The Computer Ate My Nuggets vs Lakers Recap

November 16, 2009
by Jeremy

After spending Friday night in Estes Park at my church’s annual men’s retreat, managing to get home without finding out the score and then proceeding to watch the Nuggets dismantling of the Lakers Saturday evening I finally sat down to write my recap.

I cranked out a couple of pages of highly insightful and meaningful blogging when I decided to close one of the Word windows that was open.  To my surprise my laptop decided to close both my open Word windows and dump my work.  (OK, I work in IT so I know that a vast majority of the time when something like this happens it is user error, but like any self respecting user, I am blaming the hardware.)

I do not think this has happened to me since my junior year in college.  Back then I persevered and recreated the discarded first eight pages of my ten page paper that was due the next morning.  However, When faced with the prospect of either rushing through some points in the name of getting it posted tonight or waiting until tomorrow when I could cover everything I was hoping to, I decided to wait another day, even though some of you might dock me a letter grade.

In order to tide you over, just watch this a few more times.
Posted on November 16, 2009 at 12:49 am | filed in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Video Scouting Report - Arron Afflalo

August 3, 2009
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets lone inspiring move so far this offseason was to acquire Arron Afflalo from the Detroit Pistons. In fact Bill Simmons had the following to say about Afflalo coming to Denver:

Now this is how you run a team. You let someone else overpay Dahntay Jones (Indiana, $11 million, four years) and replace him with a short-term guy with the same skills (defense and 3-point shooting) for one-third of the price. I might dump Morey for the Wark (Denver’s Mark Warkentien) as my role-model GM soon.

Say what you want about Simmons, he knows enough about basketball to get a reportedly 700 page book published on the topic so if he is that bullish on the swap of Jones for Afflalo that cannot be a bad thing.

I would argue that not only is Afflalo cheaper than Jones, he is better on both ends of the court, but do not take my word for it, see for yourself.

I am impressed with the fact that the Pistons were comfortable putting Afflalo on both J.R. Smith and Chauncey Billups and he did reasonably well against both, although Chauncey did score some points on him. The two areas Afflalo needs to improve in is absorbing contact and not giving up space, which can be a matter of balance, and trusting his ability to move his feet so that he is in position to challenge the pull up jumper.

Offensively he is a far more talented player than Jones. He will not throw down any explosive dunks, but when he puts the ball on the floor it is not a sign that the possession is about to end badly.

Afflalo is the kind of player who rounds out a contending roster and I expect Nuggets fans to fall in love with him early in the season.

Posted on August 3, 2009 at 2:34 am | filed in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Time to Get Back to Work

June 8, 2009
by Jeremy

OK, I have sloughed off long enough.  By now it would be silly to post anything about game six since it went down eons ago in Internet time.  It was obvious that it was more about the Los Angeles Lakers playing great basketball than anything the Denver Nuggets did or did not do (although they certainly have acquitted themselves better than they did).

Anyway, I apologize for disappearing for the past week, but I tend to be a deadline driven person (i.e. a procrastinator) so without the impetus of another game on the schedule it became a little too easy for me to tell myself I would toss up a post tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow has finally arrived.  You can look forward to some player by player analysis, a little bit of season review and info on any current events that must be commented on all leading up to what the Denver Nuggets need to do next season in order to be the 2010 NBA Champions.

Posted on June 8, 2009 at 10:34 am | filed in Uncategorized | No Comments

Chat Postponed

May 11, 2009
by Jeremy

If you stopped by to take part in the chat I promoted earlier today, it has been temporarily postponed/potentially canceled.  I have not heard from Rob yet and he is the technical genius who set the first one up.  Sorry if news has ruined your day.  Hopefully tonight’s game will lift your spirits.

Posted on May 11, 2009 at 12:18 pm | filed in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Mark Warkentien Awarded 2008-09 NBA Executive of the Year

May 3, 2009
by Jeremy

According to the NBA Mark Warkentien has been named the 2008-09 NBA Executive of the Year.  He received nine votes from an electorate comprised of the other 30 NBA general managers.  Cleveland’s Danny Ferry was second with seven votes.

Warkentien released a statement on the award through the Nuggets.

“I proudly accept this award on behalf of Stan Kroenke and the entire Denver Nuggets organization,” Warkentien said. “This is a team honor that is a tribute to Mr. Kroenke’s leadership and vision for this season’s team. Our front office, coaching staff and players share equally in this award, and to be recognized by our peers throughout the league for our accomplishments during this special season is greatly appreciated and unexpected.” 

