(Denver-CO) I'm sorry, Nuggets Nation. Truly, I am. I had to jump ship late last season and never was able to find my way back to the site as the Nuggets flamed out of the playoffs against the (cringe) Utah Jazz.
However, the good news is our beloved Nuggets are undefeated in NBA Summer League, Carmelo is still in Denver (for now...), and Stan Kroenke kept things in the family despite becoming the majority owner of the NFL's St. Louis Rams by handing our team's ownership to his son, Josh.
First off, welcome to Denver, Al. I'm sure you will find the Mile High City a great place to live and play in. Our fans are second to none and Denver is a hell of a city. With that being said, I really don't like this move from a basketball perspective. The Nuggets already have the premier small forward in the Western Conference.
Harrington is 6'9". So is Carmelo. Harrington is a scorer. So is Carmelo. They're both small forwards and you know who is still going to get the lion's share of the minutes. Yup, Carmelo.
So... why did the Nuggets pick up a player that, in all reality, doesn't solve any of their problems while the rest of our division continues to make sound personnel decisions? The Jazz upgraded their front line with Al Jefferson after losing Carlos Boozer to free-agency, the Thunder picked up rookie center Cole Aldrich in the draft, and the Trailblazers still boast a line-up with two seven footers with Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden with LaMarcus Aldridge and former Nugget, Marcus Camby both measuring in at 6'11". Meanwhile, the Nuggets are still small up front with two of their three bigs (can you call Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen that?) questionable for the start of the season. Oh, and seven-foot Johan Petro bolted for New Jersey.
I'm at a loss for why this move was made and searching for a way to convince myself that it makes the Nuggets a better team. Let's get things moving in the right direction again on this site as I start posting regularly again by putting a solid comment thread together.
(Denver-CO) After losing five out of six and sliding out of the second seed the Denver Nuggets have won three straight games and look to be back on the right track. Huge wins at home against the Blazers and Clippers proceeded last night’s improbable come from behind victory over the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
I just want to touch real quick on these games in preparation for the Los Angeles Lakers Schedule bringing them to the Mile High City tonight.
Against the Blazers I didn’t know what to expect. The Nuggets had lost to the Magic and the Mavericks in back-to-back games and were looking like a washed up prize fighter eating haymakers. And like said fighter, there had been way too much individualistic effort in the losses building up to this game. With that being said, there was an interesting stat brought up before this contest started…
The Nuggets were 40-7 when getting 20 or more assists going into this game compared to 8-20 when falling short of that mark.
Luckily, they handed out 24 assists against Portland and with a shutdown effort defensively in the fourth quarter were able to win, 109-92.
J.R. Smith was sensational in the second quarter against the Blazers. He scored eight of his eventual 15 points during a 17-5 run that put the Nuggets up by nine, 44-35, midway through the period. Smith’s explosion included a near impossible reverse with Jarryd Bayless clinging to him like a koala bear and an alley-oop slam thrown by Anthony Carter of which he seemed to be climbing a ladder to the rafters to corral.
Perhaps fueled by J.R.’s second quarter display, the Nuggets drilled the Blazers in the third quarter with 31 points before their defense took over allowing Portland just 16 points in the fourth and just 37 total in the second half. Carmelo Anthony scoring 13 of his eventual 25 in the fourth put the nail in Portland’s coffin.
I have been stressing lately how the Nuggets can ill afford falling into the trap of hoping the efforts by Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony will sustain then in games while not getting strong contributing efforts from others. Against the Blazers, Denver did get auxiliary performances other than Chauncey’s 21 points, six assists, and four rebounds and Carmelo’s 25 points and five rebounds despite his nine turnovers. Nene found his game and the rest of his mates found him some shot attempts. Big Brazil finished with 22 points, five assists, and five rebounds marking the first time since the Nuggets won in Toronto back on 3/26 that he had reached the 20-point mark. J.R.’s 15 points, despite a 2-10 evening from the land of plenty, were also a huge help.
Moving right along, the Nuggets were able to dismantle the Clipper ship after falling behind by 21 points in the first half by once again shutting down their opponent defensively in the second half.
Denver fell behind, 47-26, with eight minutes remaining in the first half after Travis Outlaw converted a four-point play and the Nuggets could have easily given up right then and there. Thankfully, they didn’t and in the process proved to the Nuggets Nation that things are not in the death spiral that they’ve appeared to be in over the last two weeks.
Instead, the Nuggets rallied and by the end of the first half found themselves down by just eight, 55-47. Denver allowed the Clippers just eight points in the final eight minutes of the second quarter while embarking on a 19-point run during that stretch of which Carmelo and Chauncey scored 13 points of Denver’s points.
And then the Nuggets filled up on Petro and got defensive.
