Suns Shoot the Lights Out On Nuggets 125-108

In a game that left a clear majority of Nuggets fans concluding that George Karl has lost his previous abilities to coach an NBA game well, the Phoenix Suns buried the Nuggets in the second half with 3-pointers and the kind of ball movement that most teams can only dream about. The Suns bench outscored the Nuggets bench 39-9, but the even more alarming fact was that because George Karl essentially played just 6 players for the entire game, with Najera thrown in for just 9 minutes, there wasn't hardly any opportunity for Denver reserve players to score, because they simply did not play. The 6 Nuggets who played most of the game were worn down and out by the fast passing and accurate shooting of the Sun's scoring machine. The Suns were getting regular breathers on the bench, while the Nuggets were huffing and puffing for almost the whole game. While A.I. and Melo are the kind of super athletes who have enough stamina to play well for almost the whole game without breathers, it's not clear that players such as Nene, Camby, Kleiza, and Blake, who were the other four on the court for most of the game, have the kind of super athletic stamina needed to play at top performance for that long.

J.R. Smith, one of the best 3-point shooters in basketball, and an improving defender who has shown some Iverson-type ability to get steals that could have disrupted the flow of the Sun's passing and scoring onslaught, simply did not play at all. There was no report that he was injured, and Smith was observed sitting on the bench the whole night, apparently in good health. While it is true that Linas Kleiza has had 4 or 5 nice games from 3 point land in the last month, that's not enough good games yet to offset the 1/7 and 1/8 type games that he had regularly earlier this season, and then again tonight. So Kleiza has a long way to go before he can be considered comparable to J.R. Smith. When Kleiza failed in his bizarre mission to match J.R. Smith, the Suns buried the Nuggets with 10/20 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc, while the Nuggets floundered at 3/16. Notice that had the Nuggets hit half of theirs, or 8/16, they would have scored 15 more points and would have from that alone been in this game to the final buzzer.

I am not going to beat around the bush. Leaving Smith completely out of the game, while the Suns were rotating in their 3-point aces, such as SG Leandro Barbosa and SF James Jones, made it impossible for the Nuggets to win, unless either A.I. or Melo had transformed into Kobe Bryant and scored at least 50 points on 20/33 or better shooting. When that did not happen, and the Suns predictably crushed the worn out Nuggets, the fans were left hoping that George Karl is transformed into being the coach of another team no later than the start of the 2007-2008 season. This would require the owner of the Nuggets to buy out the remainder of George Karl's contract, and I am going to try to find out the details of that contract for a future report.

Actually, Karl presented a twin gift to those who want to see him fired; not only did he totally bench Smith for no good reason, he did the same to Reggie Evans, who is a rebounding machine and who would have been especially useful in the 2nd quarter, when the Nuggets led by as many as 18 points, to deny the Suns offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities.

And with Evans and Smith completely benched from game to game, neither DerMarr Johnson nor Yakhouba Diawara have any hope of getting any playing time for the foreseeable future.

And not only did the coach not make the moves that are expected of a professional basketball coach, he didn't really look like one either. He seemed too detached and unemotional, almost comatose at times. He did not at all look like someone who was very able to or very interested in trying to motivate his players to keep playing hard and smart. I know looks can be deceiving, but I thought I had to report this because many other fans who watched the game had the same reaction to Karl's demeanor.

The Suns had 30 assists to just 12 for the Nuggets, even though the Nuggets were a respectable .476 from the field. The Suns had 31 points off fast breaks, while the Nuggets had just 14. By half way through the 3rd quarter, the Nuggets were getting too tired to make many cuts away from their defenders, and assists and passing in general became more and more difficult. By not passing much, the Nuggets were able to keep their turnover count within reason and avoid a monumental rout. Even though Denver did keep it's turnovers under control overall, the Suns stole the ball 12 times from the Nuggets, whereas the Nuggets stole from the Suns just 8 times, with 3 of those being Anthony steals.

Both teams had plenty of opportunities inside, and the Suns had 58 points in the paint while the Nuggets had 52. The Suns shooting was so impressive that it would scare teams like the Spurs and the Mavericks if they didn't know that most of the Nuggets were too tired for most of the second half to deny very many open looks to the Sun's gunners. So dont worry Mr. Avery Johnson and Mr. Greg Popovich, the Suns are most likely not as good as the Nuggets made them look tonight.