Interestingly Rex Chapman also received a vote giving the Nuggets’ front office ten of the 30 votes.  I wonder if Kevin McHale cast that vote as Chapman came to the Nuggets from the Timberwolves.

I could be wrong, but I do not remember a season where a team was able to shed as much payroll as the Nuggets did yet go on to have such tremendous success.  It was less than a year ago that Nuggets fans were in an uproar about the Marcus Camby trade and Warkentien was widely mocked for his comment that running an NBA team is like playing chess as opposed to checkers.  I think it is safe to say he has been vindicated. 

Now is not the time to go over all the steps that were taken to get to where they are so I will conclude by offering my most sincere congratulations to Mark Warkentien and the rest of the Nuggets front office on a job well done and for this well deserved award.

A couple of notes on the award:  The only other Nuggets executive to win the award was Vince Boryla in 1984-85 and before Danny Ainge won last season over the previous 11 seasons only one winner of the executive of the year award put together a championship team and that was Joe Dumars in 2002-03.

Posted on May 3, 2009 at 11:52 am | filed in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Chat with Rab Mahoney from The Two Man Game

May 2, 2009
by Jeremy

Today (Saturday) at 4:00 PM Mountain time I will be taking part in a chat with Rob Mahoney from the Dallas Mavericks blog The Two Man Game.  Send in all your questions for both of us!

If the chat window does not update head on over to The Two Man Game to take part.

Posted on May 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm | filed in Uncategorized | No Comments

Nuggets/Hornets Chat

April 16, 2009
by Jeremy

It is time to chat with Niall Doherty and Ryan Schwan from Hornets 24/7.  Send in your questions and get ready for a ton of Nuggets/Hornets analysis.

Posted on April 16, 2009 at 5:53 pm | filed in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

2008-09 Game 80: Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers Game Thread

April 8, 2009
by Jeremy

If Denver wins two of their final three games they will clinch the second seed in the Western Conference no matter what the Spurs, Rockets or Blazers do.  A win tonight in Los Angeles would not only tie the franchise record for wins in a single season it would more importantly set the Nuggets up to clinch the second seed and the division title on Monday at home against the Kings (although we all remember what happened the last time Denver played Sacramento).

A loss in Los Angeles would open the door to a potentially frustrating finish.  Of course a winner take all battle in Portland on the last night of the season would be intense, but a win over the Lakers would be sweet.  Plus a loss against the Lakers will open the door to a few days of freaking out over how bad it would suck to lose a two and a half game lead with four to play. 

Despite a four game winning streak the Lakers are not playing at peak efficiency.  They lost back to back games at Charlotte and Atlanta to close out March and have played tight games against the Bucks and Clippers since then.  The Lakers should be motivated to play well seeing as how their last game against the Nuggets was an embarrassing loss that saw the Lakers score a paltry 79 points. 

The Nuggets may be going after the second seed in the west, but the Lakers are chasing a larger goal too and they have a much more scant margin for error that the Nuggets do.  Los Angeles is a game behind the Cavs for the top record in the NBA and home court advantage throughout the playoffs.  The Lakers area game behind Cleveland, but own the tie breaker having swept the season series against the Cavs. 

The other big story heading into this game is the return of Andrew Bynum.  Phil Jackson has said that Bynum will probably start immediately upon his return.  That could be a good thing for the Nuggets as he will undoubtedly be rusty.  However, we all know the saying that size never has a bad day.  Whether he is rusty or not he is still a seven foot tall 285 pound force on the court.

From the Nuggets’ standpoint Kenyon Martin is a game time decision with his strained rib cage, but whether or not Kenyon plays is not the Nuggets’ biggest problem.  Denver has to hope that Carmelo can shake his seven game long slump against the Lakers.  During the four game playoff series against LA last season Carmelo shot 32 of 88 for a disastrous 36.3%.  He has somehow managed to top that performance this season shooting 14 for 51 in the three games against the Lakers this season which equates to 27.5%.  Overall in his last seven games against the Lakers Melo has only made 46 of his 139 attempts equaling a shooting percentage of 33.1%. 

The Lakers do a great job of pressuring Melo and then providing help as a team.  It is comical to think of players like Vlad Radmanovic (now with Charlotte) and Luke Walton frustrating Melo, but they have thanks to the team concept the Lakers’ utilize to slow Melo down.  Radmanovic and Walton will get right up under Carmelo which takes away his jumper and his jab step and shoot midrange game.  When Melo drives, they ride him into a position where they know help is waiting.  It is simple, but effective and also somewhat illegal.  The Lakers get away with a lot of contact on Melo when he drives and I am sure the Nuggets have sent footage of it to the league.  If the refs continue to allow it, Melo will have his work cut out for him.  Instead of forcing bad shots Melo needs to use the swarming defense against the Lakers and look to earn easy shots for his teammates. 

