Rapid Reaction: Cleveland Cavaliers 100, Denver Nuggets 99

March 7, 2012
by Kalen
Cleveland Cavaliers 100 Final

Recap | Box Score

 99 Denver Nuggets
Corey Brewer, SF 20 MIN | 2-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 4 PTS | -1
Brewer contributed to other areas of the game besides scoring, although it’s nearly impossible to overlook such a poor shooting performance. Since becoming a starter Brewer hasn’t quite played with the type of energy we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him when coming off the bench. Hopefully Gallinari soon takes his rightful spot as the team’s starting small forward soon so that Brewer can play the spark-plug role he’s much more comfortable with.
Kenneth Faried, F 20 MIN | 2-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 5 PTS | -7
Nine rebounds in 20 minutes is solid by any standard, however, at this juncture Nuggets fans expect much more from the “Manimal” than just rebounding alone. His defense against Antawn Jamison to start the game was atrocious and opened the flood gates for Cleveland to gain confidence, which they ultimately utilized to win the game. Although his interior defense is decent, Faried’s one-on-one perimeter defense must improve dramatically.
Nene, C 22 MIN | 5-10 FG | 3-5 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 13 PTS | -9
The story of the game was Nene’s inability to play any sort of help defense whatsoever in the dying moments of the fourth quarter. On key possessions late in the final several minutes of the game Nene didn’t even contest Kyrie Irving’s shots as he dribbled right down the center of the lane for multiple layups. The worst part: Nene was clearly not only within striking defense of blocking Irving’s shots, but likely could have at least altered them if he had just tried. Yes, Nene also had a few important buckets on offense to keep the game close, but this production was virtually erased by his inability to prevent Cleveland from scoring on the other end.
Arron Afflalo, SG 40 MIN | 4-8 FG | 4-6 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | -5
In 40 minutes, Afflalo simply must produce more. He’s been a revelation the last month but against the Cavaliers he was invisible for most of the night. In fact, I was shocked to see he even played 40 minutes as I only remember him making a true impact for about 15. His defense on Irving at the end of the game also played a big role letting him get the rack for the game-winning basket.
Ty Lawson, PG 41 MIN | 6-14 FG | 5-5 FT | 5 REB | 6 AST | 18 PTS | -6
Grading Lawson is extremely difficult. He finished with 18 points and had another solid night statistically; however, he also committed a ghastly seven turnovers and could not stop Irving if his life depended on it. In the Cavaliers last offensive possession of the game Ty easily could have stepped in for a charge, but instead moved entirely out of the way for Irving to made yet another easy layup. Then, with four seconds left, Ty took it upon himself to drive to the hole yet failed to convert a fairly routine layup of his own. Bottom line: Lawson has been spectacular of late and his willingness to step up in the clutch should be applauded, but key defensive mistakes and a carelessness with the ball really cost his team some big possessions on Wednesday.

