. The teams each had 44 points in the paint.Nuggets: G Malik Beasley missed the game for personal reasons. ... Denver leads the West with a 31-6 home mark. ... Murray was 6 of 7 from the free throw line. He's 32 of 33 in March. ... Mason Plumlee had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul Millsap added 10 points and 13 rebounds. ... The Nuggets are 23-1 when holding teams under 100 points.TOUGH STRETCHOf Denver's final nine games, seven are against teams currently in playoff position. Plumlee appreciates the tough schedule.''You want what's going to be reality in the playoffs. That's what we'll get - a lot of good teams,'' Plumlee said. ''It's going to be a good look going into the playoffs.'' NO PRESSUREPistons coach Dwane Casey is relishing the playoff chase. No pressure, either.''Everybody had us eighth or ninth or whatever, anyway,'' Casey said. ''Again, our goal is to build. You're not going to do it fast, wave a wand. ... I know what the big picture is, what's in front of us, what we want to do for this team now that I've been here for a year.'' UP NEXTPistons: Start a two-game homestand Thursday against Orlando.Nuggets: At Houston on Thursday and in Oklahoma City the next night.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Mar 25, 2019The pack is closing in on the Detroit Pistons, and they are feeling the heat.The Pistons are trying to hold onto a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but they have lost three of their past four games, all on the road. They came up empty over the weekend against Portland and Golden State, two of the Western Conference's top teams.They will try to salvage the final game of the trip on Tuesday when they play Denver, which is battling the Warriors for the top seed in the West.Detroit (37-36) outscored the Warriors 65-58 in the second half on Sunday, but it couldn't erase a poor second quarter, in which it was outscored 34-21.Coach Dwane Casey said after the 121-114 loss that his team needs to sustain the momentum from the second half."We've got to carry it over to the next game," he said. "We've got to take that feeling, take that intensity and again put thought with it, put our basketball IQ with it, and take that to Denver. Not only for Denver but for the next eight or nine games, whatever it is, and leave it on the table." Reserve point guard Ish Smith hasn't lost any confidence in his team's ability to reach the postseason, though it could fall to .500 with a loss to the Nuggets. The Pistons are in the seventh place in the East, trying to hold off Miami, Orlando and Charlotte."You have to remember that this was the same team that was (seven) games under .500, so for us to be in this position, I'm sure a lot of people think that we shouldn't be here," he said. "I don't get too high or too low; we just have to keep pushing and pressing and we will get to exactly where we need to." The loss to the Trail Blazers was tougher to swallow, as Detroit led by six late in the game before dropping a 117-112 decision."We have to be ready to play against the top teams because in the playoffs there's no easy game, there's no easy round," reserve center Zaza Pachulia said."We have to learn from it, take advantage of these type of games to prepare ourselves for the playoffs. It's not given that we're going to make it." The Nuggets (49-23) return home from a 3-1 road trip, but they were hammered by Indiana 124-88 on Sunday, an emphatic thud after a six-game winning streak.The Pacers scored 62 points in each half and steadily pulled away."I felt this was an embarrassing effort on our part -- it's really inexcusable," coach Michael Malone said. "This time of the year, to go into anybody's building and be down by 41 points, there's nothing you can say about it. It was embarrassing effort by all of us." Despite the winning streak, Malone saw signs of slippage prior to the team's visit to Indiana."I mean 3-1 overall from a results standpoint is a pretty good road trip, but to be honest, even in those wins, there was a lot left to be desired in terms of how we played," he said. "(Sunday), the inconsistent basketball reared its ugly head for 48 minutes." --Field Level Media
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