Game 25: Denver Nuggets 112 – Houston Rockets 111 2OT

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

I started this blog just before the playoffs started last season.  I have never done this during the season before.  Frankly, it is becoming annoying to write about these frustrating games over and over again.  But, I can’t complain, I brought this on myself and I must see it through until either the Nuggets move, everyone stops reading or I am assassinated by a member of a player’s posse after I insulted his game one too many.  

Without their most talented player, Tracy McGrady the Nugget Slayer, playing on the second night of a dreaded back to back the Rockets were able to be more than competitive as they battled back from a seven point deficit with less than two minutes left to send the game into overtime. 

When I heard McGrady was not going to play I figured this game would go one of two ways.  I realize you have no reason to believe me, but I through either the Nuggets would blow the Rockets out or Yao would go off and Luther Head would score 24 points and the Rockets would win.  Well, it was not a blow out and Head only had 22.  If he would have ended up with 24, the Rockets would have won by a point.   

I will only mention it in passing as Doug Collins drove it into the ground, but the Rockets did a great job of posting Yao up on the weak side and then they swung the ball around to his side and entered it in to him in the post.  The Rockets ball movement was stupendous for most of the game.  If you recall the resolution to the Sticky Fingers Study from a month or so ago one of the keys to good half court offense is quick passing.  The Rockets did just that making quick diagonal passes from the post to the perimeter or to the weak side.   

It all starts with Yao.  I referred to McGrady as the Rockets most talented player, but Yao is definitely their most important player.  Yao is very smart and skilled and his willingness and ability to pass makes him an even better player.  And how many centers have you seen that take their team’s technical free throws?  And how about my overuse of the word and? 

The Nuggets offense was as bad as it has been all season.  Melo and Iverson went off and had good individual scoring totals, but they played very much as individuals.  The offense was completely stagnant and as a result the Nuggets took many long contested jumpers.  Looking at the box score they made 41 shots and had 25 assists.  That is a solid ratio.  Some people may be happy with that and think that is a sign of good ball movement.  Well, the Nuggets may have mad 41 shots, but they missed 71!  The reason there were so many missed shots can be directly attributed to the fact that the Nuggets did not pass the ball well or move at all on offense. 

Remember the old Looney Toons bit where some character was sitting there on an assembly line hitting bombs with a hammer to see if any of them would explode?  That is what the Nuggets offense was like.  It was the same thing over and over and eventually something would explode and they would actually score.   Tonight the Nuggets offense consisted of an entry pass to either Melo on the right side, or Iverson on the left and a shot.  The first time I noticed any of the Nuggets hitting a cutter in the lane was in the second OT when Melo passed it to Najera who snuck into the lane along the baseline.   

The bright side of tonight’s game is not just the win, but this is another home game the Nuggets probably would have allowed to slip away last year.  The Nuggets remain in first place in the Northwest Division and 11-4 at home.  If they are going to surpass 50 wins, they will need to win at least 30 home games and as good as 11-4 sounds, that is exactly a 30 win pace.   

Other Observations From Game 25: 

 - Early in the second quarter Iverson took the inbounds pass after a Rockets miss and raced up the floor.  He flew by his defender, who was still trying to get back, and beat the entire Rocket team to the rim.  He made the layup and drew the foul.  It ended up being a four point play as Rick Adelman was nailed with a technical and AI hit both free throws.  I would love to see AI do that more often.  He is one of the fastest players from end to end with the ball and he should take advantage of that. 

 - In tonight’s game the Nuggets threw more long outlet passes to trigger breaks than they had all season.  One key to the fast break is the outlet pass.  If you can hit a guard that is streaking up the floor with an outlet pass at half court, you are probably going to have a very good chance at scoring an easy basket.  It also forces the opposition to abandon the offensive boards, which has been a big weakness of the Nuggets team this season, because both guards need to retreat to try to stop the transition game. 

 - Everyone is talking about Melo’s shooting slump.  His second game of the slump was against New Orleans.  He made a strong effort to get in the paint and try to earn some easy baskets.  Over the past two or three games, he has simply jacked up horrible jumpers.  Even tonight when he had Bonzi Wells guarding him, who is no where near as quick as Carmelo, he simply settled for catch and shoot or one dribble and pull up jumpers. 

Obviously at some point he is going to come out of it and start hitting some of these shots, but until he does he must play smarter.  Half way through the second quarter, after he had missed nine of his first ten shots from the floor, he finally realized what we all realized a week ago.  He started driving to the basket and getting to the line.   

He temporarily caught fire to start the second half making his first nine shots of the half, but things fell apart after that as he went 2-6 from the floor with no assists from early in the fourth quarter through both overtimes even though he had the ball in the post on almost every possession late in the fourth and in both overtimes.   

All of us have discussed how the Nuggets are better off when Iverson is a facilitator.  Well, Melo is a very good passer and can drive into the lane at will against the players that guard him.  Why are Melo’s assists dropping during this slump instead of rising?  It is because he is trying way too hard to shoot his way out of his slump instead of working through it by running the offense. 