Al Harrington, PF 33 MIN | 10-20 FG | 1-2 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 22 PTS | +6
Harrington was one of the lone bright spots on the evening. While he took quite a few shots he also made 50 percent of them which is always appreciated. Like everyone on the team, Harrington struggled defensively but his effort and ability to knock down clutch baskets made up for many of his mistakes.
Andre Miller, PG 24 MIN | 5-7 FG | 6-6 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 16 PTS | 0
It’s not often that Miller receives an A but on Wednesday he played superb, all things considered. His defense, as always, was questionable at best, yet his offense was not forced and came within the flow of a fairly rugged basketball game. Seeing him play team ball, after a few selfish outings, was extremely refreshing.
Chris Andersen, C 18 MIN | 0-3 FG | 3-4 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 3 PTS | +7
Birdman deserves nothing but a solid A tonight as he was the only Nugget who brought focus, defense and enthusiasm to the floor for almost every minute he was on it. His three blocked shots were monumental in terms of swinging the momentum back in the Nuggets’ favor, while his seven rebounds in only 18 minutes were hard earned.
Danilo Gallinari, SF 22 MIN | 1-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 5 PTS | +10
Still rusty, Gallinari somehow managed to contribute in other areas of the game besides scoring. His defense was the best of anybody on the team and in a night were getting stops virtually meant winning the game, this was very admirable especially considering how fresh off injury he still was.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Biblical Beatdown: Apparently somebody forgot to inform Nuggets fans before the game that Kyrie Irving is the reincarnation of Moses, because every time he drove, the Nuggets defense parted like the Red Sea. Irving was responsible for 10 of the Cavaliers’ final 12 points of the game, all which came in the last three minutes on strictly layups alone. That’s right, not one of Irving’s final 10 points came off a jump shot, runner, hook shot, fade away or anything even remotely close. They were all layups. But the worst part: On two of Irving’s final four baskets, the Nuggets committed a foul allowing him to get to the line for an “And-1″ conversion, which he made on both attempts. In essence, in a game won by only a single point, the Nuggets half-hearted attempts to foul (or play defense of any kind) — instead of just wrapping up Irving entirely — cost them two points from the free throw line, and could have lost them the contest in the process.
  2. Matador Man: As has previously been mentioned, Nene’s soft (if you even want to call it that) interior defense might very well have been the deciding factor in this game. While Ty Lawson could do nothing to keep Irving from penetrating in the lane, Nene compounded the problem by refusing to challenge any sort of shot he threw up within five of the basket — which was every single one in the last three minutes of the game. Nene didn’t even attempt to alter Irving’s path to the basket and instead, sidestepped to allow even more space for Irving to finish. It was truly an unbearable sight to behold and one Nuggets fans hope never to see again in the future.
  3. Lawless: After winning Western Conference Player of the Week and converting back-to-back game-winning shots, a lot was expected out of Ty Lawson on Wednesday. Unfortunately, he came up short. What hurt more than anything was his careless ball movement in conjunction with his lack of assertiveness in terms of controlling the flow of the game. When the Nuggets come out flat like they did tonight, it’s Ty’s job to rally his troops by zipping around the court, pushing the pace of the game and forcing his teammates to get involved. Instead, he was as stagnant as the rest of his fellow comrades, especially on defense. On the last possession of the game for the Cavaliers, Irving literally dribbled the length of the floor with Lawson standing in the middle of the lane nearly the entire time; but instead of stepping in and taking a charge, he moved out of the way at the last second, allowing Irving to score an easy bucket. In the heat of the moment, it’s tough to know when to take, however, Lawson had the entire length of the court to see Irving coming directly at him! Why he didn’t at least make an effort is beyond me.
  4. R-E-S-P-E-C-T: As Scott Hastings so eloquently stated in the Nuggets post-game coverage, there’s a level of respect you must maintain in the NBA on a nightly basis no matter who your opponent is. The Nuggets, all too often, do not put a premium on this aspect of the game. All season long we’ve seen a massive fluctuation in the Nuggets style of play depending on who its opponent may be. In big games on ESPN, the team often has no problem showing up, yet in seemingly easy wins the team is nowhere to be found. The Nuggets have a serious problem in terms of playing down to its level of competition and usually this involves failing to play with passion, discipline, concentration and worst of all, energy.
  5. Karl Cop Out: Many fans were griping after the game saying Karl once again botched his rotations late in the fourth quarter. I tend to disagree. Kenneth Faried was having an atrocious game on the defensive side of the ball up to that point and Birdman — how often does he close out in tight games? Yes, he was having a solid night as well, however, had he faltered down the stretch fans would have been up in arms asking why Birdman, of all people, was in to close out a heated battle. Nene and Gallinari are the Nuggets unquestioned starting power forward and small forward while Al Harrington was the Nuggets unquestioned best player against the Cavaliers. These three comprise more than half of Karl’s go-to lineup to close out games and it has been this way all season. While Nene and Gallo were indeed coming off injuries, the fact remains: if they were healthy enough to play, they should be healthy enough to close out the game. In these scenarios you always want your best players on the floor and in the Nuggets case, that is Nene and Gallinari.
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:48 pm | filed in Analysis, Game Recap, Rapid Reaction | 59 Comments
  • melly

    They should’ve finished with Faried on court… =/ I was disappointed with all the times we couldn’t take advantage of Cav turnovers. Losing by 1 point is awful….

