CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Will Barton drove the length of the court in a matter of seconds, tossed in a jumper a step inside the free-throw line and promptly pointed in the direction of a fan standing courtside, motioning for him to take a seat as the third quarter ended Saturday.
Barton was having fun, something that hadn’t been happening much on the Nuggets’ road trip through the Eastern time zone. It didn’t matter that they were without the services of star power forward Kenneth Faried, whose sore back forced him to sit for a second straight game. The Nuggets were doing their thing, racing out to a lead as large as 22 points in a tough environment against the red-hot Charlotte Hornets.
Even when Charlotte was in the midst of its charge and got back within striking distance, the Nuggets kept their composure, making all the necessary key plays down the stretch. It all added up to a 101-93 victory over the Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena that snapped Denver’s three-game losing streak.
“Poise,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “You know a team is going to make a run, especially at home. The crowd gets into it, and how do you handle that? Do you get rattled and shook and come apart? Or do you have the poise to handle the adversity that you are facing?
“And I think it helps having a veteran like D.J. (Augustin) out there with three babies.”
Augustin, perhaps a bit fired up playing against the organization that drafted him ninth overall in 2008, led the Nuggets (29-41) with 24 points. He scored 11 straight points during one critical stretch in the fourth quarter after the Hornets had drawn within 79-70, but insisted he didn’t gain any extra satisfaction spurring the Nuggets to a win over his former team.
“I’ve done this on other teams, too,” said Augustin, who recorded his third game of 20 or more points since joining the Nuggets last month. “So, it’s not just Charlotte. I can play, man. It don’t matter where I’m at. As long as I get an opportunity. And it’s like that with other guys. The NBA is all about opportunity
“You go to the right situation and you get an opportunity to play and you can play well.”
Forward Darrell Arthur and guard Gary Harris added 13 points apiece for the Nuggets, and center Nikola Jokic had 11 points, 14 rebounds and four assists before fouling out with 5:18 remaining.
Jeremy Lin paced the Hornets (30-30), who had won nine of their previous 10 games, with 16 points. Kemba Walker was held in check for the most part, hitting 6-of-18 shots and finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Nuggets led for the final 40:42, thanks mostly to outrebounding Charlotte 51-38, outscoring the Hornets’ bench 46-32, and shooting 50 percent from 3-point range, compared with Charlotte’s 28.1 percent beyond the arc. Those numbers injected the Nuggets with some confidence heading into the finale of their five-game road trip Monday in Cleveland.
“This one was definitely a big win for us,” Emmanuel Mudiay said.