Melo was 13-32 and only had two assists.  He must change his mindset when his shot is not falling to get his teammates more involved.  Instead of taking bad jumper after bad jumper he needs to be getting on his teammates to cut and move without the ball when he has it.   

 - I like how Kenyon Martin has brought back the phrase, “Get that shot out of here!” except he says it with an ‘i’ instead of an ‘o’ in the word shot.   

 - Martin ended up hurting his hamstring at the end of the third quarter, but when Craig “Neutron Dance” Sager made his report he said it happened when Martin went for a shot fake made by Yao.  It actually happened the play immediately before that where Kenyon lunged and knocked away an entry pass intended for Yao.  I am not really sure why I included that except to prove that I pay better attention to the game than the TNT crew does.  Heck, the announcers did not even notice for another minute or so.  Don’t they have spotters? 

I have determiend that Martin will be day to day with a hamstring strain.

 - The Nuggets were great on the glass tonight and that was probably the difference in the game.  After being outrebounded by almost 20 in the previous game against Houston they were able to outrebound the Rockets by seven.  The Nuggets also grabbed 27 offensive rebounds.  That is not quite so impressive when you remember that they missed 71 shots, but it was a very good effort.   

Melo himself had 12 offensive rebounds.  That is amazing.  He continued to try to get out of his slump by crashing the offensive glass.  Now the key will be maintaining that effort after his shot starts falling again.  Could it be a warning sign that he did not nab any of his 16 boards in the third quarter while he was shooting 8-8?  Only time will tell.

Chaos in the Wild, Wild West

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on here? 

The Northwest Division is in turmoil.  Denver remains in first place, but Portland is on a nine game winning streak and has surpassed Utah.  The Jazz are 1-8 over their previous nine games and actually out of the top eight in the west at this point.  Even though the Nuggets are in first they are only 6-7 since they hit their high point of 8-3 earlier in the season.   

Will Denver or Utah ever get their sad little acts together?  Right now it is a race between two Yugos that have had their little engines replaced with some 500 horsepower beast of an engine.  Both cars sound great when you step on the gas, but the driver’s cannot steer and rainwater is pouring in through the windows.   

I keep waiting for Utah to bounce back thinking that every loss is rock bottom, but they continue to find new low after new low.  If the Nuggets go through a stretch like that this season there would not be an unbroken piece of glass, mirror or television screen left in my house.   

There is a bright spot the size of a gnats’ jimmy for the Jazz it is that seven of those eight losses were on the road.  The losses to the Spurs, Mavs, Suns and Blazers can be explained away, but the last two defeats at the hands of the Hawks and the Bobcats must be especially disturbing to Utah.   

Once again rock bottom may be a few more rungs down as their next three games are at Orlando, at Miami, home against Dallas and then at the Lakers.  As a Nugget fan, I am enjoying every floor the Jazz crash through as they plummet to the basement.   

Portland is an amazing story.  Written off before the season started they have interrupted the exclusive meeting of western playoff contenders with some very impressive play the past three weeks.  After watching the recording of the game they had against the Nuggets the other night I believe more than ever that they earned that game.  Their shooting in the third quarter was quite impressive.  Tonight they had another strong comeback against the Raptors to keep their streak alive. 

Even with their incredible current streak it is difficult to see Portland ending up much better than .500.  They are still young and this winning streak cannot go on much longer the way they have barely eked out some of those games.  Once this momentum ends we will see what they are really made out of.  As opposed to Utah who is feeling the pain on the road, Portland has enjoyed a hoard of home games as they have won six of the nine games at home.  Their run may still have some legs to it though as their next four games are at home and they may very well have vaulted into first place by then. 

We have been over and over the Nuggets’ situation because that is what we do here.  We can now count the Nugg Doctor among the growing number of fans who believe this team will be battling inconsistency all season.  It is clear that the Nuggets can play better and I am sure they will.  The return of Nene will help, but many of you already know I believe Chucky Atkins will be about as useful as a concrete pillow.  Anthony Carter is a much better player, especially on defense, and Carter has done a great job of hitting open shots, which is all Atkins is good for.   

The inconsistent play is not just plaguing the Northwest Division.  Houston has not been anywhere near as good as advertised.  They are closer to Sacramento than they are to the eighth seed and that is not because the Kings are any good.  Phoenix is currently enduring a 2-4 stretch.  Dallas has decided not to focus so stringently on the regular season after realizing that killing yourself to win 67 games does not necessarily do much to help you get past the first round of the playoffs.  San Antonio came out of the gates red hot, but they have never placed much emphasis on the regular season.  They are not going to kill themselves to maximize their regular season win total.   

The only two teams that have been consistent from start of the season through today are the Lakers and the Hornets.  I guess the Timberwolves and SuperSonics have been very consistent as well, but not in a good way.  Neither the Lakers nor the Hornets have played a cake schedule, both have had a pretty even mix of road and home games and neither one has undergone a damaging losing streak.   

