Nuggets vs. Mavericks

December 26, 2011
by Kalen

It’s tough to quantify how exactly Nuggets fans must feel right now. After the tumultuous lockout-ridden off-season, watching NBA basketball at all yesterday felt like a revelation. But watching the Nuggets — that’s a whole different experience altogether. For most of the people who follow this website, the Nuggets are life, or at least a very important part of life. Each year thousands of fans across the globe dedicate and invest a countless amount of hours into this beloved franchise with the hopes of one day achieving the infamous goal of winning a championship. Though we’ve rigorously debated recently whether this Nuggets squad has the tools necessary to accomplish this feat, there’s no denying that they will at least be as competitive as they have in recent years. Facing the defending champion Dallas Mavericks will be a tall order, especially considering how motivated Dirk and company will be after receiving a beat down from the Miami Heat yesterday, but the Nuggets no doubt have the pieces needed to score a win tonight. If anyone has comments they’d like to post during this long-anticipated season opener, please feel free to post them here and as always, follow Jeremy, Charlie and I on Twitter as we’ll be posting our thoughts there throughout the night. Thanks again, and GO NUGGETS!!!

Posted on December 26, 2011 at 7:32 pm | filed in Game Preview | 36 Comments
  • Klules

    Looking forward to finally seeing the Nuggets. Up against an upset Dallas team that didn’t show up yesterday. according to GK we probably won’t see much Manimal tonight. :(

  • http://bleacherreport.com/users/56927-rich-kurtzman Rich Kurtzman

    Coming into this game a few questions arise; Will the Nuggets run on a tired and old Mavericks team? Can Gallinari go off against Dirk? Can Nene slow Dirk down on the offensive end?

    If so, Denver will get the win tonight.

    They definitely have the pieces, and the depth to take care of business, and it would be a huge confidence boost for them to start this short season off with a victory.

  • Amel

    It’s 2:40 am where I live and I’m so happy to watch this season opener!

    • Kalen

      Wow, now THAT’s dedication!!!

      • Amel

        Yeah, thx. Gonna be a tough game. And Mozgov’s ballhandling seems to be non-existent, hope for better to come.

  • Andrew

    I’m fascinated to see if Moz can hold his own against Haywood and if Nene plays d on Nowitzski. Nuggets definitely need to change it up on Dirk but not play the perimeter guys like Terry too loosely. Will be a tough game for Nuggets too steal, since Mavs are motivated after yesterday, have already knocked some of the rust off after that first game, and it is too early in the season for them to be too disadvantaged by the Nuggets depth and youth.
    That said…GO NUGGETS!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Klules

    Lawson stepping up early. Lax defense from Nene. And Moz looks slow right now

  • Evan

    I didn’t like the idea of the two point guard set with Andre Miller. But man him and Ty look to be our best players so far.

  • Klules

    what was it — 3 minutes before Al took the three?

  • Evan

    That’s his game. Brings a different look that most PFs aren’t used to seeing.

  • Amel

    Good game so far. Dre and Ty looking sharp tonight, just like Big Al.

  • Klules

    Wow. Incredible first half for Nuggs. Aside from Moz, everyone else was incredible and played their role. I’ve got some fan-w00d at the moment.

  • Kalen

    First half report:

    What is going on!?!?! Admittedly I thought the Nuggets would do well this game, but I did NOT see this coming! Everyone looks great but Ty, Miller, Al and Gallo are standouts. Priority No. 1 needs to be to keep the pressure on and not lose focus. And of course, defense, defense, defense!

  • Peter

    On an unrelated note, I was just checking the Bobcats-Bucks box score and see that Bobcat GM’s son Cory Higgins got a DNP…I find this ironic because Cory probably is not quite good enough to play in the league, but the Bobcats stink and I guess he’s just good enough to play, or sit on the bench at least for his dad lol.

    • Kalen

      Wow, that is interesting. I knew he made the roster but I didn’t know his dad was the GM. I guess if any team in the NBA had a roster spot to give out it would have to be the Bobcats.

      • Peter

        My mistake, this season Rod Higgins switched to “president of basketball operations”, Rich Cho is their GM.

  • Peter

    Wow, karl really does hate rookies. Didn’t even put Faried in in garbage time.

    • Be Ray

      Until Karl gets to practice with this kids for a few weeks, I wouldn’t expect and Faried or Hamilton sightings unless we run into injury problems. Even in garbage time.

