National Basketball Association

Denver Nuggets laud acting coach's good work

Published Apr. 15, 2010 11:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

Nuggets executive Mark Warkentien jumped in front of the cameras and reporters at Denver's practice Thursday and announced he had somebody he wanted to introduce: acting coach Adrian Dantley.

After spelling out his name in mock introduction, Warkentien said Dantley had done ``a hell of a job in a (bear) of a situation,'' for helping the Nuggets clinch their second straight Northwest Division crown.

Dantley went 11-8 in place of coach George Karl, who is recovering from a rigorous six-week treatment of chemotherapy and radiation for throat cancer and isn't expected back on the bench anytime soon.

The Nuggets (53-29) clinched the fourth seed in the Western Conference and will open the playoffs at home Saturday night against the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz (53-29).

``That's what it's about,'' Kenyon Martin said. ``When a guy's down, other guys have got to step up. A lot of times, it's not your coach. But in this situation it was. I think A.D., he knows the league well. He spent a lot of years in this league. I think he did an excellent job.''

Chauncey Billups noted that the Nuggets still had a shot at the second seed in the West coming down the stretch, ``so that tells you that A.D. has done a wonderful job of keeping us afloat.''

And All-Star Carmelo Anthony also has Dantley's back.

``He came in, took over in a really strenuous situation with George going out. I think he did an incredible job,'' Anthony said. ``We lost some games with him. We won some games with him. He got some experience over there on the sideline. We've stood by his side since the first day that he got the job.''

So has Warkentien, who again interrupted as a small group of reporters were chatting with Dantley after practice.

``D-A-N-T-L-E-Y,'' Warkentien said. ``Northwest Division champions. You guys have to help me because I don't remember the last time an interim coach won their division.''

``Thanks, Mark,'' Dantley replied with a sheepish smile.

Dantley, the Hall of Famer who had only coached two NBA games before this season, said he's just tried to serve as Karl's substitute while teaching his boss's lesson plans.

He didn't have to stamp his own mark on the team or implement a new philosophy, he said. Although their styles and personalities are vastly different, Dantley insisted his schemes are indistinguishable from Karl's.

If anything, he's managed minutes and egos differently, giving more playing time to the likes of Aaron Afflalo and J.R. Smith down the stretch than Karl probably would have and also rewarding Anthony Carter for his admirable play during Ty Lawson's monthlong absence with more minutes when Billups needs a breather.

``I'm doing what George was doing,'' Dantley said. ``I'm not doing anything different.''

The results haven't quite been the same, though.

The Nuggets were 42-21 under Karl for a .667 winning percentage compared to Dantley's .579 mark, which was dampened by a 1-4 road trip that included an ugly loss to the New York Knicks.

``The games that we lost were our fault, not executing,'' Billups said. ``It wasn't him or his play calling or nothing like that.''

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said recently that he didn't see much difference in the Nuggets under Dantley.

``They're still the same, aggressive, physical, run-and-gun, gambling, switching team,'' he said. ``Obviously, without your head coach, who really implements everything, it's always going to be a little different when somebody else stays over any stretch.''

Certainly, the Nuggets have had stretches in which they lacked cohesion and floor leadership during Karl's absence, notably when they didn't pass the ball much in a home loss to San Antonio last week. But Hollins suggested that's entirely expected.

``Coaching at any level is hard. Coaching on this level is probably the hardest,'' Hollins said. ``You have people who make a lot of money who have a lot of a high opinion of themselves, who want to do it their way. You have to convince them that there's another way. ... It's hard to continue a team's ways without the coach's personality.''

When Karl was healthy, the Nuggets were clinging to the No. 2 seed in the West and hearing talk that they could upend the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, whom they lost to in the conference finals last year.

Under Dantley, they fell back into the pack - although their drop to the fourth seed can certainly be viewed as fortuitous - in the stacked Western Conference, seedings aren't quite as important as matchups.

And Denver doesn't match up as well right now with the seventh-seeded San Antonio Spurs as they do the Jazz, whom they beat three out of four times during the season.