Johan Petro scored twelve of his eventual season-high 14 points in the third quarter as the Nuggets ripped off 29 points and allowed just 16 to the Clippers in the period. It was Johan’s dunk midway through the third that gave the Nuggets their first lead of the game, 65-63, and another pair of assisted jumpers by Petro capped by a J.R. Smith three put the Nuggets ahead, 72-69, and for good. Denver allowed just 19 more Clipper points in the fourth quarter for a stingy total of 35 second half points overall while outscoring L.A. 51-35 to win going away, 98-90.
Once again, it was the Nuggets getting the complimentary performances the needed that made the difference in this game. Johan’s 14 points were crucial in the second half with Nene’s 18 points and seven rebounds, Carmelo’s 24 points, five assists, and four rebounds, and Arron Afflalo’s eight points and team-high nine rebound efforts. Add in the aforementioned defensive effort (Denver forced a whopping 20 turnovers) in the second half after getting 57 points pasted on them in the first half by one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA and it’s no surprise the Nuggets were able to come back from the 21-point deficit they faced twice in the early goings of this eventual win.
After three days of rest it was back to business for the Nuggets against the up and coming division rival, Thunder of Oklahoma City. I was very interested to see how Denver would match up against the Thunder after a few days off and with OKC coming off of a late night heartbreaker in Utah the previous night.
And what a knockout game this was, literally.
Carmelo Anthony was momentarily knocked unconscious in the final minute of the third quarter after his head rammed the chest of Kevin Durant. ‘Melo said, “When I first fell I was [conscious] and then I just went out. I don't remember anything but waking up and seeing a bunch of people.” It was a very scary moment for the Nuggets Nation as J.R. Smith toyed with the ball before play was stopped as ‘Melo was splayed out on the floor like a bathroom rug. ‘Melo was checked by team doctors and would return to the game, but said he had a headache for most of the fourth quarter while operating at less than 50%.
Much of this game was a back-and-forth exchange before a 9-0 Thunder run spanning the final 2:35 of the third quarter and the first 2:12 of the fourth left the Nuggets trailing, 82-73. It was during this scoreless stretch that the Nuggets went over eleven minutes without a made field goal before Chauncey Billups hit a three midway through the fourth to cut the OKC lead to eight, 89-81. Also during this stretch, the Nuggets fell behind by 13 points before finishing the game on a 22-8 run that enabled them to pull out an eventual, 98-94, victory in front of a completely dumbfounded Ford Center.
How did they do it?
DEFENSE!
And of course, Chauncey Billups too.
The Nuggets allowed just 14 points in the fourth quarter while holding Kevin Durant 0-6 over his last six field goal attempts, which included a chance to tie the game at 96 apiece with ten second remaining in the game. Meanwhile, knowing that the Nuggets were in the bonus, Chauncey Billups scored 15 of his eventual 31 total points in the fourth quarter by way of a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line. Mr. Big Shot also had eight rebounds and three assists as the Nuggets won for just the ninth time this season when failing to reach 20 total assists.
Another Nugget who was particularly clutch was Arron Afflalo. “Triple A” (because his middle name is Agustin) was a perfect 3-3 from the three-point line, including a stretch in the second quarter where he made three consecutive jumpers (two of them three pointers) from the left corner to keep the Nuggets within striking range. Afflalo finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Carmelo added 24 points, but was visibly not himself down the stretch.
Now things get really interesting! The 800lb gorilla in the west, the Los Angeles Lakers, come to the rarified air of the Mile High City tonight as the basketball world watches what could be an upcoming rematch in the Western Conference Finals this season.
Will Carmelo be able to shake the cobwebs loose from last night’s scary episode?
(Denver-CO) I think this is the point where the wheels officially have fallen off. The combination of not having Head Coach George Karl, Kenyon Martin, and Ty Lawson’s sporadic playing time since returning to action against the Celtics has left the Nuggets on the losing end in five out of their last six contests. Oh, and the lone win sprinkled in during this stretch came by way of a Carmelo miracle in Canada.
And I haven’t even mentioned the playoff picture.
Sure, Denver is in. But our beloved team has dropped from the second seed all the way down to fifth during this, shall we say, less than favorable stretch. This means, obviously, if the playoffs were to start today. The Nuggets wouldn’t even have home court. And what’s worse is now any hope of such advantage is long gone.
Against Orlando, it was J.J. Redick’s night to shine. The Dukie went absolutely bananas scoring 23 points on Denver while setting career-highs in assists (8) and rebounds (7) off the bench in a, 103-97, Magic win.
Also against Orlando, Denver crumbled like blue cheese on a salad. The Nuggets had a ten-point lead early in the second half, 67-57, but then went scoreless over the next 3:21.
Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points in the loss and Chauncey Billups added 18 points and five assists, but an 18-7 run late in the fourth quarter put Denver to sleep like a drunk old man. The difference? Contributors.
The Orlando Magic bench outscored Denver’s 44-29.
It also didn’t help the NBA’s top free-throw shooting team by volume was fighting an officiating crew that was about as inconsistent as Denver’s weather in early spring. The Nuggets shot just eleven free-throws (making eight) in comparison to Orlando’s 22 attempts from the charity stripe.
