Nuggets Blown Out Very Quickly By Raptors, 121-94

Playing on the road on back to back nights, after blowing a game last night by allowing an undefended Bulls player to tip in a shot at the buzzer, the Nuggets didn't have anything to blow in this game, as they were blown out quickly and easily by the Toronto Raptors, who, to be fair, were playing with rest. Both Iverson and Melo, who were a combined 6/27 and who scored just 24 points combined, had one of their worst full games ever. George Karl started Reggie Evans due to Marcus Camby being out with back spasms, but since Evans had not played at all in about three weeks, his effectiveness was less than what it could have been. Although Evans had 15 rebounds in 19 minutes, he was 0/4 from the field and only 2/6 from the line.

Even worse, Nene came up empty from the field, at 0/6. Najera played for only 5 minutes, so it appears likely that he was hurt somehow, although there is nothing in the news about this as of yet. All in all, it was another game, the first one in about a month, where the entire front court of the Nuggets could hardly put the ball in the hoop at all.

Toronto had a few injury problems of their own. Starting PF and NBA all-star Chris Bosh didn't return after spraining his right ankle with 5:07 left in the third. Toronto was also without the first pick of the 2006 draft, Andrea Bargnani from Italy, who was out due to an appendectomy. Bargnani, who backs up Rasho Nesterovic at center, is averaging 11.5 ppg. and 3.9 rpg. in his rookie year. And Anthony Parker, the starting shooting guard, was out due to a sprained right ankle. But Toronto backup point guard Jose Calderon returned after missing three games with a sprained left ankle. The Nuggets were so out of sync both offensively and defensively, though, that the Raptors probably would have beaten them even if their entire starting lineup had been injured.

This nightmare of a game started with one of those runs that makes you think you might be watching what will be one of the worst routs in history. The Raptors came out hitting 6 of their first 9 shots, whereas the Nuggets missed every one of their first 15 shots. That combination produced a 12-0 Raptors lead with 7:55 to play in the 1st quarter. It actually went downhill from there, because the Raptor lead was 21 points at the end of the 1st quarter, 29 points at the end of the 2nd, and 31 points at the end of the 3rd. At least you can say that the Nuggets were able to fall farther behind more slowly as the game went along.

Apparently, the Raptors, unlike the Nuggets, do not have a reverse gear mode of play characterised by alot of turnovers and missed shots, because they never let up at all after they achieved their big 1st quarter lead. In fact, the Raptors kept building a bigger and bigger lead, until almost all starters on both squads were pulled out of the game for the entire fourth quarter, which was a very heavy dose of garbage time. You know it is heavy duty garbage time when a player named Uros Slokar, a rookie who averages just 2 minutes per game, is in there losing the ball to Blake, missing an alley oop dunk, missing a hook shot, and committing a shooting foul, all in the space of half a minute. But to be fair to Slokar, he did have 3 points in just 4 minutes on 1/4 shooting, whereas it took Nene 29 minutes to get his 3 points. So Slokar's only problem that I know of is that he is an unknown, so we should stay off his case.

J.R. Smith came in half way through the 1st quarter, and played 25 minutes. He led the Nuggets with 20 points on 9/15 shooting, including 2/5 from long range. Smith has been stuck half in and half out of George Karl's doghouse the last few weeks, and has been playing only about 10 minutes a game. But Karl, at least, thinks J.R., who is one of the very best 3-point shooters and fast break dunkers in basketball, is good enough for garbage time, so since there was plenty of that, Smith finally got a chance to show that he has not lost his shooting touch by all the bench sitting. Now we will get to see if Karl returns the player who led the Nuggets in this game back to his spot on the bench for most of the upcoming games.

Along with Smith, Steve Blake and Linas Kleiza were the other two Nuggets who prevented the kind of monster blowout that would have gotten the Nuggets into the record books for futility in a game, for the "worst rout ever" or "sorriest excuse for a game ever" or something. Blake had 15 points on 7/12 shooting and Kleiza made 4/8 of his threes and finished with 20 points on 7/17 shooting. With Smith and Kleiza a combined 6/13 from downtown, the Nuggets overall managed to shoot 8/20 from beyond the arc, so that their accuracy from long range, .400, was better than their accuracy overall, .379. That only happens in very unusual circumstances, and a team has to have a whole lot of layups rejected and dunks missed for that to occur. Sure enough, led by the center Nesterovic who had five, the Raptors had 9 blocks against the overwhelmed Nuggets, whereas the Nuggets had exactly none.

