Game 34: Denver Nuggets 115 – Phoenix Suns 137

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

I need to throw something out there on the Nuggets effort against the Suns last night before you all give up on me.  I did not get to watch much of the game last night.  Tonight I was able to watch some of the recording of it, but not as closely as I would have liked.   

What I was hoping to see was that the Nuggets played well, but the Suns were just hot and there was nothing they could do. Well, the Suns were hot, but the Nuggets effort on defense was not what I had hoped to see, but then again, when is it?  They were constantly out of position in their transition D, even when they had the opportunity to get back after a made basket, which helped the Suns get out to an early lead.   

I thought Iverson and Carmelo played hard on offense, but the supporting cast did not offer much help.  Melo hit the boards as hard as he had in the last week or two and AI continued his offensive attack.   

Nene was very solid as he rebounded well and was able to score in the paint although it seemed like most of his points came late in the game against half hearted defense. 

I am not sure who would beat the Suns when Marcus Banks and Shawn Marion combine to make 12 threes(!), but the Nuggets made sure they had no chance to win because of their lax defense.  Even when the  Nuggets made a run to get it down to 11 or 12 points the Suns would hit a couple of threes and that would be that. 

I loathe excuses, but playing Phoenix on the road on the last game in a four games in five nights stretch is not an appealing situation to be in.  I think some of their indifference on defense could be attributed to the schedule even though it kills me to say that.

Other Observations From Game 34:

 - Martin looks like he is healthy again.

Check out the Bright Side of the Sun if you are looking for something from the Suns perspecitve.

Quick Note…

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know I am still here.  I am sorry for not posting anything regarding the 76ers game.  I have not had a chance to see much of it so I did not want to comment yet.  

I am working on a couple of big projects and will have some news on what they are in the next couple of days.  If you can be patient, I promise it will be well worth the wait. 

I may not produce much content in the next couple of days, but I have a good reason, but you will all have to wait for what it is until I tell you. 

I love surprises. 

Thanks for reading and hanging in there with me this week.

Game 32: Denver Nuggets 118 – Minnesota Timberwolves 107

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

For those of you hoping to see a longwinded and boring post on the game against the Timberwolves I am sorry to disappoint you.  Here is a brief, though equally boring, post to cover the highpoints. 

Any concerns about the Nuggets taking the Timberwolves too lightly were erased in the first couple of minutes of a game.  The Nuggets jumped out to a 12-0 lead that Minnesota was never fully able to overcome.   

Denver took advantage of the Timberwolves atrocious transition defense, as evidenced by the fact they are last in the league in fast break points allowed, as they scored layup after layup in the first half. 

The Nuggets played a little less consistently on offense in the second half, but once again AI was tremendous in the second stanza racking up 19 points.  Only a career night from Rashad McCants allowed the T-Wolves to stay close.   

All I wanted to see was the Nuggets play the game with purpose and win.  Dave from my office expected them to lose by 8 due to the letdown factor and they avoided that fate.  The Wolves did manage to cut the Nugget lead down to six in the last couple minutes, but Denver was never in any danger of losing this game.   

So my assessment is mission accomplished. 

Sure beating the worst team in the league is not quite mission impossible, but mission accomplished nonetheless. 

Other Observations From Game 32:

 - Once again, shot and boring.  Does anyone else find it odd that after playing well against Golden State J.R. Smith has not gotten off the bench for two straight games? 

 - OK, one more.  How fair is it to have Kuba Diawara record three straight DNP-CDs and then have George Karl throw him out on the court to try to slow down the red hot McCants?  Hey Kuba, here’s a bucket, try to clean up that Niagara Falls thing. 

 - I know you are always supposed to leave them wanting more, but that is making the assumption that you guys wanted any of this in the first place, which is dangerous.  I gotta toss out one more observation.  Finally Karl realized that Chucky Atkins needs to sit down until he is totally healthy.  If he is totally healthy right now, he just needs to sit down period.  Atkins was the only Nugget with a minus for a plus/minus in the game.  Of course it could have been worse.  He could have been Sebastian Telfair who had a -25 in less than 21 minutes!  How is that even possible? 

Check out TWolves Blog for some insight from the deep dark hole that is the Minnesota sports scene.

Game 31: Denver Nuggets 80 – San Antonio Spurs 77

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

Down by four points with just 1:42 left in the game Nuggets fans were left wondering how on earth they let this one get away.  Through the first quarter and a half the Nuggets look as dominant as three legged man at a butt kicking contest, but they had apparently lost another tight game to the hated Spurs.   

Then Anthony Carter made a three to cut the Spurs lead to one, he then was credited with a steal from Duncan and made an assist to Kenyon Martin for what would prove to be the game winning shot. 