Ugh! C’est la vie on the road in the NBA.
To prove that I’m fair, Carmelo and Chauncey stunk up the joint against the Mavericks. Denver’s dynamic duo shot a combined 6-30 for a paltry 21 points and their selfish, get-my-shot-first, mentality was enough to sink the Nuggets. Carmelo’s ten points were a season-low.
On the other hand, Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t so selfish. Nowitzki posted his second triple-double of 34 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists - just two shy of Denver’s overall total of assists for those of you keeping track.
Needless to say, Denver was dominated by Dirk and the Mavericks, 109-93.
This post is your official venting headquarters for everything that's currently wrong with this team.
(Denver-CO) Carmelo Anthony did it again. With his team’s back against the wall, on the road, and on the verge of losing their fourth straight game. ‘Melo gave the Nuggets the buzzer beater they so desperately needed as the Nuggets downed the Raptors, 97-96, in the most dramatic of fashions.
I’ll start off by saying that Denver didn’t really deserve to win this game. The Nuggets were out rebounded 58-28, only dished out 23 assists after having 16 at the half, and shot the ball poorly from the field, from deep, and from the free-throw line.
But somehow they did.
Traditional wisdom says Denver only turned the ball over seven times and created 19 turnovers, but even still the Nuggets were outscored 33-22 in fast break points.
So, how did they do it?
Timing and perseverance.
The Nuggets looked focused in the first quarter and jumped out to their biggest lead of the game (nine points) with under four minutes to play in the quarter. Denver was sharing the ball magnificently as eight of their eleven made field goals in the opening quarter were assisted and six different Nuggets inked their name on the score sheet. Defensively, the Nuggets were also getting things done by limiting the Raptors to a mere 19 points to carry a seven-point lead into the second quarter.
Then, defensively, things started to unravel. The Nuggets rested on their defensive laurels and surrendered 33 points to Toronto. Transition defense was were the Nuggets really fell asleep. The Raptors were able to crash the boards and beat Denver back to the other end for favorable looks at the goal and as a result were able to enter intermission down just four, 56-52.
Then, offensively, the wheels fell off. The Nuggets were 3-21 from the field in the third quarter and after fruiting just 16 points in the quarter found themselves down by nine entering the money quarter. The reason for the complete seizure offensively was due to Denver abandoning the pass. The Nuggets tallied just two assists in the third quarter after sharing the ball very efficiently in the first half. In fact, the ball became so sticky that had it not been for the Nuggets getting nine of their 16 points from the free-throw line it could have been much worse because Toronto was more than willing to allow Denver to keep shooting contested jumpers while the selfish brand of basketball they fell into kept everyone one on the floor in a spectators role.
This was about the time that I wanted to give up hope on this game, but thankfully the Anthony Carter never did. “Crafty” came in at the beginning of the fourth quarter and did exactly what he does best: Move the ball. Carter’s three assists, stingy defense (he had two steals in the fourth), and constant movement resuscitated the Nuggets and put them in a position to pull out the unlikely win after falling behind by twelve midway through the fourth.
Things turned around for the Nuggets with a three-pointer by Chauncey Billups with seven minutes remaining in regulation that cut Toronto’s lead to seven, 87-80. From that point, the Nuggets made six free-throws to further whittle their deficit to three, 89-86.
It was then with under a minute remaining that Mr. Big Shot tied the game at 95 all with a cold-blooded three off of a baseline inbounds pass right in the face of Jarrett Jack.
The Nuggets needed to play one possession of defense to have the opportunity to win after Chauncey’s big trey, but after Nene decided to reach in on Chris Bosh 20 feet from the rim I thought for sure Toronto would salt away the victory with their superstar on the free-throw line for a pair of freebies. Bosh would miss the front end and make the second and Denver would advance the ball to half court for their final possession trailing, 96-95.
Stand-in Head Coach, Adrian Dantley, admitted after the game that getting the ball to ‘Melo on the far wing, with his back to the basket nonetheless, wasn’t exactly the play he had drawn up in the timeout proceeding. However, that’s the way things unfolded and ‘Melo missed an 18-footer that would have put the Nuggets on top with ten seconds remaining on the clock before Nene tapped out the offensive rebound to J.R. Smith who had the presence of mind to swing the ball to Chauncey who made one last pass to ‘Melo who was not to miss a second chance to put his team on top.
‘Melo received the pass and drained a tough jumper, with two Raptors draped on him, from the right elbow as the backboard light flashed red.
Nuggets win!
Carmelo finished with a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds and Nene added 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Chauncey Billups, despite a 3-11 showing from three-point range, had 18 points and four assists.
The Orlando Magic Schedule brings Denver to the house of Mickey Mouse on Sunday where the Nuggets will look to sweep the season series.