SF Shawn Marion was the most outstanding Sun of all; he had 33 points on 13/17 shooting, along with 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. And the Suns have the best shooting guard tandem in the NBA, with Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa. Combined, they had 38 points on 15/27 shooting. PG Steve Nash had 18 points on 7/12 shooting, and he had 11 assists. Nash could have had 20 assists, but he shared the wealth with the Bell/Barbosa tandem, which had 12 assists.

Both Melo and Iverson played very well. Melo made 9 of 13 layups and dunks and 4 of 11 jumpers, including 1 of 3 from long range. He had 10 rebounds, and he led the Nuggets in assists with 5 and in steals, with 3. So now Melo is doing more of the non-scoring things, but the Nuggets have not been transformed into a better team as a result of that, so that appears to have been a miscalculation on the part of the Denver coaching staff. As for the Answer, he drew almost twice as many fouls as Melo did, and made 5/11 of his jumpers, 3/5 of his layups, and 10/13 of his free throws. A.I. and Melo, however, were offset by Camby and Kleiza, who were a combined 1/13 on jumpers and 7/21 overall.

All in all, it wasn't so much the loss that frustrated Nuggets fans as it was the realization that, without J.R. Smith and Reggie Evans in the game, the Nuggets did not stand a chance of winning. That and the coach seeming to be in a daze most of the time were the truly alarming things.

Kleiza played 28 minutes and was 1/7, 1/7 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 4 points, and he had 3 rebounds. Steve Blake played 39 minutes and was 4/8 and 1/2 on 3's for 9 points, and he had 2 assists, a steal, and a rebound.

Nene played 35 minutes and was 7/11 and 4/5 from the line for 18 points, and he had 9 rebounds, a block, and an assist.

Camby played virtually the entire game and was 6/14 and 2/2 from the line for 14 points, and he had 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

A.I. played virtually the entire game and was 8/16, 0/2 on 3's, and 10/13 from the line for 26 points, and he had a steal, a block, and an assist.

Melo played virtually the entire game and was 13/24, 1/3 on 3's, and 5/7 from the line for 32 points, and he added 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.

The next game will be Sunday, April 1 in Seattle to play the Sonics at 7 pm mountain time.

Sonics Shoot Past Nuggets 100-97

If your team shoots .409 and the other team shoots .548, it is extremely difficult to come out a winner. The Sonics, despite having 20 turnovers to just 10 for the Nuggets (Melo and A.I. had 5 each and no other Nugget had a turnover) and despite playing without one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, Ray Allen, who is gone for the rest of the season due to left ankle surgery, sharp shooted their way to a close victory over the Nuggets, 100-97. Over the last two weeks, the Nuggets were connecting on a high percentage of shots themselves, and came up with actual or virtual wins over the Lakers, the Suns, the Bulls, the Cavaliers, and the Pistons. But when it came time to play a team that could have been beaten with almost any old shooting, the Nuggets, with the exception of Melo, could not deliver anything other than really bad shooting.

Kleiza missed all four 3-pointers he attempted, and was 1-8 on jumpers overall. In total, he was 4/11, after you add in his 2 layups and 1 dunk. Camby made 4/10 of his jumpers, which is ok, but he did not get a single layup or dunk to go with those, which is not very ok for a center. Iverson was only 3/12 on jumpers and 4/13 overall.

Although J.R. Smith made 2 of 6 3-pointers, which is ok, he missed 3 other shots, which is not very ok. Melo missed all three of the 3-pointers he attempted. Overall, the Nuggets were 4/18 on 3-pointers, whereas the Sonics, a good 3-point shooting team that was great from long range in this game, were a deadly 8/16. The PG Earl Watson was 3/4 and the SF Rashard Lewis was 3/8 from beyond the arc.

Adding insult to the injury of this new Denver loss to a losing team at home was the fact that, while the Nuggets were rested, the Sonics had just played a road game the night before in Minnesota where, led by 35 points from Lewis, they came back from a 25 point deficit to win 114-106. Then the very same Lewis, less than 24 hours later, could be observed by the Nuggets fans running all over the defense of Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets and scoring every which way except with desperation heaves from his own end, none of which were needed. Aside from hitting the 3/8 threes, he hit on a long two-pointer, 3/4 midrange jumpers, and did additional damage at the hoop and from the free throw line. When the buzzer sounded on another Nuggets loss to a lottery team at home, Lewis overall had scored 33 points on 11/21 shooting, and he had 10 rebounds. So Lewis had 68 points total in two road wins played on two straight nights.

