AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Eventually, something had to give.
In the third quarter, it was the Nuggets.
Twelve minutes later, what the third quarter foretold was set in stone — the Nuggets’ fifth consecutive defeat and 12th loss in their past 13 games.
The Pistons sent them there, 98-88 on Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills. And for the most part, it was as easy as making a layup.
Detroit made lots of those, layups and dunks, particularly early on, which got the Pistons into a rhythm offensively. The frontcourt duo of Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe did the bulk of the damage, as they simply mauled Nuggets big men and contributed to the Pistons scoring 34 of their first 56 points in the paint.
“Those guys did a great job of cutting, and (point guard) D.J. Augustin did a great job of finding them,” Nuggets forward Darrell Arthur said. “Those guys, they’re beasts on the glass. It’s tough to keep those guys off the glass. They played very good.”
And even though their production slowed in the second half, their biggest run as a team was just getting started.
Just when the Nuggets appeared ready to get back into the game after rallying from a double-digit halftime deficit, down just eight midway through the third, the Pistons hit them with a 14-0 run. That proved to be the knockout blow, because though they only lost the quarter by four points, the Detroit lead was 18 at 80-62.
“They got two or three 3-pointers in a row during that stretch where we didn’t have great (defensive) communication,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “A couple of those were also off of second shots.”
The Nuggets put a lineup of Erick Green, Randy Foye, Alonzo Gee, Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried on the court to start the fourth. And while that group provided some instances of high energy, it was never a real threat to get the Nuggets back into the game. And though Ty Lawson was inserted back into the contest a few moments later, the Nuggets couldn’t scramble their way back into the game.
And so, two games before the all-star break, the Nuggets are reeling in a similar fashion to last season at this time. A year ago they went on a four-game losing streak, giving up 119 points per game, into a break they sorely needed.
This is headed in that direction.
Friday night the starting five who accounted for so many points at Boston completely reversed course and did next to nothing against the Pistons. Lawson scored 20 points, but as a group the Nuggets made just 19-of-49 shots.
“We never got into a rhythm offensively,” Shaw said. “I’m satisfied with the looks that we got. We just have to concentrate and make them go down.”
And the bench didn’t fare much better.
Meanwhile, Monroe and Drummond combined for 34 points and 34 rebounds. Monroe was the big star, with 21 points and 21 rebounds.
“One of the things I was concerned about was keeping their bigs off the boards,” Shaw said.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
