Denver Nuggets Blog – Page 33 – NBA Blog

Nuggets beat Nets to win 18th straight game at home

The Denver Nuggets’ success runs deep, especially on their home floor.

With playmaking guard and scoring leader Ty Lawson sidelined by foot problems, rookie Evan Fournier had a season-high 19 points to lead a strong showing by Denver’s reserves, and the Nuggets extended their home winning streak to 18 games by beating the Brooklyn Nets 109-87 Friday night.

Denver improved to 33-3 at the Pepsi Center this season, the best home record in the league, and hit the 50-win mark for the fifth time in the last five full seasons.

Wilson Chandler had 16 points, and Corey Brewer and Kosta Koufos added 13 points apiece for the Nuggets, who need one win to match their longest home winning streak, from Jan. 28-April 20, 1989, despite missing Lawson. He was ruled out for the third time in four games after an exam Thursday of his strained heel also revealed a plantar fascia tear in his right foot…

Andre Miller started in place of Lawson and finished with 12 points, but the Nuggets also anticipated that Fournier would get additional playing time and produce given the opportunity…

Deron Williams scored 19 points for the Nets, who missed a chance for their team-record 21st road win of the season. Especially hurt by an off night at the free throw line – Brooklyn converted only 18 of 36 – the Nets lost to the Nuggets for the sixth straight time in Denver…

Andray Blatche had 16 points and Reggie Evans added 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Nets, who are trying to finish a season with a winning road record for the first time in team history.

— Reported by Dennis Georgatos of the Associated Press

Tim Duncan, Spurs edge Nuggets 100-99

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich treats the stretch run of the regular season like a series of final exams for his team.

The Spurs passed their latest – just barely.

Tim Duncan had 23 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks and the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a 100-99 win over Denver on Wednesday night when Nuggets veteran guard Andre Miller missed a short jumper at the buzzer.

”The schedule that we have is something that should be embraced and considered a great opportunity,” Popovich said, ”because it’s like taking a final exam every day or most days. To get ready for the playoffs, understanding the physicality, aggressiveness and competitiveness that’s necessary night after night in the playoffs.”

Denver dished out a heavy dose of that playoff intensity.

Danny Green added 20 points and Tony Parker had 18 points and 11 assists for the Spurs, who remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Oklahoma City in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference. Kawhi Leonard had 11 points and Tiago Splitter 10.

JaVale McGee had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Wilson Chandler scored 15 points and Miller 14 for the Nuggets, whose reserves outscored their Spurs counterparts 59-18. Kenneth Faried and Danilo Gallinari added 12 points apiece and Andre Igoudala had 10.

— Reported by Raul Dominguez of the Associated Press

Kosta Koufos delivering as post man for Nuggets

His fans don’t know how to spell his name.

Nor do some opponents.

But word is getting around about Kosta Koufos.

A benchwarmer much of last season, Koufos has blossomed as the Nuggets’ starting center. He is coming off his best week of the season with dominating performances against the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies, which led to numerous fans texting on that postgame scroll on Altitude. Fans praised his game but often misspelled his name. There was a “Koufas” a couple of times and a “Koufus.”

And even Wednesday, on the pregame dry-erase board in the Knicks’ locker room, a New York coach had written “Koufas.”

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post

Nuggets beat Grizzlies for 11th straight win

The Denver Nuggets plodded along for three quarters before beating Memphis at its own game.

Hardly known as a half-court team, the high-flying Nuggets had to resort to set plays and setting picks to finally break free.

Turns out, they’re pretty good at it, especially when they dump the ball inside to Kosta Koufos.

Koufos scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, helping the Nuggets rally to knock off the Grizzlies 87-80 on Friday night for their 11th straight victory, their longest streak in 30 years…

Then along came Kenneth Faried, providing a much-needed spark with his energetic play. The player known as ”Manimal” was blocking shots, hustling for rebounds and pestering Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies’ force up front who had 18 points and 18 rebounds.

With the Nuggets trailing 66-58 heading into the fourth quarter, Faried helped them go on a 17-4 run and seize back the momentum. That’s exactly why he’s on the court…

The Grizzlies have been on a 15-5 roll since a three-team deal on Jan. 30 that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto and landed Tayshaun Prince in Memphis. … Denver has won 26 of its last 28 home games against Memphis. … The Nuggets are 28-3 when allowing 100 or fewer points.

— Reported by Pat Graham of the Associated Press

Chauncey Billups and Denver still share love

He’s forever Denver’s.

“At guard, from Park Hill Colorado, No. 1, Chauncey Billups!”

And as in the glory days of 2009, the Pepsi Center crowd cheered with pride.

Chauncey was back home Thursday night, and PA announcer Kyle Speller gave the Clippers guard a special shout-out during pregame introductions.

Billups plays for Los Angeles, but he’s always this town’s guy, a former George Washington High School standout who starred at Colorado and had two stints with the Nuggets, the second featuring a trip to the 2009 conference finals.

“I just think Chauncey’s a winner — he’s a class human being, he cares about the game, he cares about the city of Denver,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “He’s just one of those guys, whenever he retires, I’m sure the Nuggets will figure out how he can be part of the Nuggets organization if he wants to be part of the Nuggets.”

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post

Nuggets love fast-break basketball

The Nuggets, led by the super speedy Ty Lawson, are really fast. Denver entered Thursday’s home game against the Clippers as the No. 1 team in the NBA with 19.7 fast-break points, 57.7 points in the paint and ranked second to the Clippers with 19.5 points off turnovers.