The small forward of the Nuggets, which is Melo, was 12/22 for 28 points. Melo's three-point shot has all but disappeared now, which is a mystery considering his midrange and short range jump shooting has been very good this year. This was the kind of game custom made for Melo to win it for his team either by burying some threes or by taking a few more shots than usual, but he missed all the threes and was unable or unwilling to get the extra shots that might have won this game. Indeed, when the game was on the line, Melo did as he was instructed to do by his coach and not what he would have done as recently as six weeks ago. With a few seconds left and Seattle leading 99-97, Melo passed out to Kleiza for him to attempt a relatively open 3-pointer, rather than attempting to tie it by driving to the hoop or by shooting a short jumper. Like in the great majority of cases this season, the theory of George Karl failed in real life, as Kleiza missed and Melo was left with 5 fewer points than the opposing small forward.

Melo has had just two games where he scored 35 or more points out of the 33games he has played since returning from the suspension on January 22, and none at all since February 23. Prior to the suspension, Melo had 35 or more points in 7 of those 22 games. So in accordance with instructions from the Coach, Melo has downshifted his attempts and scoring. Aside from some superficial changes in the Nuggets play, such as some additional passing and the resulting longer possessions, the main result of the cut back in Melo's shooting has been more losses. Prior to the suspensions, when Melo was shooting according to his instincts, the Nuggets were 13-9. Since the suspensions were over, and since Melo has been instructed to keep his shots down by Karl, the Nuggets are 15-18. It looks to me that a winning team has been turned into a losing team with the "get Melo to reduce his scoring so that he can do other stuff" strategy.

And certainly, Melo is under no pressure at all anymore to win a game at the end; as long as there is an open player around, he can pass to him in accordance with the coach's instructions and not worry about whether he could have won the game, or at least sent it into overtime, himself. My view is that unless Melo is double covered or badly positioned, he should take the shot himself. Moreover, I don't think Melo should automatically follow to the last detail everything George Karl or any other coach says. It is the mark of a superstar to take charge of a game on the line situation and win it one way or the other, not to be a slave to instructions from the coach.

Lewis and the Sonic's Center Nick Collison out rebounded Camby and Nene 23-20, and the Sonics overall out rebounded the Nuggets 43-37. The Nuggets would have lost by more were it not for the fact that the Sonics had 23 fouls called against them versus just 17 called against the Nuggets. However, the Nuggets made only 21/29 free throws, or .724 of them, missing just enough of those to cost them the win. The top teams in the NBA make about 80% of their free throws, whereas the Nuggets make about 75% of theirs. It could be worse, though. The worst free throw shooters, which are the Cavaliers, the Magic, and the Heat (due to O'Neal) make 70% or even fewer of their free throws.

It has come to my attention that George Karl's son is having a problem with cancer and that this may partly explain Karl's struggles in coaching the complicated Nuggets this season. Not knowing any details about the situation other than that, I can't say whether Karl has been preoccupied or not. The correct course of action for any important professional who has a contract, though, is to take a leave of absence when personal issues interfere with the performance of his or her duties.

So what you had in this game is the Nuggets revealed for what they really are right now: a team that can win only when things go right for several individual players at once. The Nuggets are unable to win by will and determination. When you are in danger of not even making the playoffs, and you lose to a lottery team in one of your last home games of the season, there is something fundamentally wrong. I must conclude that the recent win streak was more the result of the sum of some good individual player games rather than the result of good coaching, intelligent basketball, will to win, and coordinated team play.

The Nuggets have Iverson as their leader, but he is still too new on the team to inspire anyone else to explode in a game. Either that or there are hardly any Nuggets who really and truly want to make a run in the playoffs this year. If a Nugget, such as Kleiza, does explode in a game, it seems to be more or less an accident, and not something that was caused either by his being extra motivated by the coaching staff or by any of the players. More broadly, what this means is that the Nuggets, with the exception of A.I. and Melo, are still functioning as a bunch of individual players with their own individual game plans, rather than as a highly coordinated team. Not only has the extra passing ordered by George Karl not produced in itself much extra scoring, it seems to be only covering up a little the real Nuggets who, other than A.I. and Melo, are playing more for themselves than for the team. Virtually no team like that has ever advanced beyond the 1st round of the playoffs, and the only reason teams like this even get into the playoffs is because more than half the teams in the NBA make it into the playoffs.

On the other hand, it is possible that the Nuggets may be more of a team than was shown in this game. If so, the only other possible explanation as to why the Nuggets lost this game is that the Nuggets took after their coach and played afraid to lose rather than wanting to win. When you play to avoid losing, you are more likely to lose than if you play to win.

