The Nuggets fell to 0-3 at NBA Summer League on Tuesday with a 101-97 loss to the Toronto Raptors with Hunter Tyson given the night off.
Spencer Jones and Curtis Jones got hot in the waning minutes to lead a dramatic near-comeback from down double digits, but after the Nuggets got within one point with 14 seconds left, they committed a costly foul away from the ball as Toronto was trying to inbound it. That resulted in an extra free throw for the Raptors, who iced the game at the line. Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Summer Nuggets can’t dribble
Denver might not win a game this week if its two remaining opponents extend their defense and intensify their ball pressure. The Nuggets just don’t have any consistent creators on their Summer League roster, and their lack of ball-handling against Toronto’s aggressive defense led to a momentum-zapping 19-0 run during the third quarter.
Unable to get the ball across the timeline for prolonged stretches, Denver committed a ghastly 24 turnovers, seven of them by point guard Reece Beekman, who appeared in 34 games for Brooklyn last season.
Two-way signee Tamar Bates was able to show off flashes of shot-making off the dribble, including an isolation 3-pointer and a midrange jumper from the elbow, but he’s not a natural table-setting point guard. He also coughed it up three times. Boo Buie was able to provide some control (and a heat-check attempt) while he was on the floor, until he injured his back colliding with the scorer’s table on a Toronto flagrant foul.
The Harrison enigma
Australian 7-footer Tyrell Harrison has been Denver’s starting center in Las Vegas, and it’s been a fascinating week for the 26-year-old, a longtime staple of the Brisbane Bullets. Clearly uncomfortable with the ball in his hands or coming toward his hands, he committed six of his seven turnovers in the first half Tuesday while contributing one point, three rebounds and zero blocks or steals.
But he was also a team-best plus-seven at halftime of a game Denver led. He possessed the Nuggets’ best plus-minus against Milwaukee and their third-best against Minnesota.
What does it mean? Well, probably that it helps to have a true center on the court. And that DaRon Holmes II seems better suited to play the four.
Harrison hasn’t exactly been a standout, but he’s decent at mucking things up in the paint with his size on a good day. (Tuesday wasn’t one.) When he and Holmes are on the floor together, the lineup feels a bit more natural. Holmes went for 10 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in Denver’s latest loss. He wasn’t part of the turnover problem, either, making simple but smart reads when he needed to pass.
Summer League ejection
Former Ohio State star EJ Liddell allowed Toronto’s physicality to get to him a little too much late in the game. He got into a taunting match after Buie’s injury that earned him a technical foul, and later in the fourth quarter he committed a reckless flagrant-two foul that started a kerfuffle. Liddell was disqualified, but not before he blocked four shots and got to the line a handful of times.