Rapid Reaction: Los Angeles Clippers 109, Denver Nuggets 105

January 29, 2012
by Kalen
Los Angeles Clippers 109 FinalRecap | Box Score 105 Denver Nuggets
Nene, C 38 MIN | 9-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 18 PTS | -8
You really can’t give Nene anything less than an “A” when he posts the numbers he did and comes up with such big baskets down the stretch. He also showed a willingness to attack the post which is always beneficial to the Nuggets as a whole.
Danilo Gallinari, SF 34 MIN | 5-14 FG | 5-6 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 17 PTS | -11
Gallinari came on hot during the second half but faded down the stretch when the Nuggets needed him most. For some reason George Karl had him playing point guard to close out the game, and although he played excellent defense on Chris Paul (for the most part), he still couldn’t stop what ended up being the game-winning shot. If it weren’t for Blake Griffin’s shifty defense to close out the game, Gallinari likely would be looking at another 20-plus point performance to go along with yet another impressive win. One thing we must not overlook was his brilliant rebound followed up by a full-court run that eventually led to a monster dunk in the early part of the third quarter. Gallo essentially started up, conducted and finished the fast break offense all by himself.
Timofey Mozgov, C 24 MIN | 4-7 FG | 1-4 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS | -3
Mozgov has steadily progressed and is finally developing into somewhat of a threat at times. He is now looking to score in post and is following up shots with purpose. His three blocks were huge and his defense on the inside was certainly helpful before he begged out of the game because he was gassed.
Andre Miller, PG 36 MIN | 6-16 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 10 AST | 16 PTS | 0
Miller certainly missed his fair share of shots, had trouble guarding the Clippers guards and once again refused to let anybody take the last shot of the quarter, but his penetration and overall court awareness was a key element that helped keep the Nuggets in the game. His heads-up foul on DeAndre Jordan in the closing moments of the game gave the Nuggets a chance to win. This is now his fourth double-double in a row after filling in for Ty Lawson.
Arron Afflalo, SG 20 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 5 PTS | -8
So how long exactly is it going to be before the Arron Afflalo who has improved every year since he’s been in the NBA shows up this season? He still has yet to hit the 20 point mark and after following up a scoreless performance against the Raptors (in 20 minutes of action nonetheless) he managed a measly five points against the Clippers (in the same amount of time). Maybe his injury is still nagging him, but if that’s the case he shouldn’t even be playing.

