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.

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.

Game 30: Denver Nuggets 95 – Golden State Warriors 105

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score

There was one major difference between the first game against Golden State and tonight’s game.  I will give you two different sets of numbers.   

23-43 

and 

10-29 

In the previous game against the Warriors the Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson combined to shoot 23-43.  Tonight they combined to shoot 10-29.  That’s umm, not so good. 

It was mentioned in my last post and in the comments section that the Nuggets offense the other night in Oakland was based far too much on isolation sets.  When Melo and AI are hitting their shots and attacking the rim that type of offense in a fast paced game can produce 124 points.  When even only one of them has a good game it results in 95 points.  I would hate to see what would have happened if Melo had shot as poorly as Iverson. 

Even on possessions where the Nuggets moved and passed the ball, which were about as common as a svelte Samoan, they just were not in sync.  It may have just been one of those nights or part of the reason for their discombobulation on offense when they actually tried to run something may have been because they had no idea how to do anything more complex than pass to AI or Melo and clear out. 

Another difference between the two games was the Warriors inability to hit threes in the fourth quarter in the first game (going 2-11 from behind the arc) and their more restrained attitude in the fourth quarter in this game (2-4).  Golden State did a great job of slowing the pace down and playing under control in the fourth quarter. 

The Nuggets lost some of the positive momentum they had built up tonight.  Nene looked rusty for the first time since returning from injury and Kenyon Martin’s strain looks to be worse than expected as he has missed the past two games.  Instead of being healthy and on a roll heading into their next game, which happens to be against the World Champion San Antonio Spurs, they are unsure about Martin and they are not playing a style that will translate into success against such a strong defensive team. 

Other Observations From Game 30: 

 - I mentioned Nene looked rusty, but it was not all his fault.  The Nuggets did not do a good job of hitting him when he was open under the basket and there were occasions when he did have the ball that their spacing was so poor he had no room to operate.   

He was also the biggest mismatch on both ends of the floor finding himself guarding players like Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and being guarded by Barnes or other smaller players.  He failed to take advantage of his mismatch when the Nuggets had the ball, but Golden State did not make the same mistake.   

 - Both teams shot poorly, but the Nuggets compounded their shooting woes by turning the ball over 24 times.  When a team is shooting poorly, you cannot afford to give that many possessions away.  Denver did grab 19 offensive rebounds, but part of that is a factor of how many shot they missed, which happened to be 55! 

 - The pattern for the quarter by quarter pace factor we tracked in Golden State was repeated tonight.  The pace factor of the first quarter was 116, the second quarter it was 106.  Things picked up in the third quarter as it increased to 110, but in the fourth quarter the pace factor dropped down to 94.   

 - The downside of getting a lot of steals is he exposes his teammates to being undermanned by running out of the play.  The other downside of overplaying the passing lane like he does is he is susceptible to backdoor cuts.  Monta Ellis did a great job of making those backdoor cuts, but fortunately the Warriors did not really look to take advantage of those situations. 

 - I thought the Nuggets did a good job of trying to run, even after made baskets.  They ended up with only 11 fast break points, but had they not pushed the pace like they did, they may not have scored any more than 80 points. 

 -  Do not look know, but the Blazers won their 13^th straight game tonight and are now tied for first in the Northwest Division.  Can someone please beat Portland! 

Once again check out Golden State of Mind for some thoughts from the Warriors’ side of things.

Game 29: Denver Nuggets 124 – Golden State Warriors 120

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

What happens when two teams who are both in the top three in scoring and pace factor play each other?   

Fast breaks.  Lotsa’ threes.  Points.  Fun. 

Going into the game it was clear that the Nuggets faced a stern test.  Golden State has gone 8-1 at home since Stephen Jackson returned from his suspension for pretending he was the star in an action movie during the off season.  Golden State is a great offensive team because they create matchup problems all over the floor.  They usually have four players who are capable and willing three point shooters and there are several sequences during every game where all five players on the court are ready and able to pop the three.  Then to take that advantage to a higher level they push the pace relentlessly.   

They also have a big man in Andris Biedrins who does a great job of cutting to the basket both off of pick and rolls and from the weak side.  Biedrins has great hands and is a very good finisher around the hoop.   

Add in good isolation players like Barron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson (who is more crafty than quick) and the only way to shut these guys down is to pray for a power outage.   

The offenses (and defenses) of both teams did not disappoint.  After the first possession of the fourth quarter both teams were already over 100 points.   

Thanks to NBA League Pass and the fact that the Warriors play a lot of late games due to society’s insistence to use time zones I have seen a lot of Golden State games over the past couple of years.  When playing at home the Warriors have a tendency of ramping up their defense in the fourth quarter.  They ride the emotion from their great crowds and play with great intensity.  Free flowing games end up grinding to a halt as they milk the clock and rely on Baron Davis to create shots for himself or his teammates late in the shot clock. 

With this in mind I was very worried about the Nuggets’ ability to keep up with the Warriors when Melo was called for his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter.  Allen Iverson came to the rescue as he so frequently has in the past couple of weeks.  He singlehandedly kept the Nuggets in the lead through the fourth quarter. 

Even after Melo returned Iverson was the man that carried the load.   AI did a great job of forcing contact and getting to the line.  He found himself frequently matched up with players such as Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.  It is easy for quick players in those situations to settle for long pull up jumpers.  Iverson continually attacked them and that resulted in eight fourth quarter free throws.   

In the end Stephen Jackson had his chance to make love to pressure as he claims he is wont to do, but pressure had a headache, rolled over and turned out the light as his three pointer that would have put the Warriors up one in the closing seconds caromed off the rim.  Now we all can say we know how it feels to be an NBA player. 

I thought the Nuggets played another focused game from start to finish.  We have seen them string together two and a half consistently good efforts in a row starting at half time of the Kings game.  They have done that a couple of times so far this season only to go on a stretch of maddeningly inconsistent games. 

The schedule takes them home to play Golden State on Sunday and then they get a long rest before facing the Spurs on Thursday.  I think you will see the Nuggets put forth good efforts in those games and hopefully run their record up to 20-11.   After that they go on the road to face the horrid Timberwolves and as we all know, that is probably a big warning sign for Nugget fans. 

Other Observations From Game 29: 

 - I mentioned pace factor earlier in the post.  Pace factor is simply how many possessions a team averages over the course of a game.  Denver is first in pace factor at 103.  Golden State is third at 100.9.  Obviously the pace of tonight’s game would make Lance Armstrong wishing he was about to head into the Andes with his little ten speed.   

I charted the pace quarter by quarter and extrapolated it out to what that quarter’s pace would be if it was carried out throughout an entire game.  Here is what I found out: 

First quarter pace factor = 118

Second quarter pace factor = 104

Third quarter pace factor = 100

Fourth quarter pace factor = 92 

Earlier I mentioned how the Warriors like to make things as crazy as possible through three quarters and then try to buckle down in the fourth.  These numbers bear that out.  Both teams scored over 30 points in each of the first three quarters.  In the fourth quarter Golden State outscored Denver 23-22.   

I find it interesting that both teams that are known to push the pace are content to play a much more half court style when the game is on the line.   

 - This was a tough game for Nene.  You would expect him to be able to dominate in the paint against a smaller Warrior squad, but Golden State is used to having teams try to pound the ball in side and they are very adept at swarming around and making life difficult on bigger post players.   

The Warriors are also good at exposing bigger players when they are on offense.  Both Camby and Nene found themselves in foul trouble partially due to unsuccessfully trying to draw charges against quicker players.  Actually the unsuccessful part could be up for debate.  It kind of seemed like the Warriors got all the borderline, and not so borderline charge/block calls, but why complain about things like that after a win, right?   

 - It was also a bad game for Najera to have to start in place of Kenyon Martin.  Najera is not a post player capable of taking advantage of his extra girth on offense and he was too slow to keep up with Matt Barnes and Al Harrington.  If Martin can play on Sunday, it will help the Nuggets with that matchup problem. 

 - Melo missed a lot of time in the second half with foul trouble and we talked about how Iverson took care of the fourth quarter, but Linas Kleiza did a very good job to keep them in the game in the third when Melo was on the pine.  Kleiza actually scored the last 11 points of the third quarter for the Nuggets. 

Melo only scored six points in the second half, but the Nuggets still managed to score 53.  Iverson scored 21 of those and Kleiza and Camby came up big to help fill in some of the slack.  Anthony Carter hit a shot with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter and after that the only Nuggets to score were Iverson, Kleiza, Camby and Melo.  That attack was about as diverse as a KKK rally.   

 - The Nuggets may have won the game at the foul line as they shot 33-37 for the game.  Iverson, Melo and Kleiza were 29-31 from the line.   

 - At one point Altitude missed ten seconds of game time and what was described as a long two by Stephen Jackson after repeatedly showing a charge called against Carmelo.  We saw it, OK!  We know it was a charge!  We know he should have either pulled up or passed it!  Show the fricking game! 

 - By the way, Microsoft Word in all of its contempt for humanity suggests I change fricking to frisking or frocking.  I may take them up on frocking.  That sounds kind of naughty.  

 - The Nuggets were not as stationary as they have been in the past on offense, but their offense was definitely comprised of mostly isolation plays.  They ended up with only 13 assists on 43 makes.  That is usually a deadly ratio for the Nuggets.  The offense was helped by the fact that Golden State did not have anyone who matches up well with either AI or Carmelo and they were able to create quality shots on their own.   

That style of offense is fine when AI and Melo are shooting a combined 23-43, but if one of them had an off night things would have been much different. 

 - If you will permit me let’s look at a basic box score stat one more time.  The Nuggets scored 124 points while only being credited with six fast break points.  How is that possible?  Typically if they end up with six fast break points they would end the game with 78 points or something similarly insipid.   

 - I am always impressed with the Warriors unselfishness from the perimeter.  They frequently make an extra-extra pass.  Many times you see them swing the ball around the three point line and when they have the shot most teams take and most defenses are designed to have a player running at the shooter on the rotation, they throw the ball one more time to a player that the defense is completely unprepared to guard and instead of having a defender run at them, they have a completely open shot.   

 - J.R. Smith played very well.  He played eight minutes and took four shots, but none of them were threes.  He drove to the rim at every opportunity and from what I saw only made one late rotation on defense. 

 - I liked the breakdown of minutes amongst the point guards.  Anthony Carter played 27 minutes and Chucky Atkins played 21.  I have no problem with Atkins playing 20 minutes in the role of a sniper and the only Nugget who seems to be able to pass the ball to the roller on a pick and roll.   

While we are here, I know he is one of the premiere scorers of all time, but has anyone ever explained to Iverson that the pick and roll is not just designed to get him a shot.  Can one of the Nuggets plethora of assistant coaches please inform him that there actually is another option on the play? 

To partake of some insight from the Warrior’s perspective, and to see one of the absolute best blogging communities around, check out Golden State of Mind.  Just try not to be too disappointed with Born a Nuggets Fan when you come back.

Game 26: Denver Nuggets 96 – Portland Trailblazers 99

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

It is a shame that I failed to put together a post on last nights’ game until now.  Last night I was as proud of the effort the Nuggets put forth as I have been in a long time.   

I have said that injuries should not be used as an excuse to lose games, but the Nuggets rolled into Portland and had to start a player they had waived just a day before.  That is typically not a precursor to success.  With Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin, Nene and that Steven Hunter dude (I have heard plays for the Nuggets, but I am not really sure he exists he might as well be Kramer’s friend Bob Sacamano or Seinfeld’s Cousin Jeffrey) all out with various maladies the Nuggets locked horns with a team that had demolish them on the boards just a week or so prior.   

If there was a recipe for disaster, that is probably it.   

The Nuggets hung tough on the glass thanks to another tremendous effort on the glass by Carmelo Anthony who was the leading rebounder in the game with 12.   

