The Nuggets came into this game off of back to back victories against Chicago and New York. This matchup against Brooklyn is their second to last game until the All-Star break. They are five games out of the playoffs and that dream keeps slipping away. They can't afford to drop games to inferior teams if they wish to keep their hopes alive.
This was a heartbreaking loss for the Nuggets. They got the go ahead runner from Faried with 1.3 seconds left, but Joe Johnson banked in a buzzer beating three pointer that gave the Brooklyn Nets the win. I am not putting the entire loss on that one play because the game should not have been that close in the first place.
The struggled out of the gate and Mike Malone already had to call two timeouts by the midway point in the first quarter. The team recovered well out of both timeouts though and were able to close the gap. This pattern was a trend throughout the game. They could get down, then make up the deficit then they would get down again. If they would have come out with some fire, the game would have been over much earlier.
Kenneth Faried continued his recent stellar play into tonights game. He was the star of this game, he played fantastic defense, hit the go ahead shot for the Nuggets on a broken inbound play and finished with 22 points on 10-16 shooting and 10 rebounds. He is communicating very well on defense, which makes him a much more effective player on the defensive side even if he doesn't have the tangible defensive skills. I hope he continues to play this way so that I don't have to hear anymore trade rumors about him.
Gallinari had another fantastic game, which seems to just be the norm now. He has been automatic in recent games and has been getting to the line effectively. Although he did not get to the line double digit times today, he still got there 7 times. He never stopped driving to the hoop even though he was not getting calls and he was still able to finish effectively.
Malone utilized Gallo as a small ball four for most of the fourth quarter because of Nikoa Jokic's stinker of a game. It doesn't normally work well for the Nuggets, but it seemed beneficial to the team tonight. The loss had nothing to do with this small ball lineup because it worked for the most part.
Foye was a star for the Nuggets, hitting two late threes to keep the game close. He played the entire fourth quarter. Although he was playing well on offense, he struggled on defense, which hurt them down the stretch.
Gary Harris was another great player on both sides of the ball. He played great defense and finished with 17 points on 8-11 shooting. He also had a clutch steal when the game was tied with less than a minute to go. He should be getting more recognition around the league as a young up and coming player, but maybe that will come with time. Efficient offensive games like the one he had today will serve to earn him more minutes.
This was a tough loss for the Nuggets and they are now 5.5 games behind the Utah Jazz who are in eighth place. The playoffs don't seem as reachable now as they did a week ago even though the Nuggets have been playing well during that stretch. They have one more game at Detroit on Wednesday before the All-Star break. They won their last matchup against the Pistons a couple of weeks ago, but Drummond did not play many minutes. It will be interesting to see how the Nuggets deal with him when he is not in foul trouble.
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