Call Ty Lawson concerned but not panicked.
Yet.
Communication is on the Nuggets’ starting point guard’s mind. Or, more accurately, a lack of communication at the Nuggets’ defensive end. Call a specific pick-and-roll coverage? One player runs it right, another doesn’t. Rotations aren’t smooth. Player-specific game plans aren’t adhered to by everyone.
Communication issues are the biggest reason the Nuggets have had reoccurring troubles at the defensive end. And Lawson, irritated at the breakdowns, said he is speaking up to order to try to help get the problem solved.
“I’m trying,” he said. “We’ve got to get our communication together. That’s the thing. We’re trying, but you’ve got to do it sooner. And it’s like every game — four, five, six times. We’re arguing with each other, saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got to call it earlier’ or ‘You’ve got to be there.’ We’ve just got to get on the same page. We’re 30 games in, so I don’t know. It has to happen now. Thirty-one games is too long to still be talking about defensive coverages and not getting there.”
The Nuggets have allowed 100 or more points 21 times in their 31 games. They are 5-16 in those games, including a 116-102 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
Lawson said the Nuggets are making the same mistakes over and over.
“We’re not following directions,” he said. “We’ve got to be locked in and just do what Coach (Brian Shaw) says.”
Asked if he felt compelled to pull his teammates together and get the issues hashed out, Lawson said: “It’s really not necessary, because it’s so simple. I don’t think it’s necessary to have a talk like that.”
In the Nuggets’ past four games, opponents have averaged 107.5 points and are shooting 47 percent from the field. And the Nuggets are forcing just 8.8 turnovers per game in that span.
Not coincidentally, they’re 1-3 in those four games.
Shaw said the Nuggets’ issues at the defensive end “really comes down to commitment.”
“We have three words up in our locker room — togetherness, belief, and trust,” he said. “And everything that we do we have to do together. And we have to believe in what we’re doing, and we have to trust that if I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and if I get beat, that the next guy is going to be there to protect me and so forth and so on.”
Outside of the 10-game stretch at the end of November and early December, when the Nuggets went 8-2 anchored by solid defensive play, their effort has been inconsistent.
“You have to be committed to what we’re doing,” Shaw said. “And we’re not always committed to the things that we work on every day, and that we’ve been working on all season long, on a consistent enough basis.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
L.A. LAKERS AT DENVER
7 p.m. Tuesday, ALT; 950 AM, 104.3 FM
Spotlight on Jordan Hill: Center Hill might be the most underrated “energy” player in the league. If the ball is coming off the rim, chances are Hill will be the first player to it. He’s averaging career highs in points (12.2) and rebounds (8.0) per game, and going into Monday’s games he was tied for 10th in the NBA in offensive rebounds (3.2).
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets: The Nuggets practiced on the main Pepsi Center court Monday in advance of Tuesday night’s game against the Lakers. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has said he likes to do so when the court is available. Monday presented that opportunity. … There are no new injuries. Guard Randy Foye (quadriceps) and center JaVale McGee (leg) remain out.
Lakers: Star guard Kobe Bryant returned to action in Los Angeles’ last game, a loss to Phoenix on Sunday. He had been held out a few games to rest. … The Lakers have not beaten the Nuggets in the regular season since Nov. 30, 2012, and are on a seven-game losing streak to Denver.
Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
