LOS ANGELES — The Nuggets missed 12 of their first 16 shots Sunday against the Clippers, who knew exactly what was coming offensively.
Clippers center DeAndre Jordan was calling out Denver’s plays to get his team’s defense set as the Nuggets were running them.
“They did a great job of reading our sets and calling them out early, knowing what we were going to do,” Darrell Arthur said after the Nuggets’ 105-90 loss at the Staples Center.
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Arthur added that the Nuggets should have been able to execute regardless.
“It’s not difficult,” he said. “You’ve still got to go out there and try to execute to the best of your ability. They can know the plays all day, but as long as you’re going out there and you’re cutting hard and you’re doing all the things to make the play work it still should be effective.”
Denver’s starting five struggled all game. They made only 11-of-49 shots (22 percent) from the field.
“It was a challenge,” said Arthur, a starter who was held to 2-of-13 shooting. “They switched a lot. We’ve got to work on our switch offense a little bit more and try to exploit that.”
Mudiay’s misery. Point guard Emmanuel Mudiay finished with 2-of-15 shooting in 23 minutes. His four points were his fewest in a March game. He scored four points against Dallas on Feb. 26.
The Clippers went under screens, forcing Mudiay to shoot. And the rookie was cold.
“I’d say most of the shots he took he was wide open,” said coach Michael Malone. “They guarded him the same way the last time we played them, and that’s what Emmanuel is going to have to continue to work on.
“If teams are going to continue to go under and dare him into taking those shots, he has to step into them and make them pay.”
Mudiay went into Sunday’s game averaging 12.3 points.
