Denver Nuggets Blog – Roundball Mining Company

Blazers 86, Nuggets 83…Denver falls to shorthanded Portland

November 19, 2010
by David

With 8:50 to go in the fourth quarter, Carmelo Anthony picked up his fifth foul and was forced to the bench. With 3:08 left, Portland’s Nicholas Batum drew a charge on Melo to foul him out of the game. Denver scored 12 points in the fourth quarter on 3-of-13 shooting.

That pretty much tells you how this one turned out.

The Nuggets posted a combined 54 points in quarters one and three, while only scoring a dismal 29 points in periods two and four. The story of Denver’s season encapsulated in 48 minutes at the Rose Garden on Thursday night.

In a slow-paced game which clearly suited Portland’s style of play more than Denver’s featured two very different tales of how this game would turn out. Denver’s shot selection, aggressiveness of taking the ball to the basket and defensive intensity was night and day in those two halves of the game. The whole game was one of runs, with Denver blowing multiple double-digit leads and Portland feeding off their electric crowd to pull this one out. Portland was without All-Star guard Brandon Roy whose knees are giving Blazers’ fans nightmares of Sam Bowie and now Greg Oden, who will miss the entire season with another microfracture surgery on his bad knee.

Portland coach Nate McMillan only went with an eight-man rotation, and all of his starters played at least 36 minutes (that distinction would go to Marcus Camby), so you’d think Denver could take advantage with a somewhat deeper bench and a clear advantage in the backcourt (on paper). Lets take a look at some postgame thoughts in bullet form:

Aaron Afflalo and Gary Forbes switched roles last night; Afflalo was the unsung hero for Denver, bouncing back from some subpar outings with a 16-point, 11-rebound game and knocking down four of his eight three-point attempts. Forbes meanwhile moved into the doghouse with only 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting, throwing up some unnecessary and contested shots that took Denver out of their offensive flow. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come for the rookie, who has been a saving grace for Karl’s bench.
Lawson was inserted into the lineup when Melo fouled out, and was too unselfish with the basketball when he had it. The guy gets into the paint at will it seems and needs to start thinking of taking his own shot more (and drawing fouls, which he’s great at doing, absorbing the contact and still getting the shot over bigs twice his size) instead of dishing to Nene or Shelden, who continue to look clumsy with the ball at the basket.
I love Wesley Matthews. Absolutely love him. Many experts balked at the five-year, $34 million contract GM Rich Cho gave him, but he is proving to be worth every penny while filling the void of Roy (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!). After dropping a 30-spot in Memphis on Tuesday, Matthews responded with a 20 and 10 game on Denver, flying in for some boards over Denver’s bigs and hitting some big shots to keep Portland in the game when Denver was trying to extend their lead. Keep an eye on this kid, he may be the reason Portland stays a contender if Roy doesn’t return to full health.
Denver cannot shoot 38% on the road and hope to grab a playoff spot come March. Even when K-Mart and Birdman return, if the team is taking this many jump shots throughout the year they will struggle offensively, especially against the likes of San Antonio, New Orleans and Los Angeles, three solid defensive teams who are (not coincidentally) atop the Western Conference standings.
When will there be another J.R. Swish sighting? Will J.R. be traded sooner than originally thought? If he continues to ride the pine, whether it be for on-the-court (shooting poorly and continuing to play NO defense) or off-the-court (showing up late to team shootarounds is the latest infraction) issues, you’ve got to think he will demand a change of scenery. It could benefit Denver to turn him into some frontcourt depth, but who out there could the Nuggets get? (Marreese Speights (PHI)? Carl Landry (SAC)? Jeff Foster (IND)? Would any of those teams make a deal at this point?) It will be interesting to see how this saga plays out.

Next up for Denver is the Nets on Saturday night back at The Can. New Jersey is playing without Troy Murphy who is still suffering from a foot injury. The rookie Derrick Favors (rumored to be coming to Denver in that four-team trade before the season) and Kris Humphries should pose no threat to Denver’s frontcourt, but you never know what kind of production Denver’s bigs will give you. Brook Lopez is a double-double threat, Anthony Morrow can shoot the lights out and Travis Outlaw has big-time potential, but if Denver doesn’t win by 15+ I will be shocked and disappointed. Plus Carmelo Anthony has another chance to audition for his possible next destination, right? (too soon? sorry guys.) After dropping 120 points on the Knicks earlier this week, expect a similar high-point total in this one. A loss would drop Denver below .500 for the first time this season; I don’t know about you but with all the speculation and rumors surrounding this team, with this level of competition out West, that does not bode well for support or confidence in Nuggetland anytime soon.