Both teams took about the same number of shots, but the Nuggets were just .379 and the Raptors were .570. The Nuggets, who lead the NBA in turnovers, had 14 turnovers, which would be mediocre for most teams but was pretty good for them. Toronto had 13 turnovers and they had 8 steals versus 5 for the Nuggets, with Melo getting two of those.

Tonight's blowout is the type of thing that happens to mediocre and bad teams from time to time, roughly once every 15-20 games for a mediocre team, or about 4-5 times during a season.. A truly good team that executes sound fundamental basketball will have this happen only roughly once every 30 or 35 games, or just two or three times a season. By my approximation, this is the sixth blowout for the Nuggets this season. So now the Nuggets, who have lost most of their losses by close margins, have been blown out at least as many times as they should be blown out for the entire season, and there are still 15 games left, 10 of them on the road, including road games in San Antonio, Utah, Phoenix, and Detroit. So the Nuggets could still end up by the end of the season blown out of more games than they are allowed to be according to the laws of probability, in which case I will have yet another reason to call for and hope for the replacement of George Karl with a new coach who will get more out of secondary players and who will be able to instill some real team pride instead of fake pride, which may be all the Nuggets actually have right now. A blowout game like this suggests that, public statements to the contrary, the Nuggets have little faith in George Karl and not much more faith in themselves to ever get it right, to play with more discipline and less defensive laziness, and with fewer sloppy turnovers.

The Nugget's record is now 34-33 with just 15 games left. The Lakers, meanwhile, have won 4 straight since their 27-point loss to the Nuggets on March 15, and Kobe Bryant has scored 215 points in those four games, leaving Melo, whose 10 points tonight looks pathetic compared to Kobe's 50, in the dust in the race for top scorer honors. The Nuggets, who for a few short days were even with the Lakers, are now two games behind them, in the 7th position in the West. The Nuggets are 2 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers, 3 games ahead of the Warriors, 4 games ahead of the Hornets, and 5 games ahead of the Wolves. If any 2 of those 4 teams pass the Nuggets, the Nuggets fail to make the playoffs, which would increase the pressure on the Denver front office and owner to make big rather than small off season moves, including the possible replacement of the head coach.

Diawara played 14 minutes and was 1/2 and 2/2 from the line for 4 points. Reggie Evans played 19 minutes and was 0/4 and 2/6 from the line for 2 points, and he had 15 rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Kleiza played 29 minutes and was 7/17, 4/8 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 20 points, and he also had 7 rebounds and a steal.

Nene played 29 minutes and was 0/6 and 3/4 from the line for 3 points, and he had 7 rebounds and an assist.

J.R. Smith played 25 minutes and was 9/15 and 2/5 on 3's for 20 points, and he also had 6 assists and 5 rebounds.

A.I. played 32 minutes and was 3/12, 0/3 on 3's, and 8/8 from the line for 14 points, and he had 3 assists. Iverson was 2/11 on jumpers and made 1 layup. All the other drives and layup attempts resulted in shooting fouls committed by the Raptors, and A.I. made them pay by making every single free throw.

Melo played 32 minutes and was 3/15, 1/2 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line for 10points, and he had 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds. Melo attempted 9 jump shots, and the only one that scored was the three pointer from near the left sideline.

The next game will be Sunday, March 25 in Cleveland to play the Cavaliers at 6 pm mountain time.

Nuggets Beaten by the Bulls at the Hoop at the Buzzer 109-108

With a little assistance from a no-call with about a second left on an over the back loose ball tip by Luol Deng, and alot of assistance from the Nugget's lack of rebounding and their returning to their heavy turnover routine, the Chicago Bulls won the game with 2 tenths of a second left on a tip in by backup PF Tyrus Thomas, and stopped the Nuggets from winning six straight. Denver was leading 108-107 with 10 seconds left when SG Ben Gordon missed a jumper from the right corner. Melo had Deng boxed out on the left side of the hoop but Deng, who had 14 rebounds to 2 for Melo in the game, reached way over Melo's back to tip the ball back up a little, and there was no other Nugget positioned correctly dead center or just to the right of the basket to stop Tyrus Thomas, who was positioned there, from tipping it up and in with less than a second left. As in football, referees in basketball are very reluctant to call fouls when a game is on the line with less than 10 seconds to play, so this was one of those games where you could argue for hours and hours about who really won.