Al Harrington, PF 25 MIN | 6-16 FG | 4-4 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 16 PTS | +8
Big Al struggled to find his shot throughout the game but made up for it with his hustle. Still, there were countless shots he missed downy he stretch, and though we can’t expect him to hit them all, we also can’t expect him to miss them all either.
Corey Brewer, SF 21 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 6 PTS | +4
Brewer’s defense, energy and hustle allowed the Nuggets to come back and ultimately string together countless leads in the process. Though he tends to get a little out of control, his effort simply cannot be underestimated.
Rudy Fernandez, SG 31 MIN | 5-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | +2
Fernandez had a solid performance all around. His tip-in to end the third quarter was the epitome of “never giving up” and was truly one of the better plays I’ve seen in the NBA this year. Rudy appears to finally be finding his stroke after struggling early on and has really helped the Nuggets second unit put points on the board of late.
Julyan Stone, G 12 MIN | 2-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -4
I thought Stone was phenomenal in his brief 12-minute stint, evident in the first 60 seconds alone where he stepped on the floor and immediately blocked a shot. His overall defense was hands-down (even though he had them up!) the best on the team and suffocated whichever opponent he was guarding. When playing alongside Corey Brewer, the Nuggets offer up a backcourt tandem capable of defending anybody in the league. Though Stone likely won’t see many minutes going forward, it would be wise of Karl to insert him in the lineup when defense is lacking as Stone possess the type of defensive drive that can change the outcome of a game.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Full Clip: Continuing Charlie’s Gang Starr reference from the past Rapid Reaction… the Clippers had virtually everything working right for them on Sunday. They needed the perfect storm in order to improve on their terrible road record and defeat one of the NBA’s toughest home teams, and thanks in large part to Chauncey Billups and their incredible three-point shooting, they got it. If you had to point to just one reason the Nuggets lost (even though there were a few options) you would absolutely have to single out Denver’s inability to guard the arc as Numero Uno.
  2. Mr. Big Shot: In anticipation to Sunday’s showdown with the Clippers that saw Denver’s favorite basketball son return to the Mile High City for the first time since last February’s historic trade, George Karl admitted that without Billups arrival in 2008 he likely would have lost his job. Though many around Denver, especially George Karl apologists, like to point to that season as the “turning point” of his career in Denver, I’ve never quite bought in. I always believed that Chauncey Billups was the real reason behind not only transforming the Nuggets from a “streetball” team into an NBA team, but taking them to the Western Conference Finals as well. Karl admitting that without Billups he’d likely no longer be in Denver is cement-hard corroboration to the fact that Billups did most of the coaching that year. Though since then Karl has in fact displayed a revitalized passion for the game there’s no denying that Chauncey Billups was the catalyst the first time around as more often than not it was he coaching J.R. Smith and the rest of the team during a timeout, and not Karl. Chauncey always has been, and most likely always will be, my favorite Nugget of all time. I will never forget how lost the team was prior to his arrival and how unbelievably sound they were after he stepped in. His leadership, mental toughness, intelligence and clutch shooting compose one of the most under-appreciated basketball players, and shooters, of all time. Seeing Chauncey step up the way he did against his former team was no surprise. Make no mistake about it: Chauncey Billups wanted badly to prove that letting him go was a grave mistake — and in hindsight, perhaps it was. Though nobody other than a few top-ranking officials in the Nuggets hierarchy will ever know exactly what it took to pull of that trade, there’s a good chance that, considering how much they gave up, New York will would have still parted ways with Chandler and Gallinari — the two best players in that deal — had Chauncey not been included. On Sunday, Mr. Big Shot got the best of his hometown team. Chauncey never wanted to leave Denver but was forced out by the stubborn trade demands of a primma donna superstar that epitomizes the type of modern-day athlete Billups so desperately contrasts. But, he understands that business is business. And so, after leading a furious third-quarter charge by nailing three straight 3-pointers and with Tim Tebow close by, the “Thrill from Park Hill” pushed his team to its first lead of the game since the first quarter, which all took place at exactly the 3:16 mark. Though the Clippers would endure a few more scoring droughts following this symbolic run, it proved to be the foot in the door the Clippers desperately needed in order to fully slam the game shut in the end. Though Nuggets fans never like to see their team lose, when it comes by the hand of a man as honorable and important to the community of Denver as Chauncey Billups, you can’t help but feel happy for the guy.
