Are the Denver Nuggets lacking focus?

The Nuggets went into last night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with the best home record in the league. But despite going into the fourth quarter leading the T’Wolves, Denver ended up losing the game. The loss was just their second home loss of the season in 12 games.

Now teams lose games and leads. This goes without saying. But it was what Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson told Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post following the game.

“It’s kind of deflating, man,” Lawson told Hochman. “We’ve got to pay attention to detail. We go through all this (preparation), pregame, shootaround. Before the game we have all this stuff written on the board, and no one’s really reading it. Not on the same page. And at the end of the game, that’s what happens. If we’re supposed to trap, and we don’t trap, they get easy buckets.”

While Lawson is still coming into his own as a leader, does the team as a whole have a lack of focus?

For the season, Denver is allowing 99.4 points per game (as of print). If you break it down quarter by quarter however, it gets interesting.

First quarter – 24.4 points allowed

Second quarter – 26.0 points allowed

Third quarter – 23.2 points allowed

Fourth quarter – 25.3 points allowed

Going into halftime and the end of the game, Denver seems to allow more points. Lawson references the end of the game when the team is to trap but doesn’t, and statistically, only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings allow more points in the closing quarter.

With the Nuggets entering 2013 at 7.5 games back of the Thunder, focus needs to appear sooner rather than later.