Nate Robinson surveys the court on Wednesday night against Oklahoma City. (Photo By John Leyba/The Denver Post)
1. Rotation matters. In the last two games, the Nuggets have doled out the lion’s share of the minutes to these five players – Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Timofey Mozgov. Here’s how that breaks down: Those five, the Nuggets’ starting five, have played 44 minutes out of a possible 96, so 45 percent of the time.
Two other lineups have played 16 minutes apiece. The first one is the reserve five: Randy Foye, Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari, Darrell Arthur and JaVale McGee. The second one is the starting lineup minus Faried. What that means is the quartet of Lawson, Afflalo, Chandler and Mozgov have played 60 out of the possible 96 minutes (62.5 percent) in the last two games. It is a huge shift from the more even-handed approach to handing out court time that coach Brian Shaw has become known for. But most importantly for the Nuggets, is proving to pay dividends with players able to get in a groove, and for the team with back-to-back victories.
Nuggets coach Brian Shaw congratulates Wilson Chandler as he comes off the court. (Photo By John Leyba/The Denver Post)
2. Wilson Chandler. Chandler did a little bit of everything on Wednesday night. He moved well without the ball, which resulted in a number of good looks for him. And he was just in a good rhythm with his jump shot. He was frequently used in screen/roll action with Ty Lawson and popped open for good looks. He didn’t settle for just jump shots, and took the ball to the rim a few times as well. And he rebounded well, obviously, with eight on the night.
His help on the defensive glass has been a big reason why Nuggets’ defensive stops have not resulted in offensive rebounds by the opponent in recent games. The bonus for the Nuggets is when he gets the ball, he’s a capable ball handler and can sprint the ball to the front court for a fast break layup/dunk or to initiate the offense. Quietly, Wilson Chandler has been putting together a solid season on both ends of the court. His rebounding is up over last season and lately he’s starting to find the range with his shot.
3. Limiting turnovers. In the midst of areas that need improving is one that has quietly been a boon for the Nuggets early on: Keeping the turnovers to a minimum. They turned the ball over just nine times against Oklahoma City, which was the second time this season that they’ve had fewer than 10 in a game. Their season average of 13.8 to this point is the lowest turnover average in team history. You read that right: Team History. If they finish the season anywhere under 13.9, they’ll set a new franchise record for lowest turnover average in a season.
The Nuggets have not had a game in which they’ve committed more than 17 turnovers thus far – last season they had 17 games of 20 or more. Last season, the Nuggets averaged 15.9, so they are down a smidge over 2 per game this season. The biggest drop is with Randy Foye, who has shaved a full turnover of his average from last season so far, going from 1.8 to 0.8. I know you’re wondering: Ty Lawson has held steady. He finished with 3.2 turnovers per game last season, and thatap his average so far this season.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