  3. Those Who Refuse to Learn: The Nuggets’ inability to address issues we’ve been screaming about of weeks now, finally came back to haunt them. Perimeter defense, or lack thereof, was the only reason the Clippers won this game. In every other statistical category Denver was relatively even with L.A., except in three-point shooting. There, the Clippers scored 24 more points than the Nuggets and despite hoisting up 30 shots from beyond the arc, L.A. still managed to shoot a better percentage there than from the rest of the field. All of these problems were compounded further when Chris Paul routinely ran the pick-and-roll on EVERY SINGLE PLAY to close out the fourth quarter, and on EVERY SINGLE PLAY the Nuggets switched just like the Clippers wanted which left Paul with a favorable match-up that he either shot over or exposed with a clever assist. Not once did the Nuggets at least attempt to fight around the screen (even though Blake Griffin was hardly setting firm ones) and not once did they put someone like Brewer or Stone on Chris Paul who might have shut him down. In the last 10 minutes of the game Chris Paul either made or assisted on 11 of the Clippers 18 made shot attempts (including free throws) and most were a result of the Nuggets’ disorganized perimeter defense. The term “When will this be addressed?” is meant to be taken seriously before the Nuggets lose a game because of these issues.
  4. Losing Lineup?: Though the fourth-quarter rotations certainly did not lose the game for the Nuggets, you have wonder exactly what was behind Karl’s eccentric gameplan. After putting Gallo at the point early in the fourth quarter the Clippers really took control of the game. Though his defense on Chris Paul was indeed solid (because of his size) Paul was still allowed to maneuver around him in many cases. Then of course having Fernandez in over Afflalo was unusual. Even Corey Brewer saw his fair share of minutes down the stretch. But again, why didn’t he ever guard Paul instead of Gallo, Harrington or Miller? Had the Nuggets won, which was entirely in the cards on Sunday, most of us probably would have been praising Karl for his rotations down the stretch so I’m not even going to attempt to blame him for this one, however it doesn’t change the fact that his lineups were interesting and certainly unusual.
  5. Julyaned/Stoned: Taking suggestions from reader and fellow friend “Nate T” in the comments section, I’ve decided to expand a bit on my Julyan Stone analysis. As already mentioned, I though Stone was fantastic once again. I have yet to be disappointed in him and continue to love the brand of basketball he brings to the Nuggets. He will never take bad shots, his first instinct is to pass and his defense is purely astonishing for a guy who went undrafted. Thinking back to when he first signed, there were people who strongly criticized the Nuggets for this move, and in turn me for praising it, because after all, he was just an undrafted, free-agent rookie; how good could he possibly be? Here’s the deal people simply don’t understand about the NBA and the Draft in particular: It’s not a science. There’s no mathematical equation you plug in to get the best player at every pick. If that were the case the best 60 players each year would get drafted in precise order and no NBA teams would ever miss on picks. Unfortunately, that’s no that the case. You see, the entire year leading up to each draft, as scouts and general managers analyze their every move, players rise and fall faster than the stock market because that’s essentially what they are: stocks. More often than not, come draft day, the HOTTEST 60 players get picked and not the best, or most equipped to achieve success in the NBA. Take Chandler Parsons for example, who’s currently contributing a big role with the Houston Rockets. He was a guy, like Stone, who played four years in college and was never once considered an elite scorer. He could do everything else on the basketball floor well and occasionally posted impressive scoring nights, but it was his well-rounded game that made him so dangerous. He fell all the way to 38th yet when it’s all said and done has a nice chance of being a top 15 player in that draft class. Stone is in this same boat. He was overlooked because he came from a small school, wasn’t flashy and didn’t shoot well, but his drive, defense and commitment to being better every moment of every day are things that simply don’t get analyzed in pre-Draft coverage as much while simultaneously are things that often translate well to the NBA. I don’t know how good Stone is going to be in the NBA but I honestly don’t put it past him to one day be an effective starter. Ricky Rubio is a guy who, although more advanced right now, has the same attributes Stone does. I think with more practice, in-game experience and so on, Stone could be that type of player — maybe not quite that good, but that type of guy. I would love to see Stone get more minutes, especially alongside Corey Brewer considering the defensive presence they both bring, but I just don’t see that happening with how crowded the rotation is already. All we can do is take his performances as the come, analyze what he does best and hope that he steadily improves with each game. As he proved tonight, Stone can in fact knock down the open three when presented with the opportunity. I saw it in his D-League games, read it in scouting reports and heard it from UTEP bloggers over at Miner Rush. Where Stone needs to make the most improvement in his game beside shooting (which will likely never be a strength of his) is in the area of driving to the hole and finding the open man. Stone is surprisingly quick with the ball in his hands and is a superb passer as well. At the NBA level you simply have to act as a scoring threat in some way or another in order to truly maximize other areas of your skill set, especially for a point guard. If Stone can continue to work on penetrating, he’ll undoubtedly be faced with opportunities in-game where he can show off this aspect of his repertoire. Whether this leads to assists, layups, pull-up jumpers or turnovers will likely determine just how invested in him the Nuggets will be after this year. But at this point, after seeing how we’ll he’s already played and considering how great of a contrast he could be to the diminutive Ty Lawson,  I’d bank strongly on him coming back next year as the Nuggets primary backup point guard.
Posted on January 29, 2012 at 10:24 pm | filed in Analysis, Rapid Reaction | 35 Comments

