Up just two points Monday, Utah used the third quarter’s final 1 1/2 minutes to push the lead to six. But Denver still had 8.8 seconds left in the quarter and a chance to cut that six in half.
So how did Denver execute these final seconds? Abysmally. J.R. Smith just dribbled up the court, flashed some crossover dribbles and hoisted a contested 3, which clanked off the rim.
This was ugly, yes, but hardly the monstrosity that was the end of the second quarter, when Utah’s three-point lead became 12 in the final 2:47.
“We always talk about finishing quarters strong, and we haven’t done that well,” Nuggets acting coach Adrian Dantley said. “In the second quarter, they went on a 9-0 run, and we missed four layups and had offensive fouls.”
Discipline has been an issue for the Nuggets of late, notably in the first halves of games; Denver allowed Utah to shoot 67.7 percent in the first half of Game 2.
Now, with the series tied 1-1, the Nuggets’ latest concern is clamping down on those momentum-swinging moments late in the quarters.
“You work so hard and you’re in a game,” explained Nuggets assistant coach Chad Iske. “Let’s say you’re 10 down and you fight back to three down, and you’re right there with two minutes to go, and then — boom — they go on a 6-0 run. You think you played a great quarter, you started the quarter 10 down, you look up at the scoreboard and you’re nine down. To me, it can be a really deflating thing to your team.”
It’s these moments, in the final minutes of quarters, when teams often run isolation plays for key players, instead of just letting an offense flow as if it was, as Iske said, “just another play in the game. . . .
“There’s a heavier weight to it, at least in my mind, the emotional and mental aspect of making a run or letting someone make a run on you at the end of quarters. It’s big. A lot of games we’ve lost this year, we’ve given up a lot of runs at the end of quarters.”
Ace in the hole?
Dantley doesn’t particularly like to talk about the backup point guard position. Late in the season, he played a lot of Anthony Carter, and in Games 1 and 2, he played the slippery Ty Lawson, who generally plays well against the Jazz. But Carter is known for his close-outs on perimeter players, and Utah point guard Deron Williams scored 33 points in Game 2.
Asked if he might play Carter, Dantley said, “We’ll have to wait and see how the game goes. It’s just my call. Everybody was saying that Ty plays real well against Utah.”
Super praise.
Orlando’s Dwight Howard won the NBA’s defensive player of the year honor Tuesday. Asked about his Team USA teammate, Denver’s Carmelo Anthony said: “He’s a big man who chases the ball, knows how to get the ball. Stepping on the court, he can get 15 rebounds and five blocks with his eyes closed.”
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