Nuggets 118, Lakers 112…Denver hands LA first loss

November 12, 2010
by David

Fresh off the butt-whooping of the decade at Indiana (sorry guys, I’m still not over that one) and, in true Nuggets fashion, Denver returns home just in time for a huge bounce back victory over the formerly undefeated Lakers 118-112 at “The Can”.

This was Carmelo Anthony’s night, his 32 point, (on 14-of-25 shooting) 13 rebound performance lifting Denver down the stretch run and playing much more efficiently than his superstar counterpoint. Kobe scored a season-high (and team-high) 34 for LA, but he essentially shot his Lakers out of the game late in the fourth by not getting the ball in Pau’s hands. Gasol had a very solid 17 and 20 for the Lakers but he (6-for-17) like Kobe (11-for-32) struggled from the field.

Nene had a decent game (18 points on 7-of-13 from the field) in his matchup with the Spaniard, but it was still a frustrating game to watch for the Brazilian. As I said in my season preview, the Nuggets needed big things from Nene this season; they need him to make that jump into the next echelon of centers. But his foul-prone defense got him trouble again and forced him out of the game at points when he was getting on a role offensively. Granted, the Nuggets were playing 5-on-8 for most of the game as Kobe and Pau (especially Gasol) got sent to the line anytime they were touched. Nene’s fourth foul late in the third came on a play when he “pulled the chair” on Pau when he backing Nene down, and yet the Nuggets center was still called for the foul.

But despite getting bailed out by the refs multiple times, Pau looked lost and at times soft, especially in the second half. While he’s been lauded in the national media for “toughening up” after getting dominated by KG in the 2008 Finals, Pau still shows moments of weakness that opposing centers should be able to take advantage of. But despite this minor criticism, the Lakers (aka you Kobe) should have tried to exploit the Nuggets small-ball lineup, which at times had Big Al or even Melo at the five.

Ty Lawson had a great game and got some crunch time minutes late in the fourth (which he deserved, thanks you George!), dropping 17 points and 5 dimes off the bench. Any time he’s paired up against an older, slower point guard (Fisher and Blake both qualify) he’s gonna have his way with them on offense and be able to penetrate and kick/or finish. J.R. had a decent outing himself, but still hasn’t gotten over the 13 point hump this year. His best moment of the night was his long three over Kobe (who was playing off J.R. and begging him to shoot that three before closing out…you give him that room he’s gonna launch!) that gave the Nuggets the lead with 4:11 to go and Denver added six more to go up nine with 2:13 remaining.

I also wanted to say I like George going small, spacing the floor and increasing that threat of the Nuggets running in transition even more than they already do. Gary Forbes continues to perform admirably in his spare minutes on the floor, knocking down his open looks and playing with hustle and aggression. And with Melo continuing to pick up his rebounding along with Big Al’s play on the defensive end (he’s played solid D against the likes of Pau, Dirk and D-West) why would George stray away from a small-ball lineup? They’re fun to watch, play scrappy D, force turnovers and rebound just as well (which says a lot about our bigs’ play up to this point) as the natural fours and fives.

Shannon Brown had another huge game off the bench for the Lakers, still making me sad he took less money to stay and back up Kobe in LA instead of starting for a fun, young team somewhere else. I think Denver may have trouble with young, athletic players who can shoot the three (especially off the bench when J.R. is guarding them) if Aaron’s not guarding them, which means all these young teams in the West (Sacramento, OKC, Portland) are definitely gonna give Denver some fits.

The good news is Denver was able to bounce back from a debilitating loss to beat a superior opponent (and one as hated as the Lakers) and get back on a winning track. The bad news is Denver appears to be playing to the level of their competition, and that kind of inconsistency isn’t going to get it done late in the season, or come playoff time. If the Nuggets have any chance of holding onto Melo after this season, they can’t afford to give up 140+ points or lose by 20+ points on the road to mediocre teams. But if the bench continues to play strong and the Nuggets can coax more out of Nene and/or Afflalo (who’s cooled down after a hot start) Denver can definitely make the climb up the Western Conference standings…at least in the regular season.

P.S.- Denver won their 44^th straight game at home when they scored 110 or more points…not too shabby fellas!

Nuggets shoot the lights out in Dallas to beat the Mavs

November 7, 2010
by David

Question: How do you get revenge against the team you lost to by one point in your own building only three nights ago?

Going 13-for-21 from three-point land (judges…), yes, that is an acceptable answer!

