Rockets 90, Nuggets 86, but Help is on the Way

With the exceptions of Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby, the Nuggets played poorly and without a decent game plan tonight, losing to the Rockets 90-86, despite the Rockets shooting just .427 from the field. True, the Rockets play tight defense, but when you are playing two players (Blake and Diawara) who take alot more 3-point shots than regular shots, and another player (J.R. Smith) who takes almost as many 3-point shots as regular shots, how good on defense do you have to be?

The Nuggets made 9 of 28 3's, but made just 23 of 64 2's. Not counting A.I., the Nuggets managed just 14 of 45 2-point shots. The Nuggets other then Iverson missed 31 of 45 2-point shots! Not good.

Trades, suspensions, and injuries have made the Nuggets an ever changing team where there are no established patterns of moving and scoring the ball. The extreme lineup turmoil has not only destroyed the fast style of play that the Nuggets wanted to emphasize, but has in fact damaged the team's ability to play any kind of coherent basketball. It is sad to see a team that was averaging close to 110 points a game in mid December now frequently scoring in the 80's. And I have a simple question to the Denver front office: given that you were bent on trading Boykins, couldn't you at least have waited until the Melo suspension was over 10 days from now? That tactical error made the home crowd and Nuggets fans miserable tonight and probably cost the team one win already.

All home games are very important, and good and great teams are supposed to win most of their home games. But the Nuggets have squandered 4th quarter leads in 3 home games, and the suspensions have led to 2 or 3 additional losses, so that the team is now just 10-10 at home, which is the kind of home record that a lottery team might have. Most of the excitement surrounding the Nuggets explosive scoring lineup has left the arena now.

With J.R. "off the reservation" again like he was at the beginning of the season, in the catch 22 of needing alot of playing time to play well but not getting playing time because he is not playing well, the Nuggets have essentially been reduced to 3 superstars (Melo, A.I., & Camby) and a whole lot of roll of the dice players, where the dice are right now clearly loaded against the Nuggets. The current state of the team is clearly not going to be enough to get to the Western Conference Championship this year, let alone the NBA Championship.

When Melo returns, he, A.I., and Camby must help the coaching staff teach and inspire the other Nuggets who are all falling short of what is needed. George Karl has to avoid the mistake of overly restricting J.R.'s playing time, and also that of Reggie Evans. And most importantly, the revamped Nuggets must get on the same page with respect to the overall game plan strategies they will use to win, and with respect to the tactics during games that can be used to win.

Melo thought it would disrupt the team if he appealed the 15 game suspension, to try to get it reduced to 10 or 12 games. I think he sees now that the team is more disrupted by his not playing than it could possibly have been disrupted by anything else.

Has Carmelo Anthony become a wiser young pro basketball player from this ordeal: the asinine brawl in New York, his punch, his incorrect decision to not pursue an appeal, and now the dismantling of his team's ability to play coherent basketball due to the suspensions, trades, and injuries? Of course, but the cost has been huge to the team and at least a small threat to the young star's game for the remainder of this season. We now know that if Melo does not play at a superstar level, this team is going to be lucky to win half its games. This experience of watching the Nuggets play so badly on his big screen has probably been almost as miserable to Melo as playing hard in but losing a close playoff series 4 games to 3. Melo has psychologically aged 18 months or 2 years in a month.

When bad things like this happen, all great sports players dig in and resolve to try as hard as they can to play even better the next time. The best basketball players, unlike more average ones, don't risk playing worse by trying to play even better. Melo is now being tested and challenged by real basketball adversity, the kind he has never seen before, and it is up to him to coordinate with A.I., Camby, and his coaches to rescue his team from a total disaster for the season as a whole. Because the Nuggets are not going to automatically win in the state they are in even when Melo returns.

Although he grew up in a low income and high crime area of Baltimore, he has largely led a charmed life since getting out of there. He must remain as loyal to his team as he has always been, and he must take all the time necessary to inspire and teach everyone on the Nuggets he can get to. And he must try to expand his own game, such as in 3-point shooting.

