Dallas Mavericks

105

Final Recap | Box Score

95

Denver Nuggets

	Nene, C 36 MIN | 6-12 FG | 4-5 FT | 10 REB | 2 AST | 16 PTS | -10 Nene had a harmless double-double. I was surprised he produced this much because he continues to have trouble finishing at the rim. Nene had an incredibly difficult cover in Dirk Nowitzki but that is not an excuse to completely neglect defending the weak side. No blocks, no steals, and too many turnovers. The one thing Nene did well was keep his head in the game instead of expending all of his energy arguing calls.
	Julyan Stone, G 7 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 0 PTS | -8 I don’t know why the Nuggets went away from Stone. Karl keeps putting him in a terrible situation where he’s not in a position to make plays or develop his point guard abilities. I like the way Stone defends, but it’s hard to ignore how he helped the Nuggets get off to a horrid start on both ends of the court. I’ll give Stone an incomplete. The starting lineup experiment couldn’t have gone much worse and Stone suffered the most for it. He was not given a chance to play after 8 uneventful minutes.
	Chris Andersen, C 14 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -13 Birdman is like that cheap, no-name vodka occupying the bottom shelf of your favorite liquor store. Are the cheap thrills of a good night once in a while worth the ensuing week-long headache? No, and consistently going there is a sign you may have a serious problem. Starting him was Karl’s strangest decision yet. He hasn’t started since 2008 against the Hawks, where he also struggled mightily and the Nuggets lost. I like Birdman in small, infrequent doses when the team is exceptionally flat. Starting him flat out didn’t work.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 34 MIN | 4-12 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | -21 It’s tough to settle on a good grade for Afflalo, because he showed some fight coming off another horrendous start. There was a stretch in the third quarter where he looked to be asserting himself as a leader while imploring the Nuggets to work harder on the defensive end. Unfortunately, Afflalo was just way too up and down. He missed every big shot he took and just didn’t consistently play up to his talent. He finished with a game worst -21, a stat not indicative of his true play but a strong sign that he just doesn’t have it together. There are signs he is getting there.
	Ty Lawson, PG 38 MIN | 5-16 FG | 4-5 FT | 1 REB | 10 AST | 16 PTS | -4 Lawson wasn’t aggressive enough, but it’s totally unreasonable to expect him to just start taking over games while trying to grow into his long term role as a starter. A double-double from your starting PG should be more than enough for any good team in the league to get a win, especially one with as much depth and scoring talent as Denver. It’s imperative that Lawson get way more aggressive going to the rim, but at least he is improving. The main problem is the defense and Lawson can’t fix that. Ty has the right idea in trying to make this haphazard offense work by not forcing too many shots, but he simply needs to get meaner and be relentless attacking the paint.
	Al Harrington, PF 33 MIN | 6-10 FG | 3-5 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 17 PTS | -5 Great stats, but just one of those hollow efforts as you never got the sense he had much of an impact on the game. To be fair, the game was pretty out of hand by the time he came in. Al Buckets is at least making shots and not afraid to take them when needed. With the Nuggets suffering a crisis of confidence at the moment, you have to appreciate what Al brings to the table. Unfortunately Harrington is a big part of the Nuggets giving back way more points than they are able to put up. I had to dock Harrington’s solid production because he ultimately didn’t make plays when the Nuggets needed it most. Al’s effort does not go unnoticed though, I love how hard he’s playing and this team’s problems are much bigger than him.
	Andre Miller, PG 29 MIN | 3-5 FG | 4-4 FT | 7 REB | 6 AST | 11 PTS | +4 His defense is so bad, you need a nightly double-double just to compensate. Miller can’t guard anyone and the team seems to know it. Karl seems okay with having him lay off his man while praying he can cut off drives to the rim. The problem is teams are finding the open shooter and Miller can’t be bothered to close out. Outside of the defense, Miller struggled again with turnovers but played about as well as he can offensively. This may be the best you can get out of Miller in a nightly bench role and I’m not sure giving a 36 year old this many minutes is the wisest idea.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 29 MIN | 6-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 17 PTS | +4 Fernandez had the hot hand early and helped close out the second half on a mini Denver run. The Nuggets then curiously went away from him while the starters lost all momentum. His shot selection was much better and his gambling defense continues to be frustratingly hit or miss. Still, Rudy played with a lot of passion and showed resolve on a night the rest of the Nuggets looked scared.
	Kosta Koufos, C 20 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | +3 Koufos is impressing me more with each game. He still makes a lot of mistakes getting caught on switches and trying to guard the perimeter, but the guy is only 22 years old and still learning the most difficult position in the NBA. He usually produces whenever he gets minutes, so I don’t understand why he was removed from the starting lineup. Koufos may have been the only positive in terms of the defense tonight and he barely played. I was wrong about the guy — he’s a surefire rotation player and the Nuggets need to live with some rookie mistakes while developing him.

Five Things We Saw

1. A new low: In my game preview, I praised the Nuggets for playing hard against terrible circumstances. I expected them to play desperate and make their own luck with a heroic home effort against the defending champs. I am shocked at the way Denver is playing at home this season. This team is clearly making excuses and not resolved to fight through the injuries. The Nuggets were never legitimately in this game. They did not have a chance and for me, it qualifies as the worst effort of the year. They are shorthanded and perhaps they should have lost, but there is no excuse not to fight hard.
2. Adversity: The Nuggets are embarrassing themselves but still need fan support. This is the worst stretch of the George Karl era I can remember, but the Nuggets still sit with a decent playoff seed and a great chance to turn things around. This team is probably not a contender, but that is not a reason to give up on the season. There is too much at stake and too much time to make amends. This stretch doesn’t have to hurt the Nuggets too badly if they can find the resolve to fight through it. Keep supporting the Denver Nuggets.
3. Son of a switch: The Nuggets again reverted to switching screens in an effort to simplify a defense they have no idea how to fix. I hate switching because it does not promote any sort of accountability in terms each player taking pride on that end of the floor. A lot of bad teams resort to switching because their personnel is inexperienced or unable to grasp team concepts on defense. Tonight we saw Afflalo matched up on Marion and Lamar Odom, Andre Miller and Ty Lawson on Dirk, and countless other mismatches the Mavericks exploited at every opportunity. The only solid defensive stretch came with Koufos in the lineup yet the Nuggets did not reward him.
4. Zoned out: The Mavs often played 3 players wide near the basket with 2 defenders roaming the perimeter outside. They conceded threes to Nuggets shooters and dared them to make shots. It was so effective the Nuggets offense often had trouble even finding an open look. The worst part is Denver hesitated to shoot against the zone and often dribbled around aimlessly or bulldozed their way into double and triple teams. The Nuggets were great against Miami’s zone earlier this year and now this team hardly bares any resemblance. This crisis of confidence on the offensive end has to end. The team lacks mental toughness needed to fight through this right now.
5. WILSOOOON!!!!: For those looking for any good news tonight, Yahoo Sports is reporting that Wilson Chandler has decided to re-sign with the Denver Nuggets upon his return from China. Unfortunately, this turned out to be little more than a ploy by Chandler’s agent to put the onus on Denver to bid against themselves and deliver Chandler to fan base desperate for good news. See Jeremy’s post here for full details and my thoughts on the matter.