Whichever explanation of how the Nuggets could possibly have lost to the Sonics in Denver is correct, there is this blues, jazz, and rock and roll song from 1973 by Dr. John of New Orleans that summarizes the Nuggets this year. Here are the lyrics and you will see what I mean:

Dr. John Lyrics - Right Place Wrong Time Lyrics:

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd of said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place
And I'm wondering what it's good for

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a bad place
But I'm having such a good time
I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a little talking to this time

Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure this insecurity
I been in the wrong place
But it must have been the right time
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong song
I been in the right vein
But it seems like the wrong arm
I been in the right world
But it seems wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong

Slipping, dodging ,sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd have said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I'd a took the right road
But I must have took a wrong turn
Would have made the right move
But I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place
And I wonder what it's bad for

Dr. John, 1973

Reggie Evans played 20 minutes and was 2/4 and 1/2 from the line for 5 points, and he had 7 rebounds. Blake played 28 minutes and was 3/8 and 1/2 on 3's for 7 points, and he had 5 assists, a steal, and a rebound. Linas Kleiza played for 25 minutes and was 4/11, 0/4 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line for 11 points, and he had 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

J.R. Smith played 20 minutes and was 2/9 and 2/6 on 3's for 6 points, and he had 3 rebounds and an assist.

Nene played 35 minutes and was 5/9 and 7/8 from the line for 17 points, and he also had 13 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist.

Camby played 32 minutes and was 4/12 and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 7 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist.

A.I. played 37 minutes and was 4/13, 1/3 on 3's, and 5/8 from the line for 14 points, and he added 8 assists, a steal, and a rebound.

Melo played 38 minutes and was 12/22, 0/3 on 3's, and 4/6 from the line for 28 points, and he also had 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds.

The next game will be Friday, March 30 in Phoenix to play the Suns at 8 pm mountain time.

This report was delayed 36 hours due to an emergency forcing me to go out of town.

Nuggets Lose Another Win, to Pistons 113-109

The Nuggets left the known universe and entered the alternate universe for this game. The alternate universe is the opposite universe; everything there is the opposite of what is in our universe. In the opposite universe, a win is counted as a loss. In the opposite universe, George Karl manages his player minutes well and has the right players in at the right time, most of the time. In this opposite universe, the Nuggets rely on Camby, Nene, and J.R. Smith, rather than on Melo and A.I., to get the bulk of their scores. Finally, in the opposite universe, the Nuggets hustle on defense and get some good stops, and they keep their turnovers under control. And down is up, left is right, and black is white and so forth, but let's stick to basketball or it's going to get way too confusing.

That's one crazy universe, but it was the one the Nuggets were in tonight, as they again proved that they have responded to all the pleas from their coaches and their fans to play more intelligently and carefully, with alot more attention to defending and shot selection. But despite their delivering just about everything the coaches and the fans were asking for, the Nuggets nevertheless had another loss recorded following their outstanding and successful efforts.

The Nuggets were playing on the road for the second night in a row against the rested and best team in the Eastern Conference, so most basketball observers thought it would be an easy Pistons win. It certainly looked like it would be in the 1st quarter, as the Nuggets came out of the tunnel shooting bricks left and right. It was 26-13 at the end of the 1st quarter.

In the second quarter, 2 Nene blocks, four J.R. Smith steals, an Iverson steal, and a Nene steal all but shut down the Pistons offense, and the Nuggets had an improbable 44-42 lead at the half. With excellent ball distribution and with no turnovers whatsoever, the Nuggets built up to a 62-50 lead with 5 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter. But this was the Pistons, after all, and it was in Detroit, after all, so there was no way the Nuggets were going to put this one away without a major fight. Although Richard Hamilton and Chris Webber sat out the game with the flu, Detroit's backups are better than alot of team's starters, so a little problem with the flu was not going to stop Detroit in their building from fighting for this game tooth and nail.

In the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Chauncey Billups torched the Nuggets for 11 points, and the Pistons scored on 10 of their 12 possessions. The Nugget's 12 point lead quickly evaporated during the 21-9 Pistons run, and it was 71-71 at the end of the 3rd.