The plus side of this season gone haywire is that if Melo will think in this way, and do these things, then he can achieve a real understanding of what it takes for a professional basketball team to win, which will be a priceless thing. He will have arrived several years earlier than most stars do at the powerful connections between playing as a superstar, being an ultimate team player, and knowing how to get his team to play better. There is no way to teach this. Melo either perceives, understands, and acts, or he does not. If he perceives how these three things connect together, and how to use one or two of these things to achieve the other, then and only then can the Nuggets compete with the powerhouses of the League. Then and only then will it actually be possible for the Nuggets to win a Championship.

In tonight's game, of the 9 Nuggets who played, only two picked and made shots well enough to be considered veteran pro players: Iverson and the new acquisition Steve Blake (PG). Camby was once again a rebounding and defensive star, and he was battling an illness, so I don't care that he was a shot or two short. The other 6 Nuggets picked shots poorly and couldn't make enough of the shots they took. pure and simple.

For some unknown reason, Reggie Evans played just 8 minutes, and was 2/2 from the field for 4 points, and he had 2 rebounds. Najera played 21 minutes, and was 1/7 for 2 points, and he had 3 rebounds. Nene played just 17 minutes, due to the threat posed by his knee, and he was 2/8, 0/1 on 3's, and 4/7 from the line for 8 points, and he added 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

Diawara (37 minutes) was 5/14, and 3/12 on 3's, for 13 points, and he had 2 assists and 2 blocks. Kleiza played 25 minutes, and he was 0/5, and 0/1 from beyond the 3-point arc, for 0 points, and he had 5 rebounds.

Marcus Camby, who was slightly sick, held down the paint for 38 minutes and grabbed a massive 24 rebounds. He was 3/10 from the field, and 1/2 from the line, for 7 points. He had just one block in this game.

Blake, the new PG backup, played 28 minutes and was a respectable 5/8, and 3/5 on 3's, for 13 points, and he added 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

George Karl pulled a mini Byron Scott on J.R. Smith and limited him to 19 minutes, during which time, though, Smith did not pick his shots well. Well, maybe Smith knew his minutes were going to be limited and that's why he rushed all those shots. Smith, who was one of the biggest surprises of the season at the time he was neck tackled in the Big Apple, was just 4/17, 2/7 on 3's, and 1/1 from the line for 11 points, and he had 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 block.

Allen Iverson must be wondering whether his basketball career is ever going to change, or whether it is a Law of the Universe that Iverson must play many games where he is the only one on his team playing at the star level offensively. The Nuggets have actually been playing at least slightly worse than the Sixers since the trade and the Nuggets (17-17) are no longer a winning team, which was the main point of his coming to the team. Yet Iverson himself is actually playing more and more solidly with each passing game, an is an island of stability in a sea of turmoil and lousy games by teammates.

A.I. was 10/21, 1/2 on 3's and 7/7 from the line, for 28 points. Hang on Bubba Chuck, help is on the way and will arrive January 22.

The next game is Sunday Jan. 14 in Portland to play the Trailblazers at 7 pm mountain time.

A.I. Huge, J.R. Back, Still No Melo, Spurs 92 Nuggets 83

Allen Iverson did practically everything possible to put the Nuggets in a positon to steal a suspension victory, but the Spurs had other plans. J.R. Smith returned from a whopping 10-game suspension and played a reasonably good game, but he could not hit on any of 4 extremely critical 3-point shots, and the Nuggets, playing with very little scoring potential in the front court, fell to the disciplined, well-coached, and extremely experienced Spurs 92-83.

The Spurs, who have the aged but still great veterans Duncan and Horry at power forward, were at least a little unsettled in the first half by the explosive and talented guards the Nuggets fielded, and the score at the half was 49-48 Nuggets. But all well-coached veteran teams make halftime adjustments. At the half, the Spurs decided to beat the Nuggets inside rather then attempt to bury them with 3-point shots or to start collapsing on Iverson all the time.

