Nuggets coach Michael Malone cannot wait to draw up more plays for Danilo Gallinari this season. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
PORTLAND, ORE. — The Nuggets rode the wave as long as they could, mixing and matching and patching and cajoling. Another night, another lineup. Another ‘step up’ player to lean on. And all the while facing the NBA’s top teams.
Inevitably, there were going to be diminishing returns.
The Nuggets are at that point. No Danilo Gallinari, no Emmanuel Mudiay, no Jusuf Nurkic and no Wilson Chandler. On any given night there’s been no Jameer Nelson, no Darrell Arthur, no Gary Harris and no Joffrey Lauvergne. The Nuggets have not spent one day this season with a full, available roster. And with Chandler being out for the season, they never will.
“I think our biggest thing right now is needing to get healthy,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We have guys who are starting who are not starters for us, and we have guys who are playing heavy minutes that maybe when we’re healthy may not play that many minutes. And it’s been a very tough go, four games in five nights against some very tough teams.
This goes beyond Chandler. The Nuggets will take everyone else being available at this point, and even without Chandler that’s not been the case for a single night this season. Kostas Papanikolaou has played hard, and at times played well, as the starting small forward in Gallinari’s absence but he’s not a starting/big-minutes player. He’s been forced to be that.
Nelson played 40 minutes at Portland on Wednesday night. The Nuggets would rather not push him that much. He’s averaged 35.7 minutes in his last three games. That’s slightly more than Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and John Wall average.
Despite the fact that the Nuggets have averaged 100.7 points per game in their last three, there has been a lack of firepower to a degree. It’s been a roll of the dice to figure out where scoring is coming from outside of Will Barton, and because of that Malone has had to identify who might be having a hot night and then twisting the rotations to make sure that player gets enough time to be impactful on the outcome. On top of that, the Nuggets simply need another player in addition to Barton they know can go out and get 20-plus points more often than not.
“It’s going to help, just to have — especially a guy like Gallo, it’s going to help to have him,” guard Randy Foye said. “You can just give him the ball, give him space and allow him to get to the free throw line.”
In the six games without Gallinari, the Nuggets are averaging just 13.8 free throw attempts per game. With Gallinari, the Nuggets average 23.6 free throw attempts per game. That’s 10 more, and the Nuggets are making 75 percent of their tries this season, meaning they are at least leaving seven points on the court every night Gallinari doesn’t play. It’s simplistic, but seven points would have been useful in a six-point loss to Cleveland and a seven-point loss to Portland.
Gallinari has missed six straight games due to an ankle injury, but is targeting a return to action on Saturday at Golden State. The Nuggets might also get the season debut of center Jusuf Nurkic on that night. He’s missed the entire season due to knee rehab.
“If we can get Gallinari back, if there’s a way to get Nurkic back, that’s always a positive to try to be as whole as possible,” Malone said. “We’ve been manning the fort for a while now, and that takes it’s toll. I think you’re seeing a little bit of that right now. But if we can take an off day (Thursday), have a good practice on New Year’s Day, and then head out to San Fran and just keep fighting, keep staying together. And trying to build something special.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
