LOS ANGELES — There’s this thing about young teams: You pretty much never know what you’re going to get.
The Nuggets had sloshed out of the All-Star break gate. Defense was non-existent, and because of it wins were, too. They’d allowed 117 points per game. All three teams post-break scored at least 61 points at halftime.
So, of course, they beat the Clippers. In L.A.
And held them under 100 points to do it.
The Clippers average 105 points per game. The Nuggets held them 24 under that average in an 87-81 victory on Wednesday night at the Staples Center.
Of course.
“We have beaten some of the best team in the NBA when we defend,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And this is the first game, post All-Star break, where we defended for four quarters.”
In addition to the defense, most of what propelled the Nuggets to the victory was done in improbable fashion — by out-hustling the Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back.
Points in the paint: Nuggets 44, Clippers 22.
Second chance points: Nuggets 17, Clippers 13.
Fast break points: Nuggets 19, Clippers 9.
Rebounds: Nuggets 57, Clippers 47.
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“Looking at the season, we’ve played pretty good on the second night of a back-to-back,” forward Danilo Gallinari said. “It’s not the first time. This is something that we need to show all the time, not just some nights.”
The Clippers played without their injured star, Blake Griffin. They could have used him, as they were held to 35 percent shooting from the field. And if the Nuggets want to make another run at acquiring the star in the offseason — and it is likely they do — this was a nice performance to show him what he could help enhance.
All night long, the Nuggets out scrapped, out scraped and beat the Clippers all over the court. They had to. Offensively, the Nuggets shot just 37 percent. The Clippers, who were locked down most of the night by solid Nuggets’ defense, tried to counter with a barrage of 3-point shots. They launched a franchise-record 46 of them, and made 13.
But it wasn’t enough.
Nuggets biggest lead was 16 points. But the Clippers cut that lead to two points in frenzied fourth quarter comeback.
But the young team kept its poise.
Gary Harris hit a 3-point shot with 1:57 to put the Nuggets back up five. And then the defense that had served the Nuggets well all night long, had their back again. They forced a J.J. Redick turnover. On the Clippers’ next possession Will Barton blocked a shot out of bounds. Then, after DeAndre Jordan hit one of two free throws, Gallinari forced an offensive foul on Jeff Green.
The Clippers were out of solutions. The Nuggets escaped with a huge victory.
“We won, and that is all that matters,” forward Kenneth Faried said. “I’m happy. We got the monkey off our back.”
Faried led the team with 21 points and 11 rebounds. He also led a Nuggets starting frontcourt that out-produced the Clippers starting frontcourt 44 points and 30 rebounds to 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Malone singled out Faried.
“Kenneth Faried, I thought, was phenomenal tonight,” Malone said.
Gary Harris added 17 points and Gallinari had 16.
The Clippers were led by 20 points from J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford.
“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for playing hard, but at the same time we have to win games like this,” Clippers guard Chris Paul said. “It was a tough loss.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @cdempseypost
