It didn’t take long into Monday night’s contest to know this was not the Nuggets night. Maybe it was the early 7-0 Hornets run, or the 15-3 run in the middle of the first quarter, or the Nuggets 33 percent shooting in the first quarter, or… you get the idea.
Denver was having one of those nights. Often when that happens Ty Lawson lifts them out of the doldrums, but he was sitting out his third straight game with a heel injury.
Combine that with the Hornets being on their game — taking care of the ball and slowing the game down — and the result was an easy 110-86 Hornets win. The Nuggets streak ends at 15.
As Gregg Popovich has noted, when teams on a streak lose they tend to drop a few in a row — Denver can’t afford to do that. They, the Grizzlies and Clippers are locked in a fight for the three seed — two of those good teams face off in the first round and the three seed gets a softer Warriors (or maybe Rockets) team. You want the three seed. Denver needs to shake this off and keep winning.
Denver just had one of those nights — they got looks in the paint but shot just 42 percent on those looks. Denver shot 38 percent overall. Shots just would not go down. And credit the Hornets for controlling the glass and not letting Denver have second chance shots.
Meanwhile the Hornets hit their shots — Ryan Anderson’s 23 led six Hornets in double figures. Backup point guard Brian Roberts was dishing, finishing with 18 assists. Denver’s defense was awful, and if you’re going to signal anyone out for that (it was really a team lack-of-effort) start with Andre Miller. Bad night for the vet.
But really, this was a game where Denver just didn’t have the energy to play at tempo, to run their opponent out of the building.
Denver just has to get back up and not let the streak be an aberration in a season that ends early in the playoffs.