Remove two of your best interior defenders, then face a team that is strong in the front court, and what do you have?
A big problem.
Get it? A “big” probl … ah, nevermind.
The Nuggets didn’t find the news they would be without their best paint defenders — Jusuf Nurkic and Darrell Arthur, both injured — funny, either. But they could have predicted the results.
Utah’s 104-82 victory Friday night at the Pepsi Center started where the Nuggets were most vulnerable — in the paint. Nearly half of Utah’s points by halftime came in the paint. By the end of the game, the Jazz had ripped through the Denver defense to score 50 points in the paint.
Overall, the third quarter, Trey Burke, Derrick Favors and cold shooting also were problems for the Nuggets, and the net effect of it all was the team’s ninth consecutive home loss. The nine straight losses in Denver are the most consecutively since the 1997-98 season, and it’s the third-longest home losing streak in team history.
Once one of the NBA’s most-feared home-court advantages, the Nuggets have fallen back to earth at the Pepsi Center in the last two seasons. Since winning a franchise-record 38 home games in the 2012-13 season, the Nuggets haven’t won 38 home games in the last two seasons combined.
They are 34-36 in that span, which includes this season’s 12-17 mark. The Nuggets went 22-19 at the Pepsi Center last season.
With 12 home games left, the Nuggets have to go 9-3 to avoid having their first losing home record since the 2002-03 season. That team finished 13-28 at home. Given how the Nuggets are playing right now, nine wins in 12 games seems like a reach.
But for any wins to happen, they’re going to have to find offense, and fast. Outside of Danilo Gallinari, Will Barton and Kenneth Faried, who turned up his point production in the fourth quarter Friday, scoring was difficult to find. Those three had 47 points. The rest of the Nuggets had 35.
“Offensively,” coach Brian Shaw said, “we have to figure out how to knock down the shots that we’re getting with better efficiency. We’ll get back to the drawing board and continue to work on things and try to get better.”
For the first time all season the Nuggets put three consecutive quarters of under 20 points on the board — 17 in the first and second quarters, and 19 in the third. After scoring seven points in the first quarter, the Nuggets’ leading scorer, Ty Lawson, had just one point in the final three periods.
“We shot 84 shots. We only made 28 of them,” Lawson said. “We’ve got to get in the gym and start knocking down shots, because they’re wide open.”
Asked about the mood of his team, Lawson said: “We’re about to lose our sanity. This is probably the most games I’ve lost in my whole career playing basketball. The last two years, it’s been tough. We’ve got to figure it out and get better so next year won’t be like this.”
A smattering of boos rained down from a crowd that has yearned for better performances all season long, especially at the Pepsi Center.
But the fans have had to square themselves with the reality that they’re not going to get it.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