      • Be Ray

        Just read the inactives for Denver: Carroll and Hamilton. At least Kenny was active. It’s a step.

  • Amel

    YES, we won!

  • Klules

    A great game overall. Would’ve appreciated a little more focus in the 4th quarter. Miller and Lawson shined. Gallo looked good as well. Still worried about Moz.

    • Amel

      I’m worried about him too. Didn’t show anything good.

      • Be Ray

        Honestly, right now Moz is just a big body to free up Nene. Now Nene can bully on 4′s and make some paint scoring happen. On this team, he just needs to rebound and play solid defense.

        Today’s game shouldn’t be the only sample. Because of the rotations that were working Moz only played 14 minutes. I wouldn’t expect this ever to climb higher than 20.

        • Amel

          Problem is, his defense didn’t look good either.

  • Be Ray

    Well NOW I get why Masai got Rudy Fernandez. Someone had to take over as the resident “Shoots and misses way too many bad threes” headache that JR vacated.

    • Amel

      I’d rather have JR instead of Fernandez, he was playing horrible. Just made of his 7 3pt attempts.

      • Be Ray

        I’m not ready to trash Rudy just yet. His shot selection is just as bad as JR’s only he makes less. But, he wasn’t taking defensive plays off today like JR is so good at doing.

        • Amel

          I don’t want to judge on him that early in this season but he’s IMO a downgrade comparing him to JR.

    • Peter

      Ya Fernandez will be streaky. He will find a way to win some games this year for us though. Luckily we won’t have to depend on him as much as we did JR. Our bench looked really good tonight!

  • Be Ray

    Yep. And with a huge lead most of the game, Rudy ended up playing 31 minutes. That won’t usually happen. And if it does, at least we can feel good about creaming teams so bad that Fernandez and his little Spanish globetrotters routine is getting half an hour of playing time per night.

  • Evan

    3 of those misses though were when the shot clock was below 5 seconds. But he did take some questionable shots, and he’s a better shooter than he showed tonight.

  • Warner

    Did anyone else think Ty looked one or two steps faster than he has in the past? I heard he maybe lost some weight in the off season? Regardless, I loved it when the Nuggets traded for his pick and if he can play anywhere near this level for this season, Denver will be extremely bothersome for opposing teams. I was also a major supporter of Al coming to the Nuggs and I’m glad he looks like he’s in descent shape. You never know with a lockout. Anyway, this team has a very interesting blend of talent, youth, experience, athleticism, and I think this is the type of team GK does a great job with. With all these back to back to backs, they’re depth will be a major factor in the upcoming weeks. I’ll be watching for sure, go nuggs!

  • http://gainsmedia.blogspot.com josh

    i know you read your comments. what you should do is never ever have paragraphs that are more than 5 lines. i am a blogger. it just helps for readability and enhances user experience. this post should at least have 3 paragraphs, just FYI. its a product of the facebook generation.

    GO NUGGETS

  • Daniel

    I’ll read everything these guys put out, regardless of the format. By far the best insight and in-depth coverage of our beloved Nuggets. They got me through the lockout and the crazy last month of free-agency/training camp. Now I feel more knowledgeable and a strong connection to this team thanks to these guys. Hold on have to start a new paragraph so they keep reading.

    Still with me? All joking aside, the Nuggets looked great last night, very excited. Thanks Charlie, Kalen and Jeremy. You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work.

    • Charlie

      Thanks man, much appreciated and hope you keep following us.

  • jim

    from looking at the game flow stats, pretty much anybody on the floor with Ty did alright last night — especially rudy, dre, aaa in the second half and big al. essentially, ty set they ass on fire.

    based on playing dallas and phoenix, if we keep playing teams with 80 year old guards we’ll be ok.

    still wondering about the front line, tho. like to see more from timo/bird/kouf but they weren’t exactly lit up by dallas either. dirk only had 20, odom was 1-10 and they missed 14 shots in a row at one point. nuggs working hard on d, too.

    so, why do we always play well against the mavs? even carlisle noted that the nuggs have exposed them for three years in a row. i always thought it was melo and kenyon, but obviously not.

    and why so much chatter that kenyon will end up with the mavs? didn’t he call cuban a gay slur and almost come to blows during a game a while back? seems like an unlikely fit to me for a team with tons of chemistry issues already.

    ready for the jazz!


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