They played tremendous scrappy defense and if it was not for a hot streak where the Trailblazers scored 14 points in less than four minutes to start the fourth quarter the Nuggets would have won.   

But the Trailblazers have had ten straight games where they have produced a similar hot streak to pull out win after win.   

There were comments made after the game that the Nuggets found what it took to play all out for 48 minutes and if they can just carry that forward they will be very successful.  Well, this small lineup that brought that level of intensity had shown that they were capable of such an effort in the second week of the season and for some reason George Karl went away from that lineup.   

When you have a strong second five, but your starters are playing too many minutes, that is not good.  Everyone talks about how Iverson can play as many minutes as you can throw at him night after night because he keeps scoring, but the issue with him playing so many minutes is his defense.  Late in the game against Houston Luther Head drove by AI on a couple of occasions where AI could barely move.  The man needs some rest, whether he wants to admit it or not.   

Bobby Jones may never put up great stats and probably leads the league in charges per minute, but he makes things happen.  With Jones able to play the two for 15-20 minutes a game there is no reason AI should play more than 35 or at most 38 minutes a game.  That will preserve him and allow him to play those big minutes in the playoffs and it will let Jones gain some much needed experience.   

If Melo is going to work as hard on the glass as he had the past few games he is going to need more rest too.  Against Portland he missed two dunks he would usually smash and at the end of the game he was so spent that he had a turnaround blocked by Brandon Roy who is not the most dynamic athlete.  Obviously last night Melo and AI needed to play a ton to keep the Nuggets in the game, but I would love to see Karl reduce their minutes. 

Anyway, I am getting away from my primary point and that was to give the Nuggets a great deal of credit for playing hard, and for the most part smart.  They hung with the hottest team in the NBA on the road the night after a double overtime game without their entire roster of power forwards and centers.  They could not have done that without a supreme effort.   

Once again the question regarding this incredibly inconsistent team is can they reproduce the way they played against Portland in the next game or even ever again?

Check out Blazer’s Edge for some insight from the Portland side of things.

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.

Game 23: Denver Nuggets 91 – San Antonio Spurs 102

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

How about that third quarter from the team rated SECOND in the NBA in defensive efficiency?   

The San Antonio Spurs scored 36 points in the third quarter.  They scored on 14 of their final 17 possessions of the quarter.  The Denver Nuggets defensive efficiency rating for the third quarter was 163.4!  It was so pathetic I cannot even come up with a decent joke.  I guess that makes me just as impotent as they were.  Somehow it seems fitting. 

The Nuggets actually played a good first quarter and first three minutes of the second quarter.  They made mistakes, but their effort was strong and their focus was there on both offense and defense. 

Unfortunately, it did not last for long. In the third quarter the Spurs showed the Nuggets that a team can score without having the best athletes or the best creators simply by moving, cutting and sharing the ball.  They also proved that fast break points are not required in San Antonio in order for the Spurs to light up the scoreboard.  San Antonio finished the game with only five fast break points.   

The Spurs again showed that they were a team who has an offensive system they trust in completely no matter which five players were on the court.  That is a lesson the Nuggets need to learn. 

The play that summed up the third quarter was when Jacque Vaughn drove the lane missed a layup and fell down.  He was in the lane on his can and still was able to get the rebound, from his can, and pass it off to an open teammate, from his can, for a score.  Camby and Melo were both “in the vicinity” but they both were too busy trying to make sure they were playing as soft as possible and refused to go after the ball.   

The difference in focus from the first to the third quarter was shocking.  The Nuggets did not even look like the same team.  The transformation actually occurred early in the second quarter as the Nuggets’ offense grew stagnant and they decided not to guard the three point line and by the end of the third quarer the walls of the Nuggets’ mud hut had collapsed under the percipitation from Monsoon Popovich. 

As I am sure you all know, the Nuggets played without Kenyon Martin who apparently elbowed Melvin Ely in the eye socket the other night.  How can we know for sure that Melvin’s eye socket was not already very badly damaged or structurally weak and Martin just got the blame for breaking it the rest of the way?   

However, the Spurs were shorthanded as well playing without Tony Parker.  Tim Duncan returned to action, but only played 20 minutes as he was clearly still hobbled by his sprained ankle and bruised knee. 

The Nuggets did miss Kenyon.  Linas Kleiza started in his place, but found himself in early foul trouble.  Carmelo and Camby also ended up missing time in the first half due to fouls.  Of course, no Spur ended the game with more than two fouls.  Hmmm…interesting. 

The good news is the Nuggets were just another victim laid to waste by the steamroller that is the Spurs playing at home.  They are still in first place in the Northwest and fourth in the conference. 

Next is a home game against a red hot Portland team who is on a six game winning streak including wins against Utah twice and Golden State (all three wins were earned without the services of LeMarcus Aldridge).  They have also won their last two road games as part of the six game streak.   I doubt that tomorrow night will be as easy as the previous meeting with Portland, but the Blazers have to lose sometime right?   

Other Observations From Game 23:

 - Has anyone noticed that Camby has pretty much stopped taking that horrid shot from around the top of the circle?  On the other hand, he has become quite deft at drilling the fifteen foot baseline shot.  Chris Marlowe has called it his knew favorite shot on a couple of occasions. 

I am glad that Chris cares enough to keep asking Marcus what his favorite shot is from week to week.  

 - I think Manu Ginboli’s bald spot is already much larger than it was at the beginning of the season.  It must be growing because all of the stress he is experiencing because of the guilt he feels from defrauding the NBA with his horrible flopping. 

 -  Bobby Jones played well.  He had active hands on defense and made things tough on Ginobili for a short time in the fourth quarter.  It will be interesting to see if he played well enough for George to call his name tomorrow against Portland. 

 - Almost Famous is such a freakin’ great movie.  Maybe I should start a Cameron Crowe Underappreciated Movie Blog.  I could write about Almost Famous, Singles and even Elizabethtown which was not as strong as most of his other work, but was nowhere near as bad as most people claim.  Then I could see which of my two blogs would be the first to attract 100 page views.  Maybe I should just move on… 

 - Somehow Michael Finley, in only 25:30 of game time, finished as a +27!  Think about that.  For every minute he was on the floor the Spurs scored one more point than the Nuggets.  Finley set his season high for points and his second best totals in rebounds and assists.   

 - Melo had a quiet night.  He shot well (7-15) and rebounded well (nine boards), but he was difficult to notice on the court from time to time.  He shot no free throws for just the second time this season.  His defensive effort was not particularly impressive (shocker).  Apart from the fourth quarter of the New Orleans game Melo has not put much of a stamp on any of their recent games.   

 - Iverson was tremendous again tonight.  Even when the game was done and it was just a matter of the clock hitting triple zero, Iverson showed a great deal of emotion in the fourth quarter as he tried to bring the Nuggets back.  Things almost became interesting with a little over four minutes left in the game, but the Nuggets could never get closer than eleven points. 

 - I honestly have not really cared much about the whole Iverson’s team or Melo’s team debate.  I always believed that they both needed to work together to make the game easier for everyone.  Over the past few games, it is clear that Iverson has definitely played the role of alpha dog.  It may just be that Melo has struggled lately and Iverson is just trying to pick up the slack, or it may be something more significant in the entire AI’s team or Melo’s team question.

For insight from the perspective of the spoiled fans of the Spurs check out Pounding the Rock.

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.

The Potential Problems With an Iverson Extension

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

There is a report in the Denver Post today that Allen Iverson wants to opt out of the final year of his contract at the end of this season and sign an extension, a six year extension, with the Nuggets.   

This may sound like great news.  The chance to lock Iverson up and make it highly likely that he retires a Denver Nugget is very appealing.  However, as much as I love AI this is not the slam dunk decision it may seem to be for the Nuggets. 

If Iverson resigns for anywhere near his value the Nuggets will be locked into their current core of players for the near future.  For example, let’s assume that Iverson signs a three year extension for $10 million a season, which I believe is highly conservative considering the he is making over $19 million this season.  For the next two seasons the Nuggets will be over or close to the salary cap with just Carmelo, Marcus Camby, Nene, Kenyon Martin and AI.  The third season of Iverson’s hypothetical deal Camby comes off the books, but they will still have Melo, Nene, Martin and AI in high priced deals.  Look at that core of players.  Carmelo is the only player in that group that has been able to stay consistently healthy and is not past his prime.  Would you trust them to be contenders in 2009-2010?  I do not think I would. 

The other problem that rises if you keep this core together for the next three seasons is there will be very little to work with to add quality players to the roster.  The Nuggets will be a good team, but probably not a great team.  If they cannot win a title with this group this year or next year, they will most likely begin to decline due to age.  Camby will be 34 by the end of this season and Iverson will turn 33 during this season’s playoffs.   

Can we rely on them into and past their mid 30’s?  If the Nuggets extend Iverson at the end of the year, they will have to.  The only move they have available to them would be to trade Camby’s expiring deal at the trading deadline in 2010.   

If Iverson is extended, the Nuggets’ brass better be pretty darn certain that they can win a title with this current group.  Otherwise they will waste between a quarter and a third of Melo’s prime seasons with a team that while good, it will probably not be great. 

I had been hoping that the Nuggets could assess whether or not this team was a title contender as next season progressed.  If they were not legitimate contenders, then they had Iverson’s $20 million expiring contract to make a deal to acquire some new pieces.   

However, that scenario was never very realistic.  Every player anywhere near Iverson’s abilities wants to know they have an extension ready before they reach the end of their current contract.  Should Iverson opt out the Nuggets are going to have to make a very difficult decision after this season.  Do they sign him and lock that core of players listed above in Denver for the next two or three years, do they let Iverson walk or do they try to pull off a sign and trade? 

I already expressed my concerns with resigning AI and obviously just letting Iverson walk would be a horrible decision.  The Nuggets would still be well over the cap and they would not be able to add a player of Iverson’s caliber to replace him.  Picture the core listed above without AI.  That would be the reality for the next two seasons.  Not a pretty picture. 

The Nuggets best option may be to sign and trade him, but only if they can get a good young player in exchange for him.  Who would that player be?  I have no idea.  As good as AI is, I do not think there would be very many teams calling the Nuggets to work something out.  Maybe the best bet would be an expiring deal and lottery pick.  You can see what a tough predicament they will find themselves in. 

The Nuggets made a very big gamble trading for Iverson.  I still think it was the best deal they could have made and it was a deal they should have made.  As I wrote previously, this is the first time as an NBA team the Nuggets have been considered at least borderline contenders.  But the bill may come due for that gamble as early as July of 2008 and once again the Nuggets could face a very important crossroad for the development of the franchise. 

In my mind this is just one more reason this team should be playing with more urgency than they are this season.  Their best shot at a title is probably right here and right now.

Fire (Up) Karl

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

George Karl is a lightning rod for Nuggets fans.  Some are calling for him to be fired.  Some think he needs to become a little more active and others still believe he is a good coach who can take the Nuggets beyond the first round in the playoffs. 

I certainly do not believe he should be fired at this point in his tenure.  Even if he is dismissed who could the Nuggets bring in who has enough cache to get the players’ attention?  Larry Brown?  After the way he mailed in the Knicks job I think I will pass.   

The realistic question becomes how can George Karl improve as the coach of the Nuggets?  At this point in the season I think there are a handful of ways where he can make the team better by making himself better. 

First of all, there is some concern, at least on my part, that he does not command enough respect from his players.  I have mentioned before how there are times where after a timeout Julie Browman will report that George said they need to do this or that and when the game begins you do not see even a remote trace of what Julie said George asked them to do.  Either Julie is a horrible reporter, or the players do not take everything George says to heart. 

