(Boulder-CO) How does 26-27 sound? How about 14-15 on your home floor? Call me crazy, but this Nuggets team is in serious trouble. After what I saw tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if Denver misses the playoffs. The Nuggets can’t defend, share the ball, or seem to find any chemistry with the plethora of interchangeable players on the roster. If you have been reading my work for any amount of time you will have noticed that I am not one for pessimistic rhetoric, but to be perfectly honest with you, there are so many problems with this team right now that I do not even know where to start. What I can say is that I hate Utah Jazz fans less after tonight’s game due to sitting next to some of the most informed basketball fans ever at the Pepsi Center, not to mention they just hopped a flight from Utah for tonight’s game. More on that later, but now on to the grim reality of Denver’s situation.
The Denver Nuggets were out rebounded, out passed, out stolen, turned the rock over more, and were out played for the majority of tonight’s game; hands down, no questions asked, without a doubt by Jerry Sloan’s ball club. Other than in the fourth quarter the Nuggets were outscored in every single quarter. Once again we all saw the Nuggets score less than twenty points in a quarter, (18 measly points in the second), as they put up an effort not so becoming of an, “offensive juggernaut.”
And once again we saw offensive output from only a couple of Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 36 points and added six assists, four rebounds, a steal, a block, and…sigh… seven turnovers. Allen Iverson was the only other Nugget to score in double figures and finished the game with 33 points, five assists, three assists, and two steals in a game-high 44 minutes of action. As for the rest of the Nuggets, let’s just say that Steve Blake and Nene each had eight points because I do not want to be negative anymore.
As things stand the Nuggets are still in the playoffs. But let me say this; three of the next four games are against serious playoff teams. Dallas is on deck tomorrow, followed by Memphis, (A must win game), before Houston, and the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets who are currently looking in on the playoff situation.
Now back to why I hate Utah Jazz fans way less after tonight’s game. I had the pleasure of sitting next to some extremely heady Jazz, not to mention NBA, fans during the game. Along with testing each other’s NBA IQ we discussed the Adrian Dantley situation, why the Jazz are the best team at running the pick and roll, and the unappreciated game of one Jerry Sloan. For those that don’t know, Jerry Sloan still acts like he is playing the game from his position on the bench as he literally talks his players through nearly every phase of the game. He was one hell of player and is one hell of a coach. The guy from Utah even had an outside source that was trying to find out why Mehmet was not available for action tonight. According to him it was because of back spasms, but before he got such word his speculation was that his wife was in labor which was more insider information than I could gather from any of the sources I consulted before publishing my game preview.
As for the Nuggets, they have one hell of a monkey on their back. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a preview of the Dallas Mavericks, but for now… Say your prayers.
The Denver Nuggets were out rebounded, out passed, out stolen, turned the rock over more, and were out played for the majority of tonight’s game; hands down, no questions asked, without a doubt by Jerry Sloan’s ball club. Other than in the fourth quarter the Nuggets were outscored in every single quarter. Once again we all saw the Nuggets score less than twenty points in a quarter, (18 measly points in the second), as they put up an effort not so becoming of an, “offensive juggernaut.”
And once again we saw offensive output from only a couple of Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 36 points and added six assists, four rebounds, a steal, a block, and…sigh… seven turnovers. Allen Iverson was the only other Nugget to score in double figures and finished the game with 33 points, five assists, three assists, and two steals in a game-high 44 minutes of action. As for the rest of the Nuggets, let’s just say that Steve Blake and Nene each had eight points because I do not want to be negative anymore.
As things stand the Nuggets are still in the playoffs. But let me say this; three of the next four games are against serious playoff teams. Dallas is on deck tomorrow, followed by Memphis, (A must win game), before Houston, and the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets who are currently looking in on the playoff situation.
Now back to why I hate Utah Jazz fans way less after tonight’s game. I had the pleasure of sitting next to some extremely heady Jazz, not to mention NBA, fans during the game. Along with testing each other’s NBA IQ we discussed the Adrian Dantley situation, why the Jazz are the best team at running the pick and roll, and the unappreciated game of one Jerry Sloan. For those that don’t know, Jerry Sloan still acts like he is playing the game from his position on the bench as he literally talks his players through nearly every phase of the game. He was one hell of player and is one hell of a coach. The guy from Utah even had an outside source that was trying to find out why Mehmet was not available for action tonight. According to him it was because of back spasms, but before he got such word his speculation was that his wife was in labor which was more insider information than I could gather from any of the sources I consulted before publishing my game preview.
As for the Nuggets, they have one hell of a monkey on their back. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a preview of the Dallas Mavericks, but for now… Say your prayers.
4 comments:
What worries me most is that I at this point cant imagine what could seriously change the situation during the season and after the season. I neither can imagine what kind of changes could be done to improve the roster strength of the nuggets since they (in my oppinion) have the second strongest roster right behind the suns. So most probalby the nuggets will suck until A.I retires and Karl leaves ? :-/ *sadface*
those orange jerseys really look great though wish I could get one somehow..
Hey! This is Rod, from Brazil. Your blog is GREAT for those like me who are thousands of miles away.
That way, I can keep following the nuggs activity, and I´ve been a fan since the day Nene got there.
Keep up the good work, man!
Rod.
Hey Rod,
Great to have you on board. How are things down in Brazil? You have gotta love what we've been seeing out of Nene lately, huh?
Thanks for reading,
The Nugg Doctor
Hey Doc!
Yeah, well, we all knew he could be just that good. I think his ceiling would be just as high as Stoudemire´s if he had a better BB IQ. I still think he can work that around though. We seem to forget he´s still young.
Anyway, I always said to folks around here that denver was making a BIG mistake by putting that much weight on Nene. When he first came into the league the guy was like a skyrocket-above-the-rim-thunderous-dunk type of guy.
But the nuggs started putting SO MUCH weight on him that he almost lost that explosiveness he had around the basket. It seems now someone finally saw the mistake and put him on a diet. Looks like it´s paying off! If he loses a little more weight to around 255 pounds I think he would be a monster.
About the nuggs - I watched the game vs. spurs and utah... The team was a mess. I really hope Karl can fix that and work it out. Main problem is defensive positioning and effort I think.
Marcus is a great help defender and Nene is good at man-to-man.. but nobody on the perimeter even pretends to play some defense. That´s why last game against Memphis George started Diawara.
the Nugs HAVE to go to playoffs. That way, we´ll have all brazilians on playoffs: Nene, Varejao (cle), Barbosa (pho) and Araujo (uta). :)
Regards,
Rod.
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