    • Charlie

      Faried really struggled, having one of his worst games as a pro. He allowed Jamison to get off early and he had trouble adjusting to playing with Nene. I would have liked to see him in the game late, but he just has to get a better grip on himself earlier on in the game, especially when he’s being embarrassed by the guy he’s supposed to be guarding.

      • FinazzAus

        I agree that faired struggle most of the game. But I was very surprised that GK didn’t bring him for the last 4 plays of the game just for his ability to rebound the ball and more importantly getting the O board if it was there.

  • evan

    Fuck Kyrie Irving

  • Hi

    There’s a lot to take in from it being the second game in a row that the nuggets looked passive not aggressive until they needed to be. Except for tonight they didn’t get a lucky chance to win. As George Karl’s says about the basketball gods if you don’t play the game the right way they won’t reward you (well most the time). In the end dumb mistakes and lack of aggressiveness lost us this game. We had a chance at the end of the game, but are interior defense turned into the worlds best matadors at the end of the game. #feelsickrightnow

    • GK4Prez

      Put one of the two available shot blockers in instead of no d Al. That is on the coach, for a suposed coach that likes d, his teams don’t play it very well, and he refuses to go with his best defensive team in these situations. It is beyond dumb.

      • Jeff

        Buckets was playing better D than Faried tonight in my opinion. The main culprit was Nene.

        • GK4Prez

          I agree with you, but nobody was penetrating when the birdman was in, so put him in for defense at the end. Every coach in the league does it, except 1, and his dumb ass coaches the Nuggets.

          • Porter

            I agree with you, but nobody was penetrating when the birdman was in, so put him in for defense at the end. Every coach in the league does it, except 1, and his dumb ass coaches the Nuggets.

            Reply and I agree with you.

            • Jeff

              Well if we had Birdman in instead of Nene, we probably wouldn’t have gotten that last bucket to take the lead.I don’t think it’s the coach’s fault for expecting Nene to play better defense at the end of the game. He is a starter and is getting paid a lot of money, so I wouldn’t have him on the bench for Birdman the amnesty candidate. I would blame the players more than the coach personally.

  • evan

    George Karl said early in the 4th, the Cavs can’t get 100pts. What happened?

    • Jeff

      He really called that one, damn.

  • Alex

    Why can’t we just run these teams out of the building like we should? And why is Jordan Hamilton not getting any PT any more?

    • Alex

      Oh and with a win we would have been only one game out of third place in the west…

  • HD

    Nene can score in the post, Bird can block shots, Al can shoot midrange, Faried can rebound, Koufos can look ill on the sidelines, and no one can play defense?

  • Landry

    I think our line-up is fine with Harrington out in clutch time but what about Faried for Gallinari

    Nene Faried Lawson Afflalo Harrington

    so we have two beasts in the paint with three big time scorers with size… so unlike GK

  • Jay c.

    We lost to the Cavs?!? Really? Just think about that for a second… Oh yeah and it was at home! I put the loss on 3 people GK-for putting andre miller in the game at all. Nene for not taking a charge and Andre Miller for being just overall horrible on defense.

  • Whimanji

    When the team is in full strength I still think GK has to play the rookies more especially when the regular rotation is lacking energy. Hamilton definitely should hve been in the game at one point or the other and faried shoul hve been in at the end. I hve said this for awhile but GK has to go now. He has done a great job with Denver for the past 8 yrs but I think his time has run out.

    • Charlie

      The Nuggets are okay man.

      Did you see how engaged and active everyone was during the last six minutes of that game? It was as if they expected to win and didn’t care to work hard up until that point.

      Ty Lawson, Faried, and AAA just didn’t bring it like they normally do. This one was an effort loss and the Nuggets just allowed themselves to get outworked by a lesser team

  • http://www.roundballminingcompany.com Jeremy

    Why does Karl try to implement full court pressure at the end of games. No one in the league can stop Kyrie Irving from three quarter court. That decision basically rolled out the red carpet for him to attack the rim. Of course there was ample opportunity for someone to provide some help and stop the ball, but that was apparently a foreign concept. Denver got burned extending their defense in game 5 against OKC as Durant cut “backdoor” if you can call it that when you are 60 feet from the basket and made that free throw line jumper over Nene to win the series.