Game 26 Advanced Stats

Pace Factor: 93.9 – No energy. A totally flat performance
Offensive Efficiency:  101.1 – Tough to judge because the game was a laugher. Nuggets didn’t get close
Defensive Efficiency:  111.8 – It’s time to start getting worried. Denver is a really bad defensive team

Candid notes by Kalen

I have to agree with Charlie about Stone, Birdman and specifically Karl’s rotations altogether. At this point, it’s just getting tough to understand his point of view. He desperately wants to keep his bench in tact (even though it’s essentially just Miller and Harrington) so he resorts to starting a rookie point guard at small forward who’s hardly played a single stretch of significant minutes all season. Then, after starting Koufos for a few games and even Faried, he tries out Birdman who’s largely been relegated to “DNPs” for the last 10 days. I understand tinkering with lineups once injuries strike but isn’t this the same guy who utterly refuses to play rookies no matter how good they may be and basically preaches to the media about the importance of keeping his rotations tight?

Starting Stone, a point guard who never once played a full season at small forward while in college, just doesn’t make sense and again as Charlie says, doesn’t put him in a position to succeed. Stone isn’t an effective scorer and needs the ball in his hands to distribute, which is his strength. What’s even the point of playing him a measly seven minutes at a position he’s entirely uncomfortable playing in the first place? If it is, as Karl says, just to keep his bench rotation intact then that’s nothing more than an idiosyncrasy with no real strategy behind it. And of course, this goes directly against what Karl has traditionally lauded in terms of why he likes smaller rotations and avoids rookies. He’s always said he prefers giving regular rotation guys a few extra minutes rather than letting someone at the far end of the bench take them, yet here he is going staunchly against that very notion.

At this juncture, it’s just hard to buy what Karl’s selling, especially in terms of the talented crop of young rookies on the roster. Now would be an excellent time to tap into the deep bench the Nuggets possess to see just how promising these rookies really are. Instead, Karl will likely end up messing with their heads and sending mixed signals regarding his confidence level in them.

During the recent six-game losing stretch the Nuggets are allowing 104 points per game while only scoring 96. That’s a scoring differential of negative eight. The Nuggets usually average 104 points per game, which despite this most recent struggle, is still first in the entire league. Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball the Nuggets give up, on average, 99 points per game. In summary, not only are the Nuggets letting teams score way more points than they typically do, but they’re also failing to make up for it by scoring more points themselves. Even the one go-to aspect of the Nuggets team that you though you could always count on — scoring — finally appears to failing them.

This is probably the most troubling statistic you will dig up regarding the Nuggets most recent woes and while there’s no doubt injuries have contributed to this startling trend you’re still left to wonder who exactly this Nuggets team really is. Is it the team that won six straight games on the road for the first time in franchise history, or the team that lost six of its last seven to most of the same Western Conference teams it will likely face in the playoffs? Is it the highest scoring, most unselfish, offensively potent team in the league, or the team that can’t even buy an open 3-pointer nor find a way to score a bucket when it needs it most? The fact of the matter seems to be, that while the Nuggets have a lot of talent on the squad it also has a very simplistic way of doing business that often times malfunctions in the face of adversity. Nuggets fans can only hope that these issues are soon realized and resolved.

Houston Rockets

99

FinalRecap | Box Score

90

Denver Nuggets

	Kenneth Faried, F 18 MIN | 2-4 FG | 2-4 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | +1 Time to temper the high expectations surrounding the Manimal. All things considered, he had a very solid debut in his first real NBA game. Despite some foul trouble, he showed a lot of promise defending Scola and Dalembert. Faried even skied high for a spectacular block and his high energy play energized the crowd in a painfully ugly game. It was not the most productive jaw-dropping debut, but Faried simply needs to take baby steps towards becoming a better player and he did so tonight.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 20 MIN | 4-9 FG | 6-7 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 14 PTS | -5 I thought Gallo still showed signs of fatigue but battled hard in the 20 minutes he was able to play. He rolled his ankle badly in the third quarter and it was later revealed he suffered a possible chip fracture. It’s just a terrible injury at the worst possible time. Gallo hasn’t always played like the Nuggets best player but he’s clearly been one of the toughest. Assuming he’s out for a few weeks this is an incredibly costly loss.
	Kosta Koufos, C 23 MIN | 3-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 7 PTS | +1 Koufos couldn’t keep up his solid production as a spot-starter. Despite having a size and quickness advantage over the Rockets front court, he clearly doesn’t know how to assert himself on the block. What’s worse is he fouled out in 23 minutes. Despite notching some impressive blocks, 2K showed he’s a work in progress on the defensive end. Although Koufos is in his fourth year it’s hard to forget just how raw he still is.
	Ty Lawson, PG 39 MIN | 5-14 FG | 2-3 FT | 1 REB | 7 AST | 13 PTS | -2 Lawson had a tough time matching Lowry, one of the most overlooked guards in the league. It was tough for him to create with Houston packing the paint and doing a solid job getting back in transition. There was no post up threat on the floor and no consistent pick and roll options to work with. Ty tried his hardest to get others involved without forcing shots, but he could have been a lot more assertive with his own offense. Considering how talented he is, it’s tough to see him go passive even for small stretches of game.
	Julyan Stone, G 21 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 2 PTS | -4 Stone has trouble hitting an open jump shot and I thought it was a curious decision to start him. Although I’m a big Stone fan, Andre Miller seems more motivated as a starter and has played poorly off the bench. Stone’s length and quickness contributed to a solid defensive performance, but he had trouble fitting in on the offensive end where Miller and Lawson assumed most of the point guard duties, relegating him to becoming a spot up shooter.
	Al Harrington, PF 33 MIN | 5-16 FG | 2-6 FT | 15 REB | 0 AST | 12 PTS | -8 Harrington was asked to step way outside of a reasonable role yet again. He played close to 40 minutes twice in the past week and tonight he pulled the majority of the duty at power forward. 15 rebounds is pretty fantastic, but it cost him on the offensive end where Al couldn’t hit a shot or make free throws down the stretch. I give All all the credit in the world for his effort, but he just didn’t look good in the defense and rebounding glue guy role. Buckets is at his best when he’s living up to his namesake as a reliable bench scorer.
	Andre Miller, PG 31 MIN | 5-10 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 12 PTS | -13 I get a lot of criticism for being hard on on Miller, but I expect a lot of out of him. He’s clearly capable of orchestrating the offense and yet consistently puts up duds every couple of games. He’s supposed to be the steady veteran hand guiding this young squad and showing them how to win. Miller opened the game with four first quarter turnovers, three of which were credited to him but all due to errant Andre passes. Miller just didn’t look like he was into it tonight and he just can’t set that kind of example for this team.
	Chris Andersen, C 19 MIN | 4-4 FG | 2-3 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 10 PTS | -7 Birdman clearly took exception to being benched and responded with one of his most productive outings of the season. As the game wore on Birdman’s defense faded a bit, but for a guy who hasn’t been playing his energy was a valuable shot in the arm to a lethargic defensive team. All in all Bird made the most of his minutes and you can’t say that for anyone else who received significant playing time
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 35 MIN | 5-13 FG | 3-6 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 14 PTS | -8 Fernandez used up a ton of crucial possessions this game and just didn’t deliver enough. It was a huge opportunity for him to assume a larger role and play big minutes with no Brewer and Gallo out with an injury. Rudy doesn’t offer spacing and hasn’t developed into a potent playmaking threat. The worst part of his game is the defense where he inexcusably jumps the passing lanes without regard for his teammates. Rudy was abused by every Rocket he attempted to guard tonight.

