At media day, Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw said he wants a team that is able to win a game in the 100s, but he also wants his team to be able to win games in the 80s. Well, he got what he wanted tonight as his team won an evenly matched game against the Detroit Pistons 89-79.
Kenneth Faried led the way with 22 points and 17 rebounds. The Manimal was instrumental on the offensive end and was being fed in the post to start the game. Faried surprised with three made jumpers away from the paint, and his efforts on his jumper are starting to pay off. Alonzo Gee and Timofey Mozgov provided some big stops on defense throughout the fourth quarter. Gee was excellent and only played in the fourth after Danilo Gallinari racked up 18 of his 20 minutes before the final quarter.
The first half wasn't pretty for the Nuggets. Taking a 42-40 lead into the locker room, the team shot just 1-9 from three point land and Gallinari, Nate Robinson, Randy Foye, Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, and Wilson Chandler combined to shoot just 6-21 or 28.5%. Denver did the bulk of their scoring on the inside as Kenneth Faried led the way on 5-8 shooting for 11 points and he grabbed 8 rebounds.
The Nuggets were looking to feed the post early and often and didn't get out and run much in the first half. The second half saw the shooters get a little more comfortable and Arron Afflalo scored 10 points in the third quarter on 4-6 shooting. Afflalo's confidence is noticeable and he's still comfortable being a lead option on offense, as he was the option in Orlando.
We'll have more coming from the post game media scrums and additional thoughts shortly, enjoy the win folks.