    That being said the players deserve the blame for this loss. Very little emotion.

    On the final shot Lawson was too focused on clearing space for the shot. He brought his left elbow up to protect himself unecessarily and that caused him to basically double clutch the shot and leave it short.

    Lastly, I have to wonder if Denver is bringing Gallo back too soon. He is clearly not 100% and looks very unsure of himself.

  • FinazzAus

    I think to let GK go now would be the worst move in the world. At the moment 80% of our team plays well because of GK style of play. Put in another coach and we could very well go pear shapped real fast.
    I think the coach isn’t where we are lacking. It’s one really really good player (not a super star, because I don’t think you need a superstar to win) I think we might have to may good players and we just don’t have minutes for them all to get into a groove. I think I would be a fan of trading off ( in the next year or so) a top player or two for a really good player, shit it sounds like I’m saying we need a superstar

    • Thomas

      Put in a decent coach and we fly. Anyone who eliminates small ball and gives PT to players who focus on defense, instead of ball-hog and jacking up shots. Anyone who has drive and can motivate these guys to reach their full potential, particularly our rookies (who have such promise). Anyone who gives the key to Ty Lawson exclusively and will live with the fact that there will be growing pains along his path to become a top player. Anyone who sees that Faried is a difference maker, a defensive diamond. Anyone who sees that we have 2 big centers and that, barring injury, one of them should always be on the court.

      • SmokinNugs

        I get so irritated when I see Miller running the offense when Ty is on the floor. I wish we would only play ONE PG at a time. When Ty is on the floor Miller is on the bench and vice versa.

  • Kyle Obergfell

    My take.. is that Coach Karl has different standards for his starters and his bench. I do see a lot of improvement still to go in rotation.. I do buy it. These losses are adding up with the choking down the stretch thing. And a little micro-trend is going along with that..pulling Birdman out for the final minutes when he’s having a good game. I don’t know how Birdman became the pariah of the team.. but I see a guy with a lot of heart.. and a few other players that could learn from that…maybe from the bench.. (ahem..Nene..ahem).

  • al68

    A que jugamos?.

    Ya dije despues del partido contra SA que esperaba que no se rompiera la quimica defensiva y desgraciadamente se ha perdido.

    Como un rookie por muy bueno que sea te puede hacer 3 jugadas iguales en los últimos minutos y que ademas son los puntos mas faciles, las bandejas.

    Para mi el partido ha sido tan malo como el de sacramento la diferencia el resultado.

    Cosas positivas, la defensa de Nene y la “vuelta” de Miller. Con Nene que es el que mejor jugador en ejecutar el P&R la mejora de miller tambien debe notarse.

    Cosas negativas, la defensa en especial de Faried, la caída en picado de Brewer y SOBRE TODO EL CANSANCIO QUE PERCIBO EN GK QUE SE CONTAGIA A LOS JUGADORES. Por primera vez creo que el tiempo de GK esta llegando a su fin en el banquillo, no tiene la fuerza necesaria ni la transmite al equipo.

    La buena imagen que dimos en Tejas lo hemos perdido en 2 partidos contra equipos francamente inferiores.

    Ojala me equivoque, pero a tenemos un cambio via trade o caeremos otra vez en 1ª ronda.

    Necesitamos mucha mas defensa que nos den canastas faciles al contraataque (fastbreak), como al principio de temporada. Aunque a mi no me esta gustando el juego de Rudy creo que ahora necesitamos su velocidad y su vision de juego.

  • aussienuggzfan

    faried’s defense wasnt as bad as advertised. He only made a few mistakes and help defense was non-existent.

    harrington got torched just as much

  • Thomas

    Sorry, but this is the worst game review I’ve seen in a while. Blaming Faried is ridiculous. Praising Andre and Harrington is also short-sighted as it completely ignores the defending aspect of it.