Five Things We Saw

1. Ugly: It’s hard to imagine a more disheartening way to lose. The Nuggets shot a higher percentage than Houston and handily out-rebounded them. They failed to defend the three and hit free throws. This was another night to forget, as you just never sensed the Nuggets possessed the same will to win as their rivals. These kind of efforts shouldn’t happen at home, especially for good teams who generally don’t outwork their opponents yet still manage to lose
2. Home Alone: The crowd was dead tonight as the shorthanded Nuggets struggled to keep up the energy. This is the third home loss this season in which the Nuggets came out lethargic and the energy in the building was flat. Denver traditionally has a great home court advantage and the Nuggets are not taking advantage.
3. Costly loss: The Nuggets already have a losing record against the Western Conference and they drop even further to 7-10. Denver is 1-3 in the northwest division. Looking at the rest of the schedule this was one of the more favorable games in February and one the Nuggets should have figured out how to win. It gets harder from here, and Denver has now lost five of six including three straight at home
4. Scheduling woes: Even though the Nuggets did have a day off, they just came off of three straight games on top of four in five nights. It was clear they could have used more rest, but there’s only so much to complain about when losing at home. The Nuggets have now been beaten handily by the Hornets, Jazz, and Rockets at home where they never seriously threatened to win. That tells me the schedule is far from the only factor in the Nuggets recent struggles.
5. We have a problem: Houston just seems to have the Nuggets number. They have won 3 of the last 4 meetings at the Pepsi Center. Give credit to the Rockets, but the Nuggets are just in a bad funk right now. They are playing poorly; they seem to know it and when they get in position to win or seize momentum they manage to play worse. There’s nothing to do but wait it out, and this may be the wrong time considering Gallo just went down and the rest of the schedule in February doesn’t get any easier.

Game 25 Advanced Stats

Pace Factor: 101.5 – Nuggets had no problem controlling pace and outrebounded Houston
Offensive Efficiency:  88.6 – Bad, laughably bad. Like 20 turnovers bad.
Defensive Efficiency:  97.5 – Actually one of the better ratings of the past week, but it comes in a 9 point loss at home

Candid Notes by Kalen

As Charlie already mentioned, the fracture in Danilo Gallinari’s foot couldn’t have come at a worse time and not just because the Nuggets are already without three of its four starters. Nene, Afflalo and Mozgov will come back soon, but Gallinari is likely out for a while. His “chip fracture” will require at least a couple weeks to heal, but chances are Galliari could be out until March. George Hill of the Indiana Pacers recently suffered the exact same injury and reports are his fracture will keep him sidelined for roughly one month. If this injury is serious, Gallinari is going to miss the most crucial stretch of the season. February is by far the toughest month the Nuggets will have to endure this year and considering how bad they’ve played of late, this was a month where things essentially needed to go perfect in order for them to keep playing at a high level. Harrington should be able to step in and make up for the loss of production coming from the starting small forward spot Gallinari occupies, but that in turn leaves quite a hole in terms of production off the bench. Corey Brewer should see an expanded role and will likely fill in just fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that losing your leading scorer in the midst of the toughest stretch of the season creates a sizable and perilous obstacle to overcome.

Which leads me to my next point: If the Nuggets struggle mightily in the coming weeks, it will only (erroneously, if I might add) increase management and the fans’ desire to secure Wilson Chandler even more. If Denver had Chandler right now, Gallinari’s injury wouldn’t be near as costly — on the court at least. As I mentioned in my recent Nuggets News post, Chandler’s contract is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in terms of flexibility moving forward. It’s absolutely imperative that no matter how many games the Nuggets lose in the month of February, Ujiri and Josh Kroenke do not re-sign Chandler to a hefty contract based solely on a knee jerk reaction in an attempt to get a few extra wins this year. Again, depth is NOT the problem with this team. Adding one more small forward in the long line of wing men the Nuggets already have will certainly help, but it won’t fix the perimeter defense, one-on-one defense, atrocious three-point shooting/shot selection, offensive rebounding, turnovers and desire to win down the stretch. If Wilson Chandler wants to be in Denver and is willing to settle for a reasonable price, great; but at this moment the last thing the Nuggets need to do is get in a bidding war over his services because they’re myopically focused on getting the team back to playing dominant basketball this year without regarding the structure of the franchise in the future.

Which leads me to my final point on this issue: Injuries are not an excuse to lose basketball games. This is the time where coaches truly shine. This is where we’re going to see what George Karl is really made of. Winning with the deepest team in the league is one thing; winning in the face of adversity is a whole nother story. Nobody is asking Karl to go undefeated on road trips or come out the other side of February looking sprightly and untarnished. What fans are asking for however, is that the Nuggets get back to playing the type of basketball that landed them the two seed in the Western Conference to begin with. Denver has played awful during this recent losing streak, and yet, most of the issues the team faces are ones that can be fixed as long as they’re addressed. If the Nuggets continue to ignore trends that obtrusively rear their ugly heads, Karl is the only one that can be blamed. It’s the coaches job to find ways to fix problems, and if nothing else (and I mean nothing), at least attempt to get your team to play the way they need to in order to win. Formulating a better defensive game plan, demanding better one-on-one defense and above all, figuring out a way to execute down the stretch should all be atop the Karl’s “To-Do” list and about the only things the Nuggets focus on every day in practice from here on out until they are resolved.

As for those problems, it’s starting to become more and more evident that the Denver Nuggets are a team that does a few things well, followed by bevy of other things not so well. While the Nuggets rank near the top of the league in points, assists and steals, they also rank near the bottom in several critical statistical categories. As of now the Nuggets rank 25th in opponent’s steals per game, 26th in opponent’s points per game, 27th in turnovers, 29th opponent’s 3-pointers attempted and 29th in opponent’s 3-pointers made. Bottom line: The Nuggets are turning the ball over way too often and then giving up 3-pointers on the other end of the floor. That is exactly what we saw against Houston, exactly what we’ve seen the entire season and exactly the type of basketball that absolutely will not win you many games in the NBA no matter how good your offense is!

One last note: Can Rudy Fernandez please (A) take less contested, unbalanced three-point shots and (B) make the ones he gets that are wide open? That would be awesome. Thank you.

