As Nuggets coach Michael Malone sees it, his team’s problems in the just-completed road trip, in which they finished 2-4, stem from one thing: a lack of competitiveness.
Where the erosion of competitiveness started is nebulous. The result of it, however, conjured a word that is clear to understand.
Alarming.
“The disconcerting thing about the road trip … is the fact that we got down 29 points to Brooklyn before cutting it to three; the fact that we got down 25 or 26 to Dallas,” Malone said Wednesday. “To me, itap alarming because that is a warning sign or an ominous sign of a lack of competitive nature and fire.”
The Nuggets are in a dangerous space. At 9-16, they are closer to the bottom team in the Western conference – 6-18 Dallas – than to the eighth playoff spot, currently held by their next opponent: Portland (13-14). There are tangible issues to solve – turnovers, poor shooting, etc. None of that, however, has a chance of changing unless everyone gets emotions back in check and returns to the focus with which the Nuggets had in training camp, the preseason, and through the first three to four weeks of the regular season.
“I know what the NBA is like,” forward Danilo Gallinari said. “Itap a marathon. You can’t get too high, too low. You’ve got to play it game-by-game. We’re just in December. You’ve still got January, February, March, April. I don’t want these guys to feel like itap February right now. Itap a long season.”
And yet Gallinari acknowledges the Nuggets’ confidence is “not where it should be.”
“When you have that kind of record, the confidence is not where it should be,” Gallinari said. “But hopefully, if we can get some more wins, the confidence will go back up.”
Chemistry has been an issue. And itap not been a frustration just for the players or coaches, but for both the players and coaches. Playing time has been doled out in fits and starts, which is frustrating to the athletes. Malone has had to tinker with the lineup much more than he ever wanted because of injury and inconsistency, which is frustrating to him.
In 25 games, the Nuggets already have had 10 different starting lineups, not to mention the different rotations that have come as a result once substitutions start being made.
Malone hinted that more changes are afoot. Gary Harris, who has missed 20 of the 25 games with injuries, is expected to return to the lineup Thursday against Portland. A bigger role for center Nikola Jokic is also on the horizon.
Kenneth Faried, the third-most tenured veteran on the team, has received the bulk of yanking in and out of the lineup of late. These were his minute totals on the road trip: 28, 12, 0, 11, 23, 7. Malone said he explained the situation to Faried, who said it was “hard to say” if that explanation was satisfactory to him.
“Itap just basketball,” Faried said. “I just focus on what I can do. All I can do is just stay in the gym and try and get better.”
That said, everyone reported having a spirited practice Wednesday, which they took as a good sign to get themselves out of the current tailspin.
“It was a great practice,” Faried said. “Guys got after it. Guys stepped up and we all just embraced it. We needed a hard practice. We know what we need to do coming into (Thursday’s) game, so thatap what we’re trying to do.”
PORTLAND AT DENVER, 7 p.m. Thursday, ALT, 950 AM
Spotlight on Maurice Harkless: Damian LIllard and C.J. McCollum are known quantities for Portland, but who is the team’s third-leading scorer? That would be Harkless, the fifth-year forward who is turning in a solid season after signing a four-year, $40 million contract last summer to stay in Portland. His 12.5 points per game are a career high and six more per game than he averaged last season. Harkless is also averaging career highs in rebounds (5.3) and shooting percentage (49.2).
Blazers: Portland comes to the Mile High City on a three-game winning streak, but there is more to that story. The Trail Blazers have lost their last four road games and have won just two of their last eight games away from the Moda Center. However, one of their few road victories this season was a come-from-behind overtime win over Denver on Oct. 29. In fact, Portland has beaten the Nuggets five consecutive times, including the first two of this season’s series.
Nuggets: The Nuggets return home for six of their next eight games starting with the Blazers. And as bad as things have gone for them, they remain just three games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference, currently occupied by Portland, which is doing so with a losing record of its own (13-14). The Nuggets took Tuesday off before getting back to practice Wednesday. Gary Harris participated in that practice and is said to have a “pretty good” chance of returning to action, coach Michael Malone said. Harris has missed 20 games this season with foot and groin injuries.
