Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo clears out some room between himself and New York guard Pablo Prigioni during Sunday’s game. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 109-93 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
1. Connelly staying calm. None of this is what anyone in the Nuggets organization, most of all general manager Tim Connelly, wanted. The Nuggets’ 2-7 start – with a game coming up in Cleveland looming – is exactly the opposite of what he’d envisioned the start for his rapidly-healing team might be. But it has underperformed. Still, at this point Connelly says he’s not pressing the panic button. “Certainly we’ve struggled,” he said after the game. “But itap early.”
2. Second unit in the second quarter. The Nate Robinson/Gary Harris/Danilo Gallinari/Darrell Arthur/JaVale McGee quintet in the second quarter was not effective at all. Offense wasn’t run with purpose – screens were soft, cuts weren’t crisp. Guards turned down other screens to drive one-on-one against the defender into the teeth of a Knicks defense that, to their credit, played really well and protected the rim about as well as they have all season long. Shots were either taken too quickly or there was too much patience, bordering on passivity. They scored three points in five minutes, all from the free throw line, which wasn’t as many as their turnovers: 4. They were 0-of-6 from the field, including 0-of-3 from the 3-point line.
When Ty Lawson returned to the court with Hickson, Arthur, Harris and Gee, Gee and Harris spent a couple of possessions just watching on the same side of the court. The Nuggets normally want their shooting guard and small forward in the deep corners for much of what they run. So Ty was running actions with the bigs, Hickson and Arthur, on one side while Gee and Harris waited to see what happened. Though they like to sometimes get Arthur – a good jump shooter – popped open for a quick look, thatap not how generally itap supposed to work. They finally started using Harris as a screener to free up Ty and open up Arthur to no avail. The one screen that did work was slipped by Harris, which Lawson saw and delivered an on-point pass to Harris, who missed a dunk. The Nuggets missed shots in that quarter, yes, but their offensive urgency failed them as well.
3. Why Afflalo is emerging. A couple of things are happening with Afflalo in his recent surge over the last two games in which he’s averaged 17.5 points on 59 percent shooting: First, he is posting up far less. His post-ups are the toughest shots he takes, almost always a turnaround jump shot over a defender’s outstretched hand. Afflalo’s a good post-up two-guard, but not better than he is when he catches the ball already facing the basket ready to shoot. He’s been facing the basket far more often over the last two games. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has helped by diagramming plays to run him off single and double screens.
Second, Afflalo has been much more mindful about sliding to open areas, moving with the intent on getting himself space to receive a pass and confidently raise up to shoot. All of it has equaled a player that has begun to look much more like the one that averaged 18 points a game with a high shooting percentage in Orlando last season.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