Tim Duncan was repeatedly fouled, but at 3/10 from the stripe, made Shaq look like an expert free throw shooter. But as usual, he chose his shots well and finished with 19 points on 8/15 shooting. Tony Parker (PG) had 26 points on expert 12/21 shooting, and he added 7 rebounds. Ginobili (SG) added 16 and Bowen (SF) added 11 on 5/6 expert shooting. No one had a huge night for the Spurs, who simply executed extremely well and ground out a win against a team basically trying to play without fully professional forwards.

The Spurs came in as the anti-Nuggets: healthy, unsuspended, very experienced, and able to play disciplined ball with few mistakes. None of their aged but still reliable veterans had to do anything flashy to win this one. They all but completely shut down the Denver front court, even keeping Camby's scoring to a single digit, and then waited to see if a team depending almost exclusively on guards could beat their veteran, well-managed basketball powerhouse that has BOTH quality guards and quality forwards. The Nugget's guards played outstandingly well (Iverson), very well (Boykins) and all right (Smith), but as the Spurs calculated, it was not enough for the Nuggets to have a chance.

The Spurs nickled and dimed the Nuggets to death with better execution. They led in rebounding 46-41, led in assists 23-15, led in steals 11-5, led in blocks 9-2, and had just 10 turnovers versus 17 for the Nuggets. To say that the Spurs executed the fundamentals of basketball better than the Nuggets would be an understatement.

And the fact that the Nuggets were technically in the game until late in the 4th quarter was due to the outstanding game that Allen Iverson played. Considering the oponent, this was Iverson's best game since becoming a Nugget.

If someone had been living on the moon for the past 6 months and had just returned to Earth to watch this game, he would have said something like "Boy, that team needs a forward something fierce". Well Mr. Man on the Moon, we have a superstar forward but there is this League kingpin who had a temper tantrum over a minor altercation in Manhattan and dictated that our star forward, our only forward who can light up the scoreboard enough so we can compete with the Big 6 of the Western Conference, sit out for 15 games. That's right, Mr. Moon, he can not play for 15 games because of a stupid altercation. (Are there any intelligent altercations?).

Nene was limited to 15 minutes again because of the knee, and he was 1/5 for 2 points, and he added 4 rebounds and a block. Kleiza played 18 minutes and he was just 1/4 and 0/2 on 3/s for 2 points, and he had 3 rebounds. Najera played 24 minutes, and he was 1/4 and 1/2 from the line for 3 points, and he had 1 rebound, 2 assists, and a steal. And finally, Reggie Evans played just 13 minutes, and he was 1/2, and 2/2 from the line, for 4 points, and he had 5 rebounds. Note that Evans outrebounded Najera 5-1 even though he played little more than half the minutes Najera did.

So all of the Nuggets forwards combined played 70 minutes, or 2 full games for a typical PF, and they had 11 points. Ouch!. This team desperately needs a forward! The front office must be filled with idiots. Oh, that's right, they have that guy who leads the whole League in scoring but was thrown out of the League for 1/5 of the season, my bad. The Denver front office is all right after all.

Camby was hounded and stuffed close to and in the paint all night, and he had just 9 points on 3/9 shooting (3/5 from the line). He had to fight hard for his huge 16 rebounds, and he added 2 assists, a steal, and a block.

J.R. Smith got a loud standing ovation when he was put in half way through the 1st. When he was suspended, he was making critical progress with his game, especially strong to the hoop charges and 3-point shots. He tried to take up where he left off, but the long sit-down and harrassment from the Spurs prevented a big night for him. Smith didn't get many calls despite being repeatedly hammered in the lane. J.R.'s return was for 32 minutes, and he was 5/13, 0/4 on 3's, and 2/3 from the line for 12 points. But he added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

J.R. was benched to some extent last year, his second year, in Oklahoma, so he has successfully been through this process of ramping up to full scale starter before, so he will do it again. I am sure he will be gradually burying more and more 3's and polishing his finishes at the hoop in the weeks ahead

Boykins has been so consistent during the 3 1/2 weeks of the suspensions that I am beginning to wonder if he is actually a machine. Maybe he is Mr. Basketball, from the same mold as the Mr. Data of the starship Enterprise. He was 8/14, and 2/3 from the line, for 18 points, and he had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.