(Denver-CO) Somebody wake me when this nightmare is over and the Boston Celtics Schedule doesn’t include the Denver Nuggets any longer. The Nuggets have lost three-straight games for only the second time this season after losing to the Celtics, 113-99, on Wednesday and are still in the midst of a five-game road trip.
The recap for this loss is simple: 58 points in the paint.
The Celtics scored 58 of their 113 points at pointblank range as the undersized and under motivated Denver bigs got their lunch money taken from right out of their pockets. Nene was once again the invisible man in the middle finishing with a paltry line of seven points and five rebounds. His counterparts, Garnett, Pierce, Perkins, and even Rajon Rondo, each finished with at least five caroms and the Big Ticket and Rondo each grabbed double-figure boards as the Nuggets were badly out rebounded 45-36 overall. The nine board margin was the exact number of offensive rebounds the Celtics finished with the advantage of in the category.
Paul Pierce came out in the first quarter with all guns a blazing. The Truth outscored Carmelo Anthony 14-11 in the first as the Celtics jumped out to a, 30-27, after one. Typically, Carmelo didn’t get much help. Chauncey Billups and Arron Afflalo each scored six, but the kind of support Pierce was going to get quickly made those contributions an afterthought.
Celtic reserve Tony Allen scored ten points in the second quarter and with the help of his teammates kept ‘Melo to just three more at the half as Boston extended their lead to ten, 61-51, at intermission. And by this point, Rajon Rondo was already well on his way to his second triple-double of the season with five points, seven assists, and four rebounds.
Needless to say, the Nuggets trailed by as many as 21 points in the third quarter, twice, before cutting the Boston lead down to seven, 87-80, entering the fourth.
It was as close as they ever came.
The Nuggets never crept back within ten points after a quick three by Nate Robinson opened up the fourth quarter for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo finished with a monster stat line of eleven points, eleven rebounds, and 15 huge assists. He single handedly out rebounded every Denver big man and with Kevin Garnett’s 20 points, ten rebounds, and five assists the Nuggets left with their tail between their legs.
Could Kenyon Martin really have cloaked how easily Nene is dominated by opposing bigs of any real size or talent?
It appears as if the previous statement is true.
In the eleven games Kenyon has missed, Nene has only grabbed ten or more rebounds on three occasions or, if you will, one fewer game than ‘Melo while Anthony is averaging more rebounds than the Brazilian in the month of March. It’s shocking, I know, but with Kenyon out for this long of an extended period of time it seems to this Nuggets writer that only Carmelo is stepping up.
‘Melo out dueled Pierce in the end with 32 points, five rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block, but in the end didn’t have the support needed to beat a resurging Boston team that has rebounded nicely since losing seven games post All-Star Weekend.
If there’s a silver lining to be had in this otherwise gruesome defeat it’s that Ty Lawson played in his first game in nearly a month. Lawson made his only shot attempt, but looked out of synch with three unforced turnovers. Hopefully, Lawson will re-acclimate himself to the team and return to his previous form.
The Nuggets are back in action tonight in Toronto where they will look to avoid losing their fourth straight for the first time this season.
It’s going to take a full team effort to do so and here’s some motivation: The Nuggets are currently in a three-way tie with the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz for the second seed in the Western Conference playoff landscape and could drop to as low as the fourth seed if this losing streak continues. Need more? This also means that Denver is in danger of dropping out of first place in the Northwest Division with the Jazz having won their last three games.
(Denver-CO) Need new hoops shoes or NBA gear? Want to meet Chauncey Billups? Here's your chance! Chauncey will be trading in his Nuggets blue to work at Champs Sports Tuesday, March 30th from 3-4 PM at the Flatiron Crossings Mall in Broomfield to get fans excited about the new Official NBA Shop at Champs. He's going to trade in his Nuggets gear for a Champs uniform, work the cash register and be a personal shopper for a few lucky fans. We're inviting the public to come out and we're also giving away signed items, gift cards and other prizes.
Here's everything you need to know:
WHAT: Denver Nuggets All-Star Chauncey Billups will help excite Denver basketball fans for the all-new Official NBA Shop at Champs Sports at Flatiron Crossings Mall in Broomfield.
The public is invited, and fans will have the chance to shop with Chauncey and have him help them pick out adidas NBA gear. He will also spend time working the register and meeting fans.
Chauncey will switch out of the powder blue of his Nuggets uniform to dawn the official uniform of a Champs Sports employee and become a personal shopper for a few lucky fans.
Fans that attend will also have the opportunity to enter raffles to win signed adidas NBA gear, Champs Sports gift cards and other prizes.
(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets managed to start off their most recent three-game home stand with two nice wins over the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Hornets, but things have started to slip as Denver has lost its last two games to teams they should have beat. The current two-game slide started when the Nuggets lost for just the sixth time at Pepsi Center, 102-97, to the Milwaukee Bucks before dropping their first of five games on the road in the Mecca of basketball, New York City, to the sub .500 Knicks.