As we saw in the playoffs last season it does not matter who steps up for Denver, J.R. and Kleiza both had a big series against the Lakers, as long as Melo struggles like that against LA Denver will have a difficult time beating them. 

Denver has lost five straight games in Los Angeles against the Lakers, which could be worse, but is not encouraging.  They are coming off a poor defensive performance against the Thunder and are playing in the second night of a back to back set for the last time this season.  They must dig deep and play a great all around game.  Should they lose it will not eliminate them from earning the second seed or winning the division, but it sure opens the door to scenarios we would rather not discuss.

Denver Nuggets Game Notes (if this link is still showing the notes for the Thunder game when you access it, check back later as it will switch to the Lakers game soon)

Previous Matchups:   Game 3 – Den 97 LAL 104 | Game 13 - Den 90 LAL 104 | Game 59 - Den 90 LAL 79

Featured Blogs:  Forum Blue and Gold | Lakers Blog | The Lakers Nation

Take this with you:  Carmelo decided to give the Lakers some bulletin board material through Chris Tomasson of InDenverTimes.com. 

“When I look at the West, I don’t really see that one dominant team,’’ said Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. “Everybody says the Lakers. Yeah, the Lakers are pretty good. But I don’t really see that one team that you say is going to win the West. I think it’s pretty much even now.’’

Real nice Melo.  I will need to talk to Chris and see if he can sit on quotes like that in the future.

Posted on April 8, 2009 at 11:35 pm | filed in Uncategorized | 43 Comments

2008-09 Game 79: Denver Nuggets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Live Blog!

April 8, 2009
by Jeremy

I am coming to you from the EconoLodge in Sioux Center, IA in anticipation of a big night for the Denver Nuggets.  The Portland Trail Blazers are playing the San Antonio Spurs right now and the Nuggets play the Thunder later tonight.  It is possible that the Nuggets will clinch the Northwest Division title in just a few short hours.  

The Spurs and Blazers are on ESPN and as long as my wireless connection is strong enough I can follow the Nuggets game on NBA League Pass Broadband.  Here we go…

6:37 (all times Central and PM, we all know it is not 6:30 in the morning in the US so I will not waste keystrokes notating PM from here on out) - I have picked up my Pizza Hut Meat Lovers (TM) pizza and a couple of 20 ounce bottles of A&W.  I was a little bummed out about paying $16.0 for a medium pizza, but when I got back to my room I opened it up and it looked like after they cooked it they sprinkled another layer of sausage on it like croutons on a salad, plus I will get reimbursed so I am going to just enjoy it.

 Moving on, I missed the first quarter of the Spurs/Blazers game and am pleased to report that San Antonio is up by 15 as we start the second quarter.  Nice.

6:41 - Before the start of the second quarter Nate McMillan said that the Blazers are settling for jumpers.  I know what that is like.

6:43 - The Spurs score another easy bucket as Greg Oden fails to shut down the lane like an elite defender.  The Ginobili-less Spurs are up 19 early in the second.  

6:44 - By the way, you can watch the Spurs/Blazers game on ESPN360.

6:48 - As Jon Barry points out, why does Greg Oden push Bruce  Bowen out of the way to get a rebound?  Does he not have an extra six or seven inches and 75 pounds on him?  Second foul on Oden who gives up a tip shot to Tim Thomas on the other end before throwing down a dunk on the return trip.  Spurs up 17.

6:51 - Steve Blake penetrates the Spurs defense and dishes off to Travis Outlaw for a dunk.  Popovic calls timeout.  This game is definitely not over and we will see how the Spurs adjust to life without Ginobili.

6:55 - The Blazers go to zone and the Spurs start depending on jumpers while Portland is now attacking the rim.  They have at least eight points in the paint over their previous five or six possessions.

6:57 - Roy is taking this game over much earlier than usual.  He has brought Portland to within 11 with a flurry of layups and an assist or two.  Time out San Antonio.

7:02 - Usually if Oden gets a pass when he is outside the charge circle he starts looking to pass.  Upon catching a pass halfway up the left side of the lane and saw he was being covered by Matt Bonner.  He took a dribble (I think with his left hand) to get closer to the basket and flips in a left handed lay up.  Good recognition and a high percentage move.  Of course, he should not deserve too much credit.  It is what most big men would do.

