ATLANTA — This city has almost never been friendly to the Nuggets. More than any other in the NBA, the Nuggets struggle here most. They hadn’t won here since 2011, and had just seven wins in 40 games all-time before Wednesday night.
The Hawks tacked on win No. 34 over the Nuggets in Atlanta with relative ease, 117-106 at Philips Arena. The Nuggets did a number of things to roll out the red carpet to the Hawks’ victory, in a game the home team led wire-to-wire. Coach Michael Malone, however, began by blaming his defensive game plan for the Nuggets’ slow start.
“I owned it,” Malone said. “They were executing the game plan that I put in. So I owned it. I said ‘My game plan sucks. Let’s get more aggressive, let’s get them on their heels.’ And the players responded. If you want to get back into a game, you just can’t sit there and wait for it to happen. Sometimes you have to be the cause of that change. I thought by being aggressive in our pick-and-roll defense that allowed us to get going and give us an aggressive swagger that really helped us out.”
The task was expected to be tough enough had the Nuggets handled business well throughout. Atlanta is one of the best player movement and ball movement teams in the NBA.
The Nuggets got themselves in trouble with quick shots and turnovers. The Hawks are also deadly at taking missed shots and turnovers and blazing the ball up the court and finishing at the rim. To wit: Atlanta had 17 fast-break points in the first half. The Nuggets’ transition defense was put under constant pressure, and it buckled.
“We were fueling their break,” Malone said. “The first half it was turnover, runout dunk; turnover, runout, dunk. On the road, a couple of things have to happen for you to be a competitive team – your defense has to travel, it wasn’t here in the first half. And you can’t beat yourself with turnovers. I thought a big part of their offense in transition was caused by our poor offense.”
When the Nuggets cleaned things up, they flourished. Down by 20 with 10:11 left in the third quarter, the Nuggets went on a 19-8 run to cut it to nine.
With 2:38 left in the fourth, the deficit was only four (109-105), as close as the Nuggets had been all game. But a big three-point play out of Paul Millsap pushed the lead back to seven. It was all the cushion the Hawks needed. They’d played a sketchy second half, but their lead had been large enough to hold on for the victory.
Hawks 117, Nuggets 106
DENVER
Chandler 9-17 2-5 24, Faried 0-2 1-2 1, Jokic 8-17 0-0 18, Nelson 2-8 0-0 6, Harris 5-14 2-3 13, Hernangomez 2-4 1-2 6, Barton 6-19 5-7 17, O’Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, Arthur 4-10 0-0 10, Beasley 0-0 0-0 0, Murray 4-9 2-2 11. Totals 40-100 13-21 106.
ATLANTA
Bazemore 4-8 3-4 14, Millsap 9-15 3-3 23, Howard 5-9 1-2 11, Schroder 10-19 4-4 24, Hardaway Jr. 6-15 0-0 14, Bembry 5-7 0-0 10, Muscala 3-7 4-5 10, Humphries 3-4 0-0 7, Delaney 2-8 0-0 4, Dunleavy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 47-93 15-18 117.
3-Point goals — Denver 13-44 (Chandler 4-7, Jokic 2-3, Arthur 2-4, Nelson 2-5, Hernangomez 1-3, Murray 1-5, Harris 1-8, Barton 0-9), Atlanta 8-27 (Bazemore 3-4, Millsap 2-5, Hardaway Jr. 2-7, Humphries 1-2, Dunleavy 0-1, Delaney 0-2, Muscala 0-2, Schroder 0-4). Fouled out — Chandler. Rebounds — Denver 49 (Jokic 15), Atlanta 48 (Howard 13). Assists — Denver 25 (Nelson 8), Atlanta 31 (Schroder 10). Total fouls — Denver 20, Atlanta 18. Technicals — Denver coach Michael Malone, Atlanta defensive three second, Atlanta team, Howard. A — 14,222 (18,118).
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