The wild card in the west has to be Golden State.  Even since Stephen Jackson, who claims to “make love to pressure,” (actual Stephen Jackson quote that makes you wonder who is responsible for the birth control in that relationship) returned from his suspension they have been sensational.  They may not be an elite team, but they have not had what I would call a “bad loss” since Jackson started suiting up.  I think they will definitely level out a bit, but they must be considered a legitimate team in the race for the fourth seed. 

In the end I am sure some combination of the Spurs, Mavs and Suns will possess the top three records in the west at season’s end, but is there any team out there who you believe is a shoe in for that fourth spot?  If I had to pick a team with my family’s life on the line I would have to try to kill all the bad guys who held them captive because even though I am a supreme wuss I would have better odds at going John McClain on them than correctly selecting the team that will end up fourth.   

This may all seem a bit uneven, but after all of this analysis I am here to deliver good news to Nuggets fans.  They are in that fourth spot right now as they are currently leading the division.  Nevermind the fact that they only have the sixth best record and they are equally close to the eighth spot as the fourth.   

That fourth spot would guarantee one thing.  The Nuggets would not have to play the Spurs, Suns or Mavs until round two.  Of course, last time they avoided one of the top teams they were embarrassed and eviscerated by the Clippers.   

That series proved that losing to the Spurs is not so bad after all.  At least there is some dignity in it.

Game 22: Denver Nuggets 105 – New Orleans Hornets 99

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

NBA.com Game Report (they give more indepth stats than ESPN.com, thus the switch)

Many times I can start writing this drivel during the game and have a good idea what the outcome of the game is going to be.  Not tonight.  It is early in the fourth quarter and I have no idea who is going to win this game.  The Hornets won a very similar game in Denver the third game of the season. 

The mistakes the Nuggets made tonight are as numerous as the empty seats at the Pepsi Center.  Think of a mistake and the Nuggets made it.  Poor rotation on defense, stagnant offense, questionable shot selection, lack of focus and an attitude of contentment if that is a word. 

It was proof over and over about how one player blowing his assignment can derail a team.  Almost every play in the second quarter could be used as an example, but I will mention a couple of gaffs I witnessed throughout the game.   

On one occasion Kenyon Martin was supposed to be guarding David West.  He ran down the floor alongside Paul seemingly happy to have the use of his legs.  I cannot say I blame Kenyon for enjoying the ability to run, but he still needs to do his job.  He continued to run with no apparent purpose into the lane absolutely clueless as to where his man was.  Well West was spotted up at the top of the circle.  Paul simply passed the ball to the wide open West who easily sank the jumper. 

On at least two occasions when playing zone Melo was pinned inside as Rasual Butler was left open in the corner.  Melo should know from his time at Syracuse, where he played zone exclusively, not to get pinned because if the outside baseline defender is pinned, no one can get to the corner.  It is a play that every high school coach in the country warns his players about.  However, I have noticed that many of those high school defensive fundamentals apparently have no place in the NBA. 

Anthony Carter took himself completely out of a play by not only running, but diving at the ball and sliding into the first row.  He is lucky he did not get a beer dumped on his head. 

Eduardo Najera was guarding Tyson Chandler about ten feet from the basket on the baseline.  All seemed well with the world, but when the shot went up he did not back into Chandler at all.  Najera stood there only a foot or two away from Chandler, who happens to be the number one offensive rebounder in the entire NBA, and when the rebound came off Chandler was able to get it.  Had Najera even just made contact with him Chandler could not have grabbed the rebound.  What is really strange is Najera is the kind of player who would box out his grandma if she dropped a donut.  It is almost second nature to him. 

However, the most embarrassing mistake came when Anthony Carter was called for a foul and proceeded to the bench even though the Nuggets had not subbed for him.  The Hornets, playing 5-4, scored an easy dunk on the other end.  Fortunately Anthony did report for the chance to score on the offensive end. 

I am probably reminding you of your wife right now remembering every little mistake and then refusing to let them go, but there was play after play where the Nuggets made little mistakes similar to those.  I am only listing a few that I remember.  It was a game that would have been fun to watch the film of together and laugh at all the silly goofs. 

However, in the end the Nuggets made a strong commitment and won the game because of their lock down D.  Anthony Carter, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby made it almost impossible for the Hornets to run their high pick and roll, which they ran almost exclusively in the fourth quarter.  Carter got up close and personal with Chris Paul who was the dominant player in the game for the first 42 minutes of action.  Kenyon and Camby jumped Paul coming off the screens aggressively and Carter quickly got back in Paul’s mug.  Paul had absolutely no room to operate.   

The play that I believe turned the tide happened with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter.  Camby jumped Paul on a screen and stole the ball.  Starting with that play Paul committed two turnovers and had the ball knocked away at least three other times.   

Camby also made the key play on offense tipping the ball twice before getting it in the hoop after Iverson took a bad three giving the Nuggets the lead for good at 101-99. 

Even though the Nuggets were expected to win tonight this game definitely goes into the category of a good win.  Melo was struggling mightily with his offensive game, they were playing sloppy on both ends of the floor and the Hornets were shooting very well.  Despite all of that the Nuggets persevered and earned their second impressive victory in three games (the other being at Dallas). 