Think back to when George first arrived in Denver.  He was replacing a coach with absolutely no track record of NBA success in Jeff Bzdelik.  He was the successful veteran coach who could make young spoiled players not only listen to what he said, but believe he was right.  That team played hard and smart.  They ran on offense and played hard on defense.  Consequently they went on one of the great runs of all time the second half of the season.   

By the end of the 2004-2005 season the Nuggets were playing great basketball and we all knew it was thanks to Coach Karl.  When he took the court before the beginning of every home game George Karl would receive a rousing standing ovation.  He probably would not have received a better reception had he personally handed each fan in attendance a $1,000 although that may be because most of the fans would have run out of the arena to spend the $1,000 on crack and prostitutes.  He had a team that was a nice mix of veterans and unproven youngsters playing at a high level.   

How did he do it?  If a player did not do what he wanted, it was guaranteed that that player’s posterior would end up on the bench next to George.  Even young star Carmelo Anthony found himself watching important possessions from the cushy fold out chairs found courtside.  Karl showed that no one was immune from losing playing time if they did not play hard and play smart.   

You want proof?  Look at Melo’s shooting percentage pre George Karl and post George Karl.  2003-2004 Melo shot 42.6%.  2004-2005 Melo shot 43.1%.  Karl rolled into town halfway though 2004-2005.  Then in 2005-2006 Melo shot 48.1%.  Last year he shot 47.6%, but this season he is down to 44.9%.  Why the jump after Karl took over?  He would sit Melo down for taking bad shots.  Maybe Melo has forgotten that lesson as his shooting percentage has dropped off significantly this season.     

George needs to recapture that discipline.  I think this team has a nice mix of veterans and youngsters just like the 2004-2005 team did.  When guys stop running they should get to watch from the sideline.  When someone gets a little jump shot happy show them that it is not acceptable by having them take a seat.  If the defense is a little lax, send in a player who is not afraid to get down and dirty.   

Right now there is not one of the primary players who are in danger of being yanked out of the game if they are not playing hard and/or playing smart.  If players are not afraid of losing out on playing time, they have no reason to make a little extra effort and do what the coach wants them to do.  Karl talks about how players get too wrapped up in debating with the refs or they stop running or they take bad shots, but if all he is going to do is tell them to stop it, that is not enough.   

Another area I would like to see Karl make a change is his style of defense.  When he was with Seattle he was known as a coach who would use pressure and traps to get a team off kilter and produce turnovers.  This Nugget team is actually statistically better at forcing turnovers than those SuperSonics teams were.  The Nuggets average almost two steals a game more than Karl’s best Sonics team did (thanks to basketballreference.com for the old stats).   

I realize when you have a short bench you cannot afford to play that style of defense, but now that everyone of consequence other than Nene is back, yes I know Chucky Atkins is still out, they have the manpower to play just such a trapping havoc creating style.  Players like AI, Melo, Kenyon Martin and Camby all have good instincts and could be great in just such a system.  Add in Kuba Diawara, Bobby Jones, Anthony Carter and J.R. Smith and they have tremendous athleticism on the bench to help out. 

Perhaps Karl does not think that type of defense will work anymore or maybe he thinks it would be a waste of energy.  I do know that Karl has had success with that type of defensive scheme before and they also have Mike Dunlap on the staff.  Anyone who watched Dunlap’s teams at Metro State, a Division II school in Denver, knows they had ingenious blitzing scheme that completely rattled their opponents.  Dunlap used that style to win two championships and get to a title game on a third occasion.  Dunlap was a hot coaching name and it was my understanding that the Nuggets brought him on board to have him help institute some of his revolutionary ideas.  So far, I have not seen anything similar to what he did at Metro State utilized by the Nuggets. 

From my point of view Karl has both the personnel and the brain trust to play some trapping high pressure defense.  As I said, he may have some good reason for not doing so, but I would like to see them try it.  If anyone out there has heard or read anything about this and I have missed it, please leave a comment.   

Lastly, Karl has made some “interesting” decisions involving game management.  The Nugg Doctor has made a case on more than one occasion that Karl has called timeouts too late when the opposition has made a run.  I will not attempt to steal his thunder and will let you read for yourself should you so choose.  Perhaps Karl has joined the Big Chief Triangle Appreciation Society and gone the way of Phil Jackson who prefers to allow his teams to try to figure out what they need to do to stop a run instead of calling a timeout.  I can appreciate that sentiment, but momentum can be like quick sand.  The more you struggle against it the worse things get.  Sometimes all you can do to break free is to stop the game altogether.  

We have also talked about his lack of fire during games before and again, I am not going to get into it again here.  Karl also makes some strange lineup decisions such as leaving Bobby Jones and Kuba on the bench after they played such a big role in the six game winning streak earlier this season.   

No matter what you think about George Karl he is going to be the Nuggets coach for at least the remainder of this season and probably next season as well.  He has had as much success as any Nuggets coach in his NBA career.  Hopefully he can recapture some of that fire that triggered the Nuggets to great heights in 2004-2005 and lead them beyond the first round for the first time in what will be 14 years by the time the playoffs roll around. 

I am afraid if he does not, it will be more of the same from our Punxsutawney Nuggets.

Game 21: Denver Nuggets 101 – Sacramento Kings 97

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

Remember the game against the Clippers in Los Angeles where I said the Nuggets faced the most insurmountable six point lead in the third quarter I had ever seen?  Well tonight was just the opposite.   

Even when the Kings took the lead in the third quarter, I never felt very worried about the final outcome.  Even the production by altitude seemed to be much less serious than usual.  They showed the bit with Rocky stealing Scott Hastings’ jacket and selling it to a fan.  They showed Hastings kissing Chris Marlowe after being on the “Kiss Cam.”  And they topped it all off with the marriage proposal at mid court.  (They also missed two full possessions showing replays.  Not parts of possessions, but entire possessions.  Is missing what is going on in the game for some mundane replay a joke to them?)     

Guess who else felt like the game was never in doubt?  The Nuggets.  And that was not a good thing. 

The Nuggets laid a collective egg in the third quarter.  They stopped running, they stopped moving on offense and they stopped defending.  That is a pretty good recipe for disaster.   

The Kings played a great deal of zone throughout the game.  In the first half the Nuggets swung the ball from side to side and had plenty of cutters and flashers, which sounds like a frat party but is actually good for offense in basketball, to put pressure on the zone.  In the second half against the same defense they switched into isolation mode and started throwing up all kinds of outside shots including plenty of bad threes.   

On defense, they completely stopped guarding the paint.  Sacramento did a good job of running a screen to trigger their offense and then having players cut into the paint from the weak side.  The Nuggets bigs had to help on the player coming off the screen and left the cutter open for either a pass or to grab an offensive rebound.  The Nuggets also were caught in quite a few bad switches in the second half.   

Did Iverson come to the rescue again?  How about Melo?  Well, J.R. got hot right?  Actually it was Anthony Carter with his perimeter shooting and scrappy defense who saved the day.   

Carter never does anything flashy and I do not think he does a particularly good job running the half court offense, but he is a consistent shooter from 20 feet and in and he always plays solid defense.  Guys can be blowing their assignments or losing their guys right and left, but Carter will know exactly what he is doing the and be in the right place the whole time.  On a team like this that can be important.  He blocked a shot by John Salmons in the first half and then to prove it was not a fluke took care of one of Brad Miller’s shots for good measure.  Miller was so displeased he gave Carter a forearm shiver to the side of his head.  Brad will be hitting his own head when he gets the memo from the league that the frustration induced shot to Carter’s bean has been upgraded to a flagrant foul.   

Even with Carter’s heroics the Nuggets ended up having to put together a small comeback of their own and then let Sacramento back into it after getting up by eight towards the end of the game. 

They did just enough to win the game and in the end there was no reason to worry.   I have no idea why, but I am feeling magnanimous.  I am not going to be upset about the close game against the only winless team on the road in the entire league.  Sacramento played well in spurts and the Nuggets did continue to show a commitment to run except for the putrid third quarter.  Maybe I have just finally accepted the fact that not only are the Nuggets inconsistent from game to game, but from quarter to quarter.  We just have to live with it. 

Other Observations From Game 21:

 - At the end of the third quarter when there was nine tenths of a second on the clock I thought to myself, “Good buddy, J.R. Smith can definitely get a shot off in that little amount of time.  In fact, he might be able to get two shots off in nine tenths of a second.”  The inbounds play did indeed call for J.R. to utilize his quick release and he made a fading 22 footer to give the Nuggets a little momentum going into the fourth quarter. 

 - Watch Kenyon Martin shoot free throws.  I know if can be very difficult, but if you can stomach it notice how he shoots the ball from in front of his left eye.  The problem with that is he is right handed.  One of the keys to being a consistent shooter is keeping your forearm and elbow on your shooting arm perpendicular to the ground.  Try a shooting motion right now wherever you are, in a chair, on the couch or on the toilet using your right hand to shoot from in front of your left eye and look at where your forearm is.  For those of you who enjoy science, try to figure out where the ball will go if you mover your arm at that angle as if you are shooting.  It sure is heck ain’t going straight unless you compensate somewhere else.  No wonder he is inconsistent from the line, and everywhere else.  Somehow he made two big ones inside two minutes to go.   

 - When Brad “The Slow White Tantrum” Miller fouled out Reggie Theus was going a little nuts and Francisco Garcia was trying to get him to back off.  I like when players realize better than their coaches that they cannot afford to give up a technical free throw with under five minutes left in a relatively close game.   

 - Melo had a low scoring game, but I did not get the feeling he was trying to force anything to happen apart from taking some unnecessary threes.  He made some good passes when the Kings’ zone surged towards him.  He was relatively active on the glass as well.  He will get it going soon, but the sooner the better. 

 - It is amazing how much worse of a shooter Anthony Carter is from outside the three point line than he is just a step inside of it.   

 - When Eduardo Najera went down I thought for sure he blew out his knee.  Fortunately it looks like it is only a contusion. 

 - Apparently Beno Udrih needs to be in a low pressure situation.  Playing in San Antonio where it is championship or bust turned his game into a quivering mound of jello.  However, playing in Sacramento where they want to maximize their ping pong balls he can jack up shot after shot without concern.  I can just see him going to Cleveland after this season turning back into jello ensuring Eric Snow has a job for another couple of seasons and Cleveland fans have something else to complain about. 

 - George Karl actually got up and worked the refs on at least two occasions.  Maybe his hemorrhoids were acting up and he could not sit down.  That is kind of mean, I am not sure I should have said that.  Oh well, it is not like he is reading this. 

 - I keep hearing about how Kenyon Martin had some kind of knee surgery, but it does not seem to have affected him much.  In all seriousness how amazing is it that he is playing at this level?  He is as explosive and agile as ever.  When he was with the Nets they had him guarding small forwards from time to time.  Tonight, he guarded Artest quite a bit and did a great job.  He was pulling rebounds out of the sky, blocking shots and throwing down dunks.  Kudos to modern day medicine for how far microfracture surgery has come and kudos to Martin for a great deal of determination and rehab to get back. 

Check out Sactown Royalty for some perspective on tonight’s game from some Kings fans.

Game 19: Denver Nuggets 107 – Los Angeles Lakers 111

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

It is easy to dwell on how amazing Allen Iverson was tonight.  He was incendiary.  It was awesome to watch, but it is all overshadowed by the outcome of the game.   

The Nuggets tend to get a little too cute on defense coming up with schemes where they believe they can take advantage of a matchup here or there, but once again tonight they out-thought themselves.  When Chris Mihm was in the game in the first half Camby did not guard him unless he entered the paint.  (I know about the box and one with one guy playing man to man, but what is it called when four guys play man to man and the other plays zone?  The dot and four?)  This unconventional defense left the Nuggets confused on their rotations and assignments once someone had to help on a screen or drive.  Because of their confusion they gave up a bevy of wide open three point shots in the second quarter. 

