Nuggets Have No Answer for Kings, Lose 131-109

Nov 5, 2014; Sacramento, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler (21) questions the call as the referee calls the foul against Sacramento Kings during the third quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Denver Nuggets 131-109. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Final. 131. 84. 109. 73

Different game. Different arena. Same results for the Denver Nuggets.

After losing to the Sacramento Kings at home on Monday night, the Nuggets completed the second leg of the home-and-home matchup with a trip to the Kings’ home court. It didn’t take long to figure out it was going to be another long night for the Nuggets. Although the Nuggets shot slightly better out of the gate than they had in the last three games, the Kings were even hotter. They torched the Nuggets in the first quarter, finishing with a 40-19 lead. Denver looked slightly better in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 14 by halftime, but the game was essentially over when the teams headed to their respective locker rooms to make mid-game adjustments.

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Whereas the Nuggets held the Kings top scoring duo of DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay mostly in check on Monday, they simply had no answer for either this time around. Cousins had his way with Denver’s big men and seemingly scored at will, finishing the game with 30 points on 10 of 14 shooting to lead all scorers, as well as 11 rebounds. Gay added 29 points of his own on 9 of 12 shooting, as he lived up to his well earned reputation as one of the top volume scorers in the league. Carl Landry finished with 18 points off the bench, and point guard Darren Collison once again gave the Nuggets’ backcourt trouble, adding 10 points and 8 assists to the Kings’ totals.

For the Nuggets, they ultimately shot better in this game than they had during the last two losses, finishing with a field goal percentage of 45.1%, but they continued to struggle from beyond the arc, where they shot a less than respectable 32% on 9 of 28 shooting. Randy Foye led the team in scoring with 19 points off the bench on 7 of 11 shooting (including 3 of 5 from deep), while Wilson Chandler and Ty Lawson both chipped in with 13 points each. It’s hardly worth noting the performance of the rest of the team, considering guys like Kenneth Faried (4 points, 5 rebounds), Timofey Mozgov (7 points, 1 rebound) and Arron Afflalo (2 points) posted putrid stat lines. And Danilo Gallinari continued to struggle mightily. He ended the contest with 7 points, but most of those came from the free throw line as he finished shooting just 1 of 7 from the floor (his lone bucket was a three; unfortunately, he missed the 5 other triple attempts he heaved up).

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, Nuggets fans: This team is a mess. Battling a shooting slump is one thing, but this team has shown zero ability to play anything resembling NBA-caliber defense since they recorded their season-opening win against the Detroit Pistons. And Head Coach Brian Shaw’s commitment to the half court offense continues to put the team in either iso match ups they aren’t winning, or throwing up long jumpers as the shot clock runs down. Perhaps worst of all, the team is lacking in the heart department. Take this disturbing interaction reported by Michael Wagaman of the Associated Press:

"“Cousins carried on a running conversation with Nuggets coach Brian Shaw the entire game, and at one point walked over to Denver’s bench and needled the players for the way they were defending him. ‘Are you guys kidding me?’ Cousins said as he walked by. Shaw was disappointed his players didn’t respond. ‘Nobody else took it personally,’ Shaw said. ‘The way I feel about that is if nobody wants to stand up to it, then we should get out butts kicked and we did. He should talk to us that way if we don’t have any professional pride as a group.”’"

You can shoot out of a slump. You can put in extra hours in practice to fine tune team defense. You can even adjust your entire offensive approach to better suit a lineup that should be built to run with anyone in the league. But you can’t coach heart. You just can’t. No offense to Sacramento, which is proving itself to be a rising team in the Western Conference, but if this Nuggets roster is going to let a team like the Kings bully them into submission, what chance do they have facing any of the top teams from either conference? Sadly, I think the answer is simple — not much of a chance at all.

The Nuggets will look to get things back on track against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs when they travel to Cleveland on Friday.

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