The Nuggets finished the game on am Anthony Carter fueled 7-0 run against the NBA champions to salvage a game that was practically a must win.  The Spurs were playing without Manu Ginobili, who based on his PER is the sixth most efficient player in the league, and the Nuggets were at home after three days of rest.  It can be misleading to draw conclusions from one game, but had they lost this one it would have been difficult to take the Nuggets seriously at this point in the season.   

The game did not have to be that close.  Almost five minutes into the second quarter the Nuggets were cruising with a 33-17 lead.  In less than five minutes the game was tied.  The question is how could things go from so good to so bad so quickly in the second quarter?  Look no further than the Nuggets’ offense and the Spurs defense. 

When the Nuggets went on their run to extend the lead to 16 they were getting layups and making free throws.  With that in mind look at the Nuggets’ possessions during the Spurs 19-3 run that saw them tie the score at 36. 

Turnover, turnover, Nene misses long jumper, Melo makes 1 of 2 free throws, blocked shot and a missed jumper by Melo, Kleiza misses a long three, Atkins misses a three, turnover, Kenyon misses a dunk, Kenyon misses a runner, Iverson makes a shot jumper and Iverson misses a jumper.   

During that sequence the Nuggets had two free throws and only two shots at the rim, one of which was blocked and the other missed.   

For the rest of the game the Nuggets played mostly one on one on offense and they struggled to score.  You have to give the Spurs credit, no matter who is on the floor they play great team defense.   

It is confounding to me why the Nuggets work so hard individually on offense instead of sharing the load.  Look at the personnel they have.  Carmelo is a very good passer, AI is a very good passer, Martin and Camby are good passers.  Nene is a good passer for a center.  Atkins and Carter are good passers.  If they will just work together on offense instead of trying to do things on their own they will be much more efficient and dangerous. 

I thought it was interesting after the game when AI said that the team is more than just he and Melo.  He pointed out that there are other good players on the team who can make shots, especially big shots.  It would be refreshing to see that attitude carried forward in the first 46 minutes and not just in the last one or two. 

I believe Iverson trusts his teammates, but I do not think he is used to playing with such good passers.  He does not have to dribble the ball for ten seconds to get a good shot and there are times where the Nuggets do play with great precision on offense.  They are just few and far between.  

Ultimately, this was a good game for the Nuggets.  They did what they had to do, played very good defense, especially in the first quarter and second half, and they beat the hated Spurs.  They bounce back and play Minnesota at on the road tonight.  I think most any Nugget fan has to fear a let down here.  This will be a good test of the team’s mental strength to see if they can get up to play the worst team in the league after defeating a rival the night before.  It is a test the Nuggets have failed many times before, but it is also a test they are very capable of passing. 

Other Observations From Game 31:

 - Martin is still not fully healthy.  It is clear that he is no where near as explosive as he was before he hurt his hamstring. 

 - How did Duncan only get credited with four turnovers?  Watching the game I expected him to have seven or eight.  He treated the ball like it was a worm.  He needed it to fish, but he did not really want to touch it. 

 - We have documented how much better of a shooter Anthony Carter is from 20 feet than 23’ 9” to unanimous consent.  Well, do not look now, but he is actually shooting 38% on the season from downtown.  Had he not hit that three with the Nuggets down four at the end of the game they do not win.  I am not saying he needs to shoot more threes, but for now, I am OK with him taking good threes.  At this point he is taking less than one three pointer every two games.  As long as he is judicious with when he takes it I am willing to let him shoot one every now and then.  Of course, even with his recent “hot streak,” he is still only a 14% marksman for his career from distance.  Anyone else out there fell like they could accomplish that feat? 

 - Another intriguing thing about Carter is he has proven to be able to hit big shots.  He won the double OT game against Houston and last night hit the big shot for the Nuggets again.  The question used to be who would take the big shots down the stretch Melo or AI.  The answer appears to be none of the above. 

 - Doesn’t it look like Martin and Nene love to play against Duncan, especially K-Mart?  When the Nuggets traded for Kenyon I was worried about his ability to guard the big power forwards in the west, Duncan being at the top of that list.  He has shown to be one of the best defenders that Duncan faces.  Kenyon loves to fight for position and hound Duncan all over the floor.  Kenyon is listed as two inches and 20 pounds lighter than Timmy, but he uses his strength and quickness to drive Duncan crazy.  Throw in Martin’s ability to knock the ball out of Duncan’s hands whenever he tries to turn and shoot and I bet Tim does not look forward to playing the Nuggets. 