In the first quarter the Nuggets came out highly motivated to try to continue their transformation from a team that figures out a way to lose too often to a contender in the West. They took a 34-28 lead after the 1st quarter. The 2nd quarter was turnover city, and the Nuggets got beat by the home team in the quarter 27-17, so it was 55-51 Bulls at the half. Although the Nuggets fell behind by 8 early in the 3rd, by the end of the quarter, excellent jump shooting and drives to the hoop resulting in trips to the line by both Iverson and Melo, as well as a relatively few 4 turnovers, resulted in an 84-82 Nuggets lead going into the 4th.

In the 4th quarter, the Nuggets had just enough turnovers to make it very difficult to win it. George Karl has ordered the Nuggets to pass more recently, and he plays Steve Blake for most of every game for only one reason, which is that Steve Blake passes alot. But he had better remind his team to avoid passing whenever their instinct tells them that a defender is too close to where the ball would go in a pass, because the Nuggets are practically leading the NBA in having the ball (and the game) stolen from them. Passing is not always a good thing, and you should never pass just for the sake of passing.

The Nuggets led 99-92 with 5:43 to go, but that lead was gone in two minutes flat, and then there were a total of 7 lead changes down the final 3-minute stretch, with the last one being the Thomas tip in at the buzzer giving the Bulls the win. During the final stretch, the Nuggets played some good defense, but they offset that with, you guessed it, additional turnovers. Incredibly, the Nuggets had 4 turnovers in the final 3 minutes, whereas the Bulls carefully executed and had none. For the 4th quarter as a whole, the Nuggets had 7 turnovers and the Bulls just 3. So the Nuggets were passing and shooting and driving to the hoop aggressively and intelligently, but they were not careful enough about protecting the ball and losing possessions and so they left their door open so they could be robbed at the buzzer.

You could also argue a very long time about who deserved to win this game. Although the Bulls had 21 offensive rebounds to just 10 for the Nuggets and although the Nuggets had 22 turnovers to 15 for Chicago, the Nuggets did play some defense and continued to have an impressive, balanced offense. The Nuggets were a very efficient 41/74, or .554, while holding the Bulls to .465 on 47/101 shooting. Aside from being dominated on the boards, the other reason the Nuggets had so few shots compared with the Bulls was that the Bulls were whistled for 21 fouls, versus 18 for the Nuggets, and more of the Bull's fouls were shooting fouls. The Nuggets made almost all of their free throws, 21/24, with Nene getting 4/5 and both A.I. and Melo making 8/9.

Looking at players, Nuggets fans might look at Melo's two rebounds and lay some blame his way, and/or look at the fact that Marcus Camby sat out the 4th quarter with back spasms, leaving the inside defense and rebound positioning and anticipation to the much less polished Nene, the much less experienced Kleiza, and the less aggressive Najera. The entire 4th quarter was custom made for a player like Camby to secure at least a couple of key rebounds and maybe a key block. With less than a second left and you are leading by 1 point, who other than Camby and maybe Yao Ming would you want at the hoop to prevent exactly what went down to cost the Nuggets the game?

But precisely because he is the only superstar defender on the Nuggets, and because he is in general an extremely well regarded veteran with alot of years playing cat and mouse with injuries, I reckon if Camby decided that it would be best to sit out the 4th quarter due to whatever perceived health problem or threat, than you as a coach would assume he is qualified to make such a judgment and probably not argue too much. On the other hand, I can imagine certain coaches trying to urge Camby to go back in at some point as the Nuggets small 7 and 8 point leads during the 4th quarter were quickly shredded by open jumpers and turnovers and the game appeared to be heading for a photo finish.

In any event, George "Scrooge" Karl's decision about three weeks ago to totally bench one of the very best rebounders in the NBA, Reggie Evans, clearly came back to bite him in this game, after Karl, during the 5 game win streak, appeared to have pulled off a small miracle by getting away with his numerous total benchings. It is true that if you are Melo playing even more minutes than usual, 39, you have to be at least a little lazy and a little too reliant on teammates with respect to fighting for rebounds if you get just 2 rebounds. But it is also true that had Camby or Evans been close to the hoop and positioned the right way on that play with a second left, it's hard to imagine that the Nuggets could have lost this game. But both Camby and Evans were sitting on the bench at the time.

