Offense absent in Charlotte
The Denver Nuggets dropped a road game to the Charlotte Bobcats Tuesday night in Charlotte 107-95.
The tired Nuggets played yet another set of back to backs with Tuesday night’s game being the second. The Nuggets showed much fatigue on both ends of the floor, most notably on the offensive front.
There were numerous missed layups from Chauncey Billups, J.R.Smith and Carmelo Anthony. The Nuggets shot only 12 percent from three point land and could never find a consistent rhythm in the offense.
One contributing factor to the inconsistent offense was the absence of starting power forward Kenyon Martin. Martin missed Tuesday night’s game with a separated pinkey on his left hand.
The injury occurred in Monday night’s win in Philadelphia. Martin returned after the injury but wasn’t able to fully use his left hand. Joey Graham started in Martin’s place.
Not only was Martin’s presence on offense missed, but it was on defense too. Bobcat’s forward Gerald Wallace bullied Denver all night. Wallace dropped 25 points and 16 rebounds on the Nuggets.
His physical play in the paint could not be contained with the likes of Anthony or Arron Afflalo guarding him. The only player on the Nuggets who could have slowed Wallace down is Martin.
The rebounding was terrible without Martin as well. Nene bounced back with 10 boards of his own, but Denver was outrebounded by the Bobcats 43-35. Without Martin, Denver’s rebounding drops significantly and if Martin’s injury lingers on throughout the year or costs him several games, Denver may need to consider making a deal for a rebounding big.
On a positive note, and what may have been the only positive note, Anthony shook out of his one game scoring slump. Melo scored 34 points on 12-22 shooting. Smith scored 16 off the bench and Billups added another 14.
Ty Lawson got to play in his old college town for the first time since last year. Lawson’s former college coach, Roy Williams, was in attendance to see his young point guard excel in the NBA.
Denver will look to rest up Wednesday and regroup for Thursday night’s game in Detroit when the Nuggets face off against the Pistons.