In the seesaw 4th quarter, the Pistons led by 5 with 9:39 left, but then the Nuggets led by 5 with 3:09 left. Melo was called for offensive goaltending with 2:34 left and then Billups made two free throws off a J.R. Smith foul, at which point the Nuggets lead was 91-88. Then, what else would make sense other than a Denver turnover? Ronald (Flip) Murray, the shooting guard who played virtually the entire game due to Rip Hamilton being out, got hold of a Nene pass, and Billup's driving layup made it 91-90 Nuggets. Camby tipped in a Melo layup try, and then Wallace sunk two free throws off of Melo's 4th foul. Then Allen Iverson, who knows a game slipping away when he sees one, hit a jumper with 26 seconds left to give the Nuggets a 95-92 lead. J.R. Smith was replaced by Blake, who promptly committed a foul on Billups, who made one of two, so it was 95-93 Nuggets with 22 seconds left. Murray fouled Iverson, who made both free throws and then, following a Detroit timeout, Billups made another driving layup, so now it was 97-95 Nuggets with 13 seconds to go. Then Billups intentionally fouled Iverson, who made one of two free throws. Billup's 3-point shot with 2 seconds to go missed.

So now the Nuggets have possession with 1.5 seconds to go and a 3-point lead. How can even the Nuggets possibly lose? Many of the internet sports sites were showing a final score of 98-95 Nuggets. But oh, that's right, they were in the opposite universe, so the win had to be recorded as a loss somehow. George Karl, who has been coaching like a scared rabbit the last 6 weeks or so, called timeout, which allowed the Pistons to huddle up and get ready to try to mess up the inbound pass. According to the coach of the Pistons, Flip Saunders, the Pistons had considered the game lost at that point and had no intention of calling a timeout themselves. Following the timeout, Camby's inbound pass was tipped by Tayshaun Prince, and it also went off Iverson. Rasheed Wallace picked up the loose ball with a fraction of a second left and hurled it 60 feet down the court, or 2/3 the length of the court, and the ball miraculously banked in.

In overtime, both teams stumbled around at first in a daze, but eventually Wallace took control, whereas J.R. and Kleiza badly missed three-pointers for the Nuggets. The Nuggets had no chance to win in overtime, because they had given everything they had to give to win the game in regulation.

So poor George Karl, who gave enough minutes to J.R. Smith for a change, and cut back on Blake's huge minutes when he saw Blake missing everything and getting torched by Billups, nonetheless came up with the very thing that he is afraid of: another loss, another step toward the cliff of the Nuggets failing to make the playoffs, and another step toward his ending up coaching Memphis or some other team next year. Karl called timeout when there was no good reason to and allowed the Pistons to prepare to disrupt the inbound pass. And he failed to instruct Camby to throw it toward a corner or right in front of the basket if there was any chance for the inbound to be tipped near mid-court. Had Camby thrown it almost anywhere else other than where he threw it, the Pistons, obviously, could not have stolen the game.

Most think that the great George Karl could not possibly be fired after this season, but the owner may have other ideas if the Nuggets sit home for the playoffs. Do not underestimate the owner of the Nuggets; he's the one who was smart enough to do what was needed to bring A.I. to Denver.

The Nuggets have blown more than a dozen 4th quarter leads of 8 or more points this year, but 9 losses stand out as outright thefts. The Nuggets record is 35-34, only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers and only 3 1/2 games ahead of both the Warriors and the Hornets, with 15 games left. Only two of these four teams get in the playoffs, and the current small Nuggets advantage is offset by the fact that the Nuggets have the toughest schedule down the stretch.

Doesn't it seem odd that a team that recently outplayed the Lakers, the Suns, the Bulls, the Cavaliers, and the Pistons is in alot of danger of not making the playoffs? It is very, very odd, so I think it is time to list the 9 Nuggets wins that went down in the record books as losses. Every team gets robbed once or twice in a season, but 9 times is ridiculous. If you add 7 wins to the Nuggets actual record, the Nuggets would be 42-27, in 6th position in the Western Conference, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers and just 2 games behind the Rockets.

Remember, this list includes only the most extreme cases, where the Nuggets won, except that someone did something superhuman on the other team with less than a second left, or the Nuggets or their coach did something so stupid that they distorted the true result of the game. None of the six or seven garden variety 4th quarter collapses are included in this list, because those ordinary collapses are part of regular basketball and not part of the supernatural. Here are the extreme cases, where the Nuggets were robbed, either by themselves or by some supernatural force:

1.November 2: Clippers 96 Nuggets 95
The Nuggets are leading 92-82 half way through the fourth quarter and still lose when Sam Cassell gets both free throws with 12 seconds remaining. Melo is thrown out of the game with two technicals early in the 3rd.

2.November 8: Knicks 109 Nuggets 107
The Nuggets blow a 12 point 4th quarter lead and Jamal Crawford steals the ball from Eduardo Najera, who was subbing for Kenyon Martin, and makes a 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left for the game-winner. To add alot more damage to this win recorded as a loss, Kenyon Martin is lost for the entire rest of the season.