My goal with this four-game recap is to look at each individual game’s pros and cons with a broader scope of what has happened, and how it has happened, both on a player-by-player basis (again, pros and cons), and with the Nuggets overall.
Denver rebounded well after losing a heartbreaker to the Rockets by downing the Wizards, 97-87. But, in all fairness, this loss was the ninth straight for the Wizards and not exactly a feather in Denver’s cap.
The Nuggets got out to their usual crawl of a start and found themselves down by six after fruiting just 18 points in the first quarter. Again, Denver, was reluctant to play defense with any attention to detail (thankfully the Wizards had a hard time putting the ball in the goal) and the end result was an offense which never got any easy baskets either off of defensive rebounds and cranking up the fast break or forced turnovers.
If I had my way I wouldn’t let Carmelo Anthony shoot any jump shots until he had grabbed at least a couple of defensive rebounds. Everything Anthony did offensively would have to either be a drive to the basket or a pass to a teammate until he went to the defensive glass. It would be amazing if ‘Melo would get things off on the right foot defensively because so much of what he does, and how the rest of the team follows suit, is predicated on the defensive end. Last night, he didn’t fall into the jump shooter’s trap after his first rainbow went down and the rest of his game opened up because of so. The same goes with Nene. I kills me to watch a player so quick, strong, and agile settle for shots with a defender in his face when he could take said defender right to the rack and either earn foul shots or get a high percentage attempt.
Aside from what I would do personally with ultimate say so, the Nuggets trailed the entire first half to a team that is already trying to fill up their vacation schedule. In fact, it wasn’t until Arron Afflalo drained a trey nearly midway through the third quarter that Denver took its first lead of the game, 55-52.
And who would have figured that once the Denver Nuggets decided to play defense that they would pull away from the lowly Wizards?
The Nuggets returned the Wizards’ first quarter favor by holding Washington to 18 points in the third and after Alonzo Gee drained a buzzer-beater from a step in from half court the Nuggets held a, 65-63, advantage heading into the money quarter.
It was at this point that I realized that the Denver bench hadn’t made a real impact on this game. 12 points combined between Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, Joey Graham, and Malik Allen is hardly enough to sustain the shorthanded Nuggets. And as if Kenyon being out isn’t enough, Chris Andersen also had not played due a tweaked left ankle and Ty Lawson was not active due to a lingering shoulder injury. So, without the Bird and the “Blur”, something was missing…
J.R. Smith had up to this point had a regrettable night shooting and aside from a couple of dimes Anthony Carter had been mute.
Ah, but with the “Best/Worst” player in the league and Anthony “Crafty” Carter you just never know when things are going to start percolating.
J.R. Smith scored 13 of his eventual 17 points in the fourth quarter including nine straight points which put Denver up by ten, 88-78, with 3:15 in regulation. “Crafty” did his part too. Anthony Carter handed out two assists to J.R. during his outburst and scored five consecutive points early in the quarter to keep the Wizards at bay.
All in all, the, 97-87, win over Washington may have not been pretty, but a win is a win in my book. Carmelo Anthony finished with a double-double of 29 points and a dozen rebounds in what was a tune up for things to come.
Moving right along…
The Nuggets made quick work of the New Orleans Hornets by, for once, actually jumping on their opponent from the opening tap. Arron Afflalo’s three five minutes into the first quarter gave the Nuggets an, 11-8, lead of which they never relented over the course of this contest. The Nuggets led, 27-17, after one and pasted the Hornets with 35 points in the second to take 25-point lead at the half.
In the second quarter it was once again the “Best/Worst” player in the league who took over for the Nuggets. J.R. Smith scored 13 of Denver’s 35 points in the quarter, including yet another nine consecutive point run, as the Nuggets pulled the stinger out of ‘Nawlins. And in his return from a sprained ankle, Chris Andersen made his impact felt with eight rebounds in the first half and Carmelo posted a double-double of 14 points and ten rebounds in 21 minutes of work.
This is the Nugget team I love to watch.
Denver moved the ball tremendously against the Hornets after not doing such a good job of sharing it against the Wizards. Chauncey had five assists, Nene four, ‘Melo three, J.R. with a pair, and the Bird and Carter handing out one each for good measure were the cherries on top. In all, the Nuggets shot 50% from the field (26/52) with 16 assists.
Defensively, the Nuggets forced seven turnovers of which they capitalized 14 points off of. Furthermore, New Orleans didn’t have a double-digit score in the first half.
The Nuggets continued to fill up the score sheet in the second half and ‘Melo reached a career-high 18 rebounds and a game-high 26 points. The only problem ‘Melo faces now is the questions concerning why he doesn’t rebound with a purpose more often? Now, I’m not saying that he needs to grab 18 rebounds every night, but after seeing ‘Melo assert himself on the boards like he did against the Hornets you can’t help but yearn for more.
