancer. They gutted one out for him Friday.
“Regardless of how we get it done, we just want to get it done,” Anthony said. “I don’t like to complain, but to have a game against Golden State, get to Denver around 3:30-4 a.m. and have to come here and play a game, it’s tough. But I guess that’s why they pay us the money.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
RECAP
What you might have missed
Joey Graham’s 11 second-quarter points were more than he’d scored in his last five games. . . . The Nuggets are 30-3 when leading after three quarters. They are 22-0 at home when leading after three. . . . The Nuggets’ bench outscored Detroit’s bench 38-37. . . . J.R. Smith had a career-high five steals.
Final thought
This was a win the Nuggets needed to have.
Up next
Sunday at L.A. Lakers, 1:30 p.m.