With J.R. Smith held to 10 minutes and clearly under heavy threat from Karl regarding losing even those minutes if he hoists too many threes, Linas Kleiza provided virtually all of the three-point shooting for the Nuggets, and it was not quite enough. Kleiza was 4/7 and the team as a whole was 5/13. Meanwhile, the Bulls were an extremely efficient and damaging 7/14 from 3-point land, with both PG Chris Duhan and SG Ben Gordon 2/3 and PG Kirk Hinrich 3/8 from downtown. You might agree with the Reggie Evans benching, and it is true that Evans has no jump shot to speak of, misses half his free throws, and is subject to losing the ball too often. But to eliminate George Karl as a suspect in the crime of this loss, you would also have to agree with the coache's decision to hold J.R. Smith, who was one of the top 3-point shooters in the league until his shots were heavily restricted by Karl, to just 10 minutes or so a game.

In any event, no matter who you want to blame, the Nuggets have lost more close games this season than almost anyone, and, more broadly, they seem to always have the wrong players in the game at critical times, and the right players in the games during meaningless times. (Isaiah Thomas would definitely agree with the last part of that statement.) They way too often seem to have just enough turnovers to put a winnable game into jeopardy, or to lose it. When they were shooting badly and were badly imbalanced offensively, they would make up for it by dominating the boards, but still lose close games due to the sheer lack of points. For almost three weeks now, due to the emergence of Linas Kleiza, the continuing offensive development of Nene, the smarter shot selection of Blake, and Camby's improving jump shot, the Nuggets have been much more balanced and efficient offensively, only to still lose when they act like they have forgotten what a rebound is or when they turn it over a gazillion times.

Being a Nuggets fan this year is subjecting yourself to alot of frustration, because here you have a team that is statistically much better than it's record, but seems to be unable to put a complete package on the court for very many games. If you didn't know any better, you might think the Nuggets have a strange desire to make sure that the other team is amost always able to win the game by taking advantage of whatever big shortcoming the Nuggets are featuring, with the most common shortcomings featured being very poor shooting outside of Melo, A.I., and maybe someone else, poor rebounding, poor possession protection, and poor defense. To beat the Nuggets, a team simply takes full advantage of whatever the Nuggets have decided not to do on a given night and burn 'em for it.

The fans are frustrated because they don't understand why the Nuggets always seem to do, or not do, just enough to put themselves in a position to lose. And basketball analysts are dumbfounded by the Nugget's inconsistencies and can not anymore even hazard a reasonable guess as to the fate of these Nuggets. Any commentator who says the Nuggets are plain bad (Charles Barkley, for example) looks like a fool within a week or two, but any commentator who says the Nuggets are solid and are going to contend in the West next year if not this year, also will look like a fool within a week or two. The Nuggets fate this season could be anything from failing to make the playoffs at one extreme to appearing in the Western Conference final at the other extreme. The Nuggets are Team Mystery.

For now, Melo's leading the NBA in scoring is history, as Kobe Bryant has left Melo in the dust by making history and scoring 165 points in the three Laker games since the poor one in Denver one week ago. As a result of Bryant's historic week, and the Nugget's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory shown so well in tonight's game, the Nuggets have fallen behind the Lakers again for the 6th seed in the playoffs. However, assuming the Nuggets can hold the 7th seed, it might work to their benefit; they seem to match up better against the Suns, who the 7th seed will probably play in the playoffs, than against the Spurs, who the 6th seed will probably play.

Kleiza played for 22 minutes and was 4/10 and 4/7 on 3's for 12 points, and he had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. Najera played 24 minutes and was 2/5 for 4 points, and he had 6 steals, 6 rebounds, a block, and an assist. Although Najera does not score enough, he is one of the only Nuggets whose caution keeps his turnover count very low.

Steve Blake played 37 minutes and was 2/4 and 0/1 on 3's for 4 points, and he had 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal.

J.R. Smith played only 10 minutes and was 3/5, 0/1 on 3's and 1/1 from the line for 7 points.

Nene played 37 minutes and was 7/9 and 4/5 from the line for 18 points, and he had 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 assists.

Camby played 27 minutes and was 2/4 for 4 points, and he had 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists, and a steal.

Melo played 39 minutes and was 10/19, 0/2 on 3's, and 8/9 from the line for 28 points, and he had 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal. Melo was an excellent 6/13 on jumpers.

A.I. played 40 minutes and was 11/18, 1/2 on 3's, and 8/9 from the line for 31points, and he also had 6 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal. A.I. was an excellent 6/12 on jumpers.