Chris Andersen finished with 13 rebounds and five points, and Chauncey Billups had eight assist despite finishing with just ten points on 2-12 shooting.
Needless to say, the Nuggets ended up winning, 93-80, and seemed like they were well on their way to starting a new, and hopefully lengthy, winning streak.
That is… Until the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s hottest team since the All-Star break, came to town.
Before I go any further I’d like to give due credit to the Milwaukee Bucks and their compliment of bench players who stepped up big time. Ersan Ilaysova (14 points and ten rebounds) Luc Ridnour (eleven points and three assists) and Kurt Thomas (five points, six rebounds, and two blocks) all played exceptionally well and made Denver’s current lack of depth off its bench glare like a mirror in the sun. Additionally, John Salmons and Carlos Delfino (26 points and 21 points, respectively) more than made up for Andrew Bogut and rookie Brandon Jennings having forgetful nights.
The other problem facing the Nuggets is a lack of scoring punch now that teams are keying in on Carmelo and Chauncey when the game is on the line. Both men scored 29 points against the Bucks, but with a combined five assists between the two of them and a starting compliment of players combining for a whopping twelve points. It was no surprise that after three quarters of play, and a tied score entering the fourth, all the Bucks had to do was keep Chauncey and Carmelo from getting too far off the handle as the rest of the Nuggets combined for six points in the fourth and Denver lost, 102-97.
Nene has got to come up with more than seven points in 35 minutes, especially when foul trouble kept starting Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut to just 15 minutes of playing time. Same goes for Arron Afflalo. “Triple A” (his middle name is Augstin) has to find a way to contribute more than one measly point and two rebounds in 23 minutes of burn. Otherwise, the load becomes too much for carry for the other Nuggets.
Aside from the shoddy stat lines individually by some Nuggets, the rest of the overall performance by Denver was pretty good. The Nuggets out rebounded the Bucks 53-40, had five more steals than Milwaukee, and blocked more shots, but when Denver’s top three scoring threats (Anthony, Billups, and Smith) shot a combined 20-62 from the field a loss is almost inevitable.
Now with the three-game home stand finished up 2-1 and a looming five-game road trip laying in wait the Nuggets needed to find their winning way in a hurry and on the New York Knicks Schedule.
The last time the Nuggets met up with the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony dropped a career-high 50 points on New York. This alone had me feeling confidant, but I had no idea that it would be New York Knick, Danilo Gallinari, who would be brimming.
The Nuggets jumped to a 12-0 lead as the Knicks missed their first seven shots to open the game. However, we’ve seen the Nuggets struggle when teams suddenly switch up their defense and when the Knicks switched to a zone it enabled them to fight back into the thick of things,27-26, after one quarter despite shooting just 36 percent in the period.
The reason for this is Denver has a propensity for falling in love with the jump shot. Despite New York not having a legitimate shot blocker, the Nuggets were satisfied shooting free-throws and perimeter attempts even with what should have been a decisive advantage inside with Nene.
But once again it was Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups who had to shoulder the offensive load for the Nuggets. Chauncey poured in 21 points in the first half and ‘Melo added 16 with the rest of the Nuggets combining for just 16 points. Thankfully, Denver did take a, 53-49, lead into intermission, but the game looked identical to the Milwaukee loss just 48 hours beforehand.
In the third quarter, Carmelo and Danilo went at it. Oscar Robertson vs. Jerry West it wasn’t, but for a second-year player like Gallinari to rise to the occasion of guarding one of the leagues top players, yet alone trying to match him bucket-for-bucket, was fun to watch. Gallinari scored 17 of New York’s 34 points in the third quarter and had words for ‘Melo after draining back-to-back trey’s of which put the Knicks up by four with 1:34 remaining in the quarter. The Knicks, perhaps inspired by Gallinari stepping up, never relinquished the lead from that point on and the Nuggets fell, 109-104, despite having closed the gap to just one point, twice, in the final two minutes.
How Denver fell though is what concerns me. A guy like Danilo is more than welcome to have a great night, or quarter for that matter, in this league. But what isn’t supposed to happen is the Nuggets going scoreless for the final 3:36 of the third quarter and subsequently falling behind by nine, 83-74, entering the fourth. Carmelo’s twelve points in the third quarter were all but nine of the Nuggets’ output in the period and when ‘Melo couldn’t get free (surprise, surprise as the Knicks figured out to make him a passer) the rest of the team flopped like a fish out of water. J.R. Smith, bless his intentions, was 0-5 during this scoreless stretch and Joey Graham, despite grabbing four offensive rebounds, couldn’t tip in a miss from point blank range. Everyone else was silent.
So, once again, it boils down to contributions and against the Knicks the Nuggets just didn’t get enough at the right times from the right people. Carmelo finished with a game-high 36 points and Chauncey battled yet another off shooting night by hitting 14 of 15 free-throws to conclude with 25 points and six assists. J.R. Smith was 2-9 from downtown, but did lead all Nugget reserves with eleven points. However, just seven combined points by the rest of the bench left Denver outscored by New York’s reserves 31-18.