Denver Nuggets

97

FinalRecap | Box Score

117

Portland Trail Blazers

	Nene, C 27 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | -18 It’s no secret Nene tends to struggle against taller, more talented big men. We saw it against the Lakers and again Saturday night against LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers. Early on Nene attempted to go after Aldridge down low in the post but got turned back on nearly every occasion. From that point on he disappeared and never really attempted to get back in the game.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 36 MIN | 7-14 FG | 5-5 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 20 PTS | -20 Gallinari drove aggressively to the hole and for that I commend him. This was a solid bounce-back performance after a few disappointing outings in which he took far too many outside jump shots. Gallo gave it his all for most of the game and looked completely pale on the sidelines at the end of the fourth quarter.
	Kosta Koufos, C 34 MIN | 7-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 16 PTS | -5 This was by far Koufos’ best game as a Nuggets and quite possibly the best game of his career. He logged at least 30 minutes for the first time in a Nuggets uniform and put up season highs in both points and rebounds as a result. More than anything, against the Blazers Koufos proved that if he receives enough playing time, he’ll produce. His 12 boards were a career high and the most of any Nuggets since Nene had 13 against the New York Knicks. His 34 minutes were also a career high.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 20 MIN | 0-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -1 Something has to be up with Afflalo. Nuggets’ radio announcer Jason Kosmicki tweeted after the game that he might have a groin injury, which leads one to question why he’d be playing in the first place. Even if he was truly injured it still doesn’t change the fact that Afflalo has struggled mightily up to this point in the season and is without question the biggest disappointment of the year so far. This was his second game in the last six where he received at least 20 minutes of playing time and has gone scoreless in the process. Maybe Afflalo should just take a few games off, get refocused and come back when he’s ready.
	Ty Lawson, PG 32 MIN | 7-14 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 16 PTS | -19 Lawson was a standout in terms of effort. He was flying around the court all night, looking as if he was the only one who hadn’t succumbed to chronic fatigue like most of his teammates. He penetrated with precision and either ignited or got out on the break every time he was presented with the opportunity. This was clearly one of Lawson’s most effective games in the last week.
	Al Harrington, PF 22 MIN | 3-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 9 PTS | -15 Harrington didn’t take a lot of shots but found a way to contribute in other areas, especially on defense where he played solidly against the much taller LaMarcus Aldridge. Once again Harrington’s passion for the game overflowed on to the court as he could be seen giving 110 percent even in the waning minutes of the game when the Nuggets didn’t have a shot at winning.
	Andre Miller, PG 14 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 2 PTS | -8 Miller looked absolutely lost. Granted, his 14 minutes didn’t allow him to make the type of impact he’s capable of, but there was probably good reasoning behind his lack of playing time in the first place. Batum’s career night began when Miller “attempted” to guard him, and in his first handful of buckets that went in from beyond the arc Miller didn’t even put a hand up to contest the shot. We’ve known Miller struggles on defense at times, but not even attempting to contest a shot is absolutely inexcusable. Because of this, Miller gets the first “F” I’ve handed out all season.
	Corey Brewer, SF 20 MIN | 4-10 FG | 6-7 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 14 PTS | -7 Although a good chunk of his minutes came in garbage time, it’s hard to ignore just how energetic Brewer was in his time on the floor. Fourteen points in 20 minutes to go along with five boards, two assists, two steals and a block is nothing more than pure hustle numbers. His defense continue to impress, although he needs to work on not turning the ball over quite as often as he does.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 23 MIN | 3-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 9 PTS | -19 Fernandez seemed somewhat hidden. Even in 23 minutes of action it was hard to tell what exactly he was doing on the floor. I did notice him playing stingy defense on a few occasions yet I also couldn’t help but look at the box score and “smh” at his five three-point attempts. Rudy simply isn’t hitting 3-pointers at a high clip, so why he continues to take so many is baffling. It would be nice to see him drive to the basket more than just once in a blue moon.
	Julyan Stone, G 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS | +5 Stone, like all the rookies, didn’t play very much even though he should have. Still, his defense was great and his willingness to find nearly all of his teammates on offense continues to be a good sign from a young point guard. It’s hard to see Stone play with so much enthusiasm on the defensive side of the ball and not want to see more of him.
	Kenneth Faried, F 5 MIN | 1-2 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | +2 Faried definitely still has a ways to go before he’s a sound NBA player and more than likely this is going to take a while. He’ll go through some growing pains in the process, although I cannot stress enough how his energy, defense and rebounding will cover up most of these flaws. Right now he should be focusing on making the right basketball play rather than the most electric ally oop; nevertheless, just like Stone it’s almost frustrating watching Faried play because you’re always going to want more.
	Jordan Hamilton, G 3 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS | +5 You can tell, Hamilton has some offensive fire power up his sleeve. He hit yet another 3-pointer in the final seconds of the game to show off his range and displayed a fairly decent handle to go along with it. After seeing him get a little more comfortable each time out, you’re left to wonder just how effective he might be alongside the second, or first, unit in the heat of a real game.

Game 24 Advanced Stats (and notes by Charlie)

Pace Factor: 94.9 – Hardly matters, it was a blowout
Offensive Efficiency: 102.2 – The Nuggets never led and the bench was non-productive
Defensive Efficiency: 123.3 – Blame fatigue, but the defense remains in total freefall and reached a new low

• Kalen did a great job breaking down the game, but I don’t have much to add except the fact that Nuggets just couldn’t climb this ridiculous mountain. As the game started they did a decent job keeping up and with Koufos in the lineup they actually rebounded quite well. The Nuggets just could not get up and down the court after a while and lacked energy all night. Players gave what they could and with the regular rotation it was never going to be enough. That being said…
• George Karl has to loosen up on the starters. No professional athlete likes to get embarrassed and blown out. Nene in particular was just simply over-exhausted tonight. It was evident in the first quarter that just getting up and down the court was was a problem. After a physical game against the giant L.A. Lakers, Nene just didn’t have enough in the tank to run full speed with Lawson or battle down low with Camby and Aldridge. He needed a break badly, and Karl left him out there for 27 minutes to suffer the worst game of his career. There’s no reason for this George – it’s borderline cruel letting Gallo and Nene suffer through an embarrassing blowout deep into the fourth quarter. Not only is it unsafe but the players deserve better than that.
• There’s something physically wrong with Afflalo. We know mentally he’s in a bad place and fatigue was a huge factor. Watching the game I felt he just looked wrong moving around the court and Jason Kosmicki may have confirmed it by tweeting that Arron’s groin was bothering him. AAA isn’t playing well, but I’m beginning to fear he’s pushing it too hard and exposing himself to further injury.
• The Nuggets defense hit a new low point. Karl had them frantically running around trapping and looking to force turnovers despite the fact no one had energy to get up the court and finish. Andre Miller coming into the game is where plane crashed into the mountain. He just didn’t put forth any effort in terms of contesting shots or picking up his man.
• This was a game to forget. It’s easy to blame the circumstances, but the Nuggets knew that approaching this game as if it were any other normal game would result in them losing 100% of the time. I did not expect a win, but I thought Karl needed to do something differently to give his team a fighting chance. I would like to see him protect certain players when they clearly can’t give any more on the court.

Los Angeles Lakers

93

FinalRecap | Box Score

89

Denver Nuggets

	Nene, C 31 MIN | 5-12 FG | 2-4 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 12 PTS | -6 Nene had trouble defending and scoring on the Lakers’ bigs down low. Los Angeles has always been a bad match-up for the Brazilian big man, and Friday proved no different.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 29 MIN | 1-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS | -1 Gallinari started off the game scoring a few buckets but went ice cold from there on out. This is another among a handful of bad performances Gallinari has had recently and the second game in the last three where he’s been relegated to the bench late in the fourth quarter of a tight game. Even considering his struggles, it’s hard to understand why he wasn’t at least on the floor for the final play of the game.
	Timofey Mozgov, C 7 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | +3 Mozgov was playing great yet again until he went down with an ankle injury. He was defending well and made several nice shots in the post. As weird as it sounds, the Nuggets missed him greatly once he exited the game.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 24 MIN | 3-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 7 PTS | -7 Afflalo played good defense for most of the game and came up with a few steals in the process. His struggles continue and naturally so does his erratic insertion into the lineup.
	Ty Lawson, PG 36 MIN | 6-12 FG | 2-3 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 14 PTS | -4 Ty Lawson was one of the strong points to a Nuggets team that had difficulty doing anything well against the Lakers. While Gasol and Bynum offer up an intimidating combo for the diminutive guard to score against, he still found ways to affect the game in other areas.
	Al Harrington, PF 37 MIN | 8-16 FG | 5-6 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 24 PTS | -8 Big Al came up “big” in the fourth quarter where he scored 10 straight points to keep the Nuggets alive. His passion and desire to win are proving to be some of the most valuable intangibles this Nuggets team has to offer. Unfortunately, the rest of his teammates couldn’t quite bring it the way Al did against the Lakers.
	Andre Miller, PG 30 MIN | 5-6 FG | 6-6 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 16 PTS | +1 Miller had a solid night numerically but once again had trouble guarding his opponents. Even though he may be one of the better players on the Nuggets roster its perplexing as to why he always closes out games even when he’s pitted against much larger shooting guards where Afflalo might have more success.
	Corey Brewer, SF 9 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | -4 Brewer didn’t see much time but in the minutes he did receive he brought the standard infectious energy level that Nuggets fans have become accustomed to seeing.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 21 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +4 This was by far one of Rudy’s worst games of the season. His three-point shot was not falling, yet he continued to hoist up countless jumpers which almost never made it through the rim. Again, it’s imperative that Rudy makes an impact in other areas of the game besides just shooting 3-pointers.
	Kosta Koufos, C 16 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +2 Koufos wasn’t exactly having his way against the Lakers bigs and finished the night off on the bench for most of the second half as a result. Similar to Nene, this was a tough match-up for the young center even though he gave his best effort in the minutes he was given.