The next game is Friday, March 23 in Toronto to play the Raptors at 5 pm mountain time.

Nuggets Use Defense & Determination to Beat Nets 94-90

The Nets had beaten the Nuggets every time since the turn of the century, but the Nuggets, with new found confidence coming out of their recent strong homestand, as well as a new and much smarter way of playing, turned the Nets back on their court by holding on to a shrinking but never disappearing lead throughout the 4th quarter and coming away with a well-earned win 94-90. It was the first time this season that the Nuggets won without scoring 100 points, after they lost all 21 previous such games. The coaches and fans of the Nuggets have now gotten some positive results from all their pleadings from their favorite team regarding tougher defense, more offensive balance, and reduction of foolish turnovers.

In an excellent display of team coordination, six Nuggets had 5 or more rebounds, and 5 Nuggets had 3 or more assists. It simply doesn't get much better than that with regard to playing as a unified team. The Nuggets had 47 rebounds versus 40 for the Nets, and 8 steals versus 6 for the Nets. In a game where the other team is shooting .400, you don't need heroes on offense, and there weren't any. Melo was no hero because you can usually take it to the bank these days that Melo will get about 30 points, not much less and not much more. He is not an explosive scorer like Kobe Bryant, A.I. and many other great players, but that fact has some thinking that his game is still developing and he will be even better in the coming years.

So maybe Melo, by not being able to or not wanting to try to explode for 40 or 50 as Kobe Bryant has done recently for the Lakers, telegraphed to his team that everybody had to join in a full team effort to turn things around, meaning more defense, more passing, and fewer turnovers. Along with more wins, the side benefit would be getting that cranky old scrooge, George Karl, off everyone's backs. Right now I don't know who is responsible for this; but if I had to bet, I would say it is due to a combination of A.I., Melo, Camby, and the coach telling the team that it was either all for one and one for all, or else the Nuggets were going nowhere except to the land of underachievement and off season blowup. Either the changes mentioned above had to be made now, or else this year's Nuggets will be transformed into something totally different next year. It was put up or wait to be traded time.

Apparently, most of the Nuggets like this team as it is, because they have truly transformed themselves following the miserable loss to the Detroit Pistons in Denver on March 9. The 5 straight wins the Nuggets have are almost beside the point; the outstanding thing is how the Nuggets got those wins. They no longer even try to win by points alone, but now they bring a much more complete and smart approach to the court.

All of a sudden, it's more like a normal basketball team and less like the swashbuckling, devil-may-care Nuggets of earlier this season. It's not just Nene, Camby, and Najera playing solid defense anymore. Iverson, Melo, and Blake have all upgraded their defense somewhat to reduce the number of open looks that the opposing team is getting. In a game where both teams shot .400, the game was to be won by whoever executed down the stretch better and it was the New Nuggets who executed better, whereas the Old Nuggets would have had no chance. And despite a bunch of offensive fouls tonight, which count as turnovers, the total number of turnovers was 16, which is not that bad for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets were just 5/17 on threes, and 3-point specialists Kleiza and J.R. Smith were a combined 1/5. Iverson, who often seems to know all the keys to how a game will be won or lost while he is playing it, which is almost scary when you think of it, went all out to bury some 3's, but came up almost empty with 1/6. Blake made 1/3, but early in the 3rd quarter, SG Vince Carter, the scoring leader for the Nets, fouled Blake on a three-point shot, and Blake made all three free throws. But Melo was needed to try to get the Nuggets the minimum number of three-pointers needed to win this game, and Melo did get 2/3 of them.

Every three point shot Melo makes should get the other teams in the West a little more worried about the Nuggets, because Melo has seen his three point shooting decline somewhat over his 4 seasons in the NBA. Right now, the Nuggets can be outgunned by heavy three point shooting teams like the Rockets and the Suns, but this becomes much less likely if Melo can hit at least two long shots each game, and Kleiza and J.R. Smith combined get five or more of the big ones per game. Throw in one or two from A.I. and Blake and you have enough to avoid being blown out by teams like the Spurs.

The maturing of the Nuggets as a fully functional, balanced, quality team seems with this game to be more reality and less a dream. The Nuggets were given every opportunity to go back to their sloppy, lazy defense style in the fourth quarter, but for the most part they resisted all the temptations and stayed tough, poised, and focused. They kept their eye on the prize, which was a win to start a tough 5-game road trip, instead of playing according to instinct alone, which they used to do as recently as 10 days ago.