Fortunately in the second half the strategy was abandoned, as far as I could tell and Mihm helped by not straying from the paint anymore, but the damage was done as the Nuggets gave up seven threes in the second quarter alone.  Iverson had his best quarter scoring 18 points, but that was negated by the threes they gave up on defense.  Instead of going into halftime with a six or eight point lead, they were down four. 

There was an aspect of Iverson’s big game that did worry me a little and that was the offense was largely stagnant as Iverson pumped in bucket after bucket.  That is very difficult to avoid when a player like Iverson is taking over the game and there is a good reason to let it happen.  Watching the game unfold you kind of dreaded the potential situation where Iverson either cools off or the rest of the Nuggets have to pick up more of the load on offense.   

The Lakers made sure Iverson did not end up beating them.  Through three quarters Iverson had 49 points.  He scored two in the fourth quarter. 

In the first half the Lakers were frequently doubling Carmelo, but in the fourth quarter the Lakers decided to aggressively double Iverson and take the ball out of his hands.  On a night when J.R. Smith was 1-10, Kenyon Martin was 2-8 and missed three of four free throws in the fourth quarter and Marcus Camby was 0-3 there was not much help to be had.  Anthony had played a decent offensive game up to that point, but went 3-9 in the fourth quarter excluding his meaningless made layup with two seconds left.   

Iverson did his part posting four of his eight assists in the fourth quarter as he tried to set up his teammates as a result of the double teams, but it was a difficult adjustment for the rest of the team to make after he had scored so much on his own for the first three quarters.  He must have felt like he was playing with the likes of Matt Geiger, Eric Snow and Aaron McKee again. 

This game reinforces what I said after the encounter in Los Angeles last week.  The Lakers are simply a better team than the Nuggets at this point in the season.   In several ways the Nuggets outplayed the Lakers tonight.  They ran pretty well putting up 23 fast break points.  They had a slight lead in points in the paint.  They both shot and made 11 more free throws than the Lakers and they outrebounded them as well.  But the big difference in three point shooting was the clincher for the Lakers.   

Thus we see another game go down the tubes that the Nuggets really needed to have.  The Nuggets travel to Dallas tomorrow night (back to back and injury excuse warning!) and if they drop that game they will finish up the first quarter of the season at 11-9. 

In case you were wondering, but even if you were not, the Nuggets have lost six of the seven games they have played in Dallas since Carmelo joined the team.  They usually do not play very well there, but hey who does?   

I will be very interested to see how they respond if Dallas puts a run on them in the second half.   

Other Observations From Game 19:

 - Eduardo Najera is the best cutter on the team.  He has a great sense of timing for when to make his move. 

 - Melo put forth more effort on defense tonight, but it was actually frustrating to watch.  He will play close to his man, denying the ball and staying close to him for a while, but if he gets picked off or if his man moves out to the perimeter after Melo covers him on a cut he will just stop playing.  It almost seems like he is content with what he did and he considers his job to be done.  On a few occasions he just completely stopped.  He was not going for rebounds and he plays absolutely no help defense.  He even stops paying attention to his man.  That is not quiet a commitment to defense.  He is in a relationship with Defense, but he is still seeing his old lady friend Apathy on the side.  I hope Apathy has something going for her and is worth it, because I hate to see Defense treated that way.     

 - I got a kick out of Chris Marlowe pointing out that Melo was taking on the challenge of guarding Kobe at one point in the second quarter.  Melo guarded him for two possessions one of which he was rubbed off by a screen and switched off of Kobe almost immediately.  He was relieved of that duty when Anthony Carter checked back into the game. 

 - The Lakers were playing on the second half of a back to back set and on the road no less, yet somehow they won.  How could that be possible?  Any thoughts on that Marcus? 

 - Again, I do not like just reciting stats out of the box score, but Camby had another 20 rebound game.  He is pouring his heart out on the glass every night, but he still just plays pick and rolls like the ball handler has cooties.  During a key sequence in the last couple of minutes he did not step up to slow down Kobe when all J.R. needed to get back in front was a little help.  Camby just watched him go by and score a layup.  At least he tried to remedy that mistake on the next pick and roll, but Kobe did such a great job of quickly getting away from the screen Smith had too much ground to make up and Kobe was able to shake Marcus and hit a big jumper.  I do not expect Marcus to stop Kobe in that situation, but I do wish he would have put forth the same effort during the play that he could have made a difference. 

 - Don’t you just wish you could watch film with the Nuggets sometime with the remote in one hand and a pointer in the other?  I would probably get jumped afterwards by a lynch mob of posse members and beaten to a pulp, but if I get my message though it might be worth it.  I have enough life insurance to pay off the house.   

 - Lamar Odom had been struggling big time and it was only a matter of time before he had a good game.  He played very well scoring all 17 of his points, in the first two and a half quarters. 

 - I absolutely hate hearing cheers over the television when the Lakers score during games in Denver.  It grates on me like a braggart foisting his silly pathetic stories on a fair maiden. 

 - The Nuggets keep playing zone here and there and it makes me nuts.  They play sloppy defense when they are in a zone and the do not rebound well at all.  They have the potential to build the foundation of being a very good man to man defensive team.  After all, Melo is in a quasi-serious relationship with Defense for the first time in his career.   

 - I think it is safe to say that George Karl has lost faith in Bobby Jones and Kuba Diawara, who is back to being the Nuggets leading three point shooter after the 0-5 night J.R. Smith threw up.   

 - I thought it was interesting watching Iverson heading towards the bench after the third quarter, being met on the court by Karl and then emphatically telling him that he did not need a rest and would prefer not to be taken out of the game.  They guy had 49 points through three quarters in a close game.  You might as well be asking a pitcher in the middle of a no hitter if he wanted to let someone else take care of the last three outs or asking Drew Carey to date someone who does not take their clothes off for a living. 

 - I just hit my funny bone so I am going to wrap things up. 

Again, for some thoughts from the Lakers’ perspective on tonight’s game and to see what a high quality blog actually looks like as opposed to this slop check out Forum Blue and Gold.

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 17: Denver Nuggets 123 – Los Angeles Clippers 107

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score

What I saw from the Nuggets tonight made me even more disappointed in the results last night in Los Angeles against the Lakers.   

They did many of the things tonight that they failed to do last night.  They pushed the pace for more than a few minutes, even after makes, they had much better movement on offense resulting in a plethora of easy shots in the paint and they played good defense for a majority of the game.   

Of course, that has been the way they have done things for years.  When you can claim that you played the champions as well as anyone, or that you did really well for having to fight through injuries, why change anything?  As long as players keep getting injured, you can keep that line of crap going for years. 

Getting back to the game, the Nuggets played well enough that I was surprised when looking at the box score that some individual numbers were not better. 

I was very impressed with the play of Kenyon Martin.  He played very tough defense on Chris Kaman.  He was constantly working to push him away from the block when Kaman was trying to establish position and he met Kaman in the lane and began working him over instead of letting him come across the floor and then start fighting him.   

Martin was also aggressive on offense as he drove and cut to the rim frequently resulting in at least three dunks.  He was also very determined on the glass fighting everyone, even Marcus Camby on a couple of occasions, for rebounds.  Martin ended up with nine points and five rebounds, but I would have guessed he had 15 points and eight or nine rebounds from the way he played. 

When Martin was out of the game, Eduardo Najera did a very good job on Kaman as well frustrating him on more than one occasion. 

Carmelo Anthony made a concerted effort to get to the basket in the first half and I do not recall an instance where he forced a shot over a double team.  He also brought some effort on defense once again although only in spurts.  Most of all I was impressed with Melo’s effort on the defensive glass, especially in the second half when he recorded all of his rebounds.  He was so aggressive that, as with Martin, I thought he ended up with eight or nine boards.  He actually only grabbed four, but he kept some other rebounds alive by tipping them until a teammate could get to it. 

Tonight it was obvious that they knew what they had to change in order for them to succeed.  My question is why did they wait until tonight to make those changes?  Why don’t they approach every game the same way? 

I believe that they go into some games with the idea it is OK for them to lose.   

I have written previously about how important it is for the Nuggets not to site the injuries that they have endured as an excuse for underachieving.  Unfortunately not only are they using injuries as an excuse, it is coming directly from the head coach.  Successful teams and coaches do not give any excuses for loses.   

I think they went into the Laker game last night with the idea that they could lose the game and not feel bad about it because of the “rash” of injuries they have experienced.   

When you add that defeatist attitude they bring into some games because of the ready made excuse of injuries with the arrogant attitude that they think that they can just show up and win in other games they are approaching a large portion of their games with a very poor frame of mind. 

The Nuggets are like the teenager who is happy to get a ‘D’ because it is a passing grade when they are capable of getting an ‘A.’  Anyone who cares about them is upset that they are happy with the results and ultimately, they are hurting only themselves by settling for less than they are capable of.   

What makes things even worse is that the Nuggets achieved their goal for the month of November, which was established by none other than Coach George Karl, to win ten games.  For the Nuggets to proclaim this month a success for posting a 10-7 record is nothing short of preposterous. 

Maybe it is not quite a ‘D’ it sure as heck isn’t much better.  And there is Karl standing in front of the cameras telling everyone how pleased he is with it. Well, congratulations you are going to graduate from high school George, but do not expect to get into any good colleges, or to get any further than the first round of the playoffs. 

I had stated that in order for the Nuggets to make me believe that they are capable of winning 55 to 60 games they would have to end November with a 14-3 record.  Well, as the calendar turns to December they find themselves four games off of that pace and there were some ugly games mixed throughout for such a veteran team with lofty goals.   

Other Observations From Game 17:

 - I am still not sure what to think of Anthony Carter.  He has proven to be an adequate shooter from 20 feet and in.  He has put up some nice assist numbers.  However, he does not seem to run the team very well.  Many of his passes are off the mark and do not allow the recipient to take a shot in rhythm.  I think that is the first time I have ever spelled the word rythym correctly on my first try.  Dang it, I guess I could not do it twice in a row though. 

 - Looking at the stats the Nuggets did much better in all the areas they struggled in when the lost to the Clippers just over a week ago.  They outrebounded the Clippers by one, outscored them in the paint by six and even though they lost the fast break battle 20-14, they did a good job of pushing the pace. 

 - Just yesterday I wrote that the Nuggets might be better off starting AI at point and J.R. Smith at shooting guard, but I can certainly see the merits in having Carter and AI on the floor at the same time.  While playing Iverson at shooting guard is certainly a defensive liability, they run the floor much better when they have two options to take the outlet pass and run the fast break.   

 - Diawara is the only Nugget who has not gone through a slump from long distance.  He made two tonight, the second one killed any hopes of a Clipper rally.  Kuba is 14-31 on the season which equates to over 45%.  He is constantly compared to Bruce Bowen as a defender by George Karl my question is, if he really believes that, with his three point shooting why is he not playing more?   

 - Corey Maggette is by far the best offensive player the Clippers have, but I get the feeling they think he gets more than his fair share of shots up.  There were several occasions where his teammates chose not to pass to him even though he was set up in what seemed to be good scoring positions. 

 - Karl has been taking a lot of heat from fans regarding his lack of fire on the bench and his overly supportive comments in the press.  Everyone wants him to rant and rave along the sideline and call out his players in the papers and on television, but there are two problems with expecting those types of behavior from him.   

Karl is a Carolina guy and reveres Dean Smith as a coach and a person.  Smith was, for the most part, stoic on the sideline and Karl is trying to emulate that style.   

As far as speaking ill of his players to the media, that was one of the issues his players had with him in the past.  By the time his tenure was up in Milwaukee he had seriously hurt his relationship with his players, Ray Allen in particular, because he was hard on them openly with the media.  I think he is talking the way he is now to avoid some of those old problems.   

