Reclaiming the Pepsi Center as an arena Nuggets opponents need to be worried about again starts with a single step. After going just near .500 here in the past two seasons, including a 1-3 start this season, they’ll have to rebuild the good times brick by brick.
And so, they went about doing that Wednesday night.
The Pepsi Center was pretty well attended, but there was a wait-and-see approach to the fans in the stands. It was a quiet atmosphere, save for big cheers on a couple of dunks, most of the night. And the last time they had seen the Nuggets in person it was in a blowout loss.
This time, however, they went home happier after a 107-100 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“It means a lot for us,” coach Brian Shaw said. “We haven’t had back-to-back wins at all. It’s the first one for us. We got another win on our home court; we were 1-3 going into this game.”
Their second home win doubled as the third win in the past four games for the Nuggets, who are slowly working their way out of inconsistent play and moving toward something more solid.
“We said we wanted make this like home sweet home for us, and it has to start somewhere,” Shaw said.
The difference in their two games against Oklahoma City this season — the first a 102-91 loss Nov. 1 — are prime examples of the way things are changing.
The first time around: Oklahoma City bigs — Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams and Nick Collison — combined for 55 points and 17 rebounds.
This time around: Those four combined for 39 points and 23 rebounds.
The first time around: The Nuggets were down 55-33 at halftime.
This time around: The Nuggets had the lead at halftime, 54-49.
The first time around: The Nuggets didn’t shoot the ball well from the field, 44 percent.
This time around: The Nuggets nailed 49 percent of their shots.
This, on all accounts, was a completely different experience for the Nuggets, all the way down to the result.
“Confidence breeds confidence,” Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo said. “The more victories you get, the more of that feeling you want. We just want to keep it moving.”
The game was played on Oklahoma City’s terms. Short-handed, most notably without stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the Thunder has buckled down on defense to keep scores down and margins manageable.
Fast-break points were hard to come by. Nearly everything the Nuggets got they had to work for in the half court.
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And they did just that, shooting almost 50 percent from the field. They barely turned the ball over, just nine times, and punished the Thunder in the paint, 46-32. They put four players in double figures, led by Wilson Chandler’s 21 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought it was timely playmaking by Ty (Lawson), finding the guys that he needed to find, timely shots being knocked down … and for the most part our defense was pretty active.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