Game 23 Advanced Stats (and thoughts by Charlie)

Pace Factor: 92.1 – Maybe it was tired legs. Either way L.A. controlled pace all game
Offensive Efficiency:  96.7 – Really disjointed effort and sloppy play
Defensive Efficiency:  101.0 – Not good at all. No consistency on this side of the ball.

• George Karl said after the game that Gallo’s vision was blurred and he had trouble seeing after being smacked in the face on a drive to the rim. Although Gallo had a horrible game up until the point World Peace clobbered him, he never looked right after the injury and it certainly played a part in his benching.
• That being said, fans need to jump off Karl for benching Gallo again. There wasn’t any reason to bring him back in. Gallo will close games in the playoffs and he needs to learn how to be tougher and earn the trust of his teammates in tight situations. Please, do not give me the argument he opens up the offense or scares opposing defenses in any way. He needs to make good decisions with the ball to do that. Once again, as soon as Gallo went out Karl’s decision paid off and the Nuggets made a run to get within one possession.
• Afflalo’s defense on Kobe was very good. As Kalen mentioned nobody else did a good job guarding him and the Nuggets double and triple teaming came back to bite them. Kobe has seen that a million times and knows how to beat it. Karl needed to play Afflalo more. Why he didn’t I’m not sure other than the fact Karl wanted Andre Miller in the game and the Nuggets had serious size problems going that small. It’s frustrating, we know AAA isn’t playing his best but 24 minutes is far too little especially with the coach begging for defense throughout most of the game.
• Give the Lakers credit, they were motivated and completely controlled Nene. The Nuggets got nothing going in transition and every shot was contested. Add in the tough scheduling factor with the Nuggets flying in after a late west coast game and it’s hard to complain about losing on a last second shot that may have won it.
• Speaking of the last shot, you’d like better execution in that situation. Spread the floor with 4 shooters and give Nene the ball. I was begging for the Nuggets to shoot a three and steal a game they had no business winning. Overtime would have been bad idea with another tough game in Portland tomorrow. Harrington’s attempt wasn’t the play we all wanted but lets give Al some credit. He’s played hard all year and earned the right to take that shot.
• Looking at the schedule, it’s impossible to have a more difficult game than the one tomorrow. Three games in a row, all with travel in bad weather. Not only that, they are traveling after late starts and getting in around four in the morning twice in a row. To top it all off they face one of the most dominant home teams in the league who are angry and highly motivated after a loss to the lowly Kings. Oh yeah, and they’re fully rested. Pray for a watchable game tomorrow night.

Denver Nuggets

97

Final Recap | Box Score

100

Memphis Grizzlies

	Nene, C 33 MIN | 6-9 FG | 2-3 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 14 PTS | -16 It’s tough to put a lot of blame on Nene for what transpired tonight, especially because he’s carried the Nuggets throughout the last two games. While Nene’s production trailed off it’s hard to ignore just how badly he was outplayed by Marc Gasol. Although Nene had a decent individual performance, he took a grand total of three second half shots and disappeared late when the Nuggets sorely needed him to step up
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 25 MIN | 1-10 FG | 6-6 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | +2 Did not show up to play. It’s a simple as that. Hardly worth mentioning anything he did because it was just a bunch of terrible jumpers. Gallo found himself benched for most of the fourth quarter and entire overtime (for the second time this season).
	Timofey Mozgov, C 10 MIN | 0-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 1 PTS | -8 Five fouls in 10 minutes is too much. He started off on Speights instead of Gasol so it’s actually hard to even credit his defense on the Memphis bigs. While he was more physical in terms of defending the rim and blocking shots, he just looked lost and couldn’t stay on the court long enough to help. The turnovers need to stop at some point too.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 36 MIN | 3-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 8 PTS | -9 He’s regressed big time. Afflalo was one of the best role players in the game last season and he’s currently lost with no idea what his role should be. The shots he is taking are indefensible. Fadeaways with 20 on the clock and contested turnaround jumpers over Rudy Gay? Welcome to this year’s Arron Afflalo. He’s hardly looking for his three point shot anymore which makes spacing a big issue too. More importantly, he just isn’t having the sort of positive impact on defense we’ve all been accustomed to.
	Ty Lawson, PG 34 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 12 PTS | -11 There was a stretch in the third quarter Lawson came alive and looked poised to take over the game. Unfortunately it didn’t last very long as Lawson spent most of his time struggling to find a rhythm after missing nearly three games with an ankle injury. The turnovers keep piling up and although his threes started falling, Lawson looked tentative going to the rim. He lacked his usual bursts of speed off the dribble and let’s hope he continues to work himself back into form for the upcoming stretch of three games in a row.
	Al Harrington, PF 38 MIN | 8-16 FG | 4-4 FT | 10 REB | 4 AST | 23 PTS | +3 The Nuggets can’t waste a game like this from Al Harrington. He was outmuscled and outmatched on defense and still managed a double-double with 24 points off the bench. Harrington’s primary role is to score and he delivered. Buckets nearly made what could have been the play of the game by almost taking a charge on Memphis final possession of regulation that ended up tying it. Harrington badly wanted to win this game and it has to be disappointing seeing his teammates lacking the same resolve.
	Andre Miller, PG 39 MIN | 8-13 FG | 3-6 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 20 PTS | +5 It’s a tough grade to give Miller, because he really played pretty well. Except of course for the most crucial moments where he made a ton of uncharacteristic mistakes as the Nuggets melted. Missed free throws, untimely turnovers and just flat out bad decision making. It might be a little unfair to say this, but if he just makes one less bad play the Nuggets win – and he certainly had every single opportunity down the stretch.
	Chris Andersen, C 7 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +6 Birdman gets an incomplete. At some point this has to stop — either give him a role or take him out of the rotation. Although I was disappointed in Birdman’s defense, it’s not fair to expect him to play well under these conditions. George Karl needs to show some faith in him or just put him behind Koufos in the rotation. This can’t continue.
	Corey Brewer, SF 13 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | +1 A little too high? I really don’t think so — Brewer was a part of the big runs that gave the Nuggets every opportunity to close out this game. He outplayed both Afflalo and Fernandez. Although he was in for defensive purposes late, it was disappointing to see him have such a good game and be off the court for the most important stretches of play. Brewer’s body of work is starting to suggest he should be seeing close to 20 minutes every night.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 19 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | +6 Rudy was the only Nugget to go scoreless and clearly didn’t have it tonight. Although he’s coming off two solid scoring performances his defense has been incredibly erratic and unreliable. Combine this with turnovers and he just had a pretty disastrous overall game.
	Kosta Koufos, C 12 MIN | 0-0 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 PTS | +6 Koufos played only a few minutes in the second half due to Mozgov getting in foul trouble. Although he played nine minutes, one rebound is the only evidence he isn’t actually the invisible man. Although the stats are lacking, Koufos played respectable defense and I was impressed with his hustle in the limited minutes he received. I wouldn’t mind seeing Koufos get regular minutes as the first big off the bench as he’s had his moments and a little confidence might go a long way into making Koufos a more reliable option.

