David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)
The most terrifying feeling a fluid, athletic, improvisational basketball player can have is feeling confined to a box.
Emmanuel Mudiay had been feeling a little boxed in.
The Nuggets' rookie point guard was trying to do the right thing but had a high rate of turnovers. That meant dialing the flash back a bit. The turnovers lessened. But along the way, so did some of Mudiay's aggressiveness.
"I had to tell myself, 'Play your game,' " Mudiay said. "Even though Coach wants the plays to be run, and he told me himself, 'Go with what the defense gives you,' I felt like some of those games I was too robotic.