As the Nuggets descended down the Pepsi Center hallway and into their home locker room, veteran Darrell Arthur had a simple halftime question.
“How many times do we have to talk about playing hard?” Arthur asked his teammates.
The same troubling intangible issue reappeared for Denver in a 108-100 loss to Phoenix Friday night. The defeat dropped the Nuggets (23-23) further out of the Western Conference playoff picture and to .500 for the first time since they were 5-5 in early November. But the performance also left coach Michael Malone proclaiming that he needs to make personnel changes to find the collection of players that will consistently bring that missing effort level.
“I asked (the players), as individuals, ‘When you go to bed tonight and you put your head on that pillow, ask yourself if you gave everything you have,’” Malone said. “And if you didn’t, shame on you …
“I don’t like our team right now. I don’t like where we’re headed. I don’t like how we’re playing. I don’t like how we’re competing on a nightly basis.”
Denver is 2-6 in its last eight games, including three losses over the past two weeks to opponents that are at least 12 games below .500. Denver fell one game behind the Clippers and Pelicans in the Western Conference standings and 1.5 games back of Portland, which visits Monday as part of the Nuggets’ five-game homestand.
The lack of effort, which sixth man Will Barton (eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, four assists) candidly described with numerous expletives, popped up on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets’ poor defensive discipline allowed the Suns to go 14-of-33 from 3-point distance (including a 6-of-12 mark in the second quarter), to outscore Denver 44-36 in the paint and to ride 55 points from stars Devin Booker and TJ Warren. On offense, Denver committed 16 turnovers for 18 points.
“We had stupid turnovers, stupid defensive possessions, stupid offensive possessions,” said Nikola Jokic, who finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds and five assists but also turned the ball over six times. “… We cannot just go out there and pretend that we’re gonna win every game. We need to really win the game.”
Here’s the beginning of Michael Malone’s postgame comments. Lack of effort was again an issue and he said changes with lineups, etc. could be coming #Nuggets pic.twitter.com/FGvh2TvNo8
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) January 20, 2018
Denver initially slipped in the second quarter, when Phoenix outscored the Nuggets 31-19 despite Malone angrily subbing his starters back in after the Suns began the period on a 10-0 run to seize the lead. When two thunderous dunks by Jamal Murray — a “silver lining,” Malone said, thanks to his 30 points after missing Wednesday’s loss in Los Angeles while undergoing the NBA’s concussion protocol — helped cut the Suns’ lead to 62-59 early in the third quarter, Phoenix answered with three consecutive old-fashioned 3-point plays to re-create a cushion. Then when Denver got within 101-97 with about four minutes remaining after Jokic drilled a 3-pointer and Gary Harris (16 points, five rebounds, four assists) hit a floater, Tyson Chandler finished inside and Warren sank a short jumper on the Suns’ next two possessions.
BOX SCORE: Suns 108, Nuggets 100
“Shots aren’t always gonna go in, but you can always play hard,” Barton said. “We’re not doing that enough. We pick and choose when we want to play hard, and we can’t do that. We’re not good enough to do that.”
Though Malone hinted that notable changes are coming, the coach insists it’s not time to panic. Denver is still well within striking distance in a crowded bottom of the Western Conference playoff standings, where teams seemingly shuffle almost daily. This is also the time of year when the Nuggets hit their stride last season to make a postseason push. And Denver is still awaiting the return of all-star power forward Paul Millsap, who has been out since mid-November with a torn wrist ligament but is expected to return around the all-star break in mid-February.
But Malone anticipated the next two days will be “miserable” as he sorts through the Nuggets’ pieces, in hopes of identifying a combination that will play hard and help his team snap out of its January funk.
Barton stressed that the players also need to practice some self-reflection.
“You’ve got to hold yourself accountable before you can hold everybody else accountable,” Barton said. “If you ain’t doing what the (heck) you’re supposed to do, how are you gonna tell somebody else to do it? If you’re out there giving your all, then you can get on somebody and they can respect it.”