WASHINGTON — The ineffectiveness started in one area then spread like a virus throughout the Nuggets.
Missed shots. Turnovers. Ragged defense. Low intensity.
Nothing was spared.
The Nuggets had aspirations of winning all three games on this road trip, and those hopes were dashed swiftly and emphatically by the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
The Nuggets wilted after an early lead, and the Wizards ran by them in a 119-89 victory at the Verizon Center. The 30-point loss was the Nuggets’ largest of the season.
“We just weren’t sharp at all,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “From walking on the court knowing what we’re supposed to run out of a timeout and guys going to the wrong spot. We didn’t show any togetherness tonight. Guys were bickering and arguing with each other. We were just real irritable.”
The Wizards simply played at a different speed. They were a step faster the entire game. Adding insult on top of it all was the fact that the Nuggets couldn’t get control of Kris Humphries, an interim starter at power forward who was replacing the injured Nene. Humphries scored a season-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
And it wasn’t the first time he’s hurt the Nuggets. With Boston last season, he scored 18 points in a Celtics victory. With Brooklyn in the 2012-13 season, he scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in a Nets victory. At this point, he’s circling games against the Nuggets on the schedule.
“I thought Kris Humphries got whatever he wanted,” Shaw said. “Kenneth (Faried) was guarding him the majority of the time that he was in the game and, you know, made Kris Humphries look like an all-star.”
But it was the brilliance of John Wall and a stifling Wizards defense that buried the Nuggets.
Wall had nine points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. His playmaking got teammates open looks all night, and he was the first line of defense in keeping Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson out of the lane.
Lawson, playing in front of friends and family from his home area, was out of sorts most of the game. He finished with his typical double-double (14 points, 10 assists) but was just 3-of-10 from the field.
“They were playing great defense,” Lawson said. “They knew what we like to do, and they had a great game plan.”
The only Nuggets player having a decent game was Wilson Chandler, who finished with 20 points.
Chandler has been, by far, the most consistent Nuggets player this season.
“That was a terrible loss,” Chandler said. “I can’t really explain it.”
The Nuggets were in the game, down 30-28 after the first quarter. But the second quarter turned out disastrously, with the Wizards outscoring Denver 35-18 to take a 19-point lead into halftime.
The Nuggets never threatened again.
“At this point all we can do is flush it down the toilet and look forward to our trip to Atlanta,” Shaw said. “And try to prepare and do something about that against them.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
