Nuggets guard Ty Lawson drives to the basket between two Suns defenders on Wednesday night. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Three observations the morning after the Nuggets’ 110-96 loss to Phoenix on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center. It was the Nuggets eighth-straight home loss.
Cleaning the glass. The least-pleasing part of the Nuggets’ loss had to be the manner in which they were battered on the boards, particularly the offensive glass. Phoenix had a ridiculous 23 offensive rebounds, and it was a varied, and total, breakdown as to how they all transpired. The majority came as you might think – on no box outs. But story within the story was just as eye-opening.
There were some long and unlucky bounces – like Will Barton’s block of an Alex Len dunk that fell right in the hands of P.J. Tucker, who laid it in for two. It’s hard to fault the players in those instances. But Nuggets players could be blamed for when they were caught staring at the shot or the ball handler who was slashing into the lane, which caused them to lose contact with the man they were guarding and he ended up getting the rebound. Joffrey Lauvergne was outsized and outclassed by Len on the boards all night long when they were matched up. Phoenix had a number of possessions of two or more offensive rebounds; and their activity and multiple efforts paid off. They were quicker on the second jump to the ball than Nuggets players and muscled Denver players off of 50-50 balls. From start to finish it was as thorough a whipping on the glass as you’ll see.
What about Barton? No player had a more efficient scoring night than Will Barton did with 22 points on just nine shots. He hit six of those and converted seven of his eight free throw attempts. There’s no discernible pattern as to how Barton goes about his business except for one thing — he’s constantly in motion. He relentlessly runs the court. And because he can do a little bit of everything he can size up the defense and simply take what it gives him. His off the ball movement was top-notch against the Suns, and it led to a number of open looks, plus running the court led to a couple of layups. In three games with the Nuggets, Barton is averaging 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He’s shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.
“He just goes out there and plays,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “If you ask me what he does great, I don’t know if he does anything great other than the energy that he plays with. He’s a guy that just goes out there and hoops, goes out there and balls.”
Active Danilo. The last four games have collectively been the best stretch of the season for Danilo Gallinari. Wednesday was more evidence of that. What you’re looking for is confidence in Gallo’s game — taking shots with authority, being aggressive to the basket, not letting missed shots get him down, etc. He’s getting back to these things, and the first place you can see it is at the 3-point line. Gallinari is making 46.4 percent of his shots from beyond the arc in his last four, a percentage that is higher than his field goal percentage overall in that span (41.2). And he’s taking seven treys per game in his last four, so its a very large sample size. He’s more active on defense, averaging 1.8 steals in the span as well. For the first time all season there are very clear signs the Gallo from prior to this two-year litany of knee injuries is in fact on his way back.
“It feels good to stay on the floor, to play minutes and be able to be effective on the floor,” Gallinari said. “It was my goal since the beginning of the season, just to get back in that rhythm. And I think that slowly I’m getting there.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
