Friday, February 3, 2006

Let Me Just Call The Perscription In

(Fort Collins-CO) The Denver Nuggets, who had just won seven straight, have now lost four in a row. With that seven game win streak and 39 games left in the NBA season the Nuggets could have been thinking about winning 50 games. They would of only needed to win two-out-of-three, 26-13, to win 50. Isn’t 50 wins what it takes anymore? Now with Marcus Camby back, the Nuggets looked confused. This is where the Dr. comes in…

Let me start off by saying two things I know for sure about basketball. First, when you have a player come back from injury, especially to a team that was starting to mesh, you must work him in gradually. And secondly, you stop scoring points and you lose. Now lets take look at what is ailing us.

Marcus Camby obviously wasn’t ready to come back. With the team winning why not wait and make a full recovery? Instead, he rushed coming back too strong too soon and now is back in the new NBA dress code he was so happy to see enforced. In addition, Camby slows down the game and was disruptive to the budding chemistry the Nuggets were winning with. That is where the next problem stems from. The Nuggets are now moving slowly up court, and watching Marcus Camby up at the top of the key. Consequentially, the scoring has dropped. The Nuggets are a team that is averaging 99.4 ppg on the season. In the last four loses, they have only scored on average 86.

So it boils down to this. The Nuggets need to get back that swagger. Instead of the slow, half court offense that puts them in a position of being in a dogfight in the last eight minutes. Get Boykins in there, get the ball up and down the court, and play some inspired defense. You know, the Najera pester, kind of defense. The name of the game is putting the ball in the basket. It makes you feel good. When you feel good, you play good. When you play good, you win. We will see if the Nuggets are feeling any better on Saturday when they take on a struggling Portland.

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