35 Responses to “Rapid Reaction: Los Angeles Clippers 109, Denver Nuggets 105”

  1. Ernie says:
    January 29, 2012 at 10:41 pm

    I don’t see how Miller gets an A for this game, he isn’t capable of playing defense on good players anymore. In the first half he guarded Chauncey and got torched, then switched to Mo Williams and got torched, and in the 2nd half he guarded Paul and got torched before they decided they had to put Gallo on Paul. The last 3 games have seen guards light up this team.

    I know Ty has been out and that is a big factor. And I loved Stone’s defense as well. GK should have been playing offense/defense in the last few minutes with Miller and Stone instead of trying to hide Miller on defense. I think that was where the game was lost.

    Reply
  2. Tommy4daNuggz4ever says:
    January 29, 2012 at 10:47 pm

    I just want to say over all a great game but since I was force to watch Clipper’s announcing which by the way are some dumbest announcers I have ever listened too. They are so retarded they would say someone on the nuggets fouled a Clip when he wasn’t even touched on a drive and all they did was bitch the whole game. They also said gallo wasn’t even trying to score he was only trying to draw fouls. And with all the crap talking they did I was sooo frustrated by them. Sorry onlly place I knew where to vent. I wish we could have seen some K2 with Nene in at C when Timo was tired. Just to keep size on the court since Bird didn’t hit the floor. I think we could have won this game. We should win on Thursday if Ty can be on the floor. Or we need more stone minutes to Keep Miller somebreaks plus him and brewer worked great together. In my own opinion good game.

    Reply
    • Frontrange says:
      January 29, 2012 at 11:07 pm

      I was at the game so I didn’t here the Clipper announcers, but they were spot on in the last minutes – Gallo stopped going to the basket and just tried to draw contact. If he had been trying to score, I think he would have got a couple of those calls.

      Reply
  3. Andrew says:
    January 29, 2012 at 11:16 pm

    I miss C Bill. As soon as the Clippers picked him up, I knew they would be contenders this year.

    Reply
    • Vitaliy says:
      January 29, 2012 at 11:31 pm

      I would have to say getting Chris Paul was the bigger move this off-season for them. Obvious/Smash!

      Also, I don’t mind not having Billups, games like this makes us forget about the oft-occuring clunkers of games he generally has.

      Reply
  4. Nate T says:
    January 29, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    Kalen, would be interested to hear what you think of Stone’s point guard play this evening and his PG play this season.

    Reply
  5. Coxy says:
    January 29, 2012 at 11:40 pm

    They hit soo many threes. At 1 point they made 5 out of 6 without any other field goal attempts.

    Reply
  6. Brad H. says:
    January 29, 2012 at 11:45 pm

    Missed the game. Sounds like it was a nailbiter, esp in Q4. Intensely happy for Chauncey, hate it that he found Zone against us. BTW, Charlie,, great piece this morning on Billups and the importance/significance of tonight’s game for him. Turned out to be a little eerily prophetic.

    Reply
  7. Brad H. says:
    January 30, 2012 at 12:18 am

    BTW WTF broke down in Q4? I’m stuck in Tucson for 2 more wks with no Nugs TV and a piss-poor iPad that doesn’t stream.

