ATLANTA — It was all head shakes for the Nuggets on Friday night after laying a pretty large egg in Washington against the Wizards at the start of this three-game road trip.
All they want to do is forget it and move on.
“The good thing about the NBA schedule is that you play another game in two days,” Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said. “So we’ve just got to forget about that one and don’t let it happen again.”
The Nuggets’ 30-point loss to Washington had shades of the team’s 1-6 start. At least that’s how Nuggets coach Brian Shaw saw it.
“This takes us back to a month and a half ago, where we had those string of games where we were giving up this amount of points,” Shaw said. “It’s a big step back for us to start a road trip like this.”
The whole scene was toxic that day, Shaw pointing out the sniping and “bickering” going on throughout the contest. Chilling out is among the items on the Nuggets’ to-do list for Sunday’s game against the Hawks.
“It’s tough to find just one answer after a game like that,” Gallinari said. “The NBA season is a long season. A game like that could happen. They should not happen, but there is a chance that they can when you play more than 80 games. You’ve just got to be strong enough to forget about this one and focus on the next one.”
This roadie is a big-time early test for the Nuggets, who are trying to make a move up the Western Conference standings. Pretty much no one would have guessed an early-season trip to D.C., Atlanta and Toronto would be against teams with the three best records in the Eastern Conference, but that’s what it is.
Atlanta has beaten the Nuggets in the past two meetings at home.
But before the Nuggets think about the Hawks, they have to look inward and iron out the issues that led to their biggest loss of the season.
“It’s tough,” forward Wilson Chandler said. “We came in with the mind-set that we wanted to win (the first) game and start off good on the road trip. It didn’t happen. We’ve got two more games left, so we’ll try to get those.”
Nuggets guard Ty Lawson preached patience.
“There’s like four or five of these (a season),” Lawson said. “I think we’ve used two of them already. But it’s like four or five of those a year that you get. You’ve just got to eat those and get back to the drawing board.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
Denver at Atlanta
1:30 p.m. Sunday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Jeff Teague: If you don’t know the name, get familiar with it. Teague is the best point guard you’ve never heard of, averaging 17.8 points, 7.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He has been even better in home games, averaging 19.6 points and 7.5 assists per game.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets: Reserve point guard Nate Robinson (back) is doubtful to play in Sunday’s game. He took a knee to the back Friday night from Washington forward Rasual Butler and was unable to return. Without Robinson, the Nuggets will have to lean on Gary Harris and Erick Green for ball-handling help off the bench. They’re already down another guard in the injured Randy Foye.
Hawks: The Hawks are injury free. … Atlanta has a two-game winning streak at home against the Nuggets. The teams split last season’s series. … The Hawks rank fourth in the NBA in assists, dishing out 25.3 per game in their San Antonio-style offense. … Forward Kyle Korver leads the NBA in 3-point field-goal percentage (.564).
Christpher Dempsey, The Denver Post
