The Denver Nuggets will try to find their shooting stroke when they visit the short-handed and turnover-prone Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
The Nuggets shot 40.2 percent (35-for-87) from the field Saturday in a 109-104 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers despite 41 points from Nikola Jokic, who made a career-best seven 3-pointers.
That followed a 35.7 percent (35-for-98) shooting night in Denver’s 102-87 loss to the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder in Thursday’s season opener.
The Nuggets went 7-for-38 (18.4 percent) on 3-point attempts on Thursday. That improved to 40 percent (14-for-35) on Saturday, thanks to Jokic going 7-for-12 from beyond the arc.
“We’re going to miss and make shots,” said Jamal Murray, who scored 22 points Saturday on 7-for-14 shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
“We can miss three in a throw. We can make three in a row. I think everybody’s seen everybody miss and seen everybody make. But it really just comes down to energy and effort, and how consistent we can be as a group on defense, and translating those turnovers that we force into fast break points.”
Denver committed just 10 turnovers while forcing 17 on Saturday, but Nuggets coach Michael Malone was concerned about when his team’s miscues occurred.
“We got really sloppy with the ball,” Malone said. “We only had 10 turnovers for the game, but in the fourth quarter, a game that’s going back and forth, we have three for seven points. You can’t have costly turnovers that led to just easy transition dunks for them. So I thought those were killers.”
Malone pointed out other mistakes.
“We continued to foul jump-shooters. Lack of discipline there,” Malone said. “That’s concerning because the same guys are making the same mistakes over and over.”
Toronto was again without RJ Barrett (shoulder), Immanuel Quickley (pelvic bruise), Bruce Brown (knee) and Kelly Olynyk (back) in its 112-101 loss at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. Brown and Olynyk are out Monday, while Quickley is doubtful and Barrett is questionable.
Gradey Dick scored a career-high 25 points for the Raptors against Minnesota, but Toronto committed 20 turnovers that led to 27 Timberwolves points.
The Raptors have tallied 66 giveaways over their first three games, including a 27-turnover performance in their 115-107 home win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
Scottie Barnes had 20 points against the Timberwolves but also committed a team-high six turnovers.
Despite Saturday’s loss, Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic commended his team for battling through its repeated mistakes.
“What I really liked about our guys is that they never quit during the game,” Rajakovic said. “When they had runs, we did not quit, we continued fighting and we found a way to keep the game close.”
Dick rebounded from a pair of sub-40-percent shooting nights to hit 9-of-16 shots (56.3 percent) against the Timberwolves. The second-year guard is second on the team with 16.3 points per game.
Dick said he simply takes what the defense gives him. He also credits Barnes for drawing attention that helps him get open. Barnes had six assists Saturday.
Ochai Agbaji contributed 19 points for the Raptors, who trailed 32-18 after the first quarter and 56-44 at halftime.
The Nuggets won both of their games against the Raptors last season, including a 125-119 final on March 11 at Denver when Murray scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets had trailed by 21 points in the third.
–Field Level Media