George Karl is tired of hearing from critics that the Denver Nuggets’ reserves aren’t panning out. In the first two of the first-round playoff series against San Antonio, the Nuggets’ reserves just had 13 points.

However, Karl is not worried about reservations. In fact, he’s trying to create more minutes for JR Smith, the 3-point specialist. But every time Smith comes into the game, the Spurs go to work on him, especially Manu Ginobili.

Smith has not been able to contribute because of his poor defense. He is 0-for-5 on 3-pointers in the postseason after having a career-high 149 in the regular season. Smith knows he’s not playing well in any area of ​​the game and thinks as he starts to play more defensively, he should turn the tide in his favor.

Unfortunately for Smith, every time he fills in, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich directs his offense to work on him.

In the regular season, the Nuggets averaged 28.7 points per game off the bench. Smith is confident that he, Linas Kleiza, and Eduardo Nájera can provide the required spark in the series. All three are the only Nuggets players to come off the bench in the first two games of the series. So far this postseason, all three are a combined 4-for-21 from the field. In contrast, the Spurs bench has put up 66 points in the two games so far.

Now that the series moves to Denver, the Nuggets will be a little try. They’ve had trouble this season at the Pepsi Center. In the regular season, they went 23-18, which is the seventh-worst home record in team history.

The Nuggets not only have to be content playing at home, but also trying to get more offense off the bench, which many believe is their biggest challenge.