I am not supporting Karl in his decisions in how to conduct himself during games or with the press.  I am just saying this to give some background to why he may do what he does.

For a perspective on tonight’s game from the Clippers point of view check out Clipper Blog or Clips Nation.

Update:

J.R. Smith deserves a mention as he hit his first four or five threes he took.  They were all quality shots until he took a shady heat check three that ended up being his first miss.  He closed the game going 6-9 from long distance.  His lack of effort on defense and quasi psychotic shot selection made it difficult to keep him on the floor in the past.  Now that he is making an effort to correct those shortcomings, he can be a tremendous asset to the Nuggets.

We Kneed Fewer Injuries

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

The Nuggets finally caught a bit of a break today.  Who among us did not expect the worst after Kenyon Martin hurt his knee against Houston?  After looking over Martin’s MRI the doctors declared his knee injury a bone bruise and not an injury of a more serious nature.   

The ultimate idea of this post is how the Nuggets will deal with yet another injury, but there is another issue to address.  Is this a sign that a more significant knee injury for Kenyon is over the horizon, or perhaps even just around the corner, or might it be a sign that Kenyon’s knees are sturdy and they can handle some trauma without giving way to more significant damage?  I do not think we can draw a conclusion either way until Kenyon either makes it through the season or experiences a serious injury along the way.  It is one of those questions that we cannot really know the answer to, but can spend a lot of time arguing about anyway. 

The results of the MRI show that Martin will miss at least the next game against the Indiana Pacers tomorrow, but will probably also miss a game or two beyond that.   

Other good injury news is that Linas Kleiza is very close to returning and will be a game time decision tomorrow against the Flat and Boring State Pace Cars.  (I went to school in Indiana for two years, no not at IU thankfully, and things there are pretty dull.  In fact, the closest thing I ever received to hate email was regarding my treatment of Indiana in a scathing article I posted on an old website of mine.  OK, I admit that some people in Indiana have more than three teeth and not all of them have an incalculable Body Mass Index, but I still do not want to go back.) 

Whether Kleiza plays tomorrow against the AMC Pacers or not, the Nuggets will be significantly short handed without Nene and Martin.  After Steven Hunter went under the knife, I blogged that the Nuggets could not afford to lose anyone else to injury without it impacting their rotation.  Since then Kleiza and Martin have both been injured.   

It has appeared that the Nuggets have not really missed Kleiza, but that may not be entirely true.  He does run the floor as hard as any of the other players and he brings an energy and determination to the court when he is out there.  However, he did not hurt his ankle until the fourth quarter of the Clipper game and the Nuggets were not running or playing with energy, apart from Allen Iverson of course, while he was in there.  It is a stretch to believe he personally could have made much of a difference in the Timberwolf or Rocket games as pathetic as those performances were, but he would have provided a little of what the Nuggets have been missing.  However, now that Martin is out, they do need him back desperately. 

Even when Kleiza returns they will be undersized at power forward with Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera the only players who can even pretend to be low post defenders.  The Nuggets are going to have to play at a very fast pace to make up for their lack of size and the Pacers, for one, will oblige as they want to play quickly as well.  It will also help that they will be light in the front court as well as Jermaine O’Neal will probably miss the game in Denver with knee problems of his own.  Denver has been successful at playing small ball in short spurts so far this season and it helps that the next three opponents (Pacers, Lakers and the juggernaut Clippers) lack any low post threat from the power forward spot.   

The bottom line is the Nuggets are going to have to play with tremendous effort and passion on both ends of the floor in order to be successful while Martin is out.  Obviously, they have failed to do that for three straight games as miserably as the Maginot Line failed to hold back the Germans.  If they cannot turn things around as they did at halftime of the first Pacer game, they will find themselves staring at a .500 record and a long road ahead of them to respectability.   

I have no idea what George Karl will do with mixing and matching of lineups over the next few games.  He probably does not even know what he will do until Kleiza is either ruled in or out for the Pacer game.  This will be a test of his coaching skill as he will have to find the right mix of players that can work together on the floor and more importantly, prevent the Nuggets from using injuries as an excuse over the next few games.   

If you ask the Nuggets players point blank if they blame injuries for their recent poor performance, I guarantee you to a man they will say, “No.”  But they will list off everyone who has been hurt and deep down in a part of their soul that only God and their agent knows exists I suspect that they may allow themselves some leeway mentally to play poorly because of the current lack of health around the locker room.   

I will make another guarantee.  At the end of the season, if they do not achieve their goals, injuries will be one of the primary excuses at the top of everyone’s list to explain why. 

It is a mindset that Karl cannot allow to be fostered and it is up to him as well as players like Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby and Carmelo Anthony to make sure that such a mindset is not tolerated. 

Game 13: Denver Nuggets 99 – Minnesota Timberwolves 93

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

How dedicated am I to you guys?  My wife and I celebrated our anniversary tonight, and now I am watching the replay of the game so that I can file my post for everyone to enjoy.  The only question is will I make it to my next anniversary? 

Afer watching the replay I am not happy.

I want to know how do they come out flat for this game?  How do they give this team any hope?  I may go back and edit my glowing post following the Bulls game where I lauded their killer instinct and desire to blow everyone out.   

Before the season I laid out the groundwork for what it would take for this team must do in order for me to take them seriously as a contender.  I had to have a 14-3 record at the end of November.  Even though that is what I needed to see from them I let myself get sucked in by a few easy wins.  

Tonight the Nuggets did turn it on with about five minutes left in the third quarter and played with some determination in the fourth quarter, but they could never pull away from the Timberwolves and that was frustrating.

After the jump shooting extravaganza in Los Angeles the other night, wouldn’t you think that the Nuggets might have decided that they were going to work to get better shots?  Maybe try some of those things we have been talking about like moving without the ball, quick passing and pushing the pace.   

I have no idea why, but this team has to keep learning the same lessons over and over again.  What is worse, they know it.  They say things like, “It starts with defense” and “We have to play hard for the full 48 minutes,” but they keep failing to do those things and it keeps them from being a top team. 

That is exactly why I labeled these guys the Punxsutawney Nuggets (I sure wish that groundhog lived in a town like Joes or Hot Lake, it would be much easier to spell).  We see the same problems over and over.  They never get resolved.  At some point the team has to show some legitimate growth.  I have seen growth as individuals here and there, but not as a team. 

I will equate it to the frat buddies who have all finally settled down and started families, but whenever they get together they start doing blow and poking hookers.  Things eventually fall apart, just watch the movie “Very Bad Things” and you will see what I am talking about. 

Plenty of people will say this was a good win, they fought through a tough game and did what they had to, but that is window dressing.  It is soothing a symptom and not the disease.  Teams who contend dominate weak teams.  Sure they lose some over the course of an 82 game season, but they do not struggle so frequently with poor teams at home.   

Other Observations From Game 13: 

 - I was again disappointed with J.R. Smith’s performance.  He took three bad threes in the first half and even pushed McCants down which was somehow completely missed by the refs.  That is the kind of mental mistake that will bite you in a big game.  He has stopped swinging the ball around and has been shooting it himself.  He throws fits after every call that goes against him, even the good ones.  The maturity he was showing has absolutely disappeared.   

Can it be as simple as the position he is playing?  He has played much more intelligently as a point guard.  He has the ability to play the position and it sounded like he enjoyed it.  I know with Kleiza out and Carter back they needed him more at the swing positions, but I think they should consider a long term switch for J.R. He is still giving god effort on defense though so that is a good sign. 

 - Kenyon Martin had a very good game.  He played solid defense on Jefferson when they were not in their silly zone and put up some points on the other end of the court.  He has been consistently deadly within twelve feet all season.  The most encouraging thing for me was to see Martin go 4-4 from the free throw line when the game was still in doubt.   

 - How do the Timberwolves not run their offense all game long through Al Jefferson?  He is their best offensive weapon.  They rely way too much on their perimeter players.  In the first half it seemed like the talent vacant Mark Madsen had more chances on the block than he did. 

 - I wrote after the Portland Trailblazers game that I was disappointed that they came out and played zone because it prevented them from potentially developing a tough man to man defensive identity?  Well, for a good chunk of the first half they played zone and it hurt them.  This is not a very good zone team.  It is too easy to lose focus and expect someone else to do your job or someone else to get the rebound. In the second half they did play man to man exclusively from what I noticed, but the same situation arose as was present in the Clipper game, the tone of the game had been set.   

 - Notice how Chris Marlow is now referring to the baseline jumper as Camby’s favorite shot?  What is going to happen when he starts missing that one all the time?  Will the dunk then become his favorite shot?  I guess in a roundabout way at least people are realizing that Camby has no business taking that shot form the top of the key anymore, except for him as he flung it up there at least three more times tonight and I do not think he made any of them.   

I wish I could get that kind of treatment at my work.  Here he is going for his favorite email, the I thought you took care of it email.  Don’t mention that I am not doing my job, but just accept that I should be doing it because I do it often.

 - Well, the Nuggets got Anthony Carter back.  What did everyone think?  I thought he did a good job.  I do not blame him for fumbling the ball around a couple of times.  He played good defense, but does not seem to always make the right decision on offense.  He forced a couple of passes and made other passes that did not really trigger anything.  I am more in favor of him getting minutes than Chucky Atkins, but time will tell which of them should be on the floor.  Atkins is certainly a better shooter than Carter, but can he bring more to the table than that? 

 - Melo made three long jumpers to start off the game and everyone started getting excited.  I was somewhat concerned.  As noted above, the Nuggets did not work to get good shots against the Clippers.  He can get the long jumper whenever he wants.  It is a criticism of other talented players as well, particularly Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter.  They can get in the paint whenever they want, but it is so easy to take a 20 footer, why not do it.  They all can make it so it seems like a good idea to them to take it when in fact they should be working for a better shot.   

One of the crucial plays in the game late in the fourth quarter saw Melo jack up a 22 foot jumper after holding the ball and making no attempt to get to the rim.  It ended up being a positive turning point for the Nuggets as Camby slammed the miss through, thus letting Melo off the hook.  I did not hear much mentioned about it, but Melo’s shot selection was not good in this game.   

 - Along the same lines from a coaching standpoint it is tempting to go with isolation sets because talented players like Melo and AI can beat almost anyone, but more easy shots come about through moving without the ball and quick passing than standing as the clock winds down.  

 - Post game show in a nut shell:  Did not do this right or this right or this right or that right or this either, but they got the W so life is great.  All these things they struggled with do matter.  They are warning signs on the way to the washed out bridge.  One of the things coaches say is it is tough to teach after a win.  Players know they won the game so they are not going to listen if you try to tell them what they did wrong.   

However, I too fall prey to this as my tracking of bad losses does not include bad wins.  Why?  Because they go in the win column, but we all know the things that haunted the Nuggets in this game will continue to haunt them all season long. 

 - Tomorrow night they get the struggling Houston Rockets who somehow gave up a 26 and 14 night to the artist formerly known as Shaq Diesel on their way to their sixth straight loss.  I guess things could be worse.   

Sorry for the lack of humor tonight, but I used all my wit on my wife during dinner.

 Check out the what Timberwolves fans are saying after this game at TWolvesBlog.

Game 12: Denver Nuggets 90 – Los Angeles Clippers 101

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

Another game, another blow out, but this was not the blow out Nuggets fans expected.  Make no mistake about it, this was a blowout.  From the middle of the second quarter on the Nuggets were cooked. 

“We really will not find out much more about them until they play at Houston on Saturday.  That is unless they lose on the road against the Clippers or at home against the Timberwolves.” 

I wrote that just last night after the Bulls game in reference to the fact that the Nuggets were playing much improved defense and doing all they could to run the other team out of the gym. 

Well, all those things they had been displaying over the previous five and a half games suddenly disappeared.   