If you’re still with me after this many game recaps in a row I’ll leave you with this:
The Nuggets are not only shorthanded in the contribution department, but they are having to battle having the absence of George Karl monkey with their team dynamics. In this absence, I think Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups are trying to do too much and with the other Nuggets gladly taking a step back from the fold, so is this team. Kenyon Martin and Ty Lawson being out puts personalities of whom are more likely to fade into the background into the forefront.
(Denver-CO) The Nuggets did an admirable job, with all things considered, by going 3-1 on this road trip. But, what could have been an amazing trip was spoiled by Aaron Brooks' late game heroics.
After this many games you just have to accept that the Nuggets are not a first quarter team. That is, at least not defensively. Denver opened up this game by allowing the Rockets to paste 38 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter on a blistering 70% from the field.
Denver’s defensive woes continued into the second quarter as they once again gave up a 30+ point period and by doing so have now given up 60+ points in the first half in their last two consecutive games. The easy answer to this alarming trend is Denver is missing their “defensive quarterback”, Kenyon Martin, but while Kmart is a huge part of what Denver wants to do as far as establishing toughness in the middle. I believe that because the Nuggets are just so damn talented offensively that they often times try to win with just one end of the floor before time and time again realizing that they are truly at their best when their defensive end of the floor is taken care of first and foremost.
It also didn’t help the Nuggets cause to miss six lay-ups in the first half. The guilty parties were Nene with three, Carmelo with two, and a complete botched attempt by Johan Petro. If Denver puts those bunnies to bed what on the surface looks like a shoddy first half of which they concluded down by eleven, 68-57, in all actuality could have just been a very offensive first half by both ball clubs.
Additionally, I thought Scott Hastings made good point concerning Kevin Martin’s propensity for using the head fake and jumping into the defender to draw himself free-throws. Scott illustrated that every time Martin tries said move he lifts his pivot foot in the process and travels. This call went both ways during the first half, but Martin has made quite a living with borderline chintzy basketball. He’s a great player, and I’m not taking anything away from the man’s abilities. But… His brand of basketball is not one I can either endorse or appreciate.
All that aside, the true story behind all the Houston scoring in the first half was hot shooting (59% overall) and the benefit of the whistle being on their side. The Rockets shot ten more free-throws than the Nuggets while Denver was whistled for quite a few borderline calls. Notably, two out of the three first half whistles on Chauncey Billups which sent him to the bench early in the second quarter.
Mr Big Shot didn’t take long making up for a two-point performance in his limited first half minutes by making back-to-back three’s to trim the Rockets lead down to four within the first minute and a half of the third quarter. To me, Chauncey, and the Nuggets for that matter, are at their best when he is looking to score. And against the smaller Aaron Brooks, Chauncey’s urgency to get the Nuggets going offensively meant the King of Park Hill hitting the three first which then set up his post game out of which he completely dominated. Chauncey followed up another pair of back-to-back three’s by Arron Afflalo with a diliberate lay-up off the low post prompting Rick Adelman to call a timeout with the Rockets only up by two, 81-79, after Denver opened up the second half on a 22-11 run.
Following Chauncey’s lead, Denver quickly took the lead with their fifth three-pointer of the quarter by Carmelo, 86-85, with four minutes remaining. The Nuggets would outscore the Rockets 38-25 in the quarter and take a, 95-93, lead into the money period largely in part to Carmelo’s eleven and Chauncey’s ten points in the quarter.
Once in the fourth, the Nuggets continued to hit the Rockets with a meteor shower of points in the form of a 9-0 run right out of the gate to put them up by eleven with under nine minutes remaining. Unfortunately, after carrying over their hot shooting third quarter and nearly grounding the Rockets completely. The Nuggets ran out of gas themselves. Denver went the next three minutes without a score and allowed Houston to battle back to within two with under four minutes remaining in regulation before falling behind the eight ball, 123-121, with :27 left in the game.
Carmelo went right to work and tied the game at 123 all with :20 seconds on the clock. Then, with Chauncey Billups fouling out on the possession before, Aaron Brooks played the hero in front of the Houston faithful by hitting a 19-foot jumper on Anthony Carter with just two ticks left for the Nuggets to try and tie or win the game with one last shot.
Denver called timeout and moved the ball up to mid court, but what looked like a busted inbounds play drawn up by stand-in coach Adrian Dantley ended up forcing Carmelo Anthony to come directly to the ball and receive it behind the three-point line. Carmelo turned, took two dribbles, and hoisted what would have been the game winning three, but the shot was too long and didn’t even draw iron.
