Hokey Smokes! Seattle was Torched!

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

(Boulder-CO) Disclaimer: All of the totals in the following recap from last night’s game are real. No, I’m not smoking drugs, the Nuggets really did score all 168 of those points, and yes, the Sonics are that bad.

Hosting the Sonics, the Denver Nuggets put on an epic display of offensive fire power as they pasted the Seattle with a, 168-116, loss for the ages. This game was purely for sport as the Nuggets jumped out of the gate with a 48-point first quarter and never looked back. Just like the Sonics will probably do once the team relocates to Oklahoma City. (Sorry, the joke was there, may all the true Sonics fans out there feel my deepest sentiments.)

Honestly though, this game was a lot of fun. At times I felt the Nuggets should have dropped down to four on five, but the Sonics showed a lot of professionalism by not resorting to force as the Nuggets, arguably in a display uncouth, kept bombing, dunking, and fast breaking away.

With all that being said, let’s feast!

-The Nuggets’ 168 points is a new franchise record for non-overtime games. The previous team record for regulation points was 163 against San Antonio on Jan. 11, 1984.The Nuggets' franchise record for points came in a, 186-184, triple-overtime loss to Detroit on Dec. 13, 1983 and is the highest game total in NBA history.

-The 52-point win margin is also a new franchise record.

-The Nuggets set an NBA record with 49 fast-break points, breaking the previous mark of 48 set by Toronto on Jan. 12, 2003.

-The Nuggets broke this season’s record they previously had just set against the Toronto Raptors the night before for points scored in a half by scoring 84 points in the first half against the Sonics.

-The Nuggets tied a franchise record of 16 made three-point attempts.

-Marcus Camby recorded his second triple-double of the season with 13 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, four blocks, and a steal in only 27 minutes.

-Eight Nuggets scored in double figures.

-Allen Iverson took an elbow to the head that caused swelling reminiscent of Scottie Pippen’s knot from Alonzo Mourning.

The double-figure crime scene reads a little bit like this:

The starting five were led in scoring by Carmelo Anthony. ‘Melo scored a game-high 26 points in 26 minutes. Allen Iverson added 24 points and six assists, Kenyon Martin scored 23 points, swatted a couple of shots, and grabbed eight rebounds, and Marcus Camby coasted his way to a triple-double of 13 points, 15 boards, and ten assists to fit nicely with his four blocked shots and a steal.

Off the bench, the Nuggets cashed in on another foursome scoring in double-figures. J.R. Smith and Chucky Atkins each scored 19 points on a combined 9-18 from downtown. Linas Kleiza added another 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists and Yakhouba Diawara scored 11 points in 13 minutes of solid burn with the game way, way out of hand. I haven’t seen a beating this bad since someone put a banana in my pants and turned a monkey loose! J.R. Smith even capped things off with a demoralizing cherry on top of Mouhamed Sene by means of posterization with under a minute remaining. Seriously, what either man was thinking is beyond me. One the one hand, J.R. Smith has no place taking off and slamming home yet another field goal, and on the other, Sene has no place trying to block that dunk. There’s just nothing to be gained by either player!

The Nuggets, combined, handed out 44 assists, blocked ten shots, recorded 12 steals, and snatched an unbelievable 51 rebounds (Wilt Chamberlain once grabbed 55, by himself!). Denver only committed 19 personal fouls and turned the ball over a respectable 14 times while shooting 60.4% from the field (61-101), 51.6% from downtown (16-31), and a superlative 30-35 from the charity stripe.

Now, two final thoughts from this game are as follows: First, the Nuggets need to keep this feeling alive in the locker room with an, “us against the world” mentality on this upcoming five-game Eastern Conference road trip. Their playoff future may depend on it. Secondly, while it is very important to remember what it felt like to play this well as a collective unit, the Nuggets need to forget about this game. The Sonics are God-awful and other than a historical anomaly this game was nothing more than an exhibition of what can happen when a team as lousy as the Sonics plays a team with seemingly unlimited talent like the Nuggets.

Great win, pack your bags, we’re going back east!

Go Nuggets!