No heart. 

No offensive movement. 

No focus. 

No chance. 

They lost a game to a team missing three of their four best players (OK, Cassell did come in for a bit in the third and fourth quarter, but the tone of the game was set long before that) because of injury.   

This is the second bad loss for the Nuggets already this season including the Knick game and excluding the Hornets game, which was a borderline bad loss.  Last year Phoenix won 61 games, which is something the Nuggets have stated that they believe they can accomplish.  Phoenix had five bad losses all last season. 

The Nuggets are on a pace for 13 bad losses.  You do not win 60 games, or 55, with that many bad losses.  The only player who made any attempt to get to the basket was Iverson.  He was by far the Nuggets best player tonight.  He single handedly kept them in the game in the second quarter.   

One example of the Nuggets’ mindset tonight was Martin had a shot blocked by Kaman which he thought was goaltending.  He stood back behind the play glaring at the ref while Kaman hustled down and got a wide open layup on the secondary break. 

The Nuggets also missed a myriad of layups in the first half.  In the second half, they did not get nearly as many chances close to the rim. 

To top it all off, they started running the offense they perfected from the first half of the Celtics game.  A devastating combination of a lack of movement and a lack of passing and it worked just as poorly tonight as it did then. 

This was a pathetic display of basketball.   

Other Observations From Game 12: 

 - The bloom is off the rose for Bobby Jones and Kleiza from the three point line.  Jones has missed six straight and Kleiza is two for his previous 15!  Iverson had a couple of chances to kick it over to Kleiza, but he had seen enough. 

 - Even early in the second half when the Clipper lead was hovering around six it seemed like it might as well have been a 20 point lead.  At no time did I believe the Nuggets were in position to make a run. 

 - At what point was George Karl going to realize that Kenyon Martin could not guard Chris Kaman one on one?  He abused Martin in the post over and over.  Maybe he would make an adjustment at halftime. 

 - J.R. Smith regressed in a big way tonight.  He was terrible in the first half.  He was out of control and was lucky that he did not get called for traveling on a couple of occasions because he could not decide when to pick up his dribble.  In the second half he started jacking up bad three pointers. 

 - Camby took four, FOUR, pull up jumpers in the first half.  He actually made two of them to double his total as a Nugget, but that does not change the fact that they were horrible shots.  Other than that, he was quietly effective grabbing another 18 boards. 

 - The Nuggets did not double Kaman in the post in the second half, but there was a possession where they doubled Mobley.  That resulted in a wide open jumper on the off side.  Ultimately I guess it did not matter what they did with the pathetic mental state they were in tonight, they were going to lose regardless. 

 - Someone needs to tell Melo that bodying up to his man 45 feet from the basket is not good defense.  He also has to move his feet.  There is no reason to play that tight on your man that far from the basket anyway.  That is an example of fake hustle and fake intensity.   

 - It is a testament to how talent poor the Clippers are that they were only up by seven at the half and only won by 11. 

 - Karl’s big second half adjustment was to start Mike Wilks in stead of Diawara.  I did not know why Wilks was playing in the first half when he did.  Why he started the second half over Kuba in a game where the Nuggets were lacking defensive intensity was ridiculous.  Let’s say I am mad at my car for getting poor gas mileage.  I do not take the air out of the tires because I am trying to prove a point.  I do whatever I can to get the gas mileage up as high as possible.  Starting Wilks instead of Kuba was letting the air out of the tires.   

 - If it were not for spell check, I would never have spelled the word mileage correctly.  Shouldn’t there be a ‘d’ in there somewhere? 

 - Another thing I wrote last night was that Melo had not lost his head yet this season.  Well, in the second quarter Cuttino Mobley bumped Melo with his posterior which apparently gave Melo a bit of a boo-boo.  He backed off about fifteen feet and let Mobley drain a wide open three.  The rest of the game he was pouting and decided the best way to get back at Mobley was to pick up fouls running through screens and taking poor shots.  He then resorted to firing up a bunch of threes.  Sure he made a couple, but realistically, they were all bad shots. 

 - During the game I received an email newsletter from the Nuggets announcing Iverson was player of the week last week.  Not much of a chance of repeating that accomplishment after this stink bomb even though Iverson ended up having a very good night.

 Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and I truly appreciate all of you who take the time to read this blog and even leave your thoughts in the comment section.

For a sample of what the Clippers fans thought about this game check out Clipper Blog or Clips Nation.

Game 11: Denver Nuggets 112 – Chicago Bulls 91

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

What else can we say about the Nuggets at this point?  Tonight was another example of smart offense, tough defense and near nonstop effort.  They got up early on the Bulls, which is easy as they start two offensively inept players and three other players who are in an extreme slump, and kept the pedal down all night. 

One big change I see in the Nuggets this year is a new hyper-competitiveness.  Right now they have a killer instinct that I have never seen from them before.  One example of that was Camby getting called for a travel late in the third quarter with a 25 point lead and getting really upset like I-just-caught-my-wife-in-bed-with-two-other-dudes upset.  These guys want to destroy everyone right now and I love it. 

Like I said, what else can we say about the Nuggets at this point in the season?  They are blowing out teams that they should be blowing out.  That may seem a bit uninteresting, as much of my material does, but do not discount that as there are many teams who struggle at winning the games that they should win easily in the NBA.  One team that struggled mightily with that was your 2006-2007 Denver Nuggets. 

We really will not find out much more about them until they play at Houston on Saturday.  That is unless they lose on the road against the Clippers or at home against the Timberwolves before that. 

Other Observations From Game 11: 

 - Nocioni is a scrapper and fighter on defense.  One of the things I was worried about was him getting away with the little physical hits and getting in the Nuggets’ (i.e. Melo’s) head(s).  Well, Melo made him look absolutely silly.  Nocioni was never close enough to Melo to get any cheap shots in on him.  Melo was able to use his superior quickness to get plenty of space on Nocioni whether it was in the paint on a sweet spin move or on the perimeter with the step back jumper.   

Nocioni is going to be praying that Argentina plays zone next year in the Olympics against Team USA because he wants no part of Melo after tonight. 

Along the same lines, Melo has not had any big blowups as he has had in the past where he loses his head or starts playing selfish to prove a point.  No throwing the headband or flipping out on refs.  It is almost as if he is growing up.   

 - Melo had a migraine in the morning, and it may have reflected a little bit in his shooting.  He was 0-3 on three pointers and missed a handful of 18 footers.  He did break out of his one game free throw slump in a big way.  He shot 10-13 which was not great, but was much better than the 0-4 he put up against New York.   

 - Martin was tremendous in the first quarter.  He has not only done a tremendous job on defense, but he is just as good on offense.  His shot selection has been as good as I have seen since he came to Denver.  He has eliminated the 20 foot jumper from his repertoire (he did take an 18 footer in the third quarter, but I can excuse that from time to time) and is taking the ball to the basket for his nice little push shot.    

 - There were three different stages of the game where the Nuggets relaxed and the Bulls were able to cut into their lead, at the beginning of the second quarter the Bulls went on a 7-0 run, when the starters came back in midway through the second quarter when they saw a 49-32 lead get knocked down to ten and a couple of minutes at the beginning of the second half when the had a 5-0 run. 

In the past the Nuggets would have let those sequences snowball into a prolonged run.  At this point in the season they are regaining their focus and throwing up a run of their own to not only regain their advantage, but increase it.   

In the past three games neither the Blazers, the Knicks nor the Bulls have been able to cut a big Nuggets second quarter down below ten.  You read that correctly, in the previous three games once the Nuggets have been up by at least ten in the second quarter they have maintained that lead throughout the game.   

 - Even when the Nuggets were temporarily losing focus on defense their offense was in high gear all night.  Melo has been a matchup nightmare for his individual defender for a couple of seasons, but now that he is more dedicated to hit the open man when he drives and that has made him other-worldly.  When he is passing the way he is it will require an entire team effort to keep the Nuggets from having a big offensive night. 

 - Has Nocioni shut up yet?  Dear Lord, the guy complains more than a prissy Valley Girl doing manual labor. 

 - Tyrus Thomas was a complete punk for a short stretch in the third quarter.  He glared at Melo for tipping the ball out of his hands after a whistle.  Then he tried to be a tough guy fighting through a screen the next time down the court and was called for a foul.  After that he threw a mini elbow at Kenyon after Martin was called for a pushing into him on a screen.  He had a really nice game against Detroit this season.  If he does not get his head on straight, that will end up being his career game.   

 - I think Hinrich just missed another jumper.  And he is planning on taking another on the next possession.  Gordon was much worse than Kirk so it may have been better using him, but in the third quarter after the Bulls made their last mini-run he missed jumpers on three or four possessions in a short sequence to kill any chance they had of getting any closer.

 - I really should say something about Marcus Camby seeing how he had another 20 rebound game.  He had a sequence of blocks in the second quarter that left Scott Skiles on the floor yelling at the refs because he could not believe that anyone could do such a thing.  Well, believe it Coach Skiles and enjoy the auto deduction from your next check for the fine you will get after picking up that technical.  As great as Camby has been, it is almost routine to see him grab rebound after rebound.  He is playing at a high level and deserves all the accolades that he is receiving from Nugget fans.

 - I agree completely with what Kenny Smith said about the Bulls on Inside the NBA last week.  They are a jump shooting team that can never get any open jumpers.  Question:  How many 20 footers do those guys take with a hand in their face?  Answer:  More than the average person shoots in their life. 

 - I kind of have a sore throat right now, but I think I will be alright. 

 - I have not really given Iverson, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, much attention in the past couple of write ups, but he had 20 points in the first half and was playing superlative offensive basketball.  He is taking (mostly) good shots and getting teammates involved.  He let Hinrich get loose a couple of times in the first half on defense, but was a tremendous pest apart from that.   

The very first possession of the game the Iverson and Diawara were playing such great denial defense that Ben Wallace could not pass the ball off to anyone and had to take an awkward driving shot.  How often do you see that in the NBA? 

Believe it or not, you see it now from the Denver Nuggets.

You can find a perspective from the Bulls point of view at Blog-a-Bull.

Game 10: Denver Nuggets 115 – New York Knicks 83

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Box Score 

I was absolutely thrilled with the Nuggets tonight.  They had an inferior team coming into their building who had just played a double overtime game the night before and they absolutely blew them out.   

No contest. 

No mercy. 

The Nuggets outscored the Knicks by eight in the first quarter, ten in each of the second and third quarters and even tacked on another four point advantage during garbage time in the fourth.  This was dominance on the scale of Godzilla vs. Bambi, Germany vs. France in WWII, red wine vs. white suede or sanity vs. Angelina Jolie. 

In the first half the Nuggets were cutting through the lane as well as I have ever seen them in recent years.  The passing was equally as good as there was an avalanche of layups, dunks and assorted open shots to start the game.   

I will proclaim this on November 18, 2007 for everyone to see and reflect on:  Teams can no longer play zone on the Nuggets.  Not only are they much improved from the three point line, but they have excellent passers at every position.  If they do not shoot their way out of it, they will slice and dice the zone to death. 

It was obvious that Marcus Camby remembered what happened in New York a couple of weeks ago when the Knicks absolutely dominated the boards on the way to a comeback win.  I was not in favor of Camby winning the Defensive Player of the Year award (even though I was glad he did), but tonight he played like a legit Defensive Player of the Year.  He was erasing shots from all over the floor.  Curry and Randolph played the role of comic relief and Camby played the super hero as he continuously swept in and left the bad guys wondering what on earth just hit them.  The Nuggets also outrebounded the Knicks 51-46 and Camby led the way with 20. 