Asked about defending this type of offensive onslaught, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said, “You have to load up, and when our guys shoot 3s, we have to start getting back, especially if you are in the corner you have to start sprinting back and loading up and finding a man. It doesn’t particularly have to be your man, but you have to stop the ball and find where the threats are. It can’t be a once in a while thing; it has to be every time.”

I asked George if there’s a certain way to coach hustle, notably with his big men. Here’s how he put it:

“The best way to coach it is, they get rewarded if they stay on the court if they run and they don’t stay on the court if they don’t,” Karl said. “That’s the simple philosophy. Big guys have to run and rebound, and if they don’t, we play small.”

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post

Nuggets win 7th straight, rout Clippers 107-92

The Denver Nuggets routed the surging Los Angeles Clippers 107-92 on Thursday night, riding 21 points from Ty Lawson and 20 from Danilo Gallinari to their 12th straight home win.

Seven Nuggets scored in double figures as Denver won its seventh straight overall and improved to 27-3 at home, tied with the Miami Heat for best in the NBA.

Despite 19 points from Matt Barnes and 17 from Blake Griffin, the Clippers saw their five-game road winning streak come to an end.

More importantly, they lost the season series to the Nuggets 2-1, a tiebreaker that could come into play if Denver can catch them for the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Right now, the Nuggets are in fifth, behind Memphis…

Both teams had 11 turnovers, Denver outscored Los Angeles by a dozen points from long range and Paul was good, not great, scoring 16 points and dishing out 10 assists, one fewer than Lawson had…

Jamal Crawford, who had a game-high 22 points in the Clippers’ win over Denver on Christmas Day, sat out with a sore left ankle that he injured Wednesday night in L.A.’s 117-101 win over Milwaukee in which he scored 25 points…

Denver is 27-11 against Western Conference teams. … The Clippers have won six of the last nine games against the Nuggets.

— Reported by Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press

With nice bench production, Nuggets beat Hawks 104-88

Denver’s bench is giving the Nuggets’ starting five a push for playing time. At this rate, the reserves might be just as good as the starters.

This time, it was Corey Brewer scoring 22 points and being, as his coach said, ”a pest defensively,” and Wilson Chandler chipping in 13 points in the Nuggets’ 104-88 win over the depleted Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

Starter Ty Lawson had 18 points and Kenneth Faried had another double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, but it was Denver’s bench – which outscored Oklahoma City’s reserves by 60 points in their last game – that provided the effort and energy that helped the Nuggets finally shake the Hawks.

Behind their reserves’ 50-point night, the Nuggets won their 11th straight game at the Pepsi Center and matched Miami’s NBA-best 26-3 home record…

With Chandler and Brewer providing the scoring off the bench, JaVale McGee chipped in some more amazing dunks to go with five electrifying blocked shots and Andre Miller dished out nine assists…

Al Horford scored 18 points for Atlanta, and Josh Smith chipped in 15 points, becoming the 24th player in league history to collect 10,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 2,000 assists and 1,000 blocks. His milestone came on a night when many of his teammates were spectators as the Hawks were without Kyle Korver (toe), Zaza Pachulia (sore right Achilles) and DeShawn Stevenson, who skipped the second game of this back-to-back like he normally does because of balky knees.

Then, Jeff Teague (15 points) sprained his left ankle in the first quarter and Ivan Johnson dislocated his left middle finger in the second quarter. Both returned.

— Reported by Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press

Nuggets may chase Kyle Korver this summer

Korver, an unrestricted free agent in his 10th year in the NBA, is expected to be one of the Nuggets top targets in the offseason as the team actively courts players who can fill that shooting void. Denver won’t be the only team looking to gain his services, but if the money is right (Korver makes $5 million this season) the situation might be hard for the sharpshooter, who grew up in Pella, Iowa, to turn down.

Shots figure to be much easier to come by in a system where guard Ty Lawson’s driving is so respected that he sucks defenders into the lane, and other players capable of hitting from long range – Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Corey Brewer – make it so that he would be difficult to devote additional resources to slowing just Korver down in the manner that the Nuggets are expected to try tonight.

— Reported by Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post (Blog)

Monta Ellis, Ty Lawson named NBA Players of Week through March 3, 2013

Milwaukee Bucks guard Monta Ellis and Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson today were named Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Feb. 25 through Sunday, March 3.

Ellis led the Bucks to a 3-0 week with averages of 24.0 points (sixth in the conference), 9.0 assists (fourth in the conference) and a league-leading 5.0 steals. Ellis collected back-to-back six-steal games in road victories over the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 26, and the Houston Rockets on Feb. 27. In the win over the Rockets, Ellis, who led all scorers with 27 points, hit an off-balance three-pointer just before the final buzzer to secure the win.

Lawson led the Nuggets to a 3-0 week behind averages of 21.0 points, 7.0 assists and 1.7 steals. Lawson hit a game winner of his own on March 1 with 0.2 seconds remaining to give the Nuggets a 105-103 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He also tallied a 30-point effort on Feb. 27, during a win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Atlanta’s Al Horford, Chicago’s Joakim Noah, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Houston’s Chandler Parsons, Indiana’s David West, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, Memphis’ Marc Gasol, Miami’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, New York’s Carmelo Anthony, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and Portland’s Damian Lillard.