Wilson Chandler’s slump-busting 17-point, eight-rebound performance Monday at Washington in the Nuggets’ last of six consecutive road games wasn’t about a player rediscovering his shooting touch.

It was more about simply shooting the ball.

“We need points out of that position. He’s given us the effort on the defensive end. Night in and night out, he’s had tough matchups,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said of Chandler. “But a lot of times, the ball will get swung around to him and he’s trying to make the extra pass.

“I want him to be a little bit more selfish on our offensive end because we rely on him in that position to produce points.”

The return of point guard Ty Lawson should help Chandler get more open looks. Lawson, who has missed the past two games with a strained hamstring, practiced Thursday and is expected to play against the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

“Barring any setback from practice … I think he should be able to go,” Shaw said.

When Shaw spoke to Chandler before the Washington game, his advice was succinct: “If they give you any space out there on the floor, I want you to shoot the ball.”

Chandler did a better job of taking that advice to heart, hoisting 10 shots and making seven. It was only the third time in the past nine games that he took 10 or more shots. In those games, he has been on the court a lot, an average of 29.8 minutes.

Shaw said Chandler, a small forward, isn’t the kind of player for whom he will draw up a lot of plays, because he’ll rely on the movement of the offense to create open looks. But a couple of weeks ago, Shaw asked Chandler what kind of actions he liked in order for him to get him the ball more. Chandler, who has never been a focal point on any offense, wasn’t sure.

Shaw made a deal with Chandler that he would draw up some plays for him and then ask for feedback on what he liked. Shaw said on the recent road trip he drew up plays to get Chandler a shot early in each game, but he only took one shot.

It’s Chandler’s nature to be unselfish.

“The coach tells you to take shots, and at the same time you don’t want to take too many shots,” Chandler said. “Trying to still play team basketball and not trying to be focused on yourself. Sometimes it’s kind of tough. You see a teammate open and wonder whether I should take this shot or if I should pass, and you kind of mess yourself up, your rhythm.

“The last game, I just took the shots that were open and passed it when I wasn’t.”

That’s at least a start.

“I want him to always carry the threat of a shot when the ball swings to him,” Shaw said.

UTAH AT DENVER

7 p.m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM

Spotlight on Trey Burke: The overall record still isn’t anything to write home about, but when Utah got the services of its lottery pick, point guard Burke, on Nov. 20, its competitiveness and competence on the court took a giant step forward. Burke missed the start of the season with a broken finger. Once healthy, he came off the bench for two games, then was inserted into the starting lineup. The Jazz won three of its past five games and is 4-9 with Burke starting, as opposed to 1-14 when he was relegated to watching.

NOTEBOOK

Jazz: Former CU star Alec Burks has found his scoring touch over the past three games with an average of 18.7 points on sizzling 61.8 percent shooting. He’s shooting 80 percent from the 3-point line in those three games. … This is the second of a two-game road trip for the Jazz, which started it with a win at Sacramento on Wednesday.

Nuggets: Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (hamstring) is hopeful of being able to play. … Guard Nate Robinson is the Nuggets’ leading scorer over the past five games, averaging 14.0 points in that span. … Andre Miller has been a mixed bag in his two starts in place of Lawson, keeping things steady from an execution perspective but struggling to shoot with averages of 5.5 points on 21.4 percent shooting in those games.

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost