Nuggets Get a Very Solid Win Over Cavs 110-99

The Nuggets, who were playing after a long 4-day vacation, took a 9-8 lead on an Iverson driving layup almost half way through the 1st quarter and led the game the rest of the way. The Nuggets led 88-70 after 3 quarters. In the 4th quarter, otherwise known as the Nugget's bermuda triangle, the Cavs pulled to within 5, 103-98, with about 3 minutes left, on back to back 3's from Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. Fans were in anxiety that their team was about to lose another game at home despite having a big lead late in the game.

The Nuggets did not lose this game in the bermuda triangle though, as they did against the Hawks, the Knicks, and the Grizzlies earlier this season. None other than Nene, the Denver big man whose knee problems have been troubling the Nuggets all season, and who has played just 18 minutes a game on average, was fouled by LeBron James and he made both free throws. At the other end, Nene blocked a Marshall jumper, and Camby got one of his 14 rebounds. Back at the Nugget's end, Camby fed Nene for a slam dunk, and the Nuggets led 107-98 with 2:37 left.

During the 4th quarter collapses earlier this season, Nene and his knee were generally on the bench. This time he sealed the win for the Nuggets, who are now 11-10 at home and 8-7 on the road. The schedule gets tougher now, and this was the first of 3 pair of back to back nights. The Nuggets now make a quick trip to Houston to play the Rockets tomorrow night, and they will then come right back to Denver for the Melo return game on Monday night, against the Grizzlies.

The Cavaliers had a scoring slump that lasted half the game, from about halfway through the 1st until almost halfway through the 3rd. Donyell Marshall hit four 3's in the last 14 minutes of the game, and Damon Jones had two 3's in the 4th. The Cavs overall finished 9/19 from 3-point land, and .443 from the field overall. LeBron James was 9/23 and 12/14 from the line for 30 points, and he also had 10 assists, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals. This was the 10th triple-double of LeBron's career.

With SF Melo out on game 14 of the marathon 15 game suspension, and with none of the other forwards on the roster having outstanding seasons, George Karl logically played the forward positions by committee, dividing the playing time tonight into 4 almost exactly equal pieces, 1 piece each for Najera, Evans, Kleiza, and Nene.

With Najera failing to step up during the suspensions, and having a mediocre season at best overall, George Karl finally started Reggie Evans at forward instead of Najera. Evans played 22 minutes and was 4/7 and 0/1 from the line for 8 points, and he added 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Najera played 19 minutes and was 2/3 and 1/1 from the line for 5 points, and he added 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal , and 1 block.

Linas Kleiza played 21 minutes and was 4/7, 2/3 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line, for 12 points. And Nene played 21 minutes and was 2/6 from the field, and 5/6 from the line, for 9 points, and he added 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 assist.

Steve Blake started his second game at the point and was essentially crowded out of scoring opportunities by the solid shooting games from the rest of the Nuggets. In other words, the Nuggets did not need any miracle scoring from Blake to win this. He played for 35 minutes, and he was 2/7 and 2/4 on 3's for 6 points, and he had 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds.

J.R. Smith's game is a basketball wonderland of dunks, alley oops, fast breaks, and frequent wide-open 3's, and it has returned to the Nuggets arsenal after 10 suspension games and two recharging games. Smith was suffering from the flu and missed the game day shootaround, but ended up playing a strong 26 minutes, and was 5/12, 1/5 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line, for 14 points. He also had 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Marcus Camby, whose defense in general, and rebounding and blocks in particular, have made him critical for the defensively challenged Nuggets, had a breakout superstar style game, shooting 12/19, and 2/2 from the line, for 26 points, and he added the 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists, and a steal. That type of performance is the kind that would be a key component of potential playoff wins against any of the big 6 powerhouses of the Western Conference.

Allen Iverson is playing with the wisdom and consistency of a veteran who has seen it all. Just as importantly, he is playing at the top of his game, holding nothing back from his new and appreciative teammates, coaches, and fans in Denver. You have to forgive the Nuggets fans if they can not conceive of Iverson as a disruptive influence, or as someone who takes too many shots, because there has not been even a hint of either of those traits since he arrived in Denver. Moreover, unless something very odd happens, it looks like the drama that some thought might take place with respect to the distribution of shots between Melo and A.I. is going to be a no show.

A.I. played for 42 minutes, and was 8/17, 0/1 on 3's, and 9/10 from the line, for 25 points, and he also had 9 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

The next game is tomorrow night, Saturday January 20, at 6:30 mountain time, in Houston against the Rockets.

Nuggets Explode Against Blazers 109-93

The Nuggets got a badly needed win against what probably has to be a lottery team, the Portland Trailblazers, who had their talented starting PG, Jarrett Jack, sitting due to the effects of a traffic accident. The second-year point guard is averaging 12.3 points and 5.6 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field.

The Blazers are also short 2 forwards: Travis Outlaw (right ankle strain) and SF Darius Miles, out for the season with knee surgery. PF Zach Randolph has been more or less carrying his team this season with 24 ppg and 10 rpg. So the Nuggets had the luxury of double teaming Randolph all night, which led to Zach having a total disaster of a game. The Trailblazers coach played his second squad for mega minutes, as if he was conducting an experiment to see if his second squad could do as well or better than his first. The second squad was able to hold its own only for the first half.