Melo was absolutely amazing as he was hitting jumpers and making sweet dishes left and right.  He is continuing to round out his game as he has added the three point shot, he has committed to pass out of most double teams and on top of all that he is playing defense.  The only thing missing is big time night in and night out defensive rebounding.  I cannot imagine him getting better than he is right now, but the kid is still only 23 and he will continue to improve his game.     

Even better than Melo’s continued improvement may be the emergence of the Nuggets’ second five.  They can D up on anyone, they fight and scrap all over the court forcing turnovers and frustration for the opposition and they score.  When can anyone remember a time where you could look forward to the second team entering the game?  I remember back a few years ago when the Nuggets’ first five should have been their second five.  Paging Vincent Yarbrough, Vincent Yarbrough please report to Memory Lane…Donnell Harvey, please step up to the white loading zone, you are up next.   

As the game wore on the question in the second half was when would Isaiah order the “Code Red” and little Nancy Boy Balkman tried to make his scumbag coach proud by throwing an elbow at Kleiza’s mug early in the fourth.   

I loved how Kleiza kept dropping threes and throwing down dunks in the fourth quarter after the pathetic attempt at thugery by Balkman.  I just wish he would have added in a few glares in the direction of the Knick bench. 

I hope Isaiah was happy that Karl pulled his starters with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.  His weak team sure as heck could not keep it under 40 had he not done so.  Does anyone respect Isaiah as a person anymore?  If you and your spouse were about to have a baby and someone told you your child will grow up to be like Isaiah Thomas or like an axe murderer wouldn’t you kind of be hoping that they turn out to be an axe murderer?  By the way, why do axe murderers get such a bad wrap?  Really, if used correctly, an axe can be a much more efficient tool to kill someone than a gun or a club.  Maybe, I should stop typing… 

Other Observations from Game 10: 

 - Camby must have realized that he did not take a jumper in the last game against Portland because the very first possession of the game he chucked up the dreaded pull up jumper. If you have read this blog before, you probably know what the result of that shot was. 

He missed. 

 - J.R. Smith continues to improve with each passing game.  His effort and intelligence seems to build quarter by quarter.  I could not be more impressed with him.  He continues to attack the basket, make smart passes and is playing inspired hard nosed defense.  Both New Orleans and Chicago must be watching him play and kicking themselves, especially Chicago.  The Bulls did not even consider hanging onto him and sent him to Denver for a pittance of financial relief and two second round picks.   

 - I had not mentioned this before and I was hoping I would not have to as it seemed like things were getting better, but after tonight I cannot hold my tongue anymore.  Whoever the director is for Altitude during Nugget games frequently shows elongated replays that cut into the game action.  I cannot tell you how nuts it makes me to be watching some mundane replay only to hear the ball dribbling in the background and knowing that I am missing live action.  I can see screwing up once or maybe twice, but how can this keep happening?  Helen Keller would do a better job of running things.  At least she would notice the sound of the ball bouncing and stop the replay to get to the live action. 

 - Curry and Lee looked completely winded in the first half. 

 - I have never seen worse jump balls than I did tonight.  The one in the first half between Melo and I think it was Curry was absolutely horrible.  I do not recall seeing a ref call for a rejump because the toss was so atrocious.  Is it that difficult to throw a ball straight up in the air?  Add in the fact that Randolph could not figure out that the ref brought the ball up over his shoulder and then tossed it up when he was going against Martin in the third quarter and they were just disasters.  Maybe they should start using the zeppelin shaped balloons that they fly around at halftime to just drop the ball from above the players.   

 - When Kenyon left the game I rewound the feed and could tell that he hurt his back from watching the replay.  To start Randolph grabbed him and kind of twisted him in an attempt to get position and then after the play was over Randolph gave him a little shot in the back.  If he misses time, that will be very bad. 

 - Malik Rose is still in the league?  I figured the Knicks bought him out just after they used the Alan Houston rule to waive Alan Houston. 

 - Is it wrong of me to hope that Chucky Atkins and Anthony Carter never get healthy?  Does that make me a bad person?  I know I have said it before, but honestly, the injuries to those two and Mike Wilks have been a real blessing as J.R. has played great at the back up point guard spot.  I read a quote from J.R. in the Denver Post where he said he loved playing point because he was always guarded by a smaller player.   

 - Remember how poorly the Nuggets ran the fast break in Washington when they tried running for pretty much the first time this season?  Well the rust is gone and it has been replaced by some shinny chrome.  They are pushing the pace and passing very efficiently.   

 - The Nuggets had 12 steals and only 11 turnovers.  They also had 13 steals against 17 turnovers against the Blazers and seven steals compared to 13 turnovers against Cleveland.  Those are impressive numbers.   

 - They also got back on track from long distance hitting 11 of 26 including 2-2 from Melo, 2-3 from Diawara and 3-6 from J.R.  Kleiza took 7 to make 2 and Bobby Jones was 0-2.  As you know I am not an NBA coach, but I think Jones has too much motion in the process of getting the ball in his shooting pocket.  

 - Utah is starting to come back to earth after a hot start.  They tend to be the opposite of the Nuggets where they get out of the gate quickly and then peter out a little.  As a result of Utah’s slacking the Nuggets are back in first with a 7-3 record. 

 - We still do not know how good this team is.  They are starting to blow out the teams that have no business hanging with them, but they still have not played a contender who they can really measure themselves against.

Try to Keep From Injuring Yourself While Reading This Post

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

If you play for the Nuggets, and if you are reading this I am guessing you do not, you might want to be very careful.  Hold onto the railing going up and down stairs, do not ride any horses, stay away from stray dogs, do not play with knives and do not walk under any pianos being hoisted up outside a building that are hanging over the sidewalk.  

The injury bug is at work.  You cannot exterminate this type of bug and you can never be sure how and when it will get you. 

The latest news is Steven Hunter is going under the knife due to “right knee inflammation.”   

That makes four Nuggets (Anthony Carter, one of my all time favorite receivers by the way, Chucky Atkins the aforementioned Nene and now Hunter) that will not be available for the next game Saturday against the Knicks.  Throw in Wilks’ gimpy hammy, Najera’s consistent assortment of ailments and Camby’s constant potential for missing a couple of games here and there and that list is in danger of growing.   

To this point, I have not been concerned about the guys that have missed games and honestly, I still am not very concerned with the news on Hunter.   

In fact I actually believe the Nuggets are a better team without guys like Atkins and Carter than they are with them.  First of all, their injuries have allowed J.R. Smith to grow as a player and secondly, for one of them to play a better player will have to come out of the game. 

Another silver lining is Nene’s injury has forced the Nuggets to find out what Kenyon Martin is capable of.  At this point, he has been up to the task.  If Nene was playing right now the Nuggets would still be limiting Martin’s minutes.   

However, despite all that optimistic spin one more significant injury and I will go from unconcerned to slightly panicky.   The only other player that could get injured and not cause issues on the court is Von Wafer.  Nothing against Wafer, I think he is a nice player, but the Nuggets could go on without him if they had to.   

At this point the injuries are merely an inconvenience that may impact the Nuggets’ ability to have competitive practices.  As I have pointed out, this is a very easy portion of the schedule for the Nuggets.  They are better off with these injuries popping up now than in March.   

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and hope that is the end of it and the injury bug gets squashed by a janitor or some heavy machinery. 

On second thought, Nuggets players should refrain from crossing their fingers.  I do not want anyone to tear a tendon or ligament.

Fan Correspondent Report: Game 9 – Portland at Denver

Welcome to the first installment of the Born A Nuggets Fan Fan Correspondent Report.  For more information on this controversial and groundbreaking program click here.   

Frequent commenter JM was one of the winners of the Tommy Boy quote contest at the end of the “How Not to Run the Pick and Roll” post (other winners will be announced soon so hang in there guys).  To kick off the Fan Correspondent Program here is his insightful and entertaining report from the inside and around the Pepsi Center. 

I work downtown, so my wife got a babysitter for the little one and took the light rail and met me down there for the game.  I walked to the Pepsi Center and got there about 4:45.  So I wandered around the arena in the frigid air.  Fan 950 was setting up the tent and hardly a soul was there.  I made the rounds around Pepsi Center and went into the back of the arena.  The first time I walked by the Trailblazers bus had just pulled in.  I walked further and I walked past Julie Browman.  It was funny, she didn’t even make any eye contact with me.  I wouldn’t either, if I was a svelte female walking alone and some 6′ 5″ stranger tries to say hi.  I didn’t say a word, but it was amusing.  The lady who holds up the “we love (Player’s Name)” signs was on the street waiting for the team to arrive.  I talked with her for a minute.  She was nice but I’m sure she was thinking, “who the heck is this guy?”  Round two around Pepsi Center.  A $300k + Mercedes Benz pulls up into the team’s parking lot.  Based on from what I hear about Marcus Camby’s nice ride, I assume it’s him pulling in.  The windows are tinted and I wasn’t going to gawk as he got out of his car.  I will just assume it was either him, AI, or Carmelo pulling up.

Fast forward to the game after a burger at the Blue Sky Grill.  I won seats from 950 the Fan.  I called my buddy who used to work IT at Pepsi Center to find out where they were.  He said they were great seats, and they were.  Twenty rows from the court opposite of the benches and scorers’ table. As the game starts, I notice there is virtually no one in the upper deck of the arena.  I know we are playing Portland tonight, but holy crap, this arena would sell out every time AI came to town as a Sixer!  People don’t realize how good we have it in Denver.  Anyway, two drunk early-twenty somethings sitting in front of me in the first half.  They were completely obnoxious.  Every other word an F-word, they smelled funny, and were downright stupid.  Then there was the guy in row 17 yelling “Blake sucks!” every time he touched the ball.  I would understand completely if that was Nick Van Exel.  But picking on Steve Blake is like trying to publicly humiliate your Grandpa.  You look stupid trying to do it.  Alcohol has an interesting affect on people.

During the kiss cam, Rocky tried kissing the police officer who looked a lot like Elvis.  Rocky in turn gets him to shake his booty and do a pretty good Elvis impression.  Some national champion jump rope team from Boulder performed the half-time festivities.  Rocky tried his half-court shot during two time outs in the 4th quarter, and failed miserably.  During the second attempt, JR Smith came out onto the court, took the ball from Rocky’s hand and nearly nailed it from that distance.

As far as the scuffle with Camby, I saw him getting into it more with Joel Przybilla than with Aldridge.  In fact, it looked like he was the one who started it.  They were jawing a little at each other during Aldridge’s free throws.  Anyway, it didn’t escalate, and I forgot about it until I read the paper this morning. 

How Not to Run the Pick and Roll

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

It is time for me to share my thoughts on the failings of the Nuggets’ pick and roll game.  The idea for this came to me during a certain blow out loss during the Eastern Conference road swing the Nuggets completed last weekend.   

When the pick and roll is run correctly, it can be the premise for a team’s entire offense.  It creates an instant advantage for the offense and forces the defense to either surrender an open shot or to scramble to cover their disadvantage, which creates an advantage for the offensive team somewhere. 

On the other hand, when a pick and roll is executed poorly it not only is frustrating, it makes the team look very inept.  Unfortunately for the Nuggets they have looked inept running the pick and roll for much of the season.  We are talking Britney-Spears-as-a-mother inept or Billy-King-as-a-GM inept. 

Most of the breakdowns on the pick and roll have come from one or more of the following four problems. 

1.  Spacing – The Nuggets seem to have two predominant sets for the pick and roll.  One set involves the power forward setting a screen for Melo or AI and the other has Melo setting a screen for AI with the majority of the Nuggets screen and roll action involve the first instance with the power forward screening for AI.   

Watch what happens after the run the pick and roll in this situation.  Usually the rolling player will not get nearly enough space from the location the pick was made and where AI is driving off of the pick.   

The other issue is there have been times where they have run a side pick and roll with a third player posting (or standing doing absolutely nothing) on the same side as the pick and roll.  There is absolutely no room for anyone to maneuver in that set.  They seem to have gotten better at this.  

