Thursday, the Nuggets went through as spirited a practice as they have had all season. Their frustration during Tuesday night’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers seemed a distant memory.
But there was work getting to this point of contentment.
“After the game, just being very honest, very heartfelt when I apologized to them,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I have to be better for them. One thing I always do is before I assign or cast any blame, I look at myself first. And I think the players respect that. So, I apologized for the whole thing with Blake (Griffin). I apologized (to Emmanuel Mudiay) for jumping him in that manner in a public forum.”
Mudiay said the situation was “over with” the night it happened.
“He’s a great person and I have all the respect in the world for him,” Mudiay, a rookie guard, said of Denver’s first-year coach.
Malone apologized for getting into it with Griffin, a Clippers star, but Denver players told him not to worry about it. Because, in a nice twist for Malone, him sticking up for them was gratifying.
“Right, wrong or indifferent I’m going to fight,” Malone said. “I’m true to myself; I’m going to fight, scratch, claw. I’m going to do whatever I have to do for this team. And I do have their back.
“Even with Emmanuel. (He) knows, ‘I know Coach cares about me. And I know that he’s on me, and he wants the best for me.’
“Everything I do is in the best interest of all these guys. But whether it’s Blake or anybody else (with the opposing team), we have to protect each other.”
Protecting the Pepsi Center is foremost on the Nuggets’ minds now. Three of their four straight losses have come at home. And though those losses all came to teams residing among the top seven in the Western Conference, getting back in the win column is preferable to shrugging at the difficulty level of the opposition.
The Nuggets may be getting some help. Joffrey Lauvergne, a center who hasn’t played since the third game of the season because of a back injury, was a full participant in practice Thursday. He has missed 12 consecutive games.
Lauvergne said he was free of pain Thursday, and will push to play against the San Antonio Spurs if he wakes up Friday with no pain and gets through a pain-free shootaround.
“Initially the plan was for me to play in Dallas,” Lauvergne said. “But it’s going faster than what we thought, so maybe (against the Spurs).
“I’m going to see how I feel when I wake up. If I feel the same, if I feel very good, I’m going to tell them and try to play (Friday) night. If not, then Dallas.”
Getting him back would boost the Nuggets’ interior offense and defense, give them much needed size and return one of the team’s best rebounders to the lineup.
Lauvergne’s presence at practice Thursday contributed to the good mood in the building.
“The mood, the energy, the excitement, if you came into this practice today you wouldn’t know that we lost four games in a row,” Malone said. “You wouldn’t know that, maybe some people would say ‘Coach and Emmanuel got into it, is there an issue there?’ No. We’re a very together group, and I’m very excited about that.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
SAN ANTONIO AT DENVER 7 p.m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Patty Mills:
The last time the Nuggets and Spurs met, San Antonio’s point guards did a lot of damage. Mills, one of the NBA’s best backups, was right in the middle of the fray — scoring 17 points and hitting three 3-pointers. He has cooled off since, averaging just 6.8 points and shooting only 35.7 percent from the field, but he’s capable of being the difference-maker on any given night.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets:
Veteran forward Kenneth Faried (ankle) did not practice Thursday and will not play Friday against San Antonio. Faried has declined to talk about his injury, which has kept him out of Denver’s last two games. … Joffrey Lauvergne was a full participant in Thursday’s practice, and the center is hoping to return Friday against San Antonio or Saturday against the Mavericks in Dallas.
Spurs:
San Antonio has won three consecutive games, including Wednesday’s victory over Dallas. San Antonio held the Mavericks to 88 points, 17 under their season average. … Veteran guard Manu Ginobili has two games under his belt since returning from a sore hip, which caused him to miss the season’s first matchup against the Nuggets. He has averaged 8.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists since he’s been back.
