CHARLOTTE – Two things stick out about the last time the Nuggets faced Charlotte, which was on March 4 at the Pepsi Center. And we’re talking beyond just the Nuggets’ 112-102 loss itself.
First, was the Hornets’ 3-point shooting. They hit 16 shots from beyond the arc, making 59 percent of them that day.
Second, was Charlotte selling out to pack the paint, taking away cutters and clogging up any players who dared pass or drive to the rim. That directly impacted Gary Harris, who took only one shot in the game and didn’t score.
Now that the Nuggets have seen it once, they’re much more prepared for what they’ll face on Friday night (5 p.m., ALT, 950 AM) when they tangle with Charlotte again, this time in North Carolina at the Spectrum Center.
“They had a lot of guys contribute to those 16 makes,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “That can’t happen again. That was their fourth-highest total in terms of made threes in a game, and their highest 3-piont percentage of the season.”
Stopping the Hornets at the 3-point line begins at the point of attack – finding some way to slow down Kemba Walker, the All-Star point guard. Walker is averaging 22.9 points and is shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line. And containing Walker is a full 48-minute exercise: Even when he’s having a bad night he can heat up at any point and still impact the outcome.
He did just that two nights ago in Toronto. Through more than three quarters, Walker made just 3-of-18 shots from the field as the Raptors had done a good job of defending him. But then Walker caught fire, scoring 11 points in the final 5:03 of that game, part of a Charlotte offense that made 8-of-12 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to waltz out of the Air Canada Centre with a victory, something not very many teams do.
But the Nuggets can’t just pay attention to Walker. The Hornets have capable 3-point shooters all over the court – Marco Belinelli, Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum among them. So keeping close to all of the shooters is a must.
The Hornets are a low-turnover team, just 11.5 per game on the season, so the Nuggets have to make good on the few they are going to get and turn those into points.
Both teams are trying to stay close in their respective playoff races. Charlotte is three games out of the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Nuggets are a game-and-a-half behind Portland in the Western Conference playoff race. The Trail Blazers won on Friday night, so the Nuggets need a victory to keep pace.
“This game has implications for both teams, which is really great because this late in the year we’re still playing for something,” Malone said. “When we started the year, no one in the country had us as a playoff team. No one had us with eight games to go in the playoff hunt. So, the fact that we put ourselves in the position is great. I’m anxious to see us come out tonight and just play with a desperation and a sense of urgency that is really needed.”