Iverson had a fantastic game, choosing an almost perfect mix of drives to the hoop and mostly shorter jumpers. It was the kind of game that proves Iverson's determination and ability to play both smart and well, and to complement the rest of the team as well as possible by understanding the abilities and roles of the other players. A.I. gave the Nuggets more than enough to beat the powerhouse under normal circumstances, but it was not possible for him to make up for the massive problems with the forwards. A.I. played a huge 44 minutes, and he was 15/25, and 3/3 from the line, for 33 points, and he added 6 assists even though very few Nuggets were hitting.

The next game will be Friday Jan 12 in Denver against the Rockets at 8:30 mountain time.

Camby is Huge in Nuggets Win Over Bucks 104-92

Unlike in real life, where the effects of problems and misfortunes can drag on for months or even years, in sports things can turn around quickly. Every new game is a complete fresh start, and all the mistakes made in all prior games have no bearing on the new game. The Nuggets took full advantage of this fact tonight, and made a kind of fresh start, which was very refreshing to the home crowd and to Nuggets fans everywhere.

The Nuggets calmed their worried sick fans down with a well-managed and intelligent win against the Bucks, 104-92. With J.R. Smith returning next game, the suspensions don't seem as damaging and dangerous as they did before the tip of this one. It's time to breathe one huge sigh of relief, not only because of the win itself, but because almost every Nugget who played had a solid game or better. It seems the Nuggets finally know how to play with A.I. and without J.R.-Melo just when, you guessed it, they're coming back. I can imagine worse problems, though, than bringing J.R. and Melo back into the mix.

The Nugget's attack was the most balanced one since the December 26 home win against the Celtics; the front court defense was much improved from the 5-game losing streak now ended. Kleiza and Reggie Evans backed up the defensive superstar Marcus Camby not only on the boards, but also on the scoreboard as well. Kleiza hit three key 3's, and Evans climbed out of a scoring slump so deep that you have to wonder whether the man was reborn sometime in the last 48 hours. Or maybe George Karl had a one on one drill with Reggie, daring him to miss layups and short jumpers against a bald 55 year old man.

The result of this reawakening of the front court was that Iverson was not double teamed all that much and he and Iverson #2 (Boykins) had alot more space to deliver the goods. And Marcus Camby, who irritated his finger fracture against the Lakers and had to sit out the Jazz game, returned in great form, holding down the paint and reviving his scoring touch just in time before Nuggets fans started to pull their hair out.

The Bucks were without their scoring leader, swingman Michael Redd, who at almost 28 points per game is currently the 5th top scorer in the NBA. Redd is nursing a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and will be sidelined four to six weeks. Milwaukee was also without forward Charlie Villanueva, who missed his third game with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Villanueva is having a decent year, at 13 ppg and 6 rpg. And during this game, starting PG Mo Williams went out when he sprained his left shoulder just before halftime when he collided with Linas Kleiza near midcourt while going for the ball.

Ruben Patterson responded to the injuries and to poor shooting by the other Bucks by doubling his average scoring; he had 29 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. The Bucks needed just one other starter to hit some shots but they could not find one. Even though rebounding was 52-47 Nuggets, and even though the Nuggets lost the turnover contest by a relatively small margin, 16-10, the Bucks took 96 shots versus 79 for the Nuggets. So it is fair to say that there was definitely some real defense being played by players other than Camby.

Kleiza made good use of his 27 minutes and was 4/8, and 3/5 from 3-point land, for 11 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Najera played just 9 minutes and had 3 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal. Najera bruised his left shoulder in the first half and didn't return.

Nene can't play more than about 15 minutes due to the knee, and he was 0/2, and 7/10 from the line for 7 points, and he had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.