Other Observations From Game 22:

 - I thought Melo played about as good a game as he had all season.  He was struggling like I had never seen him struggle with his offensive game.  I thought he definitely forced some shots in the first half, but he also made an effort to post up and drive to the basket.  Absolutely nothing was working for him.  In the past, he would have blown up and done something stupid.   

Instead, he decided to work his butt off on the offensive glass.  He ended up with four offensive rebounds, but was in the mix for probably about twice that number.   

His hard work was rewarded in the fourth quarter.  Anthony broke out his slump in a big way by going 5-7 from the floor and 4-4 from the line totaling 15 big points.   

Melo struggled with his shot for four games and the Nuggets were able to win three of those four games.  In the past when he was bad on offense, the Nuggets had no chance to win.   

 - Anthony Carter is slowly winning me over.  His defense on point guards is something the Nuggets need badly.  You should all know by now that I am no fan of Chucky Atkins.  The only benefit Atkins can bring is supposed to be outside shooting.  Atkins is only a 37% three point shooter, which is solid, but that small benefit is not worth giving him time over superior players.  Carter is not a good three point shooter, as I have pointed out previously he is a very good perimeter shooter from 20 feet and in.  You can stretch the floor from 20 feet just as easily as you can from 23′ 9″. 

 - I mentioned that the Nuggets made the mistake of contentment.  What I meant by that was they went on a 9-0 run to take the lead early in the third quarter.  After that they seemed to grow a little happy with themselves and they went on to fall back behind by nine not long after they took the lead. 

 - Iverson had another strong game.  He struggled with his shot in the second half, but still ended up shooting 8-16 and he ended up with 11 assists.   

 - I have to give George Karl credit tonight.  According to Julie Browman (believe it or not, people actually do internet searches for Julie Browman.  I know because some of them have found Born a Nuggets Fan by searching for her) Karl was repeatedly encouraging the Nuggets and pleading with them to work through their frustration.  He knew that Melo was exceedingly frustrated and the team was down double digits in the second quarter due largely to some of the weird mistakes they were making that I referenced earlier.  Karl knew what the team was feeling and he addressed it directly.  Now click here to proceed to FireGeorgeKarl.com.

 - The Nuggets are now tied for third in the Western Conference with New Orleans.  Teams such as Dallas, Utah and especially Houston are struggling.  If the Nuggets end up in the top four, it will be more because of teams stumbling than the Nuggets reaching that 55-60 win mark.  I will be very interested to see how they react to this recent success.  They play at San Antonio, who should have Tim Duncan back, next so the quality tests continue

For some insight on the game from the perspective of Hornets fans check out Hornets 24/7.

Game 18: Denver Nuggets 115 – Miami Heat 89

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Due to some extenuating circumstances, nothing bad I assure you, I was not able to watch much of the game last night.  I missed a lot of it live and only saw a little bit here and there of the replay.  So from what I saw here is an abbreviated report. 

Only Observations From Game 18:

 - The Nuggets rolled another poor team at home which once again makes it difficult to draw conclusions as to how they are improving.  That being said, they did really move very well without the ball on offense and they took advantage of that by making quick aggressive passes.  I do not like just reciting stats from the box score, but I will have to rely on some of that as I did not see all of the game.  The combination of pushing the pace, the Nuggets were +16 in fast break points, and the movement and passing mentioned above gave them an advantage of +24 in points in the paint.  They also topped 30 assists against only 12 turnovers.  Had Von Wafer not committed three turnovers in his five minutes on the court, their turnover total would have been even more impressive.   

I have no idea why they cannot play with that kind of focus and purpose on offense every game.  I realize teams can get in a funk here and there, but it should never happen for a prolonged period of time.  The Nuggets had gone for four or five games in a row without playing smart offense and that is inexcusable.   

There has been, and still is, a great deal of talk about how difficult it should be for teams to guard Melo and Iverson.  When they are focusing on isolations and dribbling in place long enough to make the ball lopsided they allow almost any defense to set up and be prepared to stop them, but when the entire team is passing the ball quickly the defense gets out of position and it is at that point when Carmelo and AI become almost unstoppable. 

 - Miami is really bad.  Shaq is at the end of his rope.  He may hang around and finish out his contract, but I cannot imagine how much of a liability he will be in the next two or three seasons.  I also do not think Wade is completely healed form his offseason surgeries.  I believe I heard them say that he has not dunked since he returned nine or ten games ago.  For a player that relies so much on his explosive athleticism that has to be concerning for the Heat.  Of course, I wish I had dunked nine or ten games ago.  I have to settle for lowering the basket at my in-laws house in order to accomplish that feat. 