Nene is horrible at rolling.  If you do not believe me, I guess you will have to trust me for the next five weeks until you can notice for yourself.  When he sets a screen for AI he basically rolls right next to him creating a traffic jam.  In one instance against Boston Nene rolled right along side AI and they both basically ran into a third Nugget player who was standing on the block.  How many defenders do you think it took to guard that?  I bet the Celtics could have stopped that play with zero defenders allowing their five players to cover the other two Nuggets like Jackie Christie covers Doug. 

The best “roller” on the team, also known as the anti-Nene, is Kenyon Martin.  Martin does a great job of setting stone wall picks, gets wide and moves away from the path of the player driving off the pick and then cuts strong to the basket.  He not only ensures the ball handler separation from his defender, but he also provides a very nice passing lane.  If he receives the pass, he takes it strong at the rim.  If you are a young player who would like to see how to properly run the pick and roll, watch Kenyon Martin.   

I think that is the first time I have ever encouraged anyone, especially youngsters, to emulate K-Mart. 

2.  Shot Selection – Even in a poorly run pick and roll the ball handler usually has at least a slight opening with which to operate.  I have already lamented the Nuggets propensity to take shots after one pass or less in the half court.  This is a big reason why.  Whether it is AI, Melo or even J.R. Smith from time to time, they all see that gap to get off a shot and they just attack.  I like their aggressive attitude, but many times they take a difficult shot because they think to themselves, “I have an advantage, I have to exploit it.”   

The problem is not that they are entirely ineffective.  In fact, AI can usually either get off a decent shot or get fouled, but when the pass the ball around and make the defense work they almost always get a great shot opportunity.  This goes back to the defensive conundrum that a good pick and roll creates.  As they collapse on the player with the ball, they open up new weaknesses in their defense.  Frequently another couple of passes can create a wide open layup or dunk instead of a contested one. 

A new advantage for the Nuggets is now that they (apparently or as Jim Rome would say, allegedly) have a stable of three point shooters they can kick a pass to the opposite baseline and defenses will have to charge the shooter.  That will allow them to swing the ball around and get a wide open seam on the side of the floor where the pick and roll originated.  Watch any team play and notice how many times they get an open jumper or layup when the ball is swung form side to side one or more times.  The Nuggets themselves did a great job of this in the second quarter in Washington. 

3.  Dribbling Away From the Screen – One of the tactics that has been successful in the pick and roll game is to set your man up as if you are going to run him through the screen, then dribbling away form the screen.  This is great tactic when the defender is set up correctly and they are either already fighting through the screen or are at least leaning into it.   

Watch how many times Iverson dribbles away from the screen without setting the defender up first.  This can be a very effective tactic, but only if the offensive player sets his man up.  If you do not set up your man it is like me wasting all my free time writing posts for this blog.  Useless.  

4.  Not Taking Advantage of the Rules – My primary assumption heading into this study was that the Nuggets were not taking advantage of how the league officiates screens.  How many illegal screens do you see set in the NBA?  Now think about how many illegal screens you see called in the NBA?  The bottom line is the NBA allows offensive players to set moving screens and surprise ninja secret attack screens. The Nuggets have not adapted their techniques to take advantage of the leeway that offensive players are granted. 

The best weapon a pick and roll offense has in the NBA is the surprise ninja sneak attack high screen.  We see this all the time now where the ball handler is in the middle of the floor above the three point line and a teammate runs up to set a pick almost directly behind the defender.  They slightly shift to one buttock of the defender and as the defender begins to lean that way they quickly jump to the other buttock.  (I am not trying to be gross, just describe how the screener is almost directly behind the defender and shifts every so slightly at the last second.  If you have watched NBA basketball at all the last couple of years, you have seen this numerous times every game.)  This is technically a completely illegal tactic, but the referees continue to allow it.   

Eduardo Najera is the only Nugget who does a decent job of this type of pick.  Martin never does it, but he does such a great job of setting legal picks I think we can let him off the hook.  

Other Screening Observations That Are Neither Here Nor There: 

 - There is one more issue that stands out to me with the problem of the pick and roll.  It is not an issue with the Denver offense as much as it is the defense.  

I think the Nuggets appear to run the pick and roll so poorly on offense because they guard it relatively poorly on defense.  When you see the other team constantly getting open looks and the Nuggets taking contested shots it seems like the other team is doing a better job on offense.  The reality is most teams’ big men do a much better job of jumping the screen and obstructing the dribbler than the Nuggets do.  Marcus Camby does an especially egregious job of failing to stop the ball handler on pick and rolls.   

 - The Celtics did a great job of running a player off of consecutive picks either along the wing or across the top of the circle.  I have noticed the Nuggets implementing this a little since that game. 

 - Nene’s rookie season he was able to pilfer several steals from point guards by jumping the high pick and roll, surprising the point guard with his size and quickness and then poking the ball away for a steal.  Sadly, this is no longer part of his game.  His draft weight was listed at 253.  ESPN lists Nene at 268 and the Nuggets roster page on NBA.com says 250!  I am guessing he is on the high side of 280.  That may have something to do with his lack of quickness.

 - If you have read this far you deserve some kind of prize.  I only wish I had one to give out.  In fact, send me an email (BornANuggetsFan @ gmail.com without spaces of course) with the phrase “What the American Public doesn’t know is what makes them the American public” and you will be recognized as Born A Nuggets Fan Reader of the Month.  Just be sure to include your name or nickname and hometown in the email. 

If you can name the movie that quote is from, you can even write your own post if you want.

Game 7: Denver Nuggets 113 – Indiana Pacers 106

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

How many of us wrote the Nuggets off at half time of this game?  It looked so much like the Boston game, or the game that we dare not speak of (that I cannot seem to stop mentioning).  Hot shooting team scoring at will combined with a lackadaisical effort on defense.  There were definite flashbacks. 

In this game, I have to give credit to George Karl.  He was certainly not sitting on his hands this game.   

Karl tried a lot of different things on defense hoping to stumble across something that would slow down the Pacers.  To start the game Diawara guarded Tinsley and Martin was on O’Neal.  That did not work because AI could not handle Dunleavy and Camby could not deal with the perimeter game of Murphy. He then brought in Kleiza for Diawara and Klieza was not able to handle the red hot Dunleavy either.  Next, he went to some three quarter court pressure and trapping which was defeated with even more hot shooting.  Finally Karl tried a zone, which was picked apart with nice interior passes and of course, more hot shooting.   

None of these defenses were effective and at the end of the first half the Nuggets were down big yet again. 

In the second half Karl made one last adjustment.  They decided that the issue on defense was not the scheme, it was the lack of focus.  They played straight up the rest of the night.  They did not double O’Neal the few times he received the ball in the post.  They did not try to out think themselves by mixing up the defensive matchups.  They just buckled down and played tough defense.  

That increased effort and determination working hand in hand with the law of averages, which dictated there was no way the Pacers could shoot anywhere nearly as well as they did in the first half, resulted in an impressive comeback by the Nuggets. 

Indiana set a franchise record for points in a quarter with 46, yes, you read that correctly, 46 first quarter points.  They followed that up with 28 points in the second quarter.  After all of that the Nuggets held them to only 32 points in the entire second half. 

Linas Kleiza was great tonight.  He had at least four or five defensive rebounds in the first half.  He hit a couple of timely threes.  His defense was shaky, especially in the first quarter, but he more than made up for it on offense.  The most important thing was that he played hard the entire time he was on the court.   

The offense was still somewhat stagnant, during the comeback.  It was a 180 degree difference than the night before in Washington, but the lack of movement and passing was overcome by some clutch shot making and the increased effort on defense.  

One interesting development was the comeback was actually triggered by Yakhouba Diawara.  He scored eight unanswered points, including two threes, in a minute and a half early in the third quarter.   I have mentioned Kleiza, Najera and Bobby Jones providing a boost from Downtown, but the Nugget leading the team in three point shooting right now is Diawara.  After hitting 3-4 against Indiana, he has made 10-21 on the season with comes out to 47.6%.   

This is the most surprising turn of events for the Nuggets so far this season.  Diawara shot less than 29% from Steve Kerr land last season.  I really cannot fathom how it was even that high.  He was absolutely horrible.  If my kids life depended on it I would rather have had a blind quadriplegic shoot a three pointer than Diawara last season.  Well, maybe the quadriplegic would have to be able to see, but I definitely would not have trusted Diawara. 

If Kuba can somehow keep this up the Nuggets seem to have finally thrown together a quality three point shooting team.  Melo, Kleiza, AI, Kuba, Najera, J.R. Smith and Von Wafer are all solid to good three point shooters.  Atkins has a good career percentage as well.  This is a very good development.   

Other observations from game 7: 

• The Nuggets have done a great job, especially against Washington, in getting defensive deflections resulting in a high number of steals. 
• Steven Hunter who?  So much for Hunter getting some run with Nene out.  Karl has gone with Najera and Martin playing center and Martin, Najera and Kleiza playing power forward.  I cannot complain.  Hunter is a good player, but with the teams they have played, size has not been an issue.  The only player of any girth that the Nuggets have seen was Brendan Haywood and he only played 20 minutes.  Cleveland is up next and Camby will be able to handle Ilgauskas while he is on the floor.
• One thing to take into account is neither Washington nor Indiana double teamed Carmelo until it was too late.  The Nuggets have struggled offensively to score when Melo is strenuously doubled.  Apparently they do not have game tape of the past few Nuggets games in DC and Indy.
• It was also encouraging that the Nuggets were able to put this kind of effort into a second half after playing the night before and on the last day of a road trip. 

I have been hard on the Nuggets, and this little two game winning streak is good, but they still have a long way to go to prove that they are approaching each game with a sense of urgency.

 Update:  Correction, Diawara is not leading the Nuggets in three point percentage.  It is actually Bobby Jones who has shot 5-8 good for 67.5%.  Sorry for the misinformation.  I will do my best to be more careful in the future.

Kenyon Must Play

Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll

Nene is out and K-Mart is in. Well, I guess Martin was already in, but now the Nuggets have no choice.  Martin has worked hard to get back form his second microfracture surgery and has looked good in limited minutes. Now that Nene has hurt his thumb (no truth to the rumor it was hurt after being stuck up his bum for the majority of his time on the court during the Celtics game) Martin has to play in both ends of the back to back this weekend.

Martin believes he is ready for it.  The team now has no choice to believe him.   

The good news is an injured thumb will not prevent Nene from working to return to the level of conditioning he was at by the end of the season last year. 

Good luck Kenyon.  May your knees match your inner strength and determination and hold up as your minutes are increased.

Update:  Nene is out for six weeks with a torn ulner collateral ligament, who of us have not have had problems with our ulner collateral ligament? 

Nene has only averaged 19.4 minutes in the first five games, but it is a bigger loss than the minutes would reflect.  The Nuggets were hoping to slowly build those minutes up throughout November.  The primary characteristic of Nene’s game the Nuggets will miss most is his post offense.  Now Melo is the Nuggets’ sole source of post offense. 

The Nuggets will have to count on Steven Hunter to back up Camby at center and they can absorb Nene’s minutes at power forward by using Martin and Najera.  Melo and Kleiza are also capable of playing a few minutes at power forward here and there too if it becomes necessary.  The Nuggets should be able to push the pace with any of those players on the floor.  Nene used to run the floor as well as any big man in all of basketball, but with the extra weight he has been carrying around, he is no longer a force on the break.

I do believe there is a silver lining to this injury though.  As mentioned above, Nene will have plenty of time to get into shape.  He can run sprints all day long with a bandaged thumb.

Paging Mr. Hunter.  Please prepare to report to the scorer’s table Mr. Hunter.