The Nuggets three-point shooting, coupled with some timely defensive stops and steals down the stretch, propelled them to a 103-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night.

Denver enacted revenge for that one point loss at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday, which was one toilet-bowl roll from making the Nuggets 2-0 against Dallas this year. And they did it still without the services of Nene, who missed his third straight game, and with Gary Forbes starting at the four.

Yes, George Karl went small with his starting lineup again, inserting Gary Forbes (who received a DNP-Coach’s Decision against the Clippers) in the frontcourt with Sheldon Williams. Speaking about Mr. Forbes, he quietly had a solid evening, scoring 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting in only 12 minutes of play. He didn’t get torched on defense while he was in there (which is about as good as you can ask for against Dirk) and made the open shots he was set up for; kudos to Gary Forbes.

As for the other bigs…can’t really say I was impressed (or pleased) with their performances. Sheldon had 8 points to go along with his 6 boards, but his +/- was -11 (2^nd worst on the team to Afflalo, who had a rough game himself) and both he and Melvin Ely blew multiple easy layups/dunks by dropping nice passes from Chauncey and Melo on their penetrations into the porous Dallas D. He also had 4 pretty sloppy fouls and played worse defense on Dirk then his typically defensively challenged replacement Al Harrington.

Speaking of Big Al, another solid outing from Harrington, who seems to bring a second wind and a burst of energy with him when he enters the game. 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists for Al, who had a couple of thunderous dunks early in the fourth to help extend the Nuggets lead and assert their/his will on the glass (first on a nice feed of an offensive board from Ely, then a tip slam on a Lawson miss, after which he let out a King Kong roar). The more I watch Al play, the more I LOVE that addition and even if K-Mart and/or Birdman aren’t their usual selves when they return, Nuggets fans should rejoice in the fact that “Big Al” will be in there in crunch time.

And how about J.R. Swish, who lived up to his namesake last night with some nice makes and a ridiculous stat line in general; 11 points, 6 boards, 5 dimes and 5 steals in 34 minutes of the bench (btw, the entire bench was at least +14 in differential, with Big Al leading the charge with a +24). J.R. showed some hustle and defensive aggressiveness with some nice steals when the Mavs were trying to get their transition game going, and was flying in on the glass to grab some rebounds in the fourth, again making a statement that Denver’s second unit was going to dominate Dallas’.

Oh, and another guy in blue and gold had pretty good game-that would be Carmelo Anthony. Whatever you may think of the guy, he is still lighting it up on the scoreboard and carried Denver offensively late in the third when they were caught up in that back and forth struggle. Melo went 9-for-17 from the field and a more impressive 4-for-4 from downtown, including those three treys in the last four minutes of the third.

Denver didn’t play great defensively, but they played good defense in key moments came up with some steals and forced some turnovers in key moments, and contained Jason Terry and Dirk enough to come away with a big road win. Next up for Denver is the 2-3 Chicago Bulls, who have lost two straight including that heartbreaker in overtime to the Celtics at the Garden on Friday. The Bulls are essentially a two-man group right now, with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah carrying them in every way/category while they wait for the return of Carlos Boozer from that hand injury. This is a team whose lost/traded away their perimeter scorers (Ben Gordon (free agency), John Salmons (trade), Kirk Hinrich (trade)) from the past 2 seasons and is relying on the likes of Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer to get it done at shooting guard (not happening). Luol Deng can’t be a team’s number two option and their bench, which looks decent on paper (CJ Watson, Kyle Korver, Kurt Thomas) has been horrible. Taj Gibson has filled in nicely for Boozer at PF, but they need another legitimate 20+ ppg scorer so Rose isn’t taking 30+ shots a game; they won’t win if that continues.

I like the Nuggets chances in this one, on a two-game winning streak and with J.R., Ty and Big Al playing like they have off the bench, look for the Nuggets to jump to an early lead and use their stronger second unit to put Chicago in the rear view mirror. If the Bulls can hang in there through the first 10 or so minutes, it could be a close game. But if you take a big lead on them, you can put them away for good (especially if Tom Thibodeau benches Rose for the fourth again). Tip-of is 6 p.m. MST from the United Center tomorrow on Altitude.