The Nuggets have learned that you need to think a little about how you are playing while you are playing, especially in the 4th quarter. Does the situation require a more intense defense, or do you have hot hands out there so you can just run and gun to a win? Should you go inside and get assistance from the referees calling a tight game, or are the referees letting alot of contact go, in which case you have to look for open jumpers? Should you chew some clock or not? Who is hitting on the other team and so needs extra pressure put on him? These are four of the most important considerations for a team that is trying to close out a game they have a subtantial lead in. A team that has learned how to win is a team that has learned how to answer those questions while they are playing. They think about them, answer them, and execute accordingly.

The Nuggets, other than A.I., seemed to know almost nothing about these basketball strategies and tactics until relatively recently. Now all of a sudden, you have a team that seems to know what it is doing out there, and is not just running around trying to show how good they look running around out there. The old Nuggets could be entertaining, and the kids sure got a kick out of them, but I, for one, will be glad if that team comes back as little as possible in the future. If I want to see pirates, I'll go to a movie.

Aside from closing out the game well, there were other signs that the Nuggets finally are playing as a team and playing smart. They started the game well, avoiding falling behind big in the 1st quarter as many road teams do. When the Nets went on a run in the 2nd quarter, the Nuggets did not collapse completely, so that the Net's lead at the half was just 7, 49-42. The biggest Nets lead of the game was just 8 points, at 44-36, with 2 minutes left in the half.

The 3rd quarter was a work of basketball art, and a big sign that a quality team has suddenly appeared in place of the old, out of control Nuggets. The scoring came from every man on the floor, while the defense was energetic and pressing. 13 of the 31 points were from free throws, as the aggressive Nuggets drew 7 fouls in the quarter, including three committed by Vince Carter, who the Nets were depending on to pull out this game, but who had to sit with 3:38 left in the third with 4 fouls. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were getting mostly offensive fouls; Nene, Najera, and Melo were called for these, but the Nets got almost no payoff from them. The Nene offensive foul was followed by Iverson stealing the ball from Kidd and the Najera offensive foul was followed by Kleiza stealing from Nachbar. When the offensive fouls were called, the Nuggets did not try to blame the refs and they did not start losing confidence and their composure. Rather, they continued to play at a high level and were able to steal the ball right back two out of three times. That is called not letting pressure get to you.

After three quarters it was 73-65 Nuggets. In the fourth, the Nuggets were going inside to draw fouls and dishing back out for open threes. They were wisely avoiding shooting alot of midrange jumpers, and they kept the tempo slow in accordance with the fact that no one on either team had a hot scoring hand. The Nets closed to 76-73 Nuggets, only to see Melo bury a three with 8:30 to go. Then the Nets closed to 79-78 Nuggets, only to see Melo feed Najera for a layup +1. A little bit later, with 4:56 to go, the Nuggets lead was back up to 8, at 88-80, on another Melo three. The old Nuggets then reappeared briefly, with Camby and Melo turning it over, and the Nets pulled within 2, to 88-86 Nuggets with 3:15 to go. Then Iverson made a driving layup, Carter got a dunk, Camby missed a jumper, and then Kidd missed a three. Then Nene fed Melo for a drive to the hoop and he layed it in and converted a foul so it was 93-88 Nuggets with 1:38 to go. Nene fouled out by fouling Jefferson, who made both free throws, so it was 93-90 Nuggets with 1:11 to play. In the final minute, Melo missed a jumper and Iverson missed a three, but Carter walked and then, with 9 seconds left, the Nuggets won their hard-earned victory when Carter missed a wide open three. You see, when you work hard, things, including the refs, frequently go your way, even when you are not perfect and have a blown coverage or two late.

Although Carter had 9 rebounds and 7 assists to go with his 29 points on 10/24 shooting from the field, he was affected enough by the game long pesky defense, that he missed a wide open three-pointer with 9 seconds left that most likely would have sent the game into overtime. So the Nuggets worked their tails off all night and affected Carter just enough so that he would miss that wide open three, and that's how they earned their 5th straight win. They remained equal with the Lakers for the 6th spot in the West.

In summary, this game is real evidence that the Nuggets may have finally thought things through enough, worked on weaknesses in practice enough, and pumped themselves up enough before a game to be able to perform what they have learned and worked on. I'm not saying the Nuggets are ever going to be a finely tuned engine like the Spurs or the Mavericks, but I am saying that they don't seem to be an engine that often cuts out and needs to be hauled to the garage these days.