Amazingly, the stars were aligned just right for a rookie 20 year old guard, Sergio Rodriguez from Spain, to lead the Trailblazers. He finished with 23 points on 11/14 shooting, and he added 10 assists. The Nuggets led after one quarter 31-19, but the Trailblazer's bench took full control of the game in the second quarter, with Rodriguez scoring 3 buckets and 1 three in the last 3 minutes of the half, giving Portland a 56-49 lead at intermission. Nuggets fans were asking "who the heck is Rodriguez and how the heck is he beating us"?

I don't know what was said, if anything, at intermission among the Nuggets, but the Nuggets were transformed during the halftime. The Nuggets must have realized that they had hit rock bottom. They were losing to a lottery team's second stringers by 7 points at the half, which is very disturbing even factoring in the suspension.

The Nuggets were sick of both the suspension and the blues resulting from it, and they realized their pride was on the line. They charged the court in the 3rd quarter and proceeded to dismantle and run all over the Trailblazer's developmental squad, shaking all kinds of crud and cobwebs from their skills and their minds, and firing up the run and gun machine to full power, if only for one glorious quarter. The Nuggets finally took full advantage of the inexperienced defense of the Blazers and lit up the scoreboard for 41 points.

The Blazers were buried by the intensity of three Nuggets guards: Allen Iverson, the superstar, J.R. Smith, the young suspension returnee trying to come back to the reservation, and the Nugget's new acquisition, who was so outstanding that there is probably someone at the Buck's front office who is now wondering whether the Nugget's front office pulled a fast one on the Bucks by getting Blake for Boykins. It is way to early to tell whether this is true, but Blake has already been 14/21 in shooting and 8/12 from 3-point land in 2 games for the Nuggets. George Karl was desperate for a spark and he has gotten a huge bonfire from Blake.

At the end of the 3rd, you could almost see smoke rising up from the court from the Nugget's onslaught. Iverson had 16 points in the quarter on 6/7 shooting. Blake buried 4 3's in the first 5 minutes of the quarter, and he finished the quarter with 12 points on 4/5 shooting. Late in the 3rd quarter, J.R. Smith, in the space of 37 seconds, shook off the remaining suspension rot from his game by sinking two straight 3's. J.R. was back, Blake was a miracle, and Iverson was playing almost as well as he used to in his mind-boggling early years in Philadelphia. The suspension blues were put out to the curb for the garbage men to collect.

Nene's knee backed off enough to allow him to play 23 minutes; he was 3/6 from the field and 6/6 from the line for 12 points, and he added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Kleiza played 23 minutes and was 2/4, 1/3 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 9 points. He assisted Camby on the boards with 7 rebounds. Reggie Evans played 24 minutes and he was 3/6 for 6 points, and he added 5 rebounds.

Rookie swingman Yakhouba Diawara played 13 minutes and he was 2/4, and 1/1 from the line for 5 points.

Marcus Camby, whose style of defense is an almost perfect complement for a team loaded with talented guards and a superstar SF, was 3/9, and 1/2 from the line for 7 points. Much more importantly for the defensively challenged Nuggets, he had 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

Steve Blake, (we hardly knew ya when we got ya but we're very glad we did so far), was 9/13, 5/7 on 3's, and 2/3 from the line for 25 points. He also had 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds. Thanks to Blake, George Karl is going to catch up on some sleep this week during the 4 days off the Nuggets have.

After two warm-up games, J.R. Smith's game has arrived back at the point it left off at when he was neck tackled in New York City on December 16. His game is like one of those horror movie characters who can appear out of nowhere and go on a rampage at any time. J.R.'s rampages, which lead to numbers rapidly changing on the scoreboard, are not horrifying at all to the Nuggets.

You can not fully compete against the powerhouses of the Western Conference without serious 3-point shooting. Nuggets fans tonight not only witnessed the return of J.R.'s 3-point shot for the first time in a month, but they also saw Steve Blake sink them as if it was the easiest thing in basketball. The Nuggets finished 10/20 from 3-point land, thus becoming the 7th Conference powerhouse team at least for this game.

Smith played 29 minutes and was 5/13, and 3/8 on 3's, for 13 points. He added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

In the last 4 games, A.I. has scored 116 points on 45/88 shooting; that is an accuracy of .511, exceeding Melo's season shooting accuracy mark of .503. The notion that Iverson puts up alot of questionable shots and can not reestablish the solid accuracy he often had in his first three years with the Sixers appears to have left the arena. A.I. tonight was 11/21, 1/2 on 3's, and 9/10 from the line for 32 points. It was just another day at the office for the still playing in the here and now basketball legend.

The next game will not be until Friday Jan. 19 in Denver against the Cavaliers at 8:30 mountain time. It is another one of those ESPN games, but, sorry ESPN, there will be no LeBron-Melo matchup for you thanks to David Stern. It is game 14 of the 15 game suspension if I am counting correctly.