The struggling Nuggets were hit with another hitch Saturday when Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur became ill and couldn’t play against the Charlotte Hornets at the Pepsi Center.
Faried, the Nuggets’ leading rebounder at 8.9 per game, and Arthur, one of their best defensive players, arrived at the Pepsi Center during the afternoon but were sent home because of illness.
Their absence left the Nuggets with a frontcourt rotation of Jusuf Nurkic, J.J. Hickson and JaVale McGee. But McGee, who Thursday played in his first game since Dec. 5, is slowly getting back to game shape after missing 23 games because of a strained lower leg.
“We’re already short at the bigs spot with JaVale just getting back and knowing his wind is not where it needs to be,” coach Brian Shaw said.
Playing without Faried and Arthur was bad timing for the Nuggets, because Hornets center Al Jefferson is one of the most difficult defensive assignments in the NBA. That job Saturday night fell to Nurkic, a rookie.
“I’m going to get over my stubbornness,” Shaw said. “There are two guys that I’ve learned — as reluctant as I am to double-team — I have to get over that with. And that’s DeMarcus Cousins (of the Sacramento Kings) and Al Jefferson.”
Nurkic is proving to be an adept defender on the block since he took over the Nuggets’ starting center job when Timofey Mozgov was traded to Cleveland last month. He had a team-leading defensive rating of 99 going into Saturday — the only Nuggets player allowing fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions.
But Nurkic, Shaw said, still needed help in the paint against Jefferson.
“(Jefferson’s) ball fake is one of the best in the league,” Shaw said. “And guys who are savvy and who’ve been around for a while still fall for it. Because you have to respect his face-up jump shot out to 15, 17 feet.”
