Nuggets ride Danilo Gallinari's 27, Will Barton's 26 over Rockets for third straight win

 

THE RUNDOWN

The fanfare and choruses of boo’s that accompanied former Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson as he was introduced as a part of the Houston Rockets starting lineup, and every time he touched the ball on offense, may have gotten to the one-time Denverite who played his first six seasons here.

Lawson finished with zero points on seven shots in roughly 34 minutes, looking as if he’d rather be any other place than Denver on a night he made his first return to the Mile High City after the offseason trade that sent him to Houston. Lawson did finish with seven assists, but looked out of sorts, confused and not a part of the Houston Rockets offense that has been so lethal over the past few years.

“I just couldn’t really get a rhythm today,” Lawson said after the loss. “I’m trying to find my way in the offense, but just couldn’t get a rhythm.”

For the Nuggets, the 107-98 victory was a consummate example of a team win. Five Nuggets players finished in double figures, including Will Barton who poured in a career high 26 points off the bench on just 14 shots.

“I was just being my usual self,” Barton said. “Trying to get up and down the floor, create problems in transition. My shot was falling tonight from three.”

Barton went 4-5 from 3-point land, upping his percentage on the year to 30 percent. His four threes were also a career high.

Danilo Gallinari was more engaged and energetic from the start on both the offensive and defensive ends, finishing with a team-high 27 points and finished 10-10 from the line. Gallo has now made 28 consecutive free throws and is shooting 90.6 percent from the stripe on the year.

“We have to bring it every night,” Gallinari said. “We played with more confidence and once you get the first win out of the way you can build off it.”

Jameer Nelson, not Gary Harris who played great defense on James Harden when he was out there, closed the game on the floor for the Nuggets tonight. Nelson had 13 points off the bench on an efficient 8-14 shooting.

“Jameer is a calming influence and that’s the luxury of playing Jameer and Emmanuel together at times,” Malone said. “There was a lot of small-ball tonight with their lineups that they presented so Jameer made some big plays, and if Emmanuel’s getting a little rattled we can put the ball in Jameer’s hands and let Emmanuel make a play on the backside.”

That calming influence is exactly what this Nuggets team needed after a shaky end of the game where Houston pressured Denver into a couple turnovers down the stretch. A vet like Nelson is the perfect presence to have in those situations.

For the Malone and his Nuggets squad, getting out to a good start was key. Denver outscored Houston 30-23 in the first quarter after being outscored 32-25 by Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

“You don’t want to dig yourself a hole and I thought we caught a break against Milwaukee because we dug ourselves a hole at halftime,” Malone said. “This team has the ability to score in bunches so we wanted to come out, be the aggressor, set the tone early and be in attack mode [on] both sides of the floor.”

Malone elaborated that the crowd aided the Nuggets to their third consecutive win and home win on the year.

“We did have good energy,” Malone said. “I give our crowd credit because there was energy in the building tonight. I think that our crowd definitely helped us out.”

WHERE/WHEN

Pepsi Center, Denver, CO /Nov. 13 2015/ Game No. 9

STARS OF THE GAME

Barton was huge off the bench, Nelson, who closed the game for Denver alongside Mudiay was a calming presence down the stretch, but Gallinari was the engine that made the Nuggets go tonight.

Gallinari, who upped his averaged on the season to 17.9 points per game now has consecutive scoring lines of 25 and 27 and shot an efficient 7-9 from the field tonight.

PLAYS OF THE GAME

 

BY THE NUMBERS

The Nuggets shot 9-20 (45 percent) from 3-point range and got to the free-throw line 32 times compared to Houston’s 31. Denver also out rebounded Houston and Dwight Howard who because of foul trouble on played just under 28 minutes, 46-40. The Nuggets also forced Houston into 20 turnovers.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

Before the game, Malone said he was switching up his lineup from the traditional Faried/J.J. Hickson frontcourt duo, which started each of Denver’s last two games, likely downsizing like they did against Golden State and inserting Barton to counteract Houston’s small ball lineup. However, just before tip Rockets coach Kevin McHale opted to insert Montrezl Harrell into the starting unit, instead of Marcus Thornton and Malone countered with Hickson.

“I would say it’s a chess match, but neither Kevin nor I are that smart. It’s a checkers match.” said Malone.

What’s Next

Denver moves to 5-4 on the season, while Houston drops to 4-5. The Nuggets travel to Phoenix for the second half of a back-to-back against the Suns tomorrow night.