Breakthrough game could boost Millsap’s confidence
WASHINGTON» Early in Monday’s double-overtime heartbreaker at Miami, Nuggets power forward Paul Millsap pump-faked to get defender James Johnson in the air. Then the four-time all-star froze. “I didn’t know how to finish,” Millsap said. “I was so hesitant to finish with my left hand that (Johnson) ended up catching up and blocking my shot. Simple things like that have been tough for me to adjust to.”
Millsap has talked openly about the challenges of suffering and recovering from the first serious injury of his 12-year NBA career, a torn ligament in his left wrist that kept him out from mid-November to late February. Yet the immediate aftermath of his return is part of that process too, with mental blocks such as the one in Miami contributing to Millsap’s struggles to fit in on offense in his 12 games since returning from the injury. But Millsap and the Nuggets hope his breakout performance Wednesday in Chicago — 22 points and 8-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes of Denver’s rout of the Bulls — ignites a strong finish for the veteran, with his team still in the hunt for a playoff berth.
“My game has to evolve,” Millsap said. “I have some things that I’m accustomed to doing. I have to have counters to do other things.”
Though he shoots with his right hand, his savvy face-up game traditionally leads to a drive to his left for a finish in the paint. But that suddenly becomes ineffective when “you feel like you’re playing with one hand,” he said.
Millsap has been forced to carve out spots to fire his midrange, stepback jumper and 3-point shot. He has averaged 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game since his return, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from 3point range.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone has repeatedly expressed sympathy for Millsap, saying his personal reintegration has been “a greater challenge than I think anybody would ever realize.” But that has created a bit of a conundrum for the coach — trying to get Millsap back in form while also trying to prevent a trickle-down effect that disrupts an offense that was one of the NBA’s best in February.
“You can tell he’s not 100 percent,” Malone said. “He’s not the Paul Millsap that we signed this summer, that played before he got hurt, because he is limited. He’s not able to play as effectively as he has been his whole career.
“It’s a fine line of going to him and trying to help him get into a rhythm, but not also putting a burden on him where he feels like he has to carry a load. Because I don’t know if he’s ready to carry that load.”
But Malone determined that Wednesday’s outing against a short-handed and “tanking” Bulls squad could be the perfect opportunity to get Millsap involved early. He scored 11 consecutive points in the first quarter to help the Nuggets race to a commanding lead. He converted an old-fashioned threepoint play, hit jumpers from 6 and 8 feet away, then got inside twice more for two free throws and a layup.
“If Coach is going to do that and stick his neck out like that,” Millsap said, “you know you have to produce.”
Added teammate Nikola Jokic: “This was the first game that (Millsap) kind of looked normal to me, to be honest.”
Millsap said there was “no question” that Wednesday’s game was the best he has felt on the floor since returning from the injury. He credited the Nuggets’ training staff for reducing the soreness in his wrist after an opposing player grabbed it in Miami, while also continuing to increase his range of motion.
And perhaps it was the latest sign that Millsap is learning how to physically and mentally evolve in the aftermath of the first serious injury of his NBA career.
“Just continue to build game by game,” Millsap said. “Every game, I feel like I’m getting better and I’m finding my rhythm and I’m finding my spots in this offense.”