Nuggets Fall Short, Lose at Home to Kings

Nov 3, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Darren Collison (7) collides with Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23) in the second quarter at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Close, but no cigar.

The Denver Nuggets hosted the Sacramento Kings at the Pepsi Center on Monday night and, for most of the game, traded blows with the visitors in a back-and-forth affair that saw the two teams exchange the lead deep into the fourth quarter. But the Nuggets couldn’t find a way to hang with the Kings, who sealed the victory with several clutch free throws down the stretch.

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The Nuggets were active on defense, but they weren’t able to complete possessions without fouling the Kings shooters. Sacramento shot an unheard of 47 free throws, connecting on 40 of them, which means the Nuggets essentially handed their opponent 40 free points. There’s no way the Nuggets can serve up that many points to an opponent and expect to overcome it, especially when they continue to shoot so poorly from the field. Despite heating up a bit in the second half, the Nuggets finished the game shooting just 38% from the field on 36 of 93 shooting, including another horrific night from three-point land (20%, on 5 of 24 shooting). For long stretches of the game there seemed to be a lid on the Nuggets’ basket, and the poor shooting bug bit most of the team’s key contributors: Ty Lawson shot 1 of 8, Arron Afflalo shot 4 of 13, Wilson Chandler shot 5 of 15, and Kenneth Faried shot 5 of 13. Danilo Gallinari continued to show a shocking amount of rust on his game, as he turned in an atrocious 0 for 6 shooting performance in just 14 minutes of playing time. Wilson Chandler got the starting nod at small forward and if Gallo can’t find his shot soon, Chandler may lock down the starting spot for the foreseeable future.

Despite getting into early foul trouble, the Nuggets bigs stood out as the team’s biggest contributors. Starter Timofey Mozgov contributed 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting including this sweet dunk on the alley oop pass from Faried:

JaVale McGee

made the most of his nearly 14 minutes of action leading the team with 16 points (Afflalo also posted 16 points, with 7 of those coming on free throws), while also grabbing 4 rebounds and 4 blocks, including this huge swat on DeMarcus Cousins in the first quarter:

Rookie Jusuf Nurkic only had three points but he grabbed 5 rebounds in just under 8 minutes of playing time.

Alonzo Gee only had one basket on the night, but it was a sweet drive and dunk that’s worth highlighting:

The Kings were led by point guard Darren Collison who posted 21 points, followed by 19 from Cousins. The Nuggets were able to hold Rudy Gay in check with only 14 points, but their inability to play clean defense gave the Kings too many opportunities for easy points at the line, and that proved to be the difference in the game.

In a strange scheduling hiccup, the two teams face off again on Wednesday night as Denver travels to Sacramento for the immediate rematch. If the Nuggets can clean up their defense and finally find a way to please the basketball gods so they can shoot over 40% as a team, there’s no reason they can’t exact a little revenge on the Kings’ home court.

Random Notes:

• There were definitely areas of improvement over the Nuggets last outing against OKC, but the struggles and inconsistent play of Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler is an issue about which fans should be concerned. Gallo has an excuse, but Lawson and Chandler need to get on track if this team is going to have any chance of competing in the Western Confence.
• The Nuggets ran more in the second half than we’ve seen them do so far this season. I know the coaching staff has emphasized a commitment to the half court game, but with this roster, I still think the team’s best chance for success is to open up and push the pace, especially at home.
• Faried recorded another double-double, posting a relatively quiet 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• Coach Brian Shaw drew up a great inbounds play late in the fourth quarter that could have made things interesting in the closing minute, but Chandler was unable to finish a wide open layup and the miss essentially closed the book on the Nuggets chances for a victory.
• The reported attendance at the Pepsi Center was 12, 516. It sure looked like a lot less on TV.