 - I think it is interesting the way the Spurs use Bowen on defense.  I think Melo figured him out almost two years ago and the Spurs know it.  At this point guys like Finley and Ime Udoka guard Melo just as well as Bowen can.  Because of that, they put Bowen on AI and hope his extra height can bother Iverson.  They know that he will have plenty of help when AI drives and maybe Bruce can rough him up a little easier than he can Melo.  Last night it did not work.  Iverson shot 10-18 and kept the Nuggets in the game in the third quarter scoring nine of the team’s 18 points.  

 - Nene looked much better last night than he did against the Warriors on Sunday.  I am going to chalk that performance up to rust and hope he continues to get better and better as the season goes along. 

 - How badly did the Nuggets want to win this game?  I saw George Karl actually out of his seat in the fourth quarter. 

Check out Pounding the Rock for some insight into the game from the Spurs’ point of view.

AI has been Framed!

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

For those of you who did not see it on the Nugg Doctor’s blog, IFC, the Independent Film Channel, has a show called “Framed” where a celebrity directs a film about another celebrity.   

Who cares?  Well, tomorrow night’s installment presents a documentary directed by Nelly about Allen Iverson.  It first airs at 8:30 MST on IFC so we can switch over directly after the Nuggets game in Minnesota, which should finish just before 8:30.  If the game runs a little long it is on again later that night at 12:30 MST. 

Click here to view the trailer on You Tube. 

Look for a post on the big win against the hated Spurs tomorrow morning.

Kiki a Net, DerMarr a Spur

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Former Nuggets are on the move.   

Kiki Vandeweghe has been hired by the New Jersey Nets to fill a front office role under Rod Thorn.  This is undoubtedly a case of Thorn paying Kiki back for not only taking Kenyon Martin off of the Nets hands, but also giving New Jersey three first round picks for the right to do so.   

Kiki did a tremendous job tearing apart a horrible team with a couple of huge contracts and rebuilding from scratch.  The Nuggets went from a laughingstock with no future to a perennial playoff team in just three seasons thanks to Kiki’s work.  He made a good trade that landed the Nuggets both Camby and Nene, knew when to sell high on Raef LaFrentz getting rid of Juwan Howard’s atrocious deal in the process, he avoided giving horrible contracts to the Anthony Goldwires and Tariq Abdul-Wahads of the world and when he did spend money he did it reasonably, for the most part, as he signed Andre Miller and Marcus Camby to flat contracts that did not include an exponential jump in value from year to year.  In fact, he was able to get them each to accept a reduction in salary in the second years of those contracts in order to maximize the Nuggets’ cap space that resulted in the sign and trade for K-Mart. 

Of course, that is not the entire story of the Vandeweghe era.  He made the aforementioned gaff of giving up three first round draft picks in the sign and trade for Martin.  That contract has become one of the worst deals in the league although to be fair no one had any idea Kenyon would need microfracture surgeries on both knees at this point in his career.  But we all knew the Nuggets overpaid for Martin both monetarily and in resources throwing in the three first rounders.   The Nets gave no indication that they would have matched an offer sheet and in fact what was coming out of New Jersey make it sound like they would definitely not match an offer sheet, which would have made Martin’s contract much more reasonable.  The offer sheet would have been for one less season with lower annual salaries.  However, Kiki gave up the three first round picks just to make sure he did not have to wait the 15 days the Nets had to match.   

Add in the fact that from everything I have read and heard Kiki would have drafted Darko ahead of Melo, he drafted Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Ricky Sanchez and he drafted Nene ahead of Amare Stoudemire. Throw that all in a pot and mix it together and you see a GM who basically deconstructed a team, spent the team’s cap space somewhat responsibly and misappropriated a handful of draft picks.   

That record is spotty at best. 

Kiki put the Nuggets back on the map, but some of his decisions also kept them from reaching their final destination.  Kiki was never afraid to do something controversial, but it is difficult to know if that is ego (I will show everyone how smart I am) or intestinal fortitude.   

I cannot wait to see how the Thron/Vadeweghe administration handles the many issues that are facing the Nets.  Maybe Thorn brought Kiki on board to help him deconstruct the mess that he has made. 

In other news DerMarr Johnson has been signed by the San Antonio Spurs.  I always liked DerMarr as a ninth or tenth man.  He seemed to be a solid defender when he challenged himself to be and was an effective shooter from the corner.  During the Nuggets amazing second half run in the 04-05 season it seemed like DerMarr was automatic form the corner, especially in the first quarter, after which many of their games had already been decided. 

However, last season his three point percentage dropped from 35% down to 22% and without giving a consistent effort on defense, rebounding or passing he essentially lost all of his value. 

It will be interesting to see if he can get on the floor for San Antonio.  Free Agent signee Ime Udoka can not seem to get off the bench and he is a consistent defender and a solid shooter from that corner spot.  The Spurs seem to keep their fifteenth spot on the roster in constant flux.  DerMarr may not be around for very long.