    Reply
  8. GZ says:
    January 30, 2012 at 6:29 am

    We had to sell high on Billups when we did in order to free up money to resign Nene and Afflalo and create future flexibility. I agree 100% that the only reason the nuggets lost was the lights-out three point shooting by the clippers and Billups in particular. I thought it was an interesting experiment by Karl to guard Paul with taller players as a way of offsetting the mismatches created by their pick and roll. Reminded me of Kenyon Martin’s effective defense on guards when switching on the screens. Stone and brewer also seemed to bother the smaller guards with their length. While I never like to see the nuggets lose these games against potential playoff opponents, I see no way the clips’ hot shooting sustains them through a full series. Finally, it was great to see an aggressive Nene finishing with authority. Most other nuggets seemed intimidated by Jordan.

    Reply
  9. Herman Van Ness says:
    January 30, 2012 at 7:04 am

    Overall a pretty good and entertaining game.

    Positives:

    Nene is so good when he’s aggressive.

    Mozzy is improving. Still a work in progress but, I think this guy is going to be legit.

    Dre is excellent at running the offense. Makes up for lack of athleticism with smarts. Pushes the ball with the pass.

    Brewer continues to make plays with pure hustle.

    Rudy is better than AAA. When he’s on he just does more things. I know he’s valuable off the bench but, I’d be tempted to start him.

    Stone played very well. He’s long and a quality defender. He even hit that corner three. Something I honestly did not think he was capable of.

    Negatives:

    Line up was bizarre at the end of the game. Karl got out-Karled by Vinny Del Negro. Usually the Nuggets go small with a 3 guard line-up forcing the other team to adjust. The Nuggets refused to adjust and paid for it.

    Down the stretch, Rudy over passed into turnovers twice and Gallo drove into horrible shots that were essentially turnovers. Rudy should’ve shot. Gallo should’ve shot sooner or went without fear of getting blocked and went stronger.

    Defensive strategy of switching everything was odd. Ended up with too many bigs on guards and too many mismatches in the post that led to late rotations out to hot shooters. Once Chauncey and Mo got going there really not much that can be done.

    Al was off. Solid but, off.

    Dre went under screens too much. Seemed intent on not giving up penetration and gave up jump shots instead.

    What’s up with Afflalo seriously? He’s not horrible but, he’s just a guy. We’re overpaying for just a guy. Rudy is better.

    Ty would have made a difference.

    This week’s schedule worries me……..

    Reply
  10. MarcP says:
    January 30, 2012 at 7:05 am

    Denver are clearly a better team. Blake griffin is still pretty unskilled and overrated and I think we showed that a bit in this game. They shot lights out and trust me if u have been watching clippers games this was a massive fluke.

    Would really like to see us explore trade options for miller though as he probs won’t resign and I am in love with julyan stones defense and length

    Or maybe we should blow this team up haha

    Go nuggz!

    Reply
    • Herman Van Ness says:
      January 30, 2012 at 7:30 am

      Why are people always trying to trade Miller. What a horrible idea. He’s the smartest player on the team and just had his 4th double-double in a row. There are not very many players in the entire league that can do that.

      Reply
      • Desean says:
        January 30, 2012 at 5:27 pm

        Because

        He said he wanted to be a starter and would leave at the end of the season

        He has trade value

        We want to see more julyan stone

        Reply
        • FinazzAus says:
          January 31, 2012 at 4:14 am

          What are we really going to get for a 35 year old but, I know he is playing good ball at the moment but no team is going to give up an asset for him. If we trade him for another player then we would most likly have to take on a longer contact which means we don’t have much/or any space left to re-sign Lawson the following year (not to mention the likes of moz, rudy or brewer if we wanted to) We are better off using him this year for what his worth and keep developing stone. Then next year we have cap space and stone then is not longer a rookie and he becomes our back up PG.