Najera played 22 minutes and was 3/7 and 3/3 from the line for 9 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Kleiza played 28 minutes and was 3/8 and 1/4 on 3's for 7 points, and he had 5 rebounds and a steal.

J.R. Smith played 10 minutes and was 0/2 and 0/1 on 3's for 0 points.

Steve Blake played 35 minutes and was 3/9, 1/3 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line for 10 points, and he had 6 assists and 6 rebounds.

Nene played 31 minutes and was 4/6 for 8 points, and he had 11 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, and an assist.

Marcus Camby played 36 minutes and was 1/5 and 8/8 from the line for 10 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 assists, and a steal. Camby's NBA lead in blocks remains very secure, but Bryant's 115 points in two games have put him slightly ahead of Melo now in the race for top scorer.

A.I. played virtually the entire game and was 8/23, 1/6 on 3's, and 3/6 from the line for 20 points, and he added 5 assists, 4 steals, and 5 rebounds.

Melo played 29 minutes and was 10/20, 2/3 on 3's, and 8/12 from the line for 30 points, and he also had 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The next game will be Thursday, March 22 in Chicago to play the Bulls at 6:30 pm mountain time.

A.I. & The Nuggets Run the Suns Out of Denver 131-107

"A.I. likes to play." That's how George Karl should answer if he gets someone asking him why he was left in this blowout until 3:39 left with the Nuggets leading by 31. I remember once the coach at my University was asked that same question after a blowout about the top player still being in the game late and he answered "kid likes to play." That shut that question down. Melo was pulled with 10 minutes to go. He likes his team to play well even more than he likes himself to play well, so I guess it makes sense he would come out alot earlier. But since Kobe Bryant scored 65 points last night, Melo's lead over Bryant in the scoring race is down to almost nothing.

I'll say A.I. likes to play. In a throwback to the storybook land of his early years with the Sixers, A.I. exploded for 44 points on incredible 16/22 shooting. He made 10/15 jumpers overall, and 2/3 from beyond the arc. He had 15 assists of the Nuggets amazing 35, and drew numerous fouls, including one from Nash from beyond the arc, and yes, he made all three free throws from that. A.I. was even more everywhere than usual, and with relentless sunk jumpers, aggressive drives to and all around the hoop, virtually no turnovers, and pesky defense, drove Steve Nash and Raja Bell in particular up the wall. PG Nash, the official spokesman of the Suns, had to publicly admit that there was no way the Suns could possibly have beaten the Nuggets in this game. Raja Bell was rattled, mostly by A.I., into a 5/17 shooting night and a technical.

So led by Iverson, and backed up by immense talent and a will to win that must have been off the scale, the Denver Under Achievers buried the Phoenix Suns in one of the most impressive offensive displays of basketball in Denver since ABA days. I say the Nuggets are the Under Achievers because they exposed themselves that way in this game, their first total blowout of the season. Any team that can shoot .573 and hold the Suns to .444 had no business blowing ten 4th quarter leads this season, and they had no business losing 17 of 36 games at home. Instead of achieving what they could have had they done more playing and less assuming, the Nuggets have made life difficult for their coach and their fans. They have confused the heck out of numerous basketball observers, by frequently playing loose and sloppy, lazy and foolish, and then saying to the world "We were just foolin you guys", by proceeding to beat the bejesus out of the Lakers and the Suns this week.

True, A.I. and Melo were a combined 29/42 for 73 points, which is going to be rare, but Camby was 4/6 on the jump shots he insists on making, and Nene, who is most likely never going to be a good jump shooter, was 5/7 with no jumpers attempted. Even Najera joined the festivities by exploading for 8 points on 3/5 points. (For Najera, that was exploding.) It can only be on a major occasion, like a big holiday, that Najera puts up 5 shots. So here you had almost the entire front court of the Nuggets playing both smart and well, something which seemed about as likely as the Syracuse Orangemen winning the March Madness tournament this year. In pro ball, March Madness was definitely in Denver this week.

The Suns met their much less polished cousins in the run and gun style of basketball, and they were shocked at the intermission that these upstarts from the wrong side of the tracks had scored 70 on them in the half, for a 70-44 lead. The Nuggets shot 68 percent in the first half and the Suns shot just 33 percent. "Why the rudeness of it, just who do these poor kin think they are?" the Suns must have exclaimed at the half. "How can they be killing us, no respectable basketball analyst thinks the Nuggets have a chance to beat us, the Mavs, or the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs?" Maybe so, Stoudemire, Marion, and Nash, but non-establishment analysts still think it is possible, so don't count your chickens just yet.