Five Things We Saw

1. Second Half Struggle: Denver had turned the ball over 14 times and still led by 12 at halftime. It was clear Memphis was in a funk and the game was there for the taking. From the start of the third quarter onward the Nuggets were awful, the most problematic areas being defense and rebounding. After dominating the boards early Memphis ended up winning the rebounding battle 48 to 42. The Nuggets started fouling like crazy and Karl was forced to get Mozgov and Lawson out early. It’s clear he had no idea what to do with the rotation as Denver’s defense never improved. The Grizzlies dominated the second half in every way imaginable. Outside of Harrington’s hot shooting it’s hard to give the Nuggets credit for anything.
2. Miller fatigued: Andre Miller was on his way to a very good game and he was actually the key guy getting Denver out in transition early. All that running the floor definitely caught up with him late. Karl refused to give him a rest in the fourth quarter or overtime and Miller’s legs starting giving out. His shot was flat, causing him to miss a couple of free throws and misfire a line drive jumper at the end of regulation. I don’t fault Andre’s effort in this game and it’s possible he just ran out of gas in the final minutes.
3. What’s Eating AAA?: I don’t have an answer for this one. I literally can’t believe some of the shots Arron is attempting this season. As I mentioned above he’s not spacing the floor for Lawson and Gallo as his three point shot is no longer the staple of Denver’s offense it once was. Furthermore Afflalo isn’t even looking to come off screens and get his midrange game going. Afflalo has lived off of quality shot opportunities where his teammates did a lot of the work. Now he’s simply trying to do too much off the dribble and he’s not even looking for teammates to help him out. This is the last thing I expected out of Arron Afflalo.
4. Crunch Time Woes: The Nuggets gave up a game tying dunk in the final seconds of regulation. In the previous game against the Clippers they gave up what should been an and-one layup by Chris Paul. In the Philadelphia 76ers game Gallo and Lawson miscommunicate on a switch and give up the game tying layup to Jrue Holiday. Denver can’t beat anybody with this defense. Part of the problem is the lineups are completely different in each situation and there is no continuity with anyone on the floor at the end of games. Guys aren’t sure if they are switching, trapping the ball handler or whether or not they are supposed to double. The result has been wide open layups in crucial situations down the stretch. As much as people want to dwell on the fact Denver has no “closer” to make shots at the end of games, they could have been winning all of these had it not been for complete breakdowns on defense.
5. Man in the Middle: The Nuggets need to address their issues at center. The timeshare between Koufos and Birdman has turned both into inconsistent non-contributors thanks to the fact neither of them are trusted with meaningful minutes. At this point I would go with Koufos getting 10-15 minutes a night and Birdman being relegated to the third big off the bench. On nights like tonight where Mozgov is ineffective and hampered with foul trouble, a backup Center would have been incredibly useful. Instead George Karl clearly had no idea what to do and ended up with two incomplete performances by guys who aren’t even getting a fair shot in terms of contributing. It’s time for Karl to make a decision.

Game 21 Advanced Stats

Pace Factor: 104.1 – Good pace, but the game going to OT was a factor
Offensive Efficiency:  93.1 – Awful, the bench did most of the work as starters struggled
Defensive Efficiency: 96.0 – Memphis couldn’t shoot for well over half the game yet nearly manage their average (97.8)

Toronto Raptors

81

Final Recap | Box Score

96

Denver Nuggets

	Nene, C 34 MIN | 5-10 FG | 10-14 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 20 PTS | +25 The Raptors were extremely physical with Nene despite lacking anyone remotely capable of guarding him. Nene didn’t shoot particularly well and was fouled whenever he found himself in good position down low. He still had a solid 20 and 10 in 33 minutes behind improved free throw shooting. More importantly, he was a dominant presence on the floor and the Raptors simply had no answer.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 36 MIN | 7-18 FG | 5-7 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 21 PTS | +14 Gallo’s scoring opportunities didn’t come as easy without Ty Lawson starting alongside him. He reverted to shooting too many threes and generally looking awful when trying to create for himself. Defensively, Gallo struggled defending the post but continues to show potential as a reliable team defender. Gallo’s grade gets a bump thanks to his ability to close out the game after Toronto made a late push against the Nuggets reserves to get back in it.
	Timofey Mozgov, C 17 MIN | 1-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS | +16 Mozgov made a welcome return to the starting lineup and continues to develop into a more physical presence down low. He had his two finest blocks of the season and rebounded well for the minutes he received. He did struggle to work himself back into an offensive rhythm and mishandled a few too many passes. Nevertheless, Mozgov was a big part of the solid defensive effort that held Toronto to 12 first quarter points.
	Andre Miller, PG 39 MIN | 6-12 FG | 0-1 FT | 6 REB | 12 AST | 13 PTS | +18 Miller had too many turnovers, but several of them were due to Mozgov and Birdman being slow, out of position or just not ready to receive a pass. His erratic wandering on defense can be frustrating and the Nuggets did struggle to maintain pace with him running point. This is the first time Miller has been in the starting lineup at the point guard position and he produced outstanding numbers as expected. The luxury with Miller is that he’s more than capable and perhaps better as a fill-in starter.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 21 MIN | 0-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 0 PTS | +11 I’m not gonna dock Afflalo too much for struggling to ease himself back into the rotation after nearly a week off. He’s still taking questionable shots and not making very many of them. The bottom line with Afflalo is that he has such a positive effect on the Nuggets defense you can live with whatever he does offensively as long as he’s not a total black hole.
	Al Harrington, PF 26 MIN | 3-10 FG | 3-3 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 9 PTS | -3 Harrington had a bad day. He came into the game with little energy and by the fourth quarter he was exhausted to the point of parking himself at the three point line with his hands on his knees and spectating. He played entirely too many minutes and made only one of five shots in the second half while struggling to make any sort of impact on defense. Buckets also got into a childish spat with Linas Kleiza and needlessly extended the game’s conclusion.
	Chris Andersen, C 8 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS | +2 Birdman’s playing harder, I’ll give him that. His energy and his effort were sincere. Andersen continues to be a disaster guarding the pick and roll as he struggled staying in front of the smaller Raptors in the first half. Birdman wasn’t putting up numbers, but I did not think his performance warranted benching him in the second half. He was engaged and active, but Birdman is just not a reliable guy for George Karl right now and he seems to be losing the coach’s trust quickly.
	Corey Brewer, SF 20 MIN | 1-2 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -5 Brewer had another confusing game. After launching 18 shot attempts against Sacramento he barely attempted anything, which I think is a good thing. He flew around the court with his usual energy creating chaos and extra possessions. Offensively, Brewer is scary and unpredictable and he’ll need to be a bit more consistent to gain more regular playing time off the bench.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 33 MIN | 9-11 FG | 0-1 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 23 PTS | +9 Thank God for Rudy. He looked great upon his return from an Achilles strain and his hot shooting singlehandedly held off the Raptors’ furious second half surge. Rudy also did a great job chasing the feisty Raptors guards all over the court. Bayless was able to shake him loose a couple of times but his offensive game was so brilliant it hardly mattered. Not only did Rudy handle the ball some as a backup point, he was fantastic off the ball – juking out Barbosa for one of the most poetic wide open threes of the season. Magnificent game from Rudy and all the more impressive considering he hasn’t played in quite some time.
	Kosta Koufos, C 5 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -12 The decision to pair Koufos with Harrington in the middle was a head-scratcher to say the least. Kosta didn’t receive any minutes in the first half and calling on him to stem the tide during Denver’s worst stretch of play might have been asking too much of the seldom used 22-year old. He had a rough go from the moment he stepped on the floor, immediately being hit with a questionable blocking foul and worsening Denver’s stagnant offensive attack. Defensively, the Nuggets completely fell apart with him on the floor and while you can’t put the blame solely on Koufos, Toronto seized total control of the game and it’s hard to defend the decision to bring him in.

