TORONTO – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 112-107 overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
Timing is everything. With 28.3 seconds left in regulation, and game tied at 102, the decision was made to run a Ty Lawson/Timofey Mozgov screen-roll. The play call was just fine. The problem came when the Nuggets also decided to run the clock down a much as they did before getting into the action. The Raptors – predictably – trapped Lawson on the play forcing him to have to scramble to get the ball to someone who could do something with it. The end result was the Nuggets didn’t even get a shot off before the shot clock expired. Had that play been run a few seconds sooner, the Nuggets would have had time for Toronto to stop the initial action and still remain unrushed in adjusting to get a quality look off. But when they were forced to do something against a clock ticking down on them, they couldn’t find the look they wanted in time, passing the ball too many times.
To run the clock down that far and still get the shot you want, the Nuggets probably would have been better served going with a 1-4 set (a clearout) and letting the ball handler break his man down for the final shot. The Nuggets probably shouldn’t have run the clock down at all – just should have gotten into what they wanted to do immediately. But their defense had been so porous in overtime you can understand why coach Brian Shaw would have wanted to make a shot leaving Toronto as little time as possible to respond, thereby giving his team the best possible chance at stopping them.
Chandler’s aggressiveness. Remember when Brian Shaw had to nearly plead with Wilson Chandler to shoot more? No. Longer. A. Problem. Chandler has been arguably the Nuggets most consistent offensive player all season long, and on Monday night he hoisted 21 shots in the loss. He was 7-of-21 on the night, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds. Chandler finished the three-game road trip averaging 22.3 points on 19.0 shots per game, well above the 12.4 shots he averages on the year. Chandler was 8-of-23 from the 3-point line. The Nuggets need him to step his aggressiveness up, and he has.
Bench takes step back. With a couple of notable exceptions, the Nuggets’ bench took a beating on Monday night, and on the road trip in general. The Raptors game was the most glaring example because, removing forward Darrell Arthur’s 12 points, the other four players available combined for five points and no rebounds. On the trip the bench overall produced diminishing returns of 54 points at Washington (most of which came in mop up time in a blowout loss), 23 points in Atlanta, and then 17 total at Toronto. It is production well below what the Nuggets had come to expect from it. Losing Nate Robinson to injury in the Washington game didn’t help, and Kenneth Faried not playing pushed J.J. Hickson to the starting lineup, which also weakened the bench. Still, when the Nuggets needed it most on the trip, it didn’t deliver.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