          Reply
  11. Amel says:
    January 30, 2012 at 7:06 am

    Even though I love the Nuggets, I have to admit that it was a joy to watch Billups playing. I still can’t believe we traded him… However, overall it was a good game by Denver, some calls by the refs made me stunning as they were unexpected and IMO unreproducible. And, as well, the Clips’ 3-pointers killed us in the end… What I really can’t stand is the fact that it was a home loss again…

    Reply
  12. steve says:
    January 30, 2012 at 7:19 am

    the end of this game reminded me of last year after melo trade. We just couldnt get anything done at the end of games. We have looked very strong at end up to this point so chalk it up to a crappy ending without ty lawson driving to the lane. But the ball SHOULD NOT be in Al’s hands. He’s had some clutch catch and shoot moments for us but he always stinks on last possession with ball in his hands.

    Reply
  13. Adam says:
    January 30, 2012 at 10:10 am

    I wish Tebow would have stayed at home, he jinxed us. Doesn’t he know that GOD doesn’t love him anymore?

    Reply
  14. evan says:
    January 30, 2012 at 10:12 am

    No one can stop Paul at the end of the game. All we had to do was match him, and were doing so until Nene committed a really stupid offensive foul that lost the game.

    Another 6game winning streak on its way!

    Go Nuggets!

    Reply
    • GZ says:
      January 30, 2012 at 6:37 pm

      The only thing stupid about that foul was the officiating. Billups was clearly hanging all over Nene, which should have been the real foul called. Instead, they reward Chauncey’s flop. Ideally the game doesn’t come down to one play, but that was a ridiculous call.

      Reply
  15. ny nugs fan says:
    January 30, 2012 at 10:32 am

    you guys are either blind or just in denial about fernandez

    he makes a couple of nice plays every now and then, but his decision making, turnovers and weak d continue to be the main reason we lose these kind of games

    and please don’t tell me anything about the raptors game with their roster full of nuggets has beens

    this guy can’t get out of his own way

    Reply
    • Michael (anotheraussienuggzfan) says:
      January 31, 2012 at 1:13 am

      I wouldn’t call Rudy’s D weak. He’s almost always all over his man, sometimes overplaying, and chases his man off screens harder than most of the other guys on the team.

      All of our gaurds except for maybe Stone go under the screen pretty much every time instead of trying to fight over which is why we give up the outside shots.
      However this is also a coaching decision as Karl has told the guys not to give up inside points and force them to make jump shots, unfortunately if a team gets hot (see the Nets or Clippers) then it makes it hard to win if we don’t convert.

      Part of the problem with the poor rotations onto shooters or the screening issues can be attributed to our bigs not talking and letting our gaurds know where the screen is etc.

      Hopefully we can find a good balance on D with the pick and roll and perimeter stops.

      Reply
  16. chris says:
    January 30, 2012 at 10:40 am

    The problem with Stone is he absolutely does not drive looking to score, so he puts no pressure on the defense. His vision is pretty good, but he won’t be able to consistently create passing lanes until he forces help on his drives a la Andre or even Rajon Rondo. Even run of the mill backups like CJ Watson or Eric Maynor or more threatening to get their own shot. Since he didn’t really do this in four years vs. CUSA competition (sub 15 usage rate), I’d bet strongly against him learning to do it at the NBA level. Sure he could prove me wrong and he was worth a flier, but he was UDFA for a reason.

    Reply
  17. Andy says:
    January 30, 2012 at 10:41 am

    I understand the love of Billups here in Denver but the reality is that he is shooting 33% from the field this season and has looked his age for most of the season. He played great last night but I am glad the Nuggets included him in the trade with the Knicks. There is no way that Ty Lawson would be the player he is now if Billups was still the starting point guard for the Nuggets. After an unforgettable run earlier in his career, the reality is that Billups only played 2 and a half seasons for the Nuggets. I agree that he deserves a ton of credit for the run to the Western Conference Finals but also deserves some blame once the team imploded once George Karl went out for his cancer treatment. Speaking of primma donna superstars, wasn’t it Billups’ agent that leaked that Billups would retire if the wrong team claimed him once he was amnestied from the Knicks?