The Heat are stuck in a position financially and talent wise that is somewhat comparable to the Knicks.  They are paying Shaq so much that they cannot afford to bring in any other players and they have no assets that anyone would want in a trade.  It would make sense to rebuild, but because of the presence of Shaq they have to play every season to try to make the playoffs.  They cannot allow themselves to rest Wade and play for the future.  Maybe they can buy Shaq out and go for a good draft pick, but financially they will still be a quagmire of poor contracts and poor players.  Will Wade want to wait around for a rebuilding project?  He signed an abbreviated extension that will allow him to become a free agent at the end of the 2009-2010 season.  Don’t think he will not leave after that deal is up. 

For all the debate over which star has the worst supporting cast in the NBA give me Wade over Kobe or LeBron by a mile for having to play with that pathetic bunch.  Because of that, I can see him leaving town at the earliest opportunity. 

 - But, who cares about the Heat?  Let’s get back to the Nuggets.  This is Born a Nuggets Fan, not Born a Heat Fan.  Obviously Kenyon Martin was great last night.  I had two concerns when they traded for him.  First of all, why do a sign and trade giving him an even higher salary and sacrificing three first round picks when it was pretty obvious that the Nets were not going to match, but that is all water from the river Kiki was sent up the river on under the bridge.  More importantly I was worried about his ability to guard the Duncans and Garnetts of the world.  Now that he has played for the Nuggets for a few seasons, and unfortunately not played for a couple, he proved that he does a decent job of defending in the post against almost any player.   

When the Nuggets are running, and he is healthy, Martin is as valuable of a player as the Nuggets anticipated him to be when they traded for him.  The problem comes in when they start playing a half court style game where he becomes just an average player.  He takes too many jumpers and has no offensive move he can rely on in the post, but we knew those things when they signed him.  In order for the Nuggets to get the most out of him, and really out of their entire roster, they must run every game. 

From a health perspective Kenyon is looking better and better every game.  He is definitely getting his explosiveness back as he threw down a handful of monster dunks last night.  We will have to enjoy it while it lasts because the likelihood of him suffering another injury is about equal to the likelihood of people being upset with politicians or kids making fun of portly people. 

 - I mentioned how I thought it was very sad that the Nuggets labeled November as a positive month because they won ten games.  Of course the Nuggets have a handful of excuses as to why they struggled in some winnable games.  One of those excuses was injuries.  You all know how I feel about that.  This roster has plenty of depth to handle a couple of players missing games here and there (especially when one of them is Chucky Atkins).  The second excuse I have heard leak out is the fact that they played five back to back games during November.   

How about we examine that for a minute?  They went 2-3 in the five second halves of back to back games.  Remove those five games and they were still only 8-4, which is good, but not great.  They have 14 more back to back sets this season.  Do we have to write off more than half of those as losses?   

I looked back at last season’s schedules for several teams to see how they did on back to backs.  Believe it or not Nuggets players, it is possible to win after playing the night before. The five teams that finished ahead of the Nuggets last season and their records on the second night of back to backs look like this:

Dallas Mavericks 14-1
Phoenix Suns 14-7
San Antonio Spurs 12-4
Houston Rockets 9-9
Utah Jazz 9-9

And then we have the Denver Nuggets who came in with a record in the second half of back to backs last season at 8-12.  As pointed out earlier, they have started this year at 2-3.  If you are good at math, you may notice that 8-12 and 2-3 are equal ratios.  They both equate to a .400 winning percentage.  If the Nuggets carry on the type of play they have exhibited on the second half of back to backs last year and the first month this year, they will end up with a record somewhere around 7-12 or 8-11.  Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and take the better record of 8-11.  Combined with their current seven losses that equals 18 losses that they have or will have.  Thus in order to win 55 games they can only afford to lose nine more games where they enjoy at least one day of rest before tip off.  They have 50 such games left therefore they will have to have a record of 41-9 to reach 55 wins this season.  If we further extrapolate their 8-4 record in those such games they will end up 33-17 or thereabouts.   

Add all of that up and they have a final record of 50-32.  That would give them the fourth 50 win season since joining the NBA and the first since 1987-1988.  Not bad, but definitely not good enough to get home court advantage or a promising matchup in the playoffs.  

Before we start getting excited about a 50 win season, remember that this was what I thought was perhaps the easiest month on their schedule.  To me that means that when things get tougher, it will be reflected in their record and there is no guarantee that they can continue on even at the somewhat disappointing pace they have set. 

What can be done?  It all comes back to the mental crutch the Nuggets allow themselves to utilize.  They give themselves the option of losing certain games before they even play because of injuries.  Now we have found out that they give themselves the option to lose on the tail end of back to backs because those games are more difficult.  The number of games that they allow themselves to lose is growing and growing.  What next?  They do not like the pressure of nationally televised games?  Dancing With The Stars is over so they have too much pent up frustration to focus on the game? 

The Nuggets can still have a fine season, but they will only accomplish as much as their little minds will allow them to.

Game 14: Denver Nuggets 81 – Houston Rockets 109

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score (only for those with a strong constitution) 

Well, for those folks who thought that the game against Minnesota was a good win because you have to win ugly sometimes, this is what happens when games like that are tolerated.  You make the same mistakes and get blown out the next night by a much better team. 