Good things can happen when Evans gets more minutes than Najera. In 27 minutes, Reggie Evans was 4/5, and 5/7 from the line for 13 points, and he had 11 rebounds and 2 assists. Now we Nuggets fans can hope and maybe even expect that Evans will for the most part avoid the goose egg games from the field and from the line. If he can just hit 1/3 of his shots, and 60% of his free throws, then he is worth his weight in gold on the boards, and his defense is gradually improving.

Diawara had another poor outing. In 23 minutes, he was 0/5, 0/3 on 3's, and he had 3 rebounds and 1 assist. There is something eating at this guy.

Why have just one Iverson type player when you can have two? Iverson #2, Boykins, kept his perfect string of nice games as a starter alive. He was 8/20, 2/5 on 3's, and a perfect 8/8 from the line for 26 points, and he expertly added 11 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal. Whoever brought Boykins to Denver is a genius.

A.I., who wisely counseled the Nuggets to not start pointing fingers at each other in the wake of the losing streak, and who stressed the need to play as a team to arise out of a slump, made sure his actions matched his philosophy. He was 9/21, 2/4 on 3's, and 3/4 from the line for 23 points, and he had 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Aware of the consistently strong play of Boykins, A.I. wisely picked his shots and avoided unnecessary dramatics.

I've always found it kind of funny that some people think that A.I. is dumb, because of media-hyped "incidents" he has supposedly been responsible for over the years, according to the hype. In actuality, his philosophy is logically tight. Consider A.I. on the slump:



That was tough to lose five in a row, but I kind of learned a lot about this team, just going through some adversity with them early instead of everything being peaches and cream.

"The morale around the team wasn't great but it wasn't negative," Iverson said. "It wasn't to the point where everybody was pointing fingers at each other and blaming each other."

George Karl can check with A.I. regarding the morale and confidence of the team, and he is sure to get an expert report.

Marcus Camby put together a brilliant game and clearly should be given the most valuable player award for this game, though Boykins and A.I. would get alot of votes as well. Camby was 8/15, and 3/5 from the line, for 19 points. Camby also had 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and 7 blocks. There is only one player (Jermaine O'Neill) who gets more blocks per game than Marcus Camby.

If Camby consistently plays like this, then the Nuggets are definitely going to be competitive with the big 6 teams of the Conference this year.

The next game is the J.R. Smith return game, on Wed. Jan 12 at 7 pm mountain time, in Denver against the Spurs.

Nuggets Sink in Suspension Muck, Lose to Utah 96-84

Just when Nuggets fans and coaches thought that the miseries of the marathon suspensions couldn't get any worse, they did. The Nuggets failed to play a fully professional basketball game at home against their divisional archrival, the Utah Jazz. The Nuggets, confused by yet another new cast of starters, and playing with several players who had very little playing time until recently, had 5 turnovers in the first 3 1/2 minutes. George Karl had to call a very early timeout with the score 9-0 Jazz, and it was 12-0 before the Nuggets scored. The Nuggets ended up with 9 1st quarter turnovers, though they kept the total turnover count for the game to 18.

The Jazz first attempted to follow the Laker's storm the paint and go back out for undefended threes approach, seeking to bury the Nuggets with 3's and dunks. The Jazz led 27-16 at the end of the first quarter. However, Jazz accuracy from 3-point land was never up to last night's Laker rampage from downtown.

And then it got worse for the Jazz, as the second and third quarters progressed, and as they departed from their starting strategy and started to shoot mid-range jumpers. Utah's offense became less fluid, and there were lots of turnovers. The Jazz shooting percentage kept going down like the temperature on a winter night, until for a brief few seconds late in the 3rd quarter it dropped below .400 and also below the sorry accuracy the Nuggets were at. Harpring in the second quarter missed a bunch of shots, and Okur in the third quarter missed makeable shots and had several turnovers.

I was beginning to think that Utah might be humiliated by the crippled Nuggets. After A.I. sunk a 3 with 10 1/2 minutes to play, and Jamal Sampson dunked with 9 1/2 minutes to play, the Jazz lead was reduced to just 68-67. I could not believe what was happening.

