Nuggets defeat Houston to secure winning record at home
Posted: 04/09/2014 09:31:21 PM MDT
Updated: 04/09/2014 09:32:55 PM MDT
Late in the season, the Nuggets have taken this learning and improving and not checking out thing to heart.
Their 123-116 win over Houston on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center was the latest example.
Two weeks ago the Nuggets had consecutive games against the same team - the Spurs. The Nuggets pushed and nearly stole a win in San Antonio in the first game. But two nights later, instead of applying the effective portions of the first game into the follow up contest, the Nuggets instead fell apart and were blown out at home by 31 points.
Take Two.
Sunday, the Nuggets pushed the Rockets in Houston, eventually losing an overtime thriller. Wednesday, the Nuggets made good on their improvements - and got huge games from a number of players - to return the favor with a seven-point victory.
Progress.
This season, in which playoffs were lost long ago, the little things still matter. Absorbing the game plan, studying the film, making the necessary improvements and then executing them, matters. And to a large extent they were able to do just that against the Rockets, who had won three consecutive games coming in.
The Nuggets wanted to run the Rockets. Check. Kenneth Faried and Timofey Mozgov got the Nuggets out to a running start by beating Rockets' bigs down the court time and time again. They scored in one-on-one situations in the paint early in the shot clock as a result, and got off to hot starts that they parlayed into big statistical nights.
They wanted to do a better job defensively on James Harden. Check. The Rockets leading scorer was held to 10 points on 1-of-9 shooting. He did leave the game briefly with a shin injury, but returned.
They wanted to plug the lane better. Semi-check. The Rockets are a relentless slashing team, so they're going to get their fair share of points at the rim. But the Nuggets never allowed it to become a freeway down the lane, and that helped hold Houston to 43.5 percent shooting.
And then, the Nuggets received big-time efforts from Randy Foye (30 points, 15 assists), Faried (23 points, nine rebounds) and Mozgov (22 points, six rebounds).
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or http://ift.tt/1hGjgK4
The win, the 21st at the Pepsi Center, secures a winning home record for the Nuggets this season.
The Rockets were led by Jeremy Lin's 18 points - all in the second quarter.
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