(Boulder-CO) By this time a ton have you have read my account of J.R. Smith absolutely jumping out of the building to catch that alley-oop from AI in last night's game against the Cavaliers, but I can imagine many of you haven't actually seen it. Well, wait no longer my fellow citizens of Nuggets Nation that couldn't catch the game last night because I have wrangled up this link directly taking you to the footage of the sickness and this video of J.R.'s other monster cram against the Wizards.
Face it, we all may just be living in a J.R. Smith world! "That kid is an athlete!"
Face it, we all may just be living in a J.R. Smith world! "That kid is an athlete!"
3 comments:
I hate to be a buzz kill about last nights win but let me point out a couple of things.
- Free throw % - TERRRIBLE! Thanks to the Cavs poor perforamce at the line, thanks Le Bron, this didn't really hurt the Nugz but come on! 66% WILL NOT CUT IT.
- Turnovers - Specifically fast break turnovers. I don't have the stat from last nights game, but damn, seemed like every fast break there was a 50/50 chance we would huck it out of bounds. I don't know if having a true PG would have effected this as it was usually the bigs, Melo and Camby, coming down with the boards and lookin to outlet. Having Atkins, Carter, and Wilks will of course help though.
These two issues will continue to cost us games and make games close, that shouldn't be at all.
Enough with the negative on to the positive b/c there was a lot.
- Melo's rebounding - Please continue, need a say what averaging 8 rbs a game would do for Melos game and the Nuggets as well. Side note: How sick was the seal he had against Le Bron down in the post? I love watching Le Bron and Melo go at it b/c its no contest as to whom is the better player.
- JR - The best way to get out of the dog house and on to the court is to hustle, have good shot selection, and to make em! JR showed last night why the Nuggets management, coaches, and fans tolerate all of the other nonsense. JR can emerge as the Nuggets premier defender and outside shooter; ability has never been a question, just consistency. Keep it up JR.
- Depth - How deep is this Nuggets team? I mean seriously look at this squad from top to bottom. This is by FAR the deepest team we have ever had. The stars are there, the role players; we just need to keep everyone healthy. Additional, the burden is now on Karl to get guys minutes. Jones, Kleiza, JR and Eddie Hustle need to see significant court time as they bring so much energy to this team.
- K Mart - 22 mins last night, and you can see the rust starting to come off. Stay healthy and become K Mart the role player and his value to this team will be incredible.
All in all, these last two wins helped get over the Knicks disappointment along with the flat out embarrassment against the C's. Let keep it up. If we play a full 48 minutes, I don't know if we can be beat.
I am extremely excited about this season and once we get some true PGs back to make this thing gel, watch out!
Go Nugz!
The thing that caught my attention in the video from the Wizards game was Van Gundy's comment at the very end: "J.R. Smith is an athlete and can shoot the three, the question is..." If I remember correctly, the question he was talking about had to do with Smith's maturity and ability to play smart, self-possessed ball, and I feel like J.R.'s game lately has gone a long ways towards answering "yes." Although it has only been a few games, and we've yet to see if he can keep his head on straight now that he's got it there, Smith has been playing solid defense (staying in front of his man, going for steels only when appropriate, etc.), has been taking most of his threes within the rhythm of the offense, and is even making sound decisions when manning the point. I'm ecstatic, to say the least. It's almost as if his recent 3-pointer drought has forced him to find other ways to get/stay on the court. Then again, maybe he's just growing up and the coaches are getting through to him. Whatever the case, I hope to god it continues, as the nugs will be very difficult to beat with the new J.R. actually using his athleticism productively. Oh yeah, one other thing- it seems like he spent some time working on his ball-handling this off-season. He looks much more comfortable and under control when driving to the basket, leading to him getting off quality interior shots even when he can't get all the way to the rim.
I say look at the increase in his assists and rebounding numbers...
I know he's just played 5 games, but he got from 2.3rpg and 1.4apg to 3.0 and 3.6 respectively. Talk about maturing...
Post a Comment