This game hurts for a bunch of reasons. With the loss, Denver is now in a tie with Dallas for the second over seed in the playoff picture and their six-game winning streak comes to an unsavory halt. It also hurts because Denver really only played about a quarter and a half of fundamentally sound basketball and left myself and I’m sure the players asking themselves “what if?” What if they would have made a few of those lay-ups in the first quarter? What if Chauncey hadn’t been tagged with three questionable whistles? What if Denver had played even an ounce of defense in the first half?
The good news is Denver gets to return to the Mile High where the Washington Wizards Schedule brings them in to face what should be a very focused and irritated Nuggets team looking to take out the frustrations of losing a very winnable game on the road.
Carmelo Anthony was spectacular, individually, by scoring 45 points (his 7th game of 40+ on the season) and grabbing ten rebounds. It should also be noted that for the second time in three games, all three of Denver’s starting front court reached a double-double in rebounds and points. Nene finished with 15 points and ten rebounds despite a 5-14 shooting night and Johan Petro added eleven and ten for his second double-double of the season.
On a final note, the Nuggets lost for just the first time this season when putting up 110 or more points. Denver is now 28-1 when putting up the big numbers offensively. However, this game proves that getting it done on just the offensive end is not enough.
(Denver-CO) I have to hand it to Blake Olsen. Last night, in the Altitude Studios, he had the cojones to step up and make a bold prediction even when former Nuggets player and coach, Bill Hanzlik, told him he was crazy. Blake said that if the Nuggets were trailing by six or fewer points they would win. Straight faced, all kidding aside, and I told him if his premonition was true, I’d write it up as such.
Due credit given.
The Nuggets were able to put the Grizzlies back into hibernation, in their own den, after trailing Memphis by six at the half, 63-57. Memphis did a superb job in the first half getting to the rim for easy looks whereas the Nuggets were reluctant to take it inside. This could have been due to the size of Memphis (Marc Gasol, Hasheem Thabeet, and Zach Randolph), but the results were less than favorable due to the Nuggets carrying over a bit of their struggles from behind the arch after going 3-22 the night before in New Orleans.
However, Denver never let this game get too far away from them and countered nicely when Memphis built a twelve-point lead late in the first half.
Late in the third quarter is when Denver started to come alive. Carmelo Anthony scored ten of his eventual 24 points in the third before J.R. Smith’s three with 35 seconds remaining in the period knotted things at 85. ‘Melo and Smiths’ (who was just getting started) offensive exploits aside, it was the Denver defense which really laid the groundwork for what was to come. The Birdman was everywhere in the third quarter changing shots, blocking shots, aggressively clearing the defensive glass, and all but shutting down the smorgasbord of pointblank looks Memphis feasted on in the first half. The Bird, plus the extended perimeter defense of both J.R. Smith and Anthony Carter, enabled Denver to allow Memphis just 22 points in the third quarter after allowing 30+ in each of the quarters in the first half.
And when Denver plays great defense it’s just a matter of time before their talent-packed roster takes over on the other end.
Now before I get into how great J.R. Smith’s shooting performance was in the fourth quarter there are two other areas that need to be praised. The first is how a quartet of reserves provided the energy that sustained a 17-0 run spanning a jumper by Carmelo and J.R. Smith’s three to tie the game at the end of the third quarter through the first two and a half minutes of the fourth. The line-up of Joey Graham, Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, Chris Andersen, and Nene ratcheted up the defensive energy missing from the starters for most of the previous three quarters and took control of this game. The second is Anthony Carter’s defense and ball distribution. Carter dished four of his seven dimes, grabbed a gritty rebound, and came up with a great steal on Sam Young during this dominating stretch as he and the Nuggets went up by a dozen, 97-85.
The rest is all J.R. Smith.
The Prodigy spontaneously combusted in a supernova of heat from downtown making 4-6 of his attempts (he was 7-10 from range in total) in the fourth quarter and scoring 16 of his 30 points in the money period. At one point, J.R. appeared to look into the Memphis crowd and shoosh down some hecklers after he drained his third consecutive long ball.
The lone starter who was in the game during Denver’s amazing stretch, and often times the forgotten man in the middle, was Nene. Big Brazil scored just five points in the fourth quarter, but did a tremendous job, along with Chris Andersen, shutting down the Grizzlies in the paint. Their combined efforts, with the Birdman flying high and Nene anchoring, held the Grizzlies to just four points in the paint in the fourth quarter. Nene finished with 13 points and four rebounds and the Birdman added eight points, five rebounds, and five blocked shots when all was said and done.
Denver outscored the Memphis Grizzlies 40-23 while shooting 16-19 from the field in the fourth quarter and dominated the scoreboard 68-45 in the second half before eventually turning a tightly contested game into a blowout victory, 125-108.
The Nuggets have now won six straight games and are playing some of their best basketball with Kenyon Martin and Ty Lawson still ailing from injuries. However, unfortunately for the Houston Rockets Schedule is Denver will wrap up this four-game road trip at the Toyota Center tomorrow night where they will look to improve to 46-21 overall.
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