Five Things We Saw

1. Zonin’: The Nuggets were fantastic against Miami’s zone defense and the results against Toronto were a mixed bag. The Raptors didn’t exclusively run zone, but at times they stifled the Nuggets offense and forced them into way too many bad jumpers. Without Nene, the Nuggets struggled mightily to get anything going and there was not enough drive and kick or aggressive ball movement against the zone. Gallo also needs to stop shooting horrible step back threes in isolation. I would not read too much into it as the Nuggets were definitely missing Lawson’s presence in terms of opening up the offense and pushing the pace.
2. No More Mr. Nice Guy: We saw the mean side of Nene tonight. As I mentioned above, the Raptors were physical and not afraid to foul him every trip down the floor if they needed to. The simple truth is there are many teams out there who cannot guard Nene yet the Brazilian takes himself out of the game through frustration and god awful shot selection. Nene still relies too heavily on his finesse game when it comes to layups and finger rolls when really he just needs to seek out contact and get fouled. 14 free throw attempts probably shouldn’t be as a rare as it is for Nene.
3. Daily Operation: Offensively, the game was a bit of a mess. Afflalo didn’t score and Harrington was missing in action. The Nuggets were actually out-assisted by Toronto and out-shot from the three point line. What rescued the Nuggets was another mainstay of their offensive attack – free throws. The Nuggets earned 32 free throw attempts to Toronto’s 14. As long as the Nuggets can be one of the best teams in terms of getting to the line they should be able to win ugly as they did tonight.
4. Step in the Arena: I had faith the Nuggets would get back to their winning ways at home and handily beat a Bargani-less Raptors team at the Can. It’s important for the Nuggets to play well and leave no doubt against weaker opponents while playing at home. Also of note – Masai Ujiri sat down with the local broadcast crew of Marlowe and Hastings and gave a fantastic interview. He revealed that Chu Chu has cleared immigration and will come stateside to play in the D-League shortly. He also talked about building continuity after the Melo era and how badly he wants to maintain a winning culture for the foreseeable future.
5. JFK 2 LAX: The Nuggets are still undefeated against the eastern conference. They are 8-0 and only play one eastern foe in the month of Febuary, a road contest against Indiana. The rest of the eastern conference schedule isn’t particularly brutal either. In mid-March they play at home versus Atlanta, Boston and Detroit; then on the road at Chicago, Orlando, Charlotte and Toronto. How long could they keep this streak going?

Game 19 Advanced Stats

Pace Factor: 90.6 – Slow for a home game, but no Ty Lawson
Offensive Efficiency:  105.9 – Not much to complain about. Free throws were key
Defensive Efficiency:  89.4 – A very good performance that might have been better without some really hot shooting from Bayless.

Denver Nuggets

119

Final Recap | Box Score

114

New York Knicks

	Nene, C 45 MIN | 5-13 FG | 2-6 FT | 13 REB | 5 AST | 12 PTS | +3 Made the two biggest free throws of the year after going 0-4 from the line to start the game. Nene routinely found himself on smaller players and was not as aggressive as he was against Philadelphia. You can’t deny his improved rebounding and despite some trouble guarding the rim, he played very respectable late in the game when it mattered most.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 52 MIN | 9-19 FG | 18-20 FT | 11 REB | 2 AST | 37 PTS | +5 Incredible. 37 points on 19 shots. Did not even play his best game and clearly didn’t have his legs under him as he settled for too many long two pointers. Outplayed everyone else on the floor and is making me rethink my assessment of Gallo having true star potential. His game was so good I don’t have any room left to gush about his phenomenal defensive performance against Melo.
	Timofey Mozgov, C 30 MIN | 6-11 FG | 4-4 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 16 PTS | +5 Deserves minutes, and thankfully he’s finally getting them. Tyson Chandler turned in dominant rebounding performances his past two games and was a non-factor against the shorthanded Nuggets. Mozgov scored 16 points, but his true impact came on the defensive end where he stayed on his feet and routinely rescued his teammates from getting beat and giving up layups.
	Andre Miller, PG 49 MIN | 6-14 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 12 AST | 14 PTS | +6 I know, everyone deserves a great grade for this one, right? I really didn’t like much about Andre’s play through more than half of the contest. Then, he goes all Philadelphia 76ers and throws in the most amazing basket of the season to seal the win. He inbounded the ball perfectly three separate times on crucial possessions late. Miller honestly didn’t play great but had an easy double double. Miller’s poise is what makes him shine.
	Ty Lawson, PG 49 MIN | 3-12 FG | 4-7 FT | 8 REB | 7 AST | 10 PTS | +8 He was a spectator in the win. I hate being so hard on a Nuggets player in such a great win, but I have never been more disappointed in Ty. He made only three shots, all of them assisted by others who fed him wide open looks. Ty needs to be better. He did not hit free throws down the stretch, failed to stay in front of the Knicks guards and allowed rookie Iman Shumpert to get the best of him. Ty’s numbers were fine but the boxscore belies the fact he had no impact on the win. I don’t grade the boxscores.
	Al Harrington, PF 41 MIN | 10-24 FG | 0-1 FT | 11 REB | 1 AST | 24 PTS | +2 Al Buckets did it again. After a dreadful start he might have been benched by a lot of other coaches in this league. Harrington delivered in the clutch yet again hitting most every big basket down the stretch. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and exuded nothing but confidence when it looked like Denver was going to lose.
	Corey Brewer, SF 25 MIN | 2-5 FG | 2-4 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 6 PTS | -4 You can’t ask for much more from Brewer in the limited minutes he received. He came in for defensive purposes late and forced Melo into a difficult shot he had no business attempting. Melo made it and Brewer learned the valuable lesson that sometimes it does not matter how well you play defense. Brewer ultimately didn’t have more of an impact because he was extremely clumsy on the offensive end, where he still needs to prove his worth.

Five Things We Saw

1. The Magnificent Seven: Karl used only a seven man rotation on a night the Nuggets were playing their fifth game in six nights. Gallo logged 52 minutes and after missing games with a bad heel Nene played 45 minutes. The fact Denver was still able to walk away with a win under such circumstances speaks to the importance of having a five man lineup that has developed trust. Karl coached it like a playoff game and did not leave anything to chance despite having able reserves available if needed. It’s a shrewd coaching move that was necessary thanks to Karl’s defensive Captain Arron Afflalo not being available to play, and it ultimately won the game.
2. The Eagle Has Landed: Birdman turned in two of his better statistical performances in the previous games against Philadelphia and Washington. If you’ve been reading Roundball Mining Company you know he’s still playing poor defense and not helping the Nuggets where they need it most. Birdman has now been benched for the two biggest games of the season and both have been outstanding team performances. Chris Andersen needs to stay ready, but at this point Mozgov is a better player and the Birdman needs to accept the fact the Nuggets are better with him taking a backseat on nights like tonight.
3. Blood in the Water:There were so many opportunities for the Knicks to put Denver away, especially early on with the starters looking tired and out of sync on both ends thanks to no Arron Afflalo. A flurry of pick and roll action and ball movement created open shot after open shot for the Knicks bench and they looked ready to break the game open. Outside of Ty Lawson, the Nuggets were more patient in their half court offense and a strong rebounding performance allowed them to erase a double digit lead and claw back in it. Denver’s defense stepped up big in the third quarter and they played with confidence and emotion the rest of the way. New York is vulnerable right now and the Nuggets just played with a stronger determination and belief they were going to win this game.
4. Hard Target: The game came down to shot selection. Denver took 43 shots at the rim to New York’s 28. The Knicks went for transition threes and long twos while nursing a double digit lead. The Nuggets converetd five “and-one” opportunities to Landry Fields’ one. Denver actually shot very poorly but lived in the paint where they outscored the Knicks by 20.
5. The Omega Man: Carmelo didn’t have a great effect on his teammates. It was evident in the fourth quarter when the Knicks played their hardest, most engaged basketball trying to deliver Melo the ball. When he caught it the entire building waited in suspense for the shot to go up. The Nuggets did a good job not doubling over-aggressively and forcing him to give up the ball immediately. He made some highly difficult Hero-type shots, but for two overtime periods he almost exclusively shot jumpers and only once worked off his teammates to free himself for a shot (a wide open three).