3.December 6: Hawks 98 Nuggets 96
The Nuggets lead 84-69 with 9 1/2 minutes to play and collapse down the stretch. Shelden Williams hits two free throws with 5 seconds left to get the Hawks the victory.

4. 5. and 6.December 16: Nuggets 123 Knicks 100
With about a minute left in a huge Nuggets win, J.R. Smith is dangerously neck takled by Mardy Collins and a mini brawl erupts when Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith go at it. Melo is thoroughly ticked by the attack on his friend and by the situation in general and comes in to throw a punch at the instigator Collins, who is staying out of the Robinson-Smith altercation but is standing there shouting obscenities regarding the Nuggets. After landing the punch, Melo quickly backpeddles up the court to avoid being suspended for the remainder of the season. Based on prior incidents, J.R. was to get a 3-game suspension and Melo a 4 or 5 game suspension, but David Stern goes supernova and hands out a 10 game suspension to J.R. and a 15 game suspension to Melo.

A careful game by game analysis was done in January and it showed that the best estimate of how many extra net games the Nuggets lost during the 15 games is almost 3 1/2, so we'll say three to be conservative.

7. February 7: Hornets 114 Nuggets 112, Overtime
Desmond Mason's first overtime buzzer beater comes after Chris Paul's short jumper with less than a second remaining is blocked by Carmelo Anthony. Nene is a couple of inches from blocking the Mason tip-in. Mason, by a couple of inches and by a couple of micro seconds, beats the Nuggets.

8. March 22: Bulls 109 Nuggets 108
Bulls rookie Tyrus Thomas, who says he "doesn't know what happened," scores on a tip-in with two-tenths of a second left after Ben Gordon's missed jumper. Melo has his man, Luol Deng, boxed out just to the left side of the hoop, but Deng goes over the back of Melo to tip the ball up from the Gordon miss, and Thomas charges in unguarded with no time left to steal the win.

9. March 26: Pistons 113 Nuggets 109
The Nuggets have thoroughly outplayed the Pistons since the start of the 2nd quarter of this game. In the 4th, Denver takes the lead with 7:54 to play and leads by 5 with 3:09 to play. With 1.5 seconds to go, Chauncey Billups has just missed a three pointer and the Nuggets, leading 95-92, have possession with a team rebound. Marcus Camby's inbound pass toward the middle is tipped by Tayshaun Prince and Iverson. The loose ball is scooped up by Rasheed Wallace and, with no time left on the clock, Wallace hurls a 60-foot shot (2/3 the length of the court) that banks in. The Nuggets are shocked and lose their composure in overtime.

Kleiza played 23 minutes and was 4/9, 2/3 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 12 points, and he had 2 rebounds. Steve Blake played 25 minutes and was 0/6 and 0/1 on 3's for 0 points, and he had 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Nene played virtually the entire game and was 8/13 and 5/5 from the line for 21 points, and he had 17 rebounds, 9 of which were offensive. He also had 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

J.R. Smith played 30 minutes and was 8/15 and 5/10 on 3's for 21 points, and he had 4 steals, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.

Camby played virtually the whole game and was 8/15 and 8/8 from the line for 24 points, and he had 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block.

Melo played virtually the entire game and was 6/19, 0/2 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 13 points, and he had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Melo had only 2 attempted and made layups and 1 attempted and made dunk, and he missed several short jumpers. Overall on jump shooting, he was only 3/15.

A.I. played virtually the entire game and was 5/14, 1/5 on 3's, and 5/9 from the line for 16 points, and he had 8 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Unable to get inside, Iverson failed to get a single layup or dunk in this game; all of his shots were jumpers, although many were short jumpers.

The next game will be Wednesday, March 28 in Denver to play the Sonics at 7 pm mountain time.

Fast, Balanced & Efficient Nuggets Defeat Cavaliers 105-93

After stupidly allowing themselves to be beat on a buzzer beater in Chicago Thursday night due to blown coverage of Tyrus Thomas, and after getting blown out in short order in Toronto Friday night, the Nuggets rested up and played one of their best games of the season in Cleveland in this one, with offensive balance and very smart shot selection probably the most remarkable features of the win. The Nuggets shot with an extremely impressive .597 percentage and played enough defense to hold the Cavaliers to .451 as they earned a road win over LeBron James and the Cavaliers 105-93.