7:06 - Outlaw hits a 15 foot jumper off a cross screen to pull the Blazers to within nine, 47-38.

7:08 - Why does Jon Barry keep talking about the Blazers players’ like they play for Partizan Red Star?  NBA fans are aware of Brandon Roy.  The media caught onto him a couple of years ago.  Rudy Fernandez is a rookie, but we have known about him for a while too.  He played for a team called “Spain” in a thing called the “Olympics.”  These guys are not strangers.

7:11 - Interesting end to the first half.  OK, that was an understatement.  An incredible end to the first half.  Portland had the ball with 21 seconds left and the shot clock off.  Hold for the final shot right?  Well, Blake and Roy hooked up on a backdoor cut that was left wide open because the Spurs expected them to hold for the final shot.  Roy made the layup and was fouled.  However, that gave the Spurs the ball with 15 seconds left.  Do you hold for the final shot or take the easy bucket like Portland did?  

The conventional wisdom is to hold for the final shot.  It is your chance to get an extra possession on your opponent however, is it worth passing an easy two points just to limit one possession?  I do not have the answer, but taking the quick shot sure worked for the Blazers against the Spurs to close out the first half.  

Tony Parker answered Roy’s three point play by making a layup of his own, however, there was still just over three seconds left and Blake tossed in a half court three at the buzzer to give the Blazers six points in the final 16 seconds and more importantly cut the Spurs’ lead down to two points at the half.

7:27 - Turning the focus to the Nuggets game tonight is definitely a must win game.  Not must win to make the playoffs or win the division, but must win to continue to have a shot at advancing in the playoffs.  Yes, Denver is in a great position to claim the second seed, but they are still in danger of not having home court advantage in the playoffs if they drop two or three of their final four games.  

Kenyon Martin will not play tonight and Balkman will start in his place.

After showing some spunk the Thunder have stumbled down the stretch.  They have lost six of their last seven, although the one win was at San Antonio, and Kevin Durant is still not quite back to where he was before spraining an ankle about a month ago.  Still, they are dangerous and Durant loves to light up Denver.

I am not sure how much posting I will do during the game because I will be watching on my computer which will make tying difficult, but I will do my best.

7:37 - I am sure you guys are wondering what Iowa is like.  Well, on my way to get my pizza I found one station that was not playing country and the DJ played a new song from Richard Marx called “Hold on to the night.”

Here on the western side of the state that borders South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota about 98% of the stations play country music.  One percent plays Christian music and one percent plays Richard Marx.  The eastern side of the state that borders Illinois is much better.  There the breakdown is 45% country, 45% classic rock, eight percent Christian and there is one current hits station and one alternative station.  Much better, but you still have to work to find a song that is younger than Kevin Durant. 

By the way, the Spurs started out the third quarter strong pushing their lead back up to eight.

7:43 - Wow, Matt Bonner just penetrated and kicked out to Mason for an open three.  Bonner created a shot for a teammate!  Put that in the season highlight video.

7:44 - Aldridge is taking the game over.  They are tied at 61.

7:46 - Roy three point play, Portland up 64-63.

7:47 - I had intended to talk more about the west and less about the play by play of the game, but I have three quarters of a pizza and 30 ounces of A&W in me and I feel a food coma coming on.  Anyway, we have been wondering about if Denver can hold off the Spurs and hang onto the second position.  The way San Antonio is playing they could very well fall to fifth or sixth.  That has to be in the conversation.  As a couple of you have pointed out if Houston can pass the Spurs in the Southwest Division that would reinstate the Rockets’ 3-1 series win into the equation as the tie breaker should they tie the Nuggets.  

I still think the Nuggets should end up as either the second or third seed and part of that reason is I think they beat Portland on the last night of the regular season.

7:53 - The Blazers are up three and Roy has not had to do much to regain the lead in the third quarter.  He should be poised to implement his typical Brandon Roy act in the fourth.

7:56 - Really bad news for Spurs fans.  Tim Duncan has not been 100%.  Well, in a tough and important game Duncan has four points and five rebounds through three quarters with 23 minutes of game time.  Tony Parker is amazing, but he cannot do it on his own.

8:03 - I get my first view of Hastings and Marlowe, yes it is the Altitude feed on League Pass Broadband!  I cannot wait to hear how bad NBA officiating is.

