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Nuggets Tip Off Second Half In Sactown

By Christopher Dempsey

In the snap of a finger, the Nuggets’ first post-All Star break game became more of a must-win and didn’t lose a single ounce of its importance. All of this after the Sacramento Kings, tonight’s opponent (8:30 p.m. ALT), traded away star center DeMarcus Cousins.

 The main question the Nuggets have to ask and decipher quickly: What kind of Kings team will they see?

Sacramento is now without its top two scorers – Cousins, who was traded to New Orleans this week, and Rudy Gay, who is out for the season with an Achillies injury. But this is a team with guards who are dangerous, led by Darren Collison and Ty Lawson, a crafty big in Kosta Koufos and an athletic big in Willie Cauley-Stein.

“Without (Cousins), if you go back to the one time we played them, Darren Collison kicked our butt,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He had a season-high 26 points. Kosta Koufos…was 8-of-9 from the field. Arron Afflalo was very effective for them. Obviously, DeMarcus was a focal point, which opened up things for those players, but we just can’t go into Sacramento thinking ‘Easy game, DeMarcus is gone.’ It is still a challenge.”

The Kings were a heavy spot-up team on offense. And it was easy to get open looks with Collison’s ability to break down defenses and kick out to shooters (including Cousins), or with Cousins’ ability to draw double – and sometimes triple – teams and kick out to shooters. But the Kings’ most-used spot-up shooters – Cousins and Matt Barnes (waived) – are gone. Sacramento ranked top 10 in both spot up shooting points per possession (1.014) and in post-up points per possession (0.964), according to Synergy stats. Both areas have taken a big hit.

So, for Kings coach Dave Joerger, it will be reinvention on the fly. He’s taken a talent-depleted team and made it successful before. Just last season, when the Memphis Grizzlies had so many injuries that they set an NBA record for players to play for a team with an astounding 28, they still made the playoffs. So, Joerger has experience at piecing things together.

“For sure it’s a different game plan, different team,” forward Danilo Gallinari said. “But we need to focus on us. As long as we focus on us and we bring Nuggets basketball, we’re going to give ourselves a very good chance to win the game.”

In other words, the Nuggets want to largely pick up where they left off, particularly on offense, where they have become one of the most potent teams in the league. When you break down the Nuggets production in terms of starters and bench, each unit is one of the best in the league. Starters average 75.4 points per game while reserves average 39.3 points. Both rank eighth in the NBA, according to Altitude stats and information.  

Defensive improvement, however, is the piece the Nuggets know will take them from inconsistent – they’ve alternated wins and losses in the last five games – to a better level of consistency. That starts with on-ball defense, which will be challenged big-time against the Kings.

“Hopefully guys will understand taking the challenge of guarding my guy,” Malone said. “Yes, there’s help behind me, but don’t rely on that help every night. If we take that challenge of guarding guys one-on-one our defense will improve tenfold.”