The Nuggets may learn and change for the better more slowly and less smoothly than fans would like in this high speed world we live in, but they are overall moving in the right direction. As recently as a month ago, they could not have played this well and in this efficient way. They played with alot less shooting of themselves in the foot and with alot fewer shots taken by players who have no business taking them. They played with very good ball movement, yet with few turnovers, a style that Nuggets fans have been begging for but had largely given up hoping for. Despite hustling on defense and denying the slower Cavaliers alot of open looks, the Nuggets were called for only 10 fouls, less than half what is typical in an NBA game. Even more impressive was the 32 fast break points, the most in many moons.

The Nuggets led by just 55-53 at the half. Melo started out in the 1st quarter doing his duty to get the Nuggets on back on track following the disaster at Toronto. He had 13 of the 23 Denver points in the opening quarter. In the second quarter, it was time for Linas Kleiza fireworks; he had two threes, a regular jumper, and two layups for 12 points in the quarter. Not only did Kleiza rescue the Nuggets in the quarter from Iverson, Melo, and Camby simultaneously being pretty cold, he also showed a great mix of offense that shows that he is not just a streaky or lucky 3-point shooter who can't do anything else. In basketball hell, the Nuggets do not make the playoffs this year despite all their skills. Kleiza a few weeks ago rescued the Nuggets from basketball hell, and in this game he played a major role in preventing them from going back to hell.

In the third, Nene came out keen on stuffing it in over and over up close, which is exactly what the Nuggets need to offset Camby's expensive jump shooting habit. The Nuggets played the quarter virtually error free, which was as refreshing as ice water on a hot day. After an offensive foul was called on Melo, the refs soon called one on LeBron James as well. I kept thinking James was going to explode, but he too finished the night without resembling Kobe Bryant at all: he had just 18 points on 8/19 shooting, and he had only 3 rebounds. He did have, though, 8 assists.

The 4th quarter was J.R. Smith time, who was getting only 10 minutes a game until his great game Friday during garbage time in Toronto got him sprung from the George Karl doghouse, so that in this game he buried 2 threes, had 10 points, and almost by himself shut down the Cavaliers with an amazing 3 steals in one quarter, the 4th. Smith insured the win and completed an improbable but impressive full team effort which shut down any hope for a LeBron explosion and a Cavalier comeback.

Allen Iverson played almost the entire game and was clearly the brains behind this operation; he had 12 of the Nuggets 29 assists and had 18 points on 7/13 shooting. George Karl has recently praised A.I.'s leadership of the Nuggets. Neither nature nor basketball teams like a vacuum, and the Nuggets were drifting with inadequate leadership in January and early February, so A.I., with both his basketball skill and his basketball intelligence, filled in the big leadership hole left by George Karl himself, and to a lessor extent by Melo.

I think George Karl, who has made positive statements about his team to the press as all coaches must, is actually very worried about the ultimate fate of this experiment otherwise known as the Nuggets. But in the last few weeks, Kleiza has shown that he can hit shots and play some defense, and Nene has come back almost all the way from his knee surgery and has shown a healthy appetite for lighting up the scoreboard. So now we know that the talent level of the Nuggets is without a doubt high, but getting all the pieces to work together is kind of complicated and not at all a certain thing this season or even next season. So I think Karl believes that the experiment could go horribly wrong and make the Nuggets into a big loser rather than a big winner, not because Melo and A.I. can not get along, which was forecast by too many observers, but because the rest of the team never learns how to play with the Melo-A.I. combination. So, being worried as heck, Karl has resorted to being very scrooge-like in his minute allocations, and generally has been playing not to lose rather than taking on enough risk to see if the team can beat the top teams of the West by tapping the full potential of the roster as a whole. As a result, the Nuggets have been beating almost all of the losing teams but losing to almost all of the winning teams.

Although the recent win over the Suns and this win over the Cavaliers proves that Karl's very conservative approach can occasionally produce a win against a winning team, I still don't see how it could possibly work in a playoff series against a very good team.

Melo, apparently, leads only generally, with his dependable but not explosive playing, and he has not yet figured out a way to come out sounding all-knowing and impressive in the newspapers and on television. When he is interviewed, he sounds like he is still in College, and, come to think of it, he still plays mostly like he is still in his carefree Syracuse University days, except that his teammates and opponents are older and alot more complex than his teammates at Syracuse were. Meanwhile, since A.I. actually is practically all-knowing about basketball and the Nuggets, he doesn't have to pose as knowing things when he is interviewed, and he knows how to deflect the obnoxious questions of interviewers, whereas Melo falls into interviewer traps and frequently sounds clumsy answering questions.

