Arron Afflalo was shooting just 32.1 percent in his past nine games, but the Nuggets guard swished all three of his first-quarter shots — including two 3s — Sunday night, a reassuring sign.
Before the game, coach George Karl was somewhat down on Afflalo's recent offensive play. "I think Arron is still kind of living in his UCLA days — every play was written to run for him. I think for Arron, it's trying to be a role player, (realizing) it's hard to get shots on a team with dominant offensive players. You've got to work to get shots."
The former Bruin and Detroit Piston entered Sunday averaging 7.5 points per game while starting at shooting guard, primarily for his defense.
"We're not going to run a lot of plays for Arron Afflalo," Karl said. "When we do, he's got to execute that play at a high level, and he might get the ball or might not get the ball. A role player searching for his offensive identity, a lot of it's on him. He's not on my list to make happy offensively." Afflalo finished 5-for-10 from the field with 13 points. Making a point. There are times when Carmelo Anthony or J.R. Smith end up bringing the ball up and playing a quasi-point guard position. On this disturbing trend, Karl said: "I'm definitively, totally against Melo and J.R. being our point guards. When it happens in the flow of the game, fantastic, but there's some games where I don't know who the heck the point guard is out there. It's on me. I allow it, and I like freedom and creativity and versatility, but there's no question that Ty (Lawson) and Chauncey (Billups) should have the ball."
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