    Reply
  18. Joshua says:
    January 30, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    Thought this was a pretty good game even though we unfortunately lost. However, I think this game empitomizes the type of season that I’ve thought we would have all along. I noticed this at the end of last season and it seems to continue into this season. We are a very good team against bad teams, and a very average team against good/elite teams. Unlike the melo nuggets, we play every game hard and rarely lose to an inferior opponent. On the other hand, we just do not stack up well against the good/elite teams IMO. So, while this has been translating into a very good record I still do not get the feeling we’ll go deep in the playoffs. Anyhow, don’t want to sound too negative – the nuggets have been very fun this year and I couldn’t be happier they are winning. It’s just something I have noticed this year.

    Reply
    • steve says:
      January 31, 2012 at 7:11 am

      ehhh, we’ve beaten Mavs, Lakers, Jazz, HEAT, 76ers and Knicks this year. 5 of our 6 losses are against very good teams as well. so basically we are 5-5 vs very good teams which is solid at this point i think. We have a tough road ahead though so we will see what these guys are made of.

      Reply
  19. Chris says:
    January 30, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    AA is the weak link on this team he’s not a starter, he’s a back up at best, he lacks that true exsplosiveness for a two gaurd, to bad no one else could see what i could from the very start.

    Reply
    • steve says:
      January 31, 2012 at 7:09 am

      AA will be fine. Give him more time. IF you noticed he has a really solid move where he backs his guy down and then tries the fade away. He mastered this over the winter but then started off slow and had an injury. He needs more time to develope that but once he starts hitting it consistantly, watch out. It’ll leave him more open for outside shots as well. AA is a good player and should be starting because of his D. dont give up on him yet or he’ll prove you wrong again!

      Reply
  20. gk4prez says:
    January 30, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    The Nuggets are one of the worst defensive teams in the league at defending the 3 and it bit them in the butt this game. Granted, some of the 3′s that went in for the clippers were ill advised shots, but it is still an area that the Nuggets need to address if they want to get better.

    And what is the use of having a deep bench if you don’t use it? The key going into this game should have been to get their bigs in foul trouble and the Nuggets had/have the personnel to do just that, but they didn’t even use two of the backup Centers on the team.

    Reply
  21. jim says:
    January 30, 2012 at 9:10 pm

    we lost! blow up this team! ;)

    thanks for the good analysis. that was a lot of incredible shooting from the clippers last night, way too much to handle but another loss we were in right to the frustratingly inept, weird end.

    i stopped trying to understand what we were doing with gallo on paul the whole fouth quarter. isn’t that the kind of guy we brought aaa, brewer, or fernandez in to guard?! totally true – our losses have all been us getting beat at our own game (like to the spurs and portland).

    anyway, just totally agreeing – this kind of shitty perimeter d against really smart teams are going to kill us.

    bringing in chauncey to “asst coach” del negro was pretty effing brilliant for that team. they are going to be a tough out this year.

    Reply
    • steve says:
      January 31, 2012 at 7:14 am

      totally agree on billups coaching. Del Negro brought him over twice in both the 2nd and 4th qts and you can tell billups was pointing out stuff he saw. now i know its not uncommon for a pg to tlak to their coach during FT’s like that but im sure billups knows more about us than your avg player. smart!

      Reply
  22. wordisbond says:
    January 31, 2012 at 1:46 am

    Niiiiiice. You guys used my Full Clip suggestion from the earlier post. I didn’t expect it to be used to describe the opponent though. Whatevs. Can’t be a chooser. One thought on the game: Karl got out-Karled by Vinny “I Look Like a Hybrid of Scott Baio and Luke Wilson” Del Negro. Uh, let’s think about that now. And Chauncey showed he’s still got Skillz. I’m always gonna miss him. He turned Denver basketball around like Wu-Tang turned New York hip hop after the G-Funk sound was threatening to take everything over.

    Reply
  23. Ricardo says:
    January 31, 2012 at 11:15 am

    The nuggets lost this game because of the lack of defense in the perimeter. They need to get better at defending the perimeter if they want to beat teams that have good guards. .

    Reply

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