    If a guy gets 9 boards in 20 minutes he is indispensable to the defense. I don’t care as much if Jamison scores a ton of points in the first half, as long as you don’t allow rebounds and second half points an you correct it as the game develops. Faried is so much more effective than Harrington, not only in defense but even more so as he doesn’t ball hog and take away from ball movement. Andre Miller and the two-guard line-up is the worst possible scheme for this team, there are no benefits to this failed experiment (which is now in it’s second season for some unkown reason) – particularly against small line-ups.

    There is a reason why Andre and Harrington are journeymen and have very limited playoff success in long careers. To think otherwise at this point in their careers is to ignore the evidence.

    The sad part is that this is all too predictable with Karl.

    Think about our strategy. It usually goes like this:

    Start game with a strategically sound line-up, then insert all the pieces you can, starting at the 6 minute mark. Bench rookies and put in favorite players and play some 2-guard so that you can be sure than you don’t have a big lead by halftime and that the starting unit develops any cohesion. Ignore defensive match-up advantages you may have. Continue a similar pattern in the second half, making sure you play a lot of Andre and Harrington (soon Rudy again), because those are your “boys”. Only use JHam and Stone if absolutely necessary (lack of other bodies). When there is 4 minutes left, make sure you have not more than 1 rebounder/defender on the court and pray that your boys Miller and Harrington ball-hog their way to a victory (which happens less than 50% of the time in the regular season and certainly less than 30% of the time in the playoffs), much like you did with Carmelo.

    Any coach could do better than this.

    It looks like we have too many pieces and the wrong coach to handle it. It’s a shame.

    • HD

      Faried flat out got beat defensively, At times big al was playing better d. This has been one of the most accurate reviews in a long time, kudos.

    • Desean

      I agree this review was not one of the better ones

  • GZ

    The nuggets don’t seem to understand that a win is a win, whether against the spurs or cavs. A possession is a possession, whether earned by a flashy steal or block or by a simple stop and defensive rebound, and a basket prevented is as good as a basket scored. I’d love to see them show commitment to team defense and rebounding and to blow out the teams they’re supposed to beat instead of playing down to their level.

  • chris

    As terrible as the defense on Irving down the stretch was, this game was lost on offense. Barely over 100 ORtg vs. a Cavs team without Varejao at home is just not getting it done. Part of the problem seems to be that Ty still isn’t quite comfortable knowing when to score and when to pass when Nene and Gallinari are in the game. That, and Gallinari is not quite right yet (neither is Nene but he looks closer to healthy). It’s a bad loss, but I think probably more just growing pains and readjustment than any sort of nightmare.

  • Buffalo soldier

    Was that Tim Grgurich back on the bench?

    Maybe Karl getting some help.

  • Trevor

    Didn’t read all the comments but am I the only one who notices that Nene doesn’t seem to like playing with Faried?

    • Irritated Fan

      There was an article wrote quoting nene about how much he likes and wants to play with faried

    • Jeff

      He likes Faried, just not used to playing with him yet. Past 2 games might have been the first time they played together at the same time.

  • Ma$on

    Man so many things were frustrating about this game. First and foremost, nene not asserting himself on either end of the court all night. He had a couple buckets late which we really needed, but he needs to get that going earlier. And stop just standing around on d!
    Second, I was disappointed by the refs again tonight, though I’ll be the first to say that is not an excuse for this loss. 1 point games always just lead me have a lot of what if thoughts. Like what if they called kyrie’s slap to Lawson’s dome on his final shot. Like I said though, we should have been in a position to win even if we got even more screwed by the refs.
    Finally what really got me pissed was that we were playing like the cavaliers! Did anyone else notice how similar our offensive games were looking? That is NOT GOOD! It is befuddling how our offense performs so differently on different nights. We have to pinch this trend of playing down to teams and run our offense. I know we can. Ugh it’s so frustrating to me!

  • Irritated Fan

    Someone needs to tell Corey brewer he is there for defense and fast breaks, he is taking way too many shots in every game and they are all bricks. Seriously, gotta love his energy, but he needs to come off the bench and realize he isn’t a scorer! And when is gallo going to have some confidence at all, he won’t shoot, won’t drive. At least he plays defense (nene). We better beat hornets by 20+ and get Denver some TACOS!