Game 17 Advanced Stats

Pace Factor: 120.1 – Overall a fast paced game despite two overtimes
Offensive Efficiency:  99.1 – Poor shooting, but very good for a fifth game in six nights
Defensive Efficiency: 94.9 – The most complete performance of the road trip

Denver Nuggets

108

Final Recap | Box Score

104

Washington Wizards

	Kosta Koufos, C 15 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +3 Koufos didn’t see much time against the Wizards, but his six rebounds were third most on the team despite playing only 15 minutes. It’s still a mystery as to why he’s not seeing the floor more often, especially given his rebounding prowess which the Nuggets still desperately need at times.
	Danilo Gallinari, SF 35 MIN | 7-11 FG | 6-6 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 21 PTS | +3 Gallinari had a strong first half and mellowed out as the game progressed. But going 7-11 from the field while collecting four rebounds, five boards, an assist and a steal is a great all-around stat line for the Rooster.
	Timofey Mozgov, C 21 MIN | 4-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | +3 Mozgov certainly played much better against the Wizards than he has in other games where he’s logged heavy minutes. Though you’d still like to see more rebounds and just a better overall feel for the game and his positioning, it’s obvious that he’s trying to improve which is good to see.
	Arron Afflalo, SG 34 MIN | 5-11 FG | 2-5 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | +11 Afflalo didn’t have his best game of the year but he didn’t have his worst game either. His defense against Nick Young was decent, but he wasn’t the “stopper” he can be at times. He had a few nice mid-range jump shots that he knocked down coming off screens and a few good cuts to the basket, but in general Afflalo must do these things more often in order to make the kind of impact we all know he can.
	Ty Lawson, PG 38 MIN | 7-17 FG | 4-4 FT | 9 REB | 6 AST | 21 PTS | +14 Lawson had one of the his better games this year against the Wizards, putting up All-Star numbers across the board. His nine rebounds and six assists were both team highs and his 3-for-6 shooting from downtown helped the Nuggets out tremendously in such a tight game. Though Lawson is shooting a pretty low percentage from the field over the last week, his aggressiveness is still appreciated and largely the reason why.
	Al Harrington, PF 30 MIN | 10-16 FG | 4-6 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 29 PTS | +4 Seriously, what more can you say about this guy? His 29 points were a season high and his seven boards, the second most on the team. His .362 3-point shooting percentage is above his career average and his 2-point field goal percentage is supposedly the highest in he league according to Chris Marlowe. Additionally according to 82games.com, Harrington leads the team in cumulative plus-minus at plus-109 and Nuggets’ points per possession when he’s on the floor at 1.13. Al is also second in the team in PER behind only Corey Brewer who hasn’t really played all that much this season. Currently Al is either sitting atop or near the top of the Sixth Man of the Year award race.
	Andre Miller, PG 27 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 0 PTS | -7 Miller was frustrated all evening with the lack of calls he and the Nuggets were receiving from the refs. He spent more time complaining than he did playing — although, after the incredible performance he had against the Sixers, this can be excused for one night. Still, Miller needs to find some sort of consistency in his game moving forward. He’s just too talented to be struggling this much.
	Chris Andersen, C 23 MIN | 2-5 FG | 3-7 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 7 PTS | -6 Though numerically speaking, Andersen had a pretty good game, I still didn’t see how he was contributing to helping the Nuggets win. His negative-six on the plus-minus scale was second worst on the team — probably due to the fact that he was constantly fumbling the ball (like always) and letting McGee run wild, which led to numerous easy buckets. At this point, it’s really hard to believe that Faried would be anywhere near as bad as Birdman is.
	Corey Brewer, SF 6 MIN | 0-0 FG | 1-2 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 1 PTS | -3 Hard to give a grade to Brewer when he was only in for such a short amount of time, although his defense and energy were there yet again. It’s anyone’s guess as to why he didn’t play much in a tight game where defense was nowhere to be found. After the way he’s played lately, you would think he would have earned himself a spot in the rotation, but apparently not.
	Rudy Fernandez, SG 12 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 6 PTS | -2 Fernandez played excellent ball for only seeing 12 minutes of time. It appears as though he re-injured his achilles which forced him to exit the game.

Game 16 Advanced Stats (and thoughts by Charlie)

Pace Factor:  100.8 – A fast game against a struggling defensive team
Offensive Efficiency: 107.1 – A fine performance on the road
Defensive Efficiency: 103.1 – Not good at all. This could become a big problem if not addressed

• I’ve been waiting for Ty Lawson to start looking for his jump shot more. Teams are clamping down hard on him in the paint and Lawson’s efforts to draw contact on drives have not been rewarded all season. Lawson can hit pull up jumpers with or without a screen, he can create space and step back with his range or simply spot up and take set shots from three. Ty is unstoppable when he gets more aggressive and more confident with his shot. Right now he’s taking a few too many floaters and off balance jumpers at the end of the shot clock and his efficiency is taking a serious hit. Tonight was a step in the right direction. Ty, for whatever reason, continues to get little respect from officials compared to other small point guards in the league.
• Kalen mentioned it, and the Nuggets’ perimeter defense was indeed atrocious in this game. Rotations were slow and anytime the Wizards swung the ball from one side of the floor to the other someone was guaranteed to be open for three.  Part of the problem is the fact Andre Miller sags way off his man, allows him to see the entire floor and doesn’t close out on anyone. Chris Andersen is indifferent in terms of hustling out to disrupt a shooter. Shelvin Mack and Chris Singleton were on their way to career nights and the Nuggets were lucky Washington was fairly passing-averse and took enough bad shots to bring their field goal percentage down considerably.
• I was very surprised Rudy played. He wore a thick sleeve over his achilles and didn’t last long before having to leave. He has a nagging injury that needs rest; the Nuggets play tomorrow, Corey Brewer is playing great so there wasn’t exactly a pressing need to get him in. Let’s hope Rudy’s setback was not serious.
• Al Harrington won the game. He not only hit threes but without Nene, him and Afflalo were asked to post up more. Harrington was the only one having any sort of success. Al Buckets showed leadership and poise at the end of the game and he continues to be one of the most consistent and important pieces on the team.
• Koufos isn’t giving the Nuggets much. It’s not a coincidence he’s only produced at the Center spot and I believe he should only be getting Center minutes. The guy deserves court time, but it seems Karl is rewarding him charity minutes and starts without any intention of giving him an actual role. Birdman did have one of his better games of the season production-wise, but Washington had absolutely no threatening post presence and it really pained me not to see the Manimal get a shot. There was never any reason to start two slow, offensively challenged seven footers when the plan all along was to go small. Denver fell behind 37-27 in the first quarter.
• That being said, I credit Karl and the team in this one. It’s clear they were a little flat with Nene out and this was not a win to like, but one to accept. The Nuggets did claw back and fend off the Wizards nicely despite their offense struggling bad in the second half. Andre Miller wasn’t useless, but he went scoreless while playing 20-plus minutes for the second time this season. For a guy as immensely talented as Andre, I don’t understand how that happens and it’s incredibly disappointing. Nevertheless, what a great road win as long as the Nuggets learn from it.
• The only thing I will say about the coaching is that the Nuggets should take a strong look at getting Al some help at the Power Forward spot, especially against more physical teams. And I don’t mean Koufos.