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.