8:05 - It appears I will be able to watch the game in ten second increments.  That should work, right?

8:06 - Portland is up five with less than eight minutes left.  I do not see anyway the Spurs are winning this game.  Make that a seven point Blazer lead.  No Northwest Division crown tonight.

8:11 - Great just as the game is starting my feed completely grinds to a halt.

8:13 - I can hear what is happening, but I am stuck looking at J.R. Smith clapping at the scorer’s table, which happened about five minutes ago.

8:16 - So far this is a disaster. I have seen about 15 seconds of the game and it was footage of Melo’s free throws. Exciting.

8:36 - I went to the tiny screen and managed to see the final two minutes of the first quarter. It looks like the Thunder are getting whatever shot they want on offense. The Nuggets have done a very good job of jumping on weaker teams in the first half and taking away any hope they may have had of winning. Let’s see if they can ramp up the defense in the second quarter and build a lead.

8:44 - Nuggets getting some great outlet passes resulting in easy buckets. Kleiza got to the line off a pass up the floor off a dead ball. You do not see that everyday. Durant is out of the game and Denver needs to keep building their lead.

8:49 - If the Nuggets do not get a steal they cannot stop the Thunder. Completely in-cohesive on defense.

8:51 - Kleiza claims he speaks four languages.  He forgot the fifth one.  He definitely speaks brick.

8:54 - Did Karl actually just say the Nuggets play like the most like the San Antonio Spurs than any other team in the NBA? Beating the crap out of bad teams does not make you like the Spurs.

8:58 - Oklahoma City is killing Denver on the pick and roll. Once again Denver is not putting in the mental effort in to defend the play everyone in the league runs over and over every game. Denver is playing completely reactionary defense and they are always a step late.

9:01 - J.R. has gotten to the rim a couple of times, but Melo is not getting a chance to touch the ball. Get Melo in the post and see what happens.

9:02 - Denver is playing this game like there is nothing on the line. If they think this two game lead in for the second seed is safe, they will find out otherwise.

9:07 - Denver is down three at the half. Chris Marlowe just said something along the lines of how Karl is probably going over his half time speech in his mind. It makes me mad that everyone thinks it is the coach’s job to get the players to put forth an honest effort. If the Nuggets players need a reason to come out and pound on the Thunder there is something wrong with them. If they want the national media to buy what they are selling, they cannot struggle like this against the Thunder.

If George Karl wants the league to think Denver plays defense like the Spurs, they cannot submit a half like this. You can play like the Spurs for two weeks and then if you play a half like this everyone is going to look at it and say, “See nothing has changed in Denver.”

9:32 - I am not encouraged by the start of the third quarter. Oklahoma City is still getting whatever they want on defense and all of Denver’s points are coming from the perimeter.

9:37 - Terrible three by Birdman, just horrific.

9:41 - Nice play by Kleiza on the offensive glass. If Denver can just boost their effort a little they will be in good shape.

9:55 - Denver can win this game with offense, but it sure would be nice to see some D to close the game out.

10:08 -Whether you love Kleiza or hate him, he has payed his best all around offensive game in a long time tonight and without him hitting a couple of threes and running the floor Denver would certainly not be up 11 right now. They are up 11 right? I am watching on a screen the size of a business card.

10:11 - OK, nine point lead.

10:15 - Denver begins attacking the rim with Melo and Nene getting big (easy) dunks and Denver has built a 12 point lead. This game should be over.

10:19 - I say something nice about Kleiza and eh chucks up two contested threes and tries to give the game back to the Thunder. Glad to see him head to the pine.

10:23 - What do we need to do to get the Nuggets to stop shooting threes? Are they trying to keep it interesting? Is Stan Kronke in their ear telling them not to win by too much because Altitude needs the ratings?

10:27 - There you have it. An uninspiring win against a scrappy team (note I said scrappy, not crappy although their record would suggest otherwise). My final thoughts are that Nene was absolutely terrible on defense. He never stepped out to challenge a shooter when he had to and he was soft on screens. Birdman blocked a bunch of shots (seven), but went after a bunch of other shots that opened the lane up for offensive rebounds. The Thunder were only credited with 13 offensive boards, but I guarantee you that number is low. Once again the transition defense was nearly nonexistent.

Ultimately, Denver expended a lot of energy the night before they have to travel to Los Angeles to play the Lakers in a game where a win would almost guarantee them the second seed and would give them a bit of a mental boost should they actually make it to the Western Conference Finals against LA.

