DENVER — John Wall and Jordan Crawford collapsed on Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, knocking the ball away and forcing Gallinari to scramble. He tracked down the loose ball near half court, then tossed the ball ahead to an open J.R. Smith, who squared up without conscience and knocked down a three-pointer to give his team a 24-point lead over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.
A broken play became a big play, eliciting cheers from home fans at Pepsi Center who have fallen in love with the latest incarnation of the Nuggets, sans Carmelo Anthony. Wizards players slouched, deflated and defeated because they were getting shellacked, there was no hope of a comeback — and it was only the second quarter of what would eventually end as a 114-94 defeat. .
“By that time, we had already given them the confidence to feel like they could make any shot,” Crawford said. “They was getting easy looks. Once you get a couple of easy looks and you start making shots, you’re going to knock down shots like that.”
The Wizards (17-54) became the latest victim of the league’s most recent feel-good story, as the Nuggets have responded to the absence of a superstar by playing sound defense, moving the ball on offense and sharing the glory. Washington, meanwhile, has lost nine in a row away from Verizon Center and is 1-34 on the road this season. The team is six losses away from matching the 1990-91 Sacramento Kings for the worst road record in NBA history. The trip continues Sunday at Golden State.
The Wizards were feeling encouraged coming off a 127-119 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in which Wall and Crawford became the first rookies in NBA history to each have at least 25 points and 10 assists in the same game. Crawford led six Wizards in double figures on Friday with 19 points, but the Wizards had a total of just 13 assists.
“We used all of our competitiveness the other night. Nobody competed. That’s the sad thing about it,” Wall said after scoring 13 points with six assists. “As a young team, we have to be more consistent with what we do, that’s how we stay into games. That’s tough as rookies, but hey, coming into this league as rookies, we knew once we put our name in that draft and got put on the team, nobody cares if you’re a rookie or a veteran. You’ve got to go out and play.”
The Nuggets also had six players scoring in double figures with four leading the team with 17 points apiece. They also had 29 assists with three players having at least six. Raymond Felton handed out a team-leading eight for Denver, which improved to 12-4 since trading Anthony to the New York Knicks and they are 7-0 at home, including an impressive win over league-leading San Antonio two nights before.
Denver has been especially dominant against losing teams at Pepsi Center, defeating Toronto, Detroit and Charlotte by a combined 103 points since the trade deadline deal.
The Wizards welcomed back Nick Young, who had missed the previous five games with a bone bruise in his left knee. Young came off the bench, but was noticeably rusty as he missed his first five shots and finished with just 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting. “I was trying to find my way during the game and dealing with this air up there was even harder,” said Young, admitting that he struggled with the altitude. “I was just going out there trying to give it my all really, through whatever was going on.”
JaVale McGee (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Trevor Booker (10 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles, but Booker left the game in the fourth quarter after jamming his right foot trying to box out. He had X-rays after the game. The Wizards did not reveal the results on Friday. Yi Jianlian left the game momentarily with a cut above his eye. He returned but finished with just seven points.
Yi made an 18-foot jumper to give the Wizards a 16-15 lead with 5 minutes 49 seconds left in the first period, but the Nuggets answered with a 15-0 onslaught to end the quarter. Reserve Chris Andersen helped inspire the run with his high-wire act on defense, as he recorded four blocks and four rebounds in just six minutes. After Smith missed a three-pointer, Andersen came soaring down the lane for a two-handed dunk. Nuggets fans were especially pleased, giving the team a standing ovation after the first period.
“They are a great first-quarter team. They seem to get up big in the first quarter and they right it out the rest of the day,” Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said of the Nuggets. “Andersen got it going. He dominated the game in the first quarter, just with his defense. he took away four layups. Point-blank layups at the rim. If we get those layups, it’s a [six]-point game instead of a 14-point game.”
The Nuggets continued to build on the lead in the second quarter, when they hit five of their 11 three-pointers. Gallinari (17 points) made two three-pointers in the period, giving his team a 57-32 lead with 2:32 left in the half.
leem@washpost.com
From www.washingtonpost.com
