Is FireGeorgeKarl.com the second coming of Nostradamus?...
by Andrew Feinstein on Mar 29, 2008 9:32 PM MDT
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I hate to overly self-congratulate myself, but as I predicted two weeks ago, the Nuggets went 3-2 on their recent East Coast road trip, and then won both of their enormously important home games this week - against Dallas on Thursday and tonight against Golden State. If my predictions hold true, the Nuggets will win 51 games and make the postseason.Even as someone advocating for a coaching change, I must applaud Coach Karl's renewed enthusiasm and effort on the sidelines and in he huddle these past few games, and his excellent usage of the Nuggets bench, which I felt ensured tonight's most crucial victory. And even though it took up until 20 games ago to realize it, Coach Karl finally seems to be buying into the fact that J.R. Smith is an absolute star in the making, and must get at least 25 minutes per game from here on out.
And since I'm in a self-congratulatory mood, has anyone besides me noticed that Chucky Atkins and Nene have had absolutely nothing to do with this recent spate of strong effort-driven victories? I'm as happy as the next Nuggets fan to have these players back on the bench in uniforms instead of suits, but does this not prove that the "we've been without Nene and Chucky all season" excuse never held water whatsoever? Just like the "no pure point guard" excuse and the "Carmelo doesn't play defense" excuse never worked for me (or any intelligent Nuggets fan) either.
As I've repeated in this blog ad nauseum, the Nuggets are one of the NBA's most deeply talented and exciting teams. And therefore, it's most unfortunate that they're battling for one of the last two or three playoff spots, instead of one of the top two or three playoff spots. But who wants home court advantage anyway? After all, the Nuggets are only 30-7 at Pepsi Center.
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Though they've won several big games recently,I still don't buy into George Karl's coaching.Didn't u guys notice tonight's game?At the beginning of the 4th quarter,the bench r doing really a good job,esp. Nejara(2 3-pointers,drawing a foul and good hustle as always).In fact we actually headed abt 10pts!If u'r the coach,u would probably keep such a player on court for more time so as to keep the team's right momentum.But Coach Karl actually used Camby instead of Nejara.I'd say except for his blockshot Camby is the worst defense center.This was when the warrior's counterpunch began.I got to say if the warrior's field goal wasn't that poor,I'm afraid we might be beaten in the last couple minutes.I don't mean Camby don't deserve the starting(in fact the above example is just one of those bad coaching chioce of GK),but a good coach should be more flexible and use the right player at the right time.
Still glad to see they'r back to the 8th in the wild wild west.Hope it's just a beginning.
by joanna on Mar 30, 2008 6:48 AM MDT reply actions
No. It really doesn't.
With a healthy roster, this team would've been on course to win 56+, not 51.
And we'd still all better hope Nene can get re-integrated somehow this season. As well as Kenyon's been playing, we're still not going to win four playoff series in a row with him playing heavy minutes.
Nene remains the difference between being a good team and an elite team.
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And that was a helluva win last night. Tell me in advance that Iverson is going to be front-rimming all four quarters and that J.R. will never find his range from 3, and I wouldn't have felt very good about the game at tip-off. Iverson's "point-shaving" crack was pretty funny.
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"Even as someone advocating for a coaching change, I must applaud Coach Karl's ... excellent usage of the Nuggets bench, which I felt ensured tonight's most crucial victory. And even though it took up until 20 games ago to realize it, Coach Karl finally seems to be buying into the fact that J.R. Smith is an absolute star in the making, and must get at least 25 minutes per game from here on out."
Yup. And it's not only minutes. Karl has finally figured out that J.R. should be regularly playing the entire 4th quarter, which has been making all the difference of late.
He's becoming a poor man's Ginobili, which is a pretty damn nice thing to have.
And check out the +/- of last night's game. That win was all about Smith, Najera, and Kleiza.
by Petey on Mar 30, 2008 6:53 AM MDT reply actions
But it's late in the game, in the 4th quarter I think. We call a timeout. Carmelo has been on the bench for a while.
Right after the timeout, the same 5 who were on the floor go back out. Within 15 seconds, Carmelo is up off the bench. Why not just sub the guy in during the timeout, and get him in on that first offensive series? Very odd to me.
by Chris C. on Mar 30, 2008 8:30 AM MDT reply actions
by Eric K on Mar 30, 2008 1:56 PM MDT reply actions
Believe it or not, that's actually the matchup I want. The Spurs are old 'n' slow. They're ripe to be taken down by speed.
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It'll be interesting to see if Karl throws Nene out on Amare tonight for 5 or 10 minutes.
by Petey on Mar 31, 2008 6:38 AM MDT reply actions
by markp on Mar 31, 2008 8:21 AM MDT reply actions
I think it took a long long time, but Karl may have figured his rotation out, and this coaching thing...of course they'll go out and get swept in the back2back against PHX, and we'll all hate him again
by blue on Mar 31, 2008 9:28 AM MDT reply actions
I'd actually play him heavier minutes than I normally would over the next two games to deal with Nash.
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These next two are going to be "interesting". Phoenix is playing at a high level right now. Stoudamire is difficult to manage.
I'm hoping Karl will throw Nene out there for 10 minutes to contend with Stat, but I certainly don't know if Nene is capable of playing even short stretches of real NBA ball right now.
As well as he's been playing, this isn't a good matchup for K-Mart. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to stay with Amare.
I'll be pretty happy with a split of the next two. I felt good about the Dallas and GS games ahead of time. Tonight, not so much.
by Petey on Mar 31, 2008 1:58 PM MDT reply actions
by Anonymous on Mar 31, 2008 4:47 PM MDT reply actions
Winning the division is unlikely, but quite possible. We win the tiebreaker if we beat Utah, so we'd have to only make up one other game on Utah besides the head-to-head game to win the division.
But even if we win the division and get the #4 seed, we'd still have to open the playoffs on the road against a tough team. There's no guarantee we're going to get a better matchup by winning the division than we'd get with the #7 seed.
In short, if we're lucky enough to already be in the playoff with a couple of games remaining, I'd rather give Nene and Atkins game time to get them ready for the postseason than play to win the division.
by Petey on Mar 31, 2008 5:43 PM MDT reply actions
League Pass gave me the Phoenix feed for the game, and the Phoenix broadcast crew were astounded that J.R. was on the bench for the crucial portion of the fourth quarter.
I was astounded too.
The Suns broadcasters were laughing about it.
23 minutes? WTF? It wasn't like Anthony Carter was having particularly good luck with Nash on the defensive end.
If you can't maximize the contributions of J.R., get the fuck out of here, George. I'm not judging you on whether or not you can win a playoff series. I'm judging you on whether or not you can get the most out of what J.R. can give the team. Because we need him.
Karl's insane playing time decisions ruined a feel-good effort from Nene.
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Now Tuesday's rematch becomes a pressure game.
by Petey on Mar 31, 2008 10:59 PM MDT reply actions
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