I will be honest, we were putting up Christmas decorations during the game and quite frankly, I did not see any need to watch the replay.  My son did not want to so we are watching Encino Man. 

Anyway, I think I know what went down. Settling for jumpers, lack of passion on both ends of the floor, outscored in fast break points, out rebounded and absolutely hammered in the paint.   

Whatever triggered this team to excel at halftime of the Pacer game has expired like the Happily Ever After potion that Shrek chugged down that turned him into a dude.  Once again, how many poor efforts in a row is this team going to produce?  They were handled relatively easily in Los Angeles by a massively depleted Clipper team, they struggled with the perpetually overmatched Timberwolves, because they did not come out with passion and a sense of urgency and tonight they were run out off the floor in the first quarter in Houston who had lost six straight games.  That was a Biblically long sentence.  It belonged somewhere in Leviticus.

Once again, I do not know what else to say, (maybe someone else should be writing these) because it is the same old manure that has been plaguing the Nuggets for the past three seasons.   They are in danger of going 11-6 through what was arguably the easiest month of their schedule as they have home games against the Pacers and Clippers and a road game at the Lakers.    

Other Observations From Game 14: 

 - I looked at the play by play and noticed that Carmelo took two threes in the first minute of the game.  He also did not shoot any free throws.  What is it going to take for him to work harder on offense to get good shots?  Perhaps another matchup with the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs will do it. 

 - But that goes for the entire team.  They had eight assists in the entire game!  Once again, I have nothing else to say about that that has not already been said. 

 - I always hate it when one of my teams is going up against a team with a relatively long losing streak.  I know the gamblers say never bet against a streak, but there should be an addendum to that.  Never bet against a streak unless they are playing a Denver sports team. 

 - In the whole bad loss tracker we have tonight was not considered a bad loss.  In fact when I had requested the 14-3 start from the Nuggets I expected one of the three losses to come in Houston.  However, this was a pathetic performance and I wish I could count it as a bad loss, but guidelines are guidelines. 

 - My son turned off Encino Man, he thought it was too corny.  I do not think he understands the 90’s, or on second thought, maybe he does.

Check out The Dream Shake for some insight from the Houston side of things (caution some language may not be suitable for children under 13, or 40).

Game 4: Denver Nuggets 112 – New York Knicks 119

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

I was ready to denounce the Nuggets’ lack of heart in a brief and biting post following the loss to the Knicks, but I have decided to rewatch the fourth quarter before handing out such harsh criticism.   

Here are the facts of the game.  The Nuggets were outscored by 17 points in the fourth quarter.  They were outrebounded by nine.  The Knicks missed 43 shots and ended up with 17 offensive rebounds.  That is a 38% rate. The Knicks shot 13 of 24 in the fourth quarter which is good not great.  They also missed six free throws.  Of those 17 shots where there was a chance for a rebound the Knicks corralled 10 of those rebounds.  Ten out of 17! 

Most of that time Camby and Nene were on the floor together until Nene fouled out with just over two minutes left.  As noted after game three, Nene is looking to be in better shape than he was just a week ago, but he was still worn out by the end of the game.  With no Kenyon Martin my number one question of the game is where was Steven Hunter?  He would have been fresh and would have helped out on the glass in the pivotal fourth quarter.   

After watching the replay, I am a little less frustrated, but maybe it is because I knew what was going to happen.  It was a one point game with under two minutes left.  However, this was a very disappointing result.   

You can talk all you want about how it is impossible to draw conclusions after three or four games, but when you have a trend over the past three seasons and you see the beginning of that trend in the fourth season, that is a good sign that the trend will continue. 

The Nuggets talk of winning 60 or even 55 games is starting to look hollow to me.  Can this team still win 50 games?  Sure.  Can they get home court advantage in the playoffs?  I will answer that question with another question.  How many wins will it take to finish in front of the Spurs, Suns, Mavs or Rockets?  Can they reach that total by losing games at home to New Orleans and against the Knicks?  If the Nuggets do not finish ahead of at least one of those teams, and add Utah to that mix as well, they are going on the road for the first round once again. 

Games like tonight are nearly must wins for the Nuggets to reach their stated goals. 

Other Observations from Game 4:

• Iverson finally had a breakout game.  He shot 13-22 and was the lone bright spot for the Nuggets offensively.   
• Melo was hounded by Renaldo Balkman and faced numerous double teams.  He had his second straight poor shooting game misfiring on 13 of his 20 shots.    
• Is Renaldo Balkman somehow related to the “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid? 
• The Nuggets are not running.  AI is partly to blame as he jogs the ball up most of the time.  He played that way for over ten years in Philly so it is very difficult for him to transition to a fast paced transition offense.   
• The three point shooting watch continues.  The Nuggets were a respectable 6-16.  J.R. Smith hit a couple before missing two very difficult attempts towards the end of the game.  Melo only took one and missed.  AI only took two and made one.  Kleiza was 2-6 but two of his misses were right online, just a tad too long, which is good.  Najera banked his only try in, but utilized a shot fake from the perimeter to get past his man.     

