“IN A GOOD PLACE”
Harris not issue for teammates
The noise around Gary Harris had nearly reached a fever pitch.
Each game he struggled after the trade that sent Malik Beasley to Minnesota felt like an indictment on the deal. But despite the swirling chatter, the one guy who never seemed to blink was Harris.
His steely on-court demeanor, a defining trait whatever the circumstance, only became more apparent.
“I’ve always been me,” Harris said after Tuesday’s win over Detroit, which improved the Nuggets to 4018. “At the end of the day, I’ve always been me, and I’m always going to be me. I don’t worry about none of that.”
Asked if his confidence ever wavered, Harris replied, “Never, man. … I’m going to keep shooting, even when I was struggling. Name of the game is keep shooting. If I don’t shoot, can’t make them.”
Harris has had doubledigit scoring efforts in three of his last six games, and he has knocked down 7-of-15 3pointers over his past five games. It’s a small sample, but it constitutes an improvement.
What’s obvious in the wake of his months-long slump is how much confidence his teammates still have in him. At least four players vouched for him Tuesday night after he scored nine points, including a 3-pointer, against Detroit.
“I don’t even notice it,” Jamal Murray said. “It’s not even in my mind. I pass him the ball the same way I pass him the ball if he’s making them. … We all have the same belief in him. He has the same belief in himself. … Nobody’s worried about Gary.”
All-star Nikola Jokic took a more sage approach. Jokic spent the first month and a half of the season mired in his own 3-point shooting slump. He trusted his own work ethic to eventually dig himself out of it.
“Struggling is not a bad thing,” said Jokic, referring to Harris. Jokic was insinuating nearly all players go through peaks and valleys and that Harris’ attitude would get him through the slump. “He’s in a good place.”
No one was more privy to the noise around Harris than Nuggets coach Michael Malone. He offered his most vocal defense of his veteran shooting guard after the win.
“So maybe we won’t see the headline that we have a Gary Harris problem moving forward?” he quipped. “I never felt we had a Gary Harris problem, but it’s great to see Gary just kind of settling down, playing his game. … Couple years ago, he was a 50-40 guy (50 percent from the field, 40 percent on 3-pointers), almost two years in a row, and I have no doubt that he can get back to that, that’s how much I believe in him.”