But the Jazz finally did come up with a way to put the dagger in the back of the hapless Nuggets. Jerry Sloan's temper and blood pressure started to go through the roof with just the idea that the Jazz might lose to the pathetic Nuggets, who played more like a ragtag group of neighborhood misfits than a professional basketball team in the 1st half. Sloan told his top guy, CF Carlos Boozer, to put him, the Jazz, the Nuggets, and the fans out of their misery and finally end the poor excuse for a basketball game. Boozer proceeded to repeatedly drive to the hoop for easy layups, scoring 14 points in the quarter on 6/7 shooting, with two free throws as bonuses. Sloan's health was preserved, and the Utah lead over the Nuggets in the Northwest divison grew to a huge 6.5 games.

There are 6 teams in the League right now reporting no injuries, and Utah is one of them. That, and the fact that Utah picked up Carlos Boozer from Cleveland for next to nothing, are the top two reasons for the Jazz' surprising start this season. If you combine suspensions to J.R. Smith and Melo, with the injuries to Camby and Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets have to be the most devastated team taking the floor these days. With Camby and Melo out, the Nuggets are left with both very little scoring and very little defense in the front court. On paper, there are very few teams that the current Nuggets can beat; the loss of Camby is the last straw.

I have been thinking that Iverson might "take over" a few of the suspension games, and put up 30+ shots, but now I am understanding that, first, the Nugget's second teamers are not thinking enough of dishing to A.I., and second, opponents are simply smothering A.I. with double and even triple teams.

Among the forwards, it was Kleiza's turn to hit a few shots. Kleiza in 34 minutes was 5/9, 1/3 on 3's, and 6/8 from the line fir 17 points. Najera in 30 minutes was 4/7, 0/1 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 9 rebounds.

Nene started, but was yanked after playing just 18 minutes, probably due to the knee acting up again. He was 2/9, for 4 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Reggie Evans, whose inability to score has been almost as much a pain in the neck problem as Nene's knee or Camby's metacarpal, played 27 minutes and was 1/1, and 0/4 from the line for 2 points, but he did have 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Jamal Sampson, who had virtually no playing time until the suspensions and the Camby injury, played 15 minutes. He was 2/2, and 1/2 from the line, for 5 points, and he had 4 rebounds and 1 block.

Diawara has confounded George Karl's hopes by his totally inconsistent play, and has forced him to give alot more playing time to unknowns such as Sampson and Hodge. In his 23 minutes, Diawara was only 1/9, and 1/7 on 3's for 3 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

Iverson was able to get his 8 assists on a squad that shot just .387. Smothered most of the night by double and even triple teams, he was 3 or 4 made shots short of his career average. Iverson was just 5/19, 1/7 on 3's, and 11/12 from the line for 22 points, and he had 5 rebounds and 2 steals to go with the 8 assists.

Boykins was essentially the only Nugget who had any scoring consistency. He is certainly playing well enough to be a starter on a team that needs a veteran point guard. He was 9/19, 2/8 on threes, and 2/3 from the line for 22 points, and he had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Once again, he prevented the score from becoming a 25-35 point rout.

With six more Melo suspension games still to come, and with Camby's metacarpal injury causing more huge problems, and with the Wolves, the Warriors, and the Kings now caught up with the Nuggets, it is becoming more and more likely that the Nuggets will be in an all out dogfight with those three teams for at least several weeks after Melo and J.R. return. Playoff berths are available for only two of the four.

After reaching 16-10 overall and 3-1 in suspension games two weeks ago, the Nuggets have lost 5 straight, and are now 16-15, and 3-6 in suspension games. Their most probable record had there been no suspensions is 6-3, so they have now probably lost a net 3 games due to the suspensions.

The next game is Monday Jan. 8 in Denver against the Bucks at 7 pm mountain time. The Bucks are healthy and unsuspended, so look out, though I think we've reached the point where things can't possibly get any worse.