Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne, center, grabs a rebound against Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins during the second half Friday night’s game. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
SACRAMENTO — As far as Nuggets coach Michael Malone was concerned, a poor first half is what doomed his team to its fate — a loss at Sacramento.
“They had 70 points, they shot 60 percent from the field and they were 77 percent from three,” Malone said.
Said forward Danilo Gallinari: “You’re not winning the game when they score 70 points or more in the first two quarters. You’ve got to play better defense.”
Remarkably, the Nuggets were never down by more than 16 points in the game even with Sacramento getting any shot it wanted and generally making them. But it was more than they could overcome. The first half was marred by the Nuggets’ inability to stay connected to 3-point shooters, although one of them was Kings point guard Rajon Rondo, a player teams are more-than-willing to give jump shots to.
He just made them against the Nuggets. Rondo was 4-of-5 from the 3-point line in that first half. The scouting report says to keep him out of the lane, first and foremost, so that was on the Nuggets’ minds. But he took advantage of the space given to him.
“Give him credit,” Malone said. “He stepped in and made those shots.”
While the Nuggets did tighten up the defense in the second half, they could not make enough plays to get over the hump. A career-best effort from Joffrey Lauvergne was wasted in the process.
Lauvergne’s career high 22 points came on 10-of-14 shooting. He made shots from the rim to the 3-point line.
“I thought he was terrific,” Malone said. “DeMarcus (Cousins) got all of our bigs in foul trouble, so we went to Joffrey. He was able to do a solid job on DeMarcus – no one can guard him one-on-one. But for him to score, for him to space the floor, I thought in that first half he and D.J. Augustin had a great connection. Joffrey did a heck of a job.”
Lauvergne scarfed down two In-and-Out burgers in the post-game locker room and shrugged off his performance.
“I got some easy baskets at the beginning of the game,” Lauvergne said.
Asked why he and Augustin had such good chemistry, Lauvergne said, “because he is good in the pick-and-roll. He gave me four or five baskets in six minutes just on pick-and-roll. So when you start the game like this, everything is easier after.”
But nothing was easy for the Nuggets in general.
“They came out and played with a sense of urgency,” Malone said. “They’re trying to make the playoffs like we are, like Utah, like Portland is. And it showed. We did not respond until the second half, and that is too late.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