There you have it. Four hours, almost a whole pizza, 40 ounces of root beer and one live blog that ended up missing out on recording Nuggets’ history. Maybe destiny is demanding a win on the final night of the season in Portland for the Nuggets to prove they deserve the division crown and the second seed in the playoffs.

Mindboggling Game Stats

Pace Factor:  97.2

Defensive Efficiency:  115.2

Offensive Efficiency:  125.5

Box Score

Featured Blog:  Daily Thunder

Posted on April 8, 2009 at 4:37 pm | filed in Game Preview, Game Recap, Uncategorized | Tags: , , — 33 Comments

2008-09 Game 73: Denver Nuggets 103 - Dallas Mavericks 101

March 28, 2009
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

A game like that deserves a nearly 3,000 word recap, don’t you think? 

This late in the season a lot can happen in one day, especially when teams are packed as tightly in the standings as they are in the Western Conference.  In a matter of hours we found out Tyson Chandler will be out an additional one to two weeks, the New Orleans Hornets lost at New York, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili were all back on the court together for the first time since the All-Star break and the Denver Nuggets won a thrilling game in Dallas to move into a tie for third in the west and to sweep the Mavericks for the first time in franchise history.

But above all of that, we might have the old Carmelo Anthony.  Melo has had some nice games, but overall this season his scoring and efficiency have been a disappointment.  In the 12 games following his suspension for refusing to come out of the game against Indiana Melo is averaging 26.8 points a game on 46.5% shooting.  What was really encouraging about his 43 point performance, including the game winning layup, was the variety of ways he scored and how he never forced anything. 

A big part of Melo’s night was he had his jumper going, but he did not rely solely on his midrange shot to score.  The best example of not settling for a jumper came in the first quarter when Melo lost control of the ball and had to retreat back to where he was ever with the top of Dallas’ three point line.  When he picked up the ball there was five seconds left on the shot clock.  Under those circumstances almost every player in the NBA would dribble up the floor and launch a three with a second or two left on the shot clock.  Melo used that to his advantage as even he probably expected to shoot the three as he was dribbling up the floor and he hesitated at the three point line, took another dribble and hesitated again at the elbow.  Those two hesitation moves left him with a wide open lane to the rim as everybody on the court, in the stands and at home on the couch expected him to pull up and shoot.  Melo ended up at the rim for an uncontested layup as the shot clock hit zero.

Melo also did a great job posting up.  In the first quarter alone I counted five possessions where Melo either posted up or backed his man down.  The results of those five possessions were two layups, a short fad away, an assist and a missed jumper where he squared and shot from 15 feet.  Dallas was trying to play him straight up, but in the second half they began to double him on the catch when possible. 

Melo became much more perimeter oriented in the third quarter taking almost exclusively jumpers, but when Dallas switched to zone Melo was working the middle trying to get Barea or Jason Terry trapped against him in the high post.  Dallas did a good job defending that, but it opened up the perimeter for open shots by J.R. and Anthony Carter.

George Karl took Carmelo out for a brief rest with 9:00 left in regulation and the Nuggets holding a 88-80 lead.  One minute and 52 seconds later Denver had not scored a point and Dallas had cut the lead down to three.  J.J. Barea hit another three to tie it on the next possession.  With the score tied Carmelo drove to the basket and missed a runner, but corralled the rebound and put it back in with 6:22 left to give the Nuggets the lead back at 90-88.  That would be the only basket the Nuggets scored for a seven minute stretch from 10:52 down to 3:52.

The Nuggets found themselves down 93-92 when J.R. Smith nabbed an Antoine Wright miss, passed out to Chauncey and the Nuggets pushed the ball up the floor.  Chauncey directed J.R. to swing behind him and fill the right lane.  Barea, one of the two guards at the top of the Mavs 2-3 zone, stuck with J.R. up the right sideline and Terry was occupied with Chauncey on the right side of the floor as he brought the ball up.  With Barea out of position and Terry guarding Billups Melo was all alone in the middle of the floor.  Chauncey passed over to him and he hit a three giving the Nuggets a two point lead.  Those three points were the first of eight Melo would score down the stretch.

The teams traded baskets and free throws when in the final minute Melo drove and earned two free throws to put Denver up two.  Then Barea hit another three to put Dallas up one with 23.1 seconds left setting Melo up for yet another game winning shot. 

