The Denver Nuggets entered Monday night’s road game against the Dallas Mavericks with something to prove. Denver has been the Jekyll and Hyde of the NBA so far, compiling a home record of 10-2, but posting a dismal road record of 3-7.
The Nuggets were facing a last place Mavericks team that was just 4-10 at home. With Wilson Chandler returning to the lineup it was a good opportunity to get off to to an encouraging start to the six game road trip, but the Nuggets blew that opportunity from the start.
Dallas blitzed Denver in the first quarter. As has been the case for most of the road losses, the massive disparity in points in the paint was tough to overcome. The Mavericks got into the paint routinely and with ease. They finished the quarter with 16 such points.
Another typical marker of a poor performance from the Nuggets is losing the turnover battle. Surprisingly, Denver avoided turning the ball over at all in the first quarter, but that didn’t stop Dallas from getting easy points on the fast break.
The Nuggets were ice cold from the field, going 8-25 to start the game while Dallas was relentless in their efforts to get to the rim. The Mavericks continued to feast in the Nuggets paint but Denver settled for pull up jumpers and contested looks time and time again. Their poor shot selection, horrendous shooting, and lacking effort on the offensive glass served effectively as turnovers. Dallas corralled 16 defensive rebounds in the first and it helped them get out to a 10-2 advantage in fast break points.
The Nuggets tried chip away in the second. Dallas saw their lead balloon to as many as 25 points, but the Nuggets closed to the gap into single digits a couple times. That was due, in part, to a much improved shooting performance, as well as a better effort on the offensive glass. Denver grabbed seven offensive rebounds, after posting just 3 in the first.
Nontheless, Dallas — the NBA’s 26th ranked offense entering the game — dropped 64 in the first half. Barnes had 14 points at halftime and he added 6 rebounds as well. Meanwhile, Wilson Chandler looked rusty in his return. He had zero points at the half on 0-8 from the field.
The Nuggets found their groove in the third; particularly Will Barton, who scored 13 in the quarter and Malone decided to ride with the hot hand. Both Barton and Harris played the entire third quarter as Denver knocked the lead down to 11 points, but Dallas continued their domination down low. They had 50 points in the paint through three quarters — their previous high on the season was just 46.
They continued to work Denver down low in the fourth adding 14 more such points. Denver would knock the lead down to as low as 10 points but their atrocious defensive performance in the paint was too much to overcome. They would fall 122-105.
Denver drops to 13-10 on the year and 3-8 on the road. They take on the Pelicans in New Orleans on Wednesday night.
