PORTLAND – The sitting was getting to J.J. Hickson. He knows he was to blame for his season-opening five-game suspension, but on Sunday he was ready to start to make it right.
Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo goes up for two of his 18 points against Portland on Sunday. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
His eight points and 10 rebounds was a solid place to start.
“I thought he was active,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “He got eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds and thatap huge. Thatap something he can really do, he’s an elite rebounder per minute when he’s in the game at his position.”
Hickson played 14 minutes in his return, which came against Portland, his former team. He’s also coming off of ACL surgery earlier this year and is limited to 20 minutes per game for the time being. Afterward he expressed encouragement with his first outing.
“I felt good,” Hickson said. “The first half, the jitters were there. I got tired a little faster than usual because my energy was channeled elsewhere. But I felt way better in the second half and I think it showed.”
On his rebounding, Hickson was matter-of-fact.
“Thatap my game anyway, so I don’t want to come out and do anything out of the ordinary. I wanted to stick to being myself and I think I did that.”
He said watching the first five games was “very difficult. Especially because we were 1-4 coming into today’s game. Itap always difficult not playing, but I had to pay up for my mistake. So I can’t blame anybody but myself.
Faried on Steve Blake. Kenneth Faried gets criticized at times for a lack of screening. On Sunday, he made Portland guard Steve Blake’s temperature rise because he set a good one.
Faried caught Blake on a jarring back pick, one that Blake’s teammates failed to inform him was coming. Blake turned and threw a shoulder into Faried, who went for the Oscar by falling to the court in a heap. Both players were assessed technical fouls and Blake was handed a flagrant 1 foul as well.
“I’m playing offense, I’m making sure my point guard got open,” Faried said. “And he ran into the back pick trying guard my point guard. Then he got mad about it and pushed me.”
Faried grinned.
“Yeah, I fell down to try and make sure the ref saw it,” he said.
Minute restrictions loosening. The Nuggets ‘surgery’ players have been on a 20-minute limit since the start of the season. This week, however, things might change. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said those minutes are likely to be relaxed for Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari and JaVale McGee, possibly as early as Wednesday’s game against Portland. J.J. Hickson will likely stay at 20 because he just started playing on Sunday.
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