With the Nuggets inbounding the ball on the left side Chauncey threw the ball into J.R. and then he ran across a double screen to the right side and J.R. passed it back to him on the right wing.  Kenyon set a screen for Melo to free him up to cut towards Chauncey and run a little screen and roll.  Melo set the screen on Chauncey’s left and as Chauncey drove to the middle both Mavs stayed with Billups leaving Melo wide open rolling towards the baseline.  Chauncey passed to Melo and the Mavs were left scrambling.  Melo drive left towards James Singleton who was running at him which used Singleton’s momentum against him and he was unable to change directions and stay with Melo.  That left Dirk standing like a statue just hoping that Melo missed and he was not called for a foul.  On the play J.R. was also set up for a kick out at the top of the circle, Carter was also wide open on the left baseline and both Carter and Kenyon were ready to crash the boards if Melo happened to miss.  It was a nice design by Karl.

The Mavs had two chances to tie it and one of them was a pretty good open look by Dirk, but he missed and that left Wright to throw up a desperation 17 foot fade away over Chris Andersen which clanged off the rim and bounced to Melo.

Melo made one of two, possibly missing the second on purpose to allow the clock to run out as the Mavs struggled to fire off a full court shot instead of being allowed to take the ball out and organize a final play (although they were out of timeouts).

The game was not all about offense though.  After a shaky first half defending the high screen by Dirk Denver came up with a much better scheme and they really locked down on.  The difficult thing about guarding Nowitzki on that high screen is if you trap the ball handler it leaves him wide open, but if you switch he has a guard on him and he simply backs him down and shoots over him.

The Nuggets did mostly switching on him in the first half, but in the second they were much more sound.  They trapped the ball handler, but pre-rotated a big up to cover Dirk so he could not receive the pass back.  From there the big who trapped the dribbler rotated to cover the player the other big left.  They executed it nicely and really took Dirk out of the game.  Dirk only scored two points over the final seventeen minutes of the contest.

The Nuggets did indeed finish the three game road trip 2-1 and they won both games without Nene.  Now they have probably the easiest remaining schedule of all the teams they are jockeying for position with.  They seem have solidified their grip on the Northwest and even if they lose all three games to over .500 teams on the schedule as long as they knock off the six weaker squads they will finish with a 53-29 record.  That would force Portland to finish 8-2 and the Jazz 9-2 in order to catch Denver for the division lead.  Portland has games remaining against Utah, at Houston, at San Antonio, against the Lakers and then Denver on the last day of the season.  Utah must still face Phoenix, play at Portland, at Denver, at New Orleans, at Dallas, at San Antonio and at the Lakers.  Four of those games are back to backs and Utah has been terrible in those situations this season. 

Before we right Denver into the top spot in the Northwest Division in pen remember the last time Denver was in such a nice position they let their lead slip away with losses to teams like Indiana and Sacramento.  However, as Andrew at Denver Stiffs pointed out a few days ago, the Nuggets tend to close seasons out very well.  Regular seasons that is.