Nuggets get stung by Hornets at the Hive

October 30, 2010
by David

(I know, I know, the title is cheesy and overused but why go creative and really long when you can go short and simple?) The Nuggets dreams of an undefeated season were ended in the Bayou last night as they fell 101-95 to the New Orleans Hornets. Despite a double-double performance from Carmelo Anthony (24 points and 10 boards) and solid outings from Chauncey (20 pts and 5 dimes) and the surprisingly effective Sheldon Williams (8 pts and 13 rebounds, leading the team in the latter category in back-to-back games), Denver couldn’t complete their second-half comeback. After being down by as much as 14 late in the second quarter, Denver took the lead at one point in the third and then jumped out to a six-point lead with 8 minutes to go in the ballgame. Then Chris Paul took over, dropping 10 points and 3 dimes in the last 10 minutes, and David West hit a couple tough fade-away jumpers over Al Harrington to seal the win.

The Nuggets jumped out to a great start early, going up 8-0 and looking good on D, forcing contested jumpers from the Hornets. Then Sheldon and Nene let Okafor have his way in the middle on both sides of the ball, and Emeka had some easy layups and forced contested shots in the paint. Nene knocked down a couple of 18-footers (showing some extended range that this Nuggets fan didn’t know he had) to help the bigs’ cause, but then the pick-and roll defense on Paul (and later Jerryd Bayless and Willie Green) started to fall apart. NOLA’s guards were getting into the paint WAY too easy, leading to some easy buckets (Green’s baseline slam and J-Bay’s and-1 layup on JR) and kick-outs for threes (Marcus Thornton hit back-to-back threes to stretch the Hornets’ lead to 14).

On the positive side Ty Lawson made Chris Paul look like Anthony Carter (which isn’t easy to do), burning him to the basket a few times and doing a respectable job distributing the rock. And despite his struggles on the defensive end, Al Harrington looks good off the bench, giving the 2^nd unit some semblance of offense when JR struggles to find his shot.

In the second half Melo took over, hitting his patented mid-range jumpers and getting to the basket a few times as well. And as one RMC writer predicted in his season preview ( I won’t be doing too much self-promotion, I promise) Aaron Afflalo continues to break out of his shell, hitting some shots when his teammates can’t find the range; if he can prove to/remain a viable threat on offense, it will make this team much more dangerous late in games and allow George Karl to keep him in for defense while not losing anything on the offensive end. And while all you JR Swish fans may grimace when I say this, it’s a good thing for this team when Afflalo is in the game late and getting starters minutes over JR, because I’m 99% sure he will not be a Nugget next year.

Next up for the Nuggets is the Houston Rockets, who will welcome Denver to the Toyota Center for their home opener tonight at 6:30 MST. Houston is coming off back-to-back road losses to open the season in two very winnable games against the Lakers and Warriors. Denver needs to play better D against Luis Scola then they did against D-West, because as good as West’s mid-range game is, Scola is a much better back-to-the-basket player, can hit the hook shot with either hand, and is a better passer (which means watch out for the kickout to Kevin Martin or Aaron Brooks). Houston has some absolute snipers on the perimeter (the aforementioned K-Mart and Brooks), and even if one is cold the other could easily drop 30+.

They signed Erick Dampier yesterday to join Yao and Brad Miller at center, so Nene and Sheldon will have to step it up even more with Rick Adelman being able to rotate those guys at will to keep his bigs fresh. If Denver can control the penetrate and kick better than they did last night, keep their bigs out of foul trouble (so Melvin Ely isn’t matched up with Scola) and get some offensive production from their bench (I’m talking to you JR…and Al needs 15+ too) they have a great chance of coming back home 1-1 on their mini-roadtrip before they welcome Dallas to “The Can” on Wednesday night.

Comment Away!

July 9, 2010
by Jeremy

Greetings Loyal Readers,

It was recently brought to my attention that readers were not able to register in order to leave comments. This was an oversight from when the move was made to our new design. I have modified the settings so that it will be much easier to comment and I look forward to getting much more insight from you all now that this issue has been rectified.

Thanks for your support and I apologize for the mistake.

Jeremy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Record	38 - 28
Pythagorean Record	39.4 - 26.6
Projected Pyth Rec (82 Gms)	48.9 - 33.1
Projected Pyth Rec (66 Gms)	39.4 - 26.6
Defensive Efficiency	104.1
Offensive Efficiency	106.9
Pace Factor	96.31/td>
Field Goal %	47.6
Opp Field Goal %	45.6%
3P Field Goal %	33.2%
Opp 3P Field Goal %	38.3%
Free Throw %	73.5%
Opp Free Throw %	76.5%
Effective FG%	51.6%
Opp Effective FG%	50.7%
True Shooting %	55.6%
Opp True Shooting %	54.2%
Def Rebound Rate	74.2%
Off Rebound Rate	27.7%
Total Rebound Rate	51.7%

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