2010-11 Game 74: Denver Nuggets 104, Sacramento Kings 90

March 30, 2011
by Kalen

What started out as a potential “trap game” full of sloppy ball-handling, atrocious shooting and nonexistent defense ended up being just another solid win for the Denver Nuggets Wednesday night. Though Sacramento came into the contest on a four-game winning streak, and appeared determined to make it five, the Nuggets simply turned it on like only the very best do when crunch time hits. I fully admit, when the game started tonight, I was worried. After a fairly long hiatus I imagined the “Knuggets” (shoutout to Warren G.!) would come out guns-a-blazin’ and completely bury the Kings right off the bat; but instead complacency had a firm grasp on the guys and it took a while for them to shake it free (about 35 minutes). The Kings — for whatever reason — were playing pretty good ball the first half, while we looked dead. And by “dead,” I mean as in mowed down by Tommy gun, left for the vultures, completely un-embalmed for weeks type of dead. Scott Hastings mentioned tonight was the worst he’s seen us play since the big you-know-what went down, and I couldn’t agree more. We just looked confused, kind of like we hadn’t played basketball in months (I wonder why?), and sluggish, and lackadaisical, and disoriented, and…. you get the point. For a while it was almost as if we had switched roles with the Kings — them playing great, team basketball while we sat outmatched in anticipation of the final whistle.

Luckily for us, halftime rolled around and after finally realizing we were actually playing in a real-life basketball game — not to mention one that was in the heat of a playoff run — we picked things up immediately with the start of the third-quarter. By the 7:15 mark of the third-quarter the ten-point deficit we accumulated at half-time was completely erased. The energy in the building was as if the heat had been turned off throughout an entire Winter’s day, and when that long-needed switch was finally flipped on, it ignited a “circuit of life” throughout the Can. Guys started moving, shots started falling, passes started actually being made and of course the crowd finally got to cheer over something worth cheering about instead of Rocky’s slap-stick antics. I guess it just took a while for the guys to knock off that excess grog, and once they did, it was like turning over the engine on that luxury sports car you hadn’t driven in a while and taking a joy-ride down an open road to victory (not that I know what this feels like as ’93 Honda Accords don’t exactly offer this feeling).

Nobody really had an amazing game tonight, but Ty, Nene and JR all had strong outings. Ty finished with 20 points on 7-9 from the field and a team-high plus/minus of 23; while Nene had a great night on the glass bringing down 15 boards to go with three assists, three steals, four blocks and 12 points. This is the type of effort we need to see out of Nene more frequently. He’s got one of the best all-around games in the entire league for a big man, and putting up stats in these types of categories is what we’ll need most out of him in the post-season. Points — we can get that elsewhere (though it was nice seeing him school Cousins a few times tonight), but blocks and rebounds are what he can contribute to help us win. Meanwhile, JR too had a phenomenal game. His shots were all well calculated, his passes were some of the best on the night and his defense was stingy. I don’t know what it was, JR just really impressed me. He was purely solid by all accounts. He never did anything stupid, he played within the flow of the game, and as always he acted as the immaculate model for the energetic sixth-man role.

Overall, another great win in the long line of them it seems these days. Next up is Sacramento again on Friday, but this time it’s in their house.

Ramblings:

  • Poor fans. So excited about the game tonight they decided to pull the ol’ stand-til-they-score routine in honor of the Nuggets recent success. Unfortunately the one night they chose to express their gratitude this way, the Nuggets went the longest they’ve probably gone in years without scoring to start the game, stretching to nearly four minutes! Nene agonizingly missed four straight free-throws and countless other Nuggets whiffed, slipped and air-balled numerous shot-attempts. Finally, half the crowd just gave up and sat down. I have to admit, I’ve never seen that before.
  • The one guy I was worried about (Thorton) went off just as I had suspected he would. I don’t know what Hastings was thinking when he said he wasn’t impressed with him. From what I could tell, Thorton was keeping the Kings in the game all night.
  • Felton pulled the spin-move so hard on Beno Udrih tonight that instead of breaking his ankles, he nearly made him tear his own muscle by doing the splits so hard. That was cool.
  • Just hearing the sound of the announcer yell, “JR SWISH!” gives me chills sometimes. How can you not love the guy? Yeah, he’s a knucklehead, but he’s also the most freakishly athletic knucklehead I’ve ever seen in my life, and he’s damn good at basketball to boot. I’m just gonna come out and say it right now: JR is one of the top three players on this team. Boo-ya.
  • Gallo. Two things: (A) Stop flopping like a fish out of water. You’re a hell of a lot better than that. Seriously, you’re embarrassing yourself. (B) Stop shooting so many 3′s. Again, you’re just too good to restrict yourself to being a spot-up shooter, similar to what Al went through not too long ago. Get yourself more involved in all the different aspects of the game.
  • Is “Blister in the Sun” not the wost song ever to be playing while JR has the ball in his hands? Just wondering.
  • The way we closed this game out was almost scary. It was effortless. Like the bigger brother just decided he’d put in enough time with the little bro, now he needs to end the game so he can go hang out with chicks. We’re just… that… good. It’s awesome.
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:29 pm | filed in Game Recap | 6 Comments
  • nordmoose

    I made a point of catching last night’s game…on the sports bar’s teevee. Couldn’t hear a thing but I finally got to SEE this team play.

    Kalen, I’m …. *refreshed*, *comforted*, even, to read this here as my take on the game fits well with yours. I was worried that, with all these new faces, bodies and skills, my finally SEEING the game wouldn’t fit with how I’ve come to understand these Newggets.

    I’ll just say this: It was still early when I got home from the sports bar (such as we are able to call them here) and I was inspired to put ‘Hoosiers’ on.
    I like this Nuggets play,…I really like what they look like on that court.
    Who’ll step up next? How many will carry this team…..or is that an old concept these Newggets just don’t need to worry about – this TEAM seems to carry this team, post-trade.
    At what point does every other team out there openly admit that it’s this club that they most fear to play? Seriously. I suppose that little L streak the Spurs went through after we beat them waters that win down a little,….but/when we take these next 4-5 games this next week (can we? really? 3-2? 4-1? 1-4?), … I guess we’ll see more of what we’re into here with this team. Lakers, OKC, OKC,….should be a telling trilogy, eh?

    Anyway, thanks again for the quick write-up, Kalen.
    From the (slowly) melting Interior of Alaska….
    Go Nuggets!

    • Kalen

      Hey nordmoose, thanks for the kind words. You must have been pretty inspired to go home and watch Hoosiers immediately following the game! Good to know we have followers from the Last Frontier.

      • Kalen

        Err.. Final Frontier. My bad.

        • nordmoose

          “Final Frontier”…. glad you made the correction yourself.

          I have a colleague here that’s relatively new to ‘sport’. Over the years, she’s gotten a grip on football and the Broncos – now it’s time for the Nuggies and basketball. The Hoosiers showing was a good chaser for her class in basketball yesterday.
          To quote you, Kalen,…”Boo-ya.”

          • Kalen

            Boo-ya indeed. That sounds like a fun endeavor you’re embarking on. In my experiences with ‘sport’ I’ve found more than anything it’s an acquired taste, but once you start to understand, it’s inevitable you get hooked.

  • Todd

    See a decent defense makes this team nervous and they underperform…1 of 2 so far. i see them wining by 13 tonight over my Kings.


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