    • SmokinNugs

      No doubt! There’s a reason you’re that wide open bro! Remember back at the beginning of the season when no one was hitting 3′s in the entire league? Teams kept giving the Nugs wide open looks and we kept taking them and kept missing them. An open shot is an open shot but if you’re open EVERY time? They’re playing you…

  • http://nugznazty.wordpress.com/ Owen

    @Irritated Fan, agreed on Corey Brewer, he could make himself look like a damn all-star if he would just stick to fast break opportunities. I think he is generally our 2nd best fast breaker on the floor (aside from the occasional airballed layup). If he gets 10-12 points on 5/7 shooting 3 rebounds and 2 steals, we probably win every game.

  • Trevor

    http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=854paeg

    I know Howard is a moot point now days but with the deadline approaching I gave it one more look. I’d still rent Howard for the playoffs for Nene, Miller, and maybe Chandler.

  • TheWolfman

    I am so thoroughly disgusted with the Nuggets effort last night I can’t quite put it into words. Nene is as soft a butter on a 100 degree day and really should just go play soccer. He is suppose to be a premier veteran but his lazy-ass effort on defense and his spineless leadership abilities are only making this team worse.

    • Ryan

      I couldn’t agree more. I just about lost it when the Nuggets extended his lazy ass yet again. When has Nene ever showed an ounce of passion? The only time I see any emotion out of him is when he’s yelling at the refs. As long as the highest-paid player on the Nuggets doesn’t think it’s worth his while to even remotely challenge a game winning shot, this team isn’t going anywhere in the playoffs

    • SmokinNugs

      While I agree Nene wasn’t good, it was his 2nd game back from missing most of February from an injury. Gallo obviously isn’t 100% and went 1-7 shooting. Nene is healthier than Gallo but he’s not 100% either. IMO it’s on the coach to ease them into these games more. You could tell George wanted to close with them before the game even started in that interview. He just couldn’t help himself…. or the team.

  • magster

    What does this game and the Sacramento game has in common ? Injured Moz and injured Koufos. The Nugs were really getting on a roll playing with size and intimidation, and excepting Birdman last night, the Nuggets haven’t had that the last two games. We need at least one if not both of our big men to be a fixture in the rotation going forward.

    • Andrew

      Exactly. The Nuggets had really come to rely on K2 and Moz in Nene’s absence, and with Nene clearly not at full strength, the Nuggets had no real bigs down low for defense.

      I fall on the side of those who blame Karl rather than Nene for this one. Nene did not look right the whole game to me. Gallo also looked gimpy. It might just be a matter of getting back into game shape, but I don’t think either of these guys were well enough to play good d to close out the game. Having said that, Nene’s matador d was atrocious. C’mon, Big Man, just hammer the guy once! He’s already going to the line with you sticking your hand in there, you might as well get your money’s worth!

  • Richard (Cavs Fan)

    I’ve loved this Nuggets team since they robbed NY blind in that Melo trade. I’m a fan of just about every player on this roster with the exception of Koufas (should have stayed in school for at least another year.)

    I was pretty shocked at the Nuggets’ defense throughout this entire game. That having been said, you guys have to realize that Byron Scott puts in the best possible lineup to allow Kyrie to flourish in the fourth quarter. For most of the final 2:30 of the fourth quarter, the lineup consisted of Jamison at the 5, Gee at the 4, Parker at the 3, and Gibson at the 2. Thompson was rotated in to play interior defense when necessary.

    These guys aren’t usually very reliable in clutch situations, but all of them had had their moments in this game which forced the Nugget D to play honest and stretch the floor. Jamison didn’t make much noise in the second half, but he was on fire in the first half and hit an open 3 off a kickout from Gee with about 5:30 to go in the 4th. Gee had a stretch of 7 points straight where he hit a 3 in the 3rd quarter and had a nice cutting layup with about a minute left in the 4th. Gibson is a career 42% shooter from behind the arc. Parker’s guy could have helped off to protect the basket, but Parker, as old and decrepit as he is, is still a career 40% shooter from behind the arc and had hit a 3 early in this game.

    Irving is good enough to get a ball out to any of these guys and to put them in a situation to make something happen.