The Nuggets head into Boston tomorrow and Boston has looked very good to start the season.  The Nuggets will have their work cut out for them, but if they can win tomorrow night in Boston, tonight’s game will not sting so badly.  But if they do go on to lose in Boston, the games in Washington, who will be desperate for a win, and Indy, who has been very impressive, will be crucial. Next Game:  Wednesday @ Boston Celtics – Anyone who discounts this team as a contender because of a lack of depth has not watched them play

Chucky Atkins?

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

I am not enthused about the potential Chucky Atkins signing.  He did have a nice statistical season last year at Memphis, but it is clearly a fluke season.  His Player Efficiency Rating spiked last season at 17.45.  His second best PER season was 13.44.  He is more of a scoring point guard than Steve Blake, but another scorer is not what this team needs.  Atkins is being touted as a better three point shooter than Blake, but each of them sport a career three point shooting average of 37.0%.  Blake is six years younger and entering his prime and Atkins will be 33 starting the season.   

I realize that Blake may be too expensive for the Nuggets, but we do not know that for sure yet.  If Mo Williams ends up signing with Miami instead of Milwaukee the Blake market will dry up.  The Nuggets may be able to get him to agree to a deal at about the same salary as what they will be paying Atkins.   

Blake is the superior point guard and the better fit for the Nuggets. If he signs somewhere for the full midlevel exception then so be it, but the Nuggets should not settle for less until they know they have to. 

Other Developments 

• I was shocked that after holding his rights for so long the Spurs dealt Luis Scola away as part of a salary dump.  The fact that he never had a reasonable buy out was a contributing factor, but to use the rights to a player of his ability to get another team to swallow a player with less than three million dollars in salary (Jackie Butler) was surprising to me. 
• The Nuggets summer league team had a very nice showing against Detroit last night.  Von Wafer had a very nice game scoring 25 points including 11 in the first quarter.  Will Blalock had another nice performance.  He was very efficient scoring 16 points on eight shots, although he was only 5-9 from the free throw line, and he did not turn the ball over.  Jelani McCoy had another double-double and Curtis Sumpter provided more energy and heady play.  If Blalock, McCoy and Sumpter are not in camp this fall, I will be shocked.
• The Rocky Mountain Review kicks off today and rookie prospects such as Al Horford, Acie Law, Thaddeus Young, Jason Smith, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Morris Almond will be on display. 

Update:

It is official.  The Nuggets signed Chucky Atkins for $3.2 million in 07-08 and $3.4 million in 08-09.  Steve Blake has agreed to sign with the Trailblazers, but the terms have not been disclosed.  If he signed for $4.0 million or so the Nuggets will have made a big mistake to save about $1.5 million next season.  Giving up Blake for Atkins makes no sense from a basketball perspective. 

Thumbs Up for the 2007 NBA Draft

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

 Lots of spare thoughts about the draft…

- How could the Blazers have traded Randolph to the Knicks without forcing them to take on Darius Miles as part of the deal?

My concerns about Randolph playing alongside of Oden will are still valid with Randolph playing alongside of Eddy Curry.  What I said in a previous post was Nate McMillen hounded Randolph to play inside instead of setting for 18 footers.  With Oden on the block would Zach be happy to settle for jumpers?  Now with him playing alongside of Curry, will he be happy to settle for jumpers in New York? 

I have more thoughts about the Steve Francis aspect of this deal, but I doubt many people are interested so I have moved it to the end of the blog.

- The Sports Guy stole my thunder in his draft diary, but the trade of Jason Richardson to Charlotte for Brandan Wright seems like the first step in acquiring Yi Jianlian from the Bucks.  Rumors had it that they were shopping Richardson to get a pick high enough to land Yi.  Since Milwaukee drafted Yi, they did the trade anyway hoping that he will refuse to play for the Bucks.  If the Bucks are right and they are able to get Yi to play for them, this was a horrible trade for Golden State.  They should have waited to pull the trigger until they knew Yi was available. 

However, even if they do acquire Yi, they just traded their second best player away for a project the year after making the playoffs for the first time in 12 or 13 years.  I love Monta Ellis and he can more than replace Richardson’s scoring, but he will not provide the all around game and presence that Richardson gave them.  Say hello to the lottery again next season Warrior fans. 

- The other big trade of the night was Ray Allen to Boston for the fifth pick, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West.  There are a number of issues here so lets take a look at them. 

First, Boston was obviously really shopping that pick hard.  Ainge knew that the fans were tired of the youth movement and his career termination warning light was flashing.  He had to get a veteran for that pick and he did. 

Second, is Allen the right veteran?  Ray Allen will make any team better.  He is a great shooter and a smart player.  With Rajon Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Al Jefferson and Perkins, they have a very solid playoff quality starting five, but before they start printing playoff tickets in Boston, there is an age and injury question though.  Over the previous four seasons Allen has missed 26 games in 03-04 and 27 games last season.  He will turn 32 in July.  Pierce has been healthy over the previous seven seasons, but missed 35 games last season and will turn 30 before next season starts.  With both of these guys playing on the perimeter, there is a chance that one or both will break down soon.  However, Boston did land a quality veteran without giving up any of their young talent such as Rondo, Gerald Green, Sebastien Telfair or Al Jefferson.  Add in Glen Davis who they acquired in the trade, Ryan Gomes, and a healthy Tony Allen and this team is at least ten deep.

