Denver Nuggets Winning Ugly Is Big Step Forward

By Court Zierk @courtzierk on October 30, 2014

If I told you that on opening night, against an improved and hungry Detroit Pistons team, that Ty Lawson would go 1-for-7, for a total of three points and five assists, and that as a team the Denver Nuggets would shoot 35 percent from the floor, how much of a chance would you give them to walk away victorious? I would assume not much. I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t have either.

Yet, that is exactly what happened in the Nuggets’ season opener last night, and somehow they came away with a 10 point victory. It wasn’t pretty; in fact, it was downright ugly at times. Yet, as the old cliche goes, a win is a win, and this win may actually show me more about this year’s Nuggets team than a more aesthetically pleasing blowout would have.

There were two very promising things about the way the Nuggets played last night. One, their ball movement was markedly improved over a year ago, and they took good shots as a result. They just didn’t make them. Two, their defense, which was arguably their biggest weakness from a year ago, was outstanding. Of course, Josh Smith and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going a combined 12-for-41 from the floor, with some of the more questionable shot selection I can recall, didn’t hurt. But it was the Nuggets, for the most part, who were forcing those bad shots.

Kenneth Faried showed he is ready for the breakout season many people are anticipating. He dropped a cool 22 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, 10 of those of the defensive variety. But most impressive was his accuracy from beyond 15 feet, as he went 3-for-4 from the free throw line beyond. If he can add a consistent jump shot to his repertoire, look out NBA.

Jusuf Nurkic and Timofey Mozgov beat the Pistons at their own game, and were by far the more stout interior defensive unit. They were a big reason the Nuggets outworked the best offensive rebounding team in the league from a year ago by six boards.

The most encouraging thing to take away from this game though, was the fact that the Nuggets shot so poorly and were without any meaningful contribution from their best player and team leader in Lawson, and still came out victorious. These are the types of games they will need to win if they want to make any noise as a significant threat in a brutal Western Conference. Every night won’t be an offensive clinic, and the perseverance and toughness they showed in a grind-it-out victory should make Nuggets fans smile.

I have been saying for months that people are sleeping on this team. If they can learn to win like this on a consistent basis, they may just be even more of a threat than I gave them credit for.

Court Zierk is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourtZierk, “Like”him on Facebook or add him on Google.