Additional Game 73 Nuggets

  • After Melo hit his three in transition with 3:19 left neither team was able to score for almost two minutes until Barea made another three from the corner with 1:27 left in the game after J.R. left him to double Dirk.  J.R. responded by nailing a deep three from the left side just seconds later.  That is a shot that J.R. has been criticized for in the past by George Karl.  It was a low percentage shot early in the offense, but J.R. was hot and it went in.  I guess there is a fine line between disrespecting the game, which Karl accused J.R. of doing in the playoffs two seasons ago against the Spurs resulting in his benching, and being clutch.  There was a big difference between the two shots as the attempt in the Spurs game was in the closing seconds and J.R. broke off a play to do it, but I cannot imagine Karl was thrilled when he saw J.R. start in shooting motion last night.
  • Carmelo was only credited with one assist, but he made several good passes.  On one occasion he hit Petro cutting through the lane.  Petro missed the shot, but the pass and cut opened the lane up for Kenyon who followed Petro and slammed the miss home.  On another occasion Melo was doubled on the right sideline and he skipped the ball across to J.R. on the left wing.  Smith pump faked J.J. Barea who flew past took one dribble in and drained a 19 foot jumper.  Once again no assist, but it was another pass that led directly to a hoop.
  • The prettiest play of the night was in the middle of the third quarter.  Barea ran the high screen with Dirk, Kenyon and Chauncey trapped Barea and pushed him almost out to half court.  Petro ran out and covered Dirk removing that option.  Barea decided to throw a thirty foot pass to Singleton along the right sideline.  Melo picked it off going the other way and when he was confronted by Dirk he bounced the ball to the right and he ran around Dirk to the left.  He then capped it off by swishing a jumper from the elbow.  It was a great instinctive play and showed how much fun Melo was having.
  • The Mavs have n offensive set where the pass the ball to Dampier on the wing and he is asked enter the ball into Dirk in the post.  He did OK, but was called for traveling on one occasion.  Is he really the guy you want doing that?
  • Speaking of Dampier he did not have much of an impact on the game.  He did grab four offensive boards, but on two occasions he dribble the ball out and I do not think he made a put back shot on any of them.
  • Marlowe called Dahntay Jones “surprisingly effective” from three point range.  He has made eight all season.  He has been effective the same way Kenyon was early in the season.  At this point though I think we all dread seeing Kenyon line up a long bomb. 
  • Linas Kleiza has played less than eight minutes a game over the past three contests.  You can look for that to increase as Denver plays some lesser teams as I think Karl will try to give him minutes to break out of his slump again.
  • The Mavs played a lot of zone and it really stymied the Nuggets, especially in the fourth.  The Nuggets were stuck on the perimeter and everything was a jumper.  I think they missed Nene’s post presence in that regard. 
  • Watching the way they cut and run through their offense it was plain to see Dallas runs their offense much quicker than Denver.  Many of the Nuggets cuts are jogs and apart from Birdman, they rarely rush to set a screen.
  • Anthony Carter has become pretty adept at throwing alley oop passed off of baseline inbounds plays.  He threw another nice one to Birdman for an easy tip in.
  • The last play of the first half was beautiful.  The Nuggets had a chance to force a fast break, but Kenyon pulled it back out with 12 seconds left preventing them from potentially making a mistake and giving the Mavs the ball back.  Chauncey wanted to get it to Melo in the post, but with Drik on him he drove and forced the help to come.  That allowed Melo to come open on the baseline.  He received the pass from Billups and laid it in at the buzzer.
  • There was a possession with about four minutes left in the third quarter where Birdman blocked three shots (somehow he was only credited for one the entire game, but the third one did come after the shot clock had expired.  They clearly fired the team up, but none of the three blocks when to Nuggets.  Instead of at least trying to deflect the ball to a teammate, he was surrounded by blue jerseys, he sent them back as hard as he could giving the Mavs extra chances.  The third one after the buzzer he blocked out of bounds so Dallas would have had another chance had the shot clock not expired.
  • I honestly think player shoot better by earning shots.  What I mean by that is a three is more likely to go in when you are not forcing it.  Sometimes it is the difference between shooting it off a swing pass than off the dribble or without moving the ball first.  Earlier I mentioned a play where Melo skipped the ball across the court to J.R. who passed up the three to step in and hit a splashed a 19 footer.  Well, two possessions later J.R. received another pass on the same spot on the floor and as soon as he caught it I knew it was going in.  He earned the three by not forcing it earlier.  I am sure that is a bunch of crap, but I believe it.
  • The big shot that started the Mavs comeback came at 8:47 of the fourth with the Nuggets up 88-80.  Barea brought the ball up the court and no one even thought about guarding him.  He was Carter’s man an dI have no idea where AC was.  Barea calmly hits the three cutting the lead to five.  Less than two minutes later the game was tied.
  • The three second vilation on J.R. with 2:07 left in the game was just horrible.  He jumped into the lane and landed right before the shot clock changed to four the whistle blew right after the clock switched to two.  Plus a shot was going up.  It was the fastest three second call I have ever seen. 
  • I will say something about the refs.  Scott Hastings was going nuts at the fact the Mavs shot so many more free throws than Denver, but they earned most of them.  There is no rule that both teams need to shoot roughly the same number of free throws.  If one team is more aggressive than the other, it is not the referees’ problem.
  • I loved the game Chauncey played.  He tried to hit a couple of Mr. Big Shot threes in the middle of the fourth, but realized his shot was not falling while Melo and J.R. were scorching the nets.  Chauncey did not attempt a shot over the final 4:43.  He just played defense and passed the ball.

Mindboggling Game Stats

Pace Factor:  84.5 – Very slow thanks to the Mavs’ 20 offensive boards and relatively slow developing half court sets.

Defensive Efficiency:  119.5 – The Mavs only shot 35.6%, but the snagged the aforementioned 20 offensive boards and only turned the ball over four times.  The four turnovers were a season low surpassing the eight that the Nuggets forced in Sacramento during game 64.

Offensive Efficiency:  121.9 – Thank you 56.0% shooting!

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Posted on March 28, 2009 at 2:49 pm | filed in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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