The now famous press interview where A.I. used the word practice over and over again when he was responding to Larry Brown's public criticisms of his practice habits, is pointed to, by those who doubt A.I., as an example of his being foolish, but, like a good novel where things change over time, that interview over time has more and more actually seemed to show how smart A.I. is, not how dumb he is. Larry Brown was criticizing his best player about practice, but someone as good as A.I., by definition, does not need as much practice as most players do in order to play extremely well.

Melo, unlike A.I., has not yet shown much ability to directly motivate teammates either in practice or during games. And he definitely has not learned how to become the right hand man of the Coach, which the other players see as one of the most important positions a player can obtain if he wants to be able to lead them. A.I., following his years dealing with one of the toughest to deal with coaches of our era, Larry Brown, has found dealing with George "Scrooge" Karl a piece of cake by comparison, so he has quickly settled himself in as the right hand man of George Karl. Iverson will be the guy the other Nuggets look to for leadership, if they want to look for it, for the rest of this season, because A.I. can sometimes explode and almost by himself dictate the outcome of a game, because he is the Nugget's effective representative to the outside world, with all it's threatening and half-crazy sports writers out to get them, and because he has become the player the Coach most trusts. Melo wants whatever is best for the Nuggets as a whole, so he will be happy with A.I. leading because that is clearly what is best for the team this season.

I am hoping that A.I. can speak up some for players who are rotting on the bench, in the doghouse. For example, if J.R. Smith ends up in the doghouse again, I hope and expect that A.I. will help get him out. Close games tend to be won by explosive players, and J.R. is clearly the second explosive player the Nuggets have to go along with Iverson. Kleiza is developing into a possible third explosive player for the Nuggets. With explosive players, you almost always have to put up with turnovers that more cautious but less productive players will not get, but it can be very worth it when you are playing a winning team on the road and you need someone to play explosively rather than just carefully to have a chance to win.

The last time I checked, the Nuggets in the playoffs are going to have to win games on the road against big-time winning teams, so you need both A.I. and J.R. in there late in those games, just as they were in this one. You keep your fingers crossed that they explode on the scoreboard and get a few steals and assists to offset their turnovers. If it works, you have a chance, as Iverson likes saying, "to prove everyone wrong". If it doesn't work, you lose by more than if you don't try it, but who cares? A loss is a loss. If you play it safe by having J.R. on the bench in those games, you have fewer turnovers, but almost no chance of winning those road playoff games, until and unless Melo gets a good 3-point shot or until and unless he learns how to explode in games. The way things are going, you might be waiting a long time for those Melo things.

Melo returned to recent form after his bad game in Toronto; he was dependable without being remotely explosive. At the opposite extreme, Kobe Bryant defines explosiveness. With his 4 straight games of 50 points or more, he has left Melo well behind in the race for top scorer and, more importantly, has left Nuggets fans wondering if their all-star is only a second-class all-star, unable to explode to make absolutely sure his team will win a game. Then again, Melo is only 22 years old and seems to be still living in his golden NCAA Championship year, when he had a bunch of high energy and skilled teammates, and an extremely good coach, that made winning the March Madness National Championship almost easy. And it sure as heck was alot more fun than the Nuggets season this year has been.

Steve Blake played 31 minutes and was 3/6, 0/2 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 7 points, and he had 4 assists and 3 rebounds.

Nene played 31 minutes and was 9/12 and 3/7 from the line for 21 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.

Kleiza played 26 minutes and was 6/10 and 2/4 on 3's for 14 points, and he had an assist and a rebound.

J.R. Smith played 23 minutes and was 5/9 and 3/6 on 3's for 13 points, and he had 3 steals, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Smith played extremely well and succeeded at proving that the coach should not think of benching him or mostly benching him for the foreseeable future. I think at this point the idea that J.R. Smith should be benched just because he has a few turnovers or a few off balance shots in a game is plain goofy. If he has a bad game, tell him not to be more careful next game and then see if he does or doesn't offset his mistakes with his scores, steals, assists, and rebounds.

Camby returned from back spasms and played for 34 minutes. He was 1/3 and 2/2 from the line for 4 points, and he had 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

Melo played for 39 minutes and was 12/19 and 3/6 from the line for 27 points, and he also had 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

A.I. played virtually the whole game and was 7/13, 0/2 on 3's, and 4/6 from the line for 18 points, and he had 12 assists and 4 rebounds.

The next game will be tomorrow, March 26, in Detroit to play the Pistons at 5:30 pm mountain time.