Raptors out-hustle, out-muscle Nuggets in convincing win – The Denver Post

If Michael Malone could’ve, he would’ve sprung off the Nuggets’ bench to grab a rebound himself. Instead, he was left to stew at his team’s inability to put a body on anyone with a Raptors jersey.

Long and lanky, the Raptors crashed the glass, and the party, with a 127-115 win over the Nuggets on Saturday night. Led by Pascal Siakam’s 33 points, the Raptors torched the Nuggets inside for 64 points, battered them for 30 second-chance points and turned 19 turnovers into 31 points. Toronto also dismantled Denver on the glass with 23 offensive rebounds.

“I thought we were soft tonight,” Malone said. “… And I thought we were really careless.”

The frustration on Nuggets players’ faces wasn’t subtle. A 16-8 Raptors run to start the fourth quarter flipped momentum, and Toronto seemed to win all the hustle plays. They outscored Denver 34-16 in the fourth, – a “horror show,” according to Malone.

The loss spoiled Nikola Jokic’s 26-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist night. It also ruined Bones Hyland’s career-night. The rookie finished with 17 points on five 3-pointers and tied a career-high with seven assists.

The loss dropped the Nuggets to 40-28 on the season with a three-game road trip, beginning at Philadelphia on Monday, on deck.

After missing the last three games due to an ankle injury, Will Barton returned to the starting lineup and made an immediate impact. Barton slashed for nine points in the third quarter alone, including an explosive jam through the lane with four minutes left in the quarter. Jokic corralled a defensive rebound on the next possession, then rifled a full-court pass to a streaking Hyland on the other end.

With verve and hustle, the Nuggets scored 38 points in the quarter and carried a 99-93 lead into the fourth quarter.

Malone had no disillusions about Toronto’s preferred style of play.

“You can tell when they put their team together, they’re looking for those (versatile) type of guys, that’s the model they’re building,” Malone said. “That’s what you love about the NBA, is that 30 teams and 30 different thought processes. …  When you have 6′ 5″, 6′ 7”, length, athleticism, versatility like Boston has, very similar, Memphis. It just makes it hard because they switch everything, they’re long in the gaps, active hands.

“Last time we played them, they had 11 steals, they had 30 deflections,” he continued. “For those at home who don’t really understand, that’s an insane number of deflections in one game. … Those types of guys, when you have a lot of them out there, are very disruptive on the defensive end of the floor.”

Disruptive might be the optimal word to describe what the Raptors did in the first half vs. Denver. Toronto converted 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points over the first two quarters, and capitalized on eight Nuggets turnovers. Somehow, their lead was just 65-63 going into halftime.

But even with so many long, versatile defenders, Jokic found his spots. He poured in 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half, doing all of his damage from the paint.

His production helped to counter Siakam, who picked apart Denver’s defense for a game-high 23 points early.

Jokic also got some support from the Nuggets’ reserves.

When asked earlier this season how to beat a zone defense, Hyland said he’d simply shoot the opponent out of it. The precocious rookie buried two 3-pointers in the first half, then undermined Toronto’s defense with two alley-oop lobs to JaMychal Green.

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