Will Barton now understands Allen Iverson’s infamous “We talkin’ about practice” rant.
“Man, playing 40 (minutes) every night and then you gotta practice?” Barton said. “I might have said that too … Good teams don’t practice during this time of year. You don’t got time for that. You need fresh legs.”
Barton isn’t the only Nuggets player to reach this conclusion. He connects Denver’s recent offensive resurgence to its decline in organized team work on off days. Though schematic and lineup tweaks have also aided the Nuggets’ offensive revitalization during their current 6-2 stretch, coach Michael Malone agrees the lack of practice time has helped.