(FortCollins-CO) The 2005-2006 Denver Nuggets have accomplished something that hasn’t been accomplished since the 1988 campaign. Now what the Northwest Divisional Champions need to figure out is how to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Winning the division is sweet, but I’m not satisfied and ready to mail it in quite yet. The Denver Nuggets have tremendous potential and if they can peak at just the right time could surprise some unsuspecting teams. Beating Portland 110-98 was the easy part.
The Nuggets can celebrate a little tonight because they all played cohesively and beat a team convincingly that isn’t even of like caliber. Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 28 points and dropped six dimes. Rueben Patterson made the Trailblazers wince with his high-octane fast break performance. Patterson, who formerly played in Portland, scored 21 points in 28 minutes.
On the defensive end, who do you think was Mr. Reliable for the Nuggets? Mr. Camby of course! Marcus came up huge for the Nuggets in a game that totally summarized his entire season. Camby scored 21 points, grabbed 13 boards, (five on offensive glass), and rubbed out four shots. He is definitely a candidate for defensive player of the year in my opinion. He is leading the league in block shots per game, and if he wasn’t hurt early in the year, would be second or third in the rebounding race. Not to mention he scores a dozen points every night too.
One of the Nuggets main woes of the season might be rectifying itself. I’m talking about outside shooting, and two Nuggets are stepping up appropriately to the call of the three-point line. DerMarr Johnson and Greg Buckner shot a combined 4-10 from downtown and gave the Nuggets an important boost. I like the things I am seeing from both young men defensively as well. Doing the idiosyncratic particulars is precisely what this team needed and these two Nuggets are providing that kind of assistance.
I was doing some statistical research today and found some very telling numbers that you might be interested in. According to the website http://www.82games.com/, Carmelo Anthony is catching the second most alley-oop dunks in the league. Andre Miller has thrown the most opps-a-daisy passes with 86. Twice as many as the next man on the list. Next, I found that Carmelo Anthony has the most game winning shots in the entire league with 10 in a three-year career. This is dumbfounding considering he is tops on the list with some big name stars that have been in the league for the better part of a decade. He is also leading the league in “up-close shots.” http://www.82games.com/ defines this stat as, “shots that include all close shots that aren’t tips on the offensive glass.” Carmelo has attempted 520 and made 322, for a healthy 62%. One unsavory Nugget, pardon the pun, is who in the league gets called for traveling the most. Once again, it is Denver’s young superstar Carmelo Anthony. He has been whistled 30 times for steps.
The Nuggets can celebrate a little tonight because they all played cohesively and beat a team convincingly that isn’t even of like caliber. Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 28 points and dropped six dimes. Rueben Patterson made the Trailblazers wince with his high-octane fast break performance. Patterson, who formerly played in Portland, scored 21 points in 28 minutes.
On the defensive end, who do you think was Mr. Reliable for the Nuggets? Mr. Camby of course! Marcus came up huge for the Nuggets in a game that totally summarized his entire season. Camby scored 21 points, grabbed 13 boards, (five on offensive glass), and rubbed out four shots. He is definitely a candidate for defensive player of the year in my opinion. He is leading the league in block shots per game, and if he wasn’t hurt early in the year, would be second or third in the rebounding race. Not to mention he scores a dozen points every night too.
One of the Nuggets main woes of the season might be rectifying itself. I’m talking about outside shooting, and two Nuggets are stepping up appropriately to the call of the three-point line. DerMarr Johnson and Greg Buckner shot a combined 4-10 from downtown and gave the Nuggets an important boost. I like the things I am seeing from both young men defensively as well. Doing the idiosyncratic particulars is precisely what this team needed and these two Nuggets are providing that kind of assistance.
I was doing some statistical research today and found some very telling numbers that you might be interested in. According to the website http://www.82games.com/, Carmelo Anthony is catching the second most alley-oop dunks in the league. Andre Miller has thrown the most opps-a-daisy passes with 86. Twice as many as the next man on the list. Next, I found that Carmelo Anthony has the most game winning shots in the entire league with 10 in a three-year career. This is dumbfounding considering he is tops on the list with some big name stars that have been in the league for the better part of a decade. He is also leading the league in “up-close shots.” http://www.82games.com/ defines this stat as, “shots that include all close shots that aren’t tips on the offensive glass.” Carmelo has attempted 520 and made 322, for a healthy 62%. One unsavory Nugget, pardon the pun, is who in the league gets called for traveling the most. Once again, it is Denver’s young superstar Carmelo Anthony. He has been whistled 30 times for steps.
The Nuggets need to selectively rest the big guns before playoff time. As soon as the picture clears up as far as whom we are going to be playing in the postseason, and if we will or will not have home court advantage, is why I say ‘selectively’. There are still a couple wrinkles that need to be ironed out before the Nuggets clear the bench for the last couple games. The division is reason to celebrate, but there is still work to be done and goals to be accomplished. Congratulations Nuggets, I’ve got playoff fever!
1 comment:
yes I agree Foges, whoopin a team that SHOULD OF been whooped was a good sign.
The Nugg Doctor
Post a Comment