    Beating the cavs isn’t very hard, but it starts with making sure Jamison can’t get into a rythm. When we win games, Jamison keeps the game competitive and Kyrie takes it over in the 4th. Sometimes he pulls it out and sometimes he doesn’t. But outside of Jamison and Irving, we have almost no offensive talent. I told my roommate after Jamison hit his first 3 of the night that if he scores more than 25 points, we had a good chance of winning. He had 26 in the first half.

    • Andrew

      Good points, Richard, though we really like K2 around here. Not sure if you have been watching other Nugget’s games, but he has really been improving throughout the season. Good defender, very good rebounder and he is developing some post moves. I personally think he should start over Moz.

      • Richard (Cavs Fan)

        I only get to watch Nuggets games if they’re featured on TNT/ESPN/NBAtv. I don’t have league pass unfortunately.

        I know Koufos is doing pretty well this year, as is Byron (B.J.) Mullens for Charlotte. I don’t root against either of them, I’m just apathetic to their existence in the NBA. I just wish they would have treated O.S.U. with a little more respect. Neither of them really wanted to be there, It was just a step for them to get into the NBA and they let everyone know about it. Which is fine, I just won’t root for them if they succeed.

  • http://espn Gary

    Another loss same story: lack of consistency, mental toughness, Lawson’s inability to take the next step despite all the talent, Nene being Nene, GK rotations are questionable and he can’t get the team up if they ain’t feeling it.
    Next…

    • SmokinNugs

      Ty can only do so much when GK plays Miller with him all the time. The offense flows the best when Ty is out there running things. It slows down big time when Andre checks in.

  • FinazzAus

    Im just gonna throw it out there
    Miller and nene for………. Gasol.

    Lakers need a PG (we need to get rid of one)
    Lakers wanting to move gasol
    Money works
    Denver need a more versatile player because nene has looked slow all year.
    Only question being If gasol could fit into our offense. But he couldn’t be any worst then nene

    • Ryan

      Ujiri would win GM of the millenium if he pulled off that trade…

      • FinazzAus

        I forgot to mention the only catch to that trade is. Nene can’t be traded until 14th of march. A day before the deadline. Which means they could move gasol before that or if there is a hick up it would full through.

    • SmokinNugs

      I really like that idea. Then you could start Pau at 5, start Faried at 4, and we’d have a 3rd 7 footer. Pau is getting older too and he could teach our young 7 footers so they could take over as he transitions to a Tim Duncan type role and amount of minutes.

      LA might do it too because Bynum has the 5 locked down so Nene could be their permanent 4. Lord knows Metta ain’t doing enough for them

  • ny nugs fan

    yeah gallinari played good defense but not sure if we really needed him for his defense down the stretch… we needed gallo for his 3 ball threat and ability to stretch the defense and pull it down and drive to the rack… given the fact that he was CLEARLY hobbled he was hardly a factor on offense and his defense was decent

  • Golden Fan

    For the first time this second half of the season, I finally witnessed a loss not blamed mostly of George Karl. It wasn’t his fault that Nene is Mr. Softie all game long. To be honest, none of his strategies are flat out stupid, it’s just that some of these soft players has got to go if they can’t be taught how to have an ATTITUDE on defense. Just take a look on Boston and Chicago. Boston has an aging (and fading) player in Garnett while Chicago has a low-profile player (yet) in Gibson. What’s common between them is that they play nasty or just disciplined on defense. This is what the Nuggets really need, a great defensive player. We can fix our defensive gameplan, but still it won’t be perfect if we still have soft guys.
    Better find a way to trade Nene “Mr. Softie” Hilario or we aren’t going to make a shout in the playoffs!!!

    • Ryan

      That might be because this was the first loss of the second half of the season lol

  • http://roundballminingcompany.com Mark from Charlotte

    GK needs to work on defense, and his rotation. Maybe the Nuggets need a coaching change…….

  • ny nugs fan

    i wouldnt necessarily say nene is soft i just think he’s like many big men who have come before him in the nba who prefer to get the ball in space, convert around the rim, nice touch, runs the floor, etc. i like nene… but i’m also a guy who thinks birdman is our best player so what do i know


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