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Tired or troubled? No boycott but listless Nuggets chilled by Heat
Updated: Wednesday December 13, 2000 12:25 PM
DENVER (AP) -- Disgruntled and distracted, the Denver Nuggets still weren't very dangerous. Less than 24 hours after threatening to boycott Tuesday night's game, the rebellious Nuggets hardly looked inspired in a 96-85 loss to the Miami Heat. "We could have gave a little more effort," forward George McCloud said. "As players, we all have to look at each other and do some soul-searching individually. It's a hurting feeling because we didn't intend for this to explode the way it has." Coming off an 0-4 road trip, the Nuggets refused to practice Monday and then spoke of skipping the Miami game to further protest coach Dan Issel's workout schedule. Everybody showed up for tip-off after a pregame team meeting, but the result was a familiar one as Denver committed 16 turnovers and lost to Miami for the second time in seven days. "I told them that they need to come and talk to me," Issel said. "That was an awful poor way to handle it. ... Anybody thinks they weren't going to show up for shootaround today or for this game tonight is a fool."
Eddie Jones scored 28 points and Anthony Mason added 15 and nine rebounds for the Heat, who pulled away in the second half for their 11th consecutive victory against Denver. "I don't know much about their situation," Mason said. "I expected them to come out hard because of the last game." Antonio McDyess led the Nuggets with 22 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double in eight games, and McCloud came off the bench to score 18 points. It wasn't enough against a Miami team that also had something to prove. After watching the Heat squander a 24-point lead at Sacramento on Sunday, coach Pat Riley said he wanted his team to show more "guts." Miami, which has won five of six, again built a double-figure lead against Denver before the Nuggets put together a modest rally. After Brian Grant's dunk put the Heat up 73-59 with 9:35 remaining, McDyess scored six straight points in an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to six. "We are the NBA's best CPR," Riley said. "We do it for other teams." Jones made sure the Heat avoided another collapse, scoring Miami's next 10 points to put the advantage back to 83-70 with four minutes left. "We said, 'Come on, not again,'" Jones said. "We all did it. We started rebounding, pushing the ball up the court." The first half was what fans in the half-empty arena should have expected from two mediocre teams. Neither could put together any offensive flow, and the game was tied at 38 at halftime. "I thought the first half for both teams was tough. It was very quiet in the building and there wasn't a lot of energy," Riley said. "The first team that could mount any kind of surge was going to win the game and we were the first to make a run at it." The best sequence in the first 24 minutes came when the Nuggets missed two long shots but saved the ball from going out of bounds three times. They finally scored when McDyess scored on a wide-open dunk. Unfortunately for Denver, the spurts of hustle were short-lived, and the Nuggets face two more games on the road, where they are 2-9. "The only way you're going to quiet this type of distraction or interruption is to win games and play well," McCloud said. "We have to own up to what we did and accept that what we did was wrong. We all do." Notes: McDyess moved into 13th on Denver's career rebounding list. ... Nuggets G Tariq Abdul-Wahad did not play because of the flu. ... Left-hander Denny Neagle, who signed a $51 million contract with the Colorado Rockies last week, attended the game. ... Jones has made 58 of 63 free throws this season. ... the Heat beat the Nuggets by 17 last week in Miami. ... Denver last beat the Heat on March 3, 1995.
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