Nuggets coach Michael Malone has observed certain lessons repeating themselves lately.
And he doesn’t like it.
He expressed as much after the Nuggets’ loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night. Too many players making too many of the same mistakes, he said. But how to get that remedied is anyone’s guess.
“I really feel that film is a great teacher,” Malone said. “We watch a lot of film. We show guys and make them understand why. ‘Why is this a mistake? What are we doing wrong in this case? You watch it on film and you clean it up, and then you come up on the court and then you try to work on it on the court.’ So there’s many different laws to learning.”
Malone’s challenge is to find the one that works best. And his concern over repeating errors isn’t new. Previous coach Brian Shaw also lamented the fact that the team would continually make the same mistakes in games.
Some of the players have changed since, but not all of them. And the issue persists.
“I guess they have to keep repeating themselves, if he’s saying we’re getting beat on the same things,” guard Emmanuel Mudiay said. “But watching film, and we’ve got to figure it out on our own.”
Malone was optimistic about fixing the problem.
“By showing them and the repetition, hopefully they’ll get it,” he said.” But we have so many young guys and guys who … are young in the NBA that it’s just going to take time. Obviously it gets frustrating when you’re not seeing the results as quickly as you’d like.”
Malone praised his team’s work ethic almost daily in training camp and during the very early stages of the season. That has slowed some during a stretch when the Nuggets have lost five consecutive home games and 0-of-11 overall.
“It gets tougher as you get into a season, because you have less practice time,” Malone said. “Training and preseason, it’s better because you have all of those practices and two-a-days. But I think our work ethic has been OK. I wouldn’t say it’s been great, and I wouldn’t say it’s been bad. I think it’s been a solid work ethic.
“In all fairness, to defend our players, coming into work (Wednesday), you have seven, eight players that can get through practice. We have so many guys that are banged up that it limits what you can do in practice. By no means do I think these guys aren’t working hard or are giving up. I think it’s just a matter of the demands of the schedule and the fact that our roster has taken a major hit with all of the injuries we seem to be sustaining.”
The Nuggets were put through a stripped-down practice Wednesday that focused on fundamentals and then included some one-on-one, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 scrimmaging in its latter stages.
Danilo Gallinari did not practice in order to rest a deep bone bruise on his left knee. Jameer Nelson did not practice, nor did Kenneth Faried, both to rest beaten-up bodies. Darrell Arthur left Tuesday night’s game in the second quarter with a sore right knee and did not practice, either. Joffrey Lauvergne has been battling a stomach illness.
Be that as it may, the Nuggets are searching for answers to keep themselves moving forward in a year earmarked as one to make steady improvement instead of spinning their wheels. And that was a big part of the reason the Orlando loss stung them as much as it did.
“It was a winnable game,” guard Will Barton said. “It was a game we’re supposed to win. It’s a game we had to have. It’s very disappointing.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