There are also interesting issues from Seattle’s standpoint.  Trading Ray Allen kicks off a youth movement that should create a quick return to respectability.  The first question that comes up is was Jeff Green the best pick at #5?  It certainly was not a bad pick, but there were players with more potential there.  They have a sure thing in Durant, the chance to gamble a little with the fifth pick was there.  A player with big time potential such as Yi or Brandan Wright may have given the Sonics a better shot at having a great team in three years instead of a very good one.  On the other hand, Green has a wide range of skills and will be a very good wingman for Durant.  Their skills do complement each other very well.  Ultimately, I do not have a problem with Jeff Green, but at some point in the future they may be kicking themselves for not nabbing either Yi or Wright.

The other big question surrounding Seattle is what does the drafting of two small forward/power forward combo players mean for the future of Rashard Lewis?  Reports were the Sonics want to try to retain him.  I do not think he will want to stay with the current makeup of the team.  I still believe that a sign and trade for him is the best course of action for Seattle. 

- Sacramento will rue the day they drafted Spencer Hawes.  He may be able to toss in some jump hooks around the basket and hit 18 footers, but he cannot rebound or defend and that seems unlikely to ever change.  I am not saying he is Rafael Araujo, but they passed on players with some serious star potential for an average center at best.

- The talent level that available towards the end of the first round and early in the second was very impressive.  We knew this going in, but it is amazing how many late first round picks will not only be on rosters, but contributing next season.  The depth of the draft is why picks such as Aaron Brooks to Houston and Alando Tucker to Phoenix were so bad.  Brooks is too small and Houston now has a glut of point guards, but none of them are very tradeable.  Who wants Alston?  (Silence…crickets chirping…)  Tucker was a strange pick because he cannot shoot.  He is a good player though and with the tempo in Phoenix, he will be a contributor.  The Tucker pick is not nearly as bad as the Brooks selection, but I still thought it was strange.

- Once again Phoenix has just given away a pick thinking that they are saving money.  Someone needs to tell Robert Sarver that another way to save money is to draft good players and then replace your more expensive players with the cheaper player you have drafted.  Would they have had to pay Diaw if they had Deng on the roster?  Would they have had to give Marcus Banks that ridiculous contract if they had drafted Rajon Rondo?

The Suns are going to hit a wall in a couple of years where they fall off the map for two reasons.  Age will eventually catch up with Nash and they have no young players in the pipeline because of their insistence on selling off their draft picks.

- All in all, last night’s draft was about as good of draft as I could remember.  Between the interesting picks, exciting trades and depth of talent the only thing it was lacking was decent commentary.  Can we please give the draft back to TNT?  Give me Hubie, Charles, Kenny and EJ any day of the week over the jokers from ESPN.

- Now the aforementioned Steve Francis commentary…

The reports are the Portland will buy Steve Francis out of his contract and he will never play a game for them.  That raises the question, where will he end up?  I think there are a couple of good options for him if he can play the point unselfishly.

Cleveland needs a guard who can take the pressure off of LeBron, but Francis dominates the ball too much to be a good fit there. Miami is in the market for a point guard too and Francis could help take the pressure off of Wade.  Washington just added Nick Young last night to play the two, but Francis is from the Maryland side of DC, he was drafted in the MCI Center (or whatever it is called now) and hit a big game winner there last late in the season for the Knicks.  Francis could help ease the transition for Young, but are he and Arenas too similar?  I think so. 

What about the Lakers?  If they keep Kobe, which they certainly want to, Francis could be of assistance in upgrading the talent there, but he is more of an iso player than a player who would fit in the triangle.  Would Phoenix want him to help backup Nash?  Francis can definitely excel in that open style, but he would not be a starter and probably would not want to sign there if he could start somewhere else. 

Perhaps a return to Houston is in the cards.  The Rockets have Mike James, Rafer Alston and the recently drafted Aaron Brooks at the point, but they may be interested in Francis at shooting guard.  Would the Nuggets want Francis?  Kiki tried to trade for him a few years ago.  Are there still people in the organization that would like to have him?  If Minnesota fails to trade KG, Francis and Foye would make a dynamic back court combo.  Add in Ricky Davis and Corey Brewer and the Wolves have a more talented team, but would they make the playoffs?  My guess is no.

Several teams are kicking off youth movements such as Philly, Seattle, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, to a lesser extent Toronto is in a youth movement and Indiana and Sacramento appear prepared to embark on a youth movement. 

I do not see any team that really makes sense for Steve Francis.  I realize that no one probably really cares about where Francis ends up, but I took a flyer in him at the end of the season in my fantasy basketball keeper league with the hope that he would be moved before next season.  So far, so good.