The Nuggets had two 1-2 punches offensively in this game, with A.I. and Melo providing the big uppercuts and Nene and Camby applying the jabs to cause the Suns to get dizzy and lose their composure in the 1st half. How could the Nuggets not beat the Mavs, the Spurs, or the Suns if they had all of this action going? The Nuggets win any game where Camby hits his jumpers, Nene sticks with layups and dunks, and either A.I. or Melo explode while the other one gets 25 or more. And Kleiza or J.R. Smith stand ready to assist when that forumula is not working quite right, which will be almost always.

George "Scrooge" Karl recently started to worry about his future in Denver, and so he resolved in fear to play just 7 men until J.R. Smith returned, as few as a coach can play without being labelled insane. At one point, intense Nuggets fans including me started to worry that Karl was starting to become delusional. As long as Kleiza doesn't go back to 1-7 games, and as long as J.R. eases back into the flow for the umpteenth time, Karl can feel secure with an 8-man rotation, at least until any one of the 8 gets injured. If there is an injury, Karl's gamble is lost and the Nuggets are in big trouble again. On the other hand, if these eight, who clearly have the skills to go the distance, stay healthy and truly have the heart and desire to go the distance, and not be the Under Achievers any more, then Avery Johnson or Greg Popovich may have these same upstarts from the wrong side of the tracks, and the short end of the popularity contests, come calling when it is Western Conference finals time.

I have gone back and forth on the question of whether it is possible for the Nuggets to upset one of the big teams of the West in the playoffs. I had just gotten totally comfortable with the idea that the Nuggets could not possibly win a playoff series and now this game comes along to mess up the calculations. Now I am back again to simply not knowing whether the Nuggets have a chance or not. From this weeks homestand, you would be forced to say the Nuggets have a chance. But you can not yet forget about all the collapses, turnovers, lazy defense, and 1-7 and worse shooting nights. Oh well, that's why they play the games.

Melo and Camby combined for 5 of the Nuggets 12 steals. Nene had 10 rebounds and Camby and Melo had 8 each as the Nuggets outrebounded the Suns 47-38. Iverson and Blake had 10 rebounds, and you know it has been a heck of a night on the boards when your starting guards get 10 rebounds. Although Blake does not have a great shooting touch, at least he, like Najera, picked up on the explosive atmosphere and did what he usually does, only faster and better; Blake had 8 assists. And there is no one better in the NBA than Marcus Camby in rejecting a layup or a dunk without fouling, and he had 4 blocks in this game, while committing just 1 foul. It is impossible to overstate how great Camby is these days at defending right at the hoop.

Leandro Barbosa from Brazil, who backs up Raja Bell at SG, led the Suns with 22 points on 10/19 shooting. The great Suns center, Amare Stoudemire, was held to 13 points on 4/10 shooting, and the great Suns small forward, Shawn Marion, was held to 12 points on 5/11 shooting.

Alright, Coach, you can calm down and come out from under your seat now. The coast is clear and the odds are back in your favor for coming back next year. And you may get away with your total benching of Evans, Johnson, and Diawara. Apparently, your Under Achievers were just foolin' during all those losses, they were just playing alot of pranks, and they actually are pretty good. The Nuggets have a strange sense of humor, I'll tell you that.

Reggie Evans played for 12 minutes and he was 2/3 for 4 points, and he had 4 rebounds and a steal. Najera played 16 minutes and was 3/5 and 2/2 from the line for 8 points, and he added 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. Kleiza played 19 minutes and was 1/4, 1/2 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 5 points, and he had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Blake played 38 minutes and was 2/6, 1/1 on 3's, and 0/1 from the line for 5 points, and he had 8 assists and 5 rebounds.

Nene played 17 minutes and was 5/7 and 4/6 from the line for 14 points, and he added 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.

Marcus Camby played for 28 minutes and was 5/7 and 2/2 from the line for 12 points, and he also had 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Melo played for 32 minutes and was 13/20 and 3/4 from the line for 29 points, and he had 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

A.I. played for virtually the entire game and was 16/22, 2/3 on 3's, and 10/12 from the line for 44 points, and he also had 15 assists, 5 rebounds, and a block.

The next game will be Tuesday, March 20 in New Jersey to play the Nets at 5 pm mountain time.