I Quit Too

The self destruction we have seen on the court is rushing like a wall of water from a burst dam to the bench and into the locker room.  The question of who quit when is spreading like a flesh eating virus through this already fatally infected team.

Carmelo believes they all quit.  Some players think the coaches quit.  Others think no one quit.  The crowd clearly quit in response to what they were witnessing (the Nugg Doctor wrote that he left a Nuggets game early for the first time ever).  And to top it all off, AI thinks he was benched for the fourth quarter.

I guess all there is left to find out from this team is will they un-quit some time before game four and if they do, will it matter?

It will be obvious from the start if Denver has any fight left.  George Karl has one last chance to show that he has some heart by making the adjustment of having someone other than Kenyon guard Kobe.  Yes, it worked reasonably well in game one because Kobe refused to be aggressive or to set up his teammates, a mistake we all knew he would not make twice.  All that has been accomplished over the last two games is limiting Kenyon’s minutes due to foul trouble, forcing Eduardo Najera to guard Kobe from time to time, which is its own special brand of torture for both Najera and Nuggets fans alike, and weakening the interior defense because Kenyon is floating around the perimeter or on the bench.

Karl has one last chance to challenge Melo.  Make Melo show us that he is not going to quit again and have him guard Kobe whenever they are on the floor together.  Give Melo the chance to prove that he can be a franchise player, at least for one night, in an important game.

Short of that happening, I have no desire to watch this group of players any longer.  I wrote as early as game four this season that there was no change in this team from years past and sadly that appears to have been accurate.

Take a look around the league at the various playoff series.  Which one stands out as being different than the others?  It is the Denver/LA series.  Denver is the only team yet to win a playoff game.  Even the freakin’ Hawks beat the Celtics complete with trash talk and Al Horford demonstrably yelling and gesturing at Paul Pierce after hitting a jumper to ice the game.

Right now I would trade all of these guys for one Al Horford.

Of course, that would be silly, but I have been beaten down buy this team.  I just want this season to end.  So yes, just like the players, I have quit on this team too.

After all of this doom and gloom that I have been preaching about this team for months let’s wrap this up on a positive note.  The Nuggets have one last chance this season to get back at the Utah Jazz.  They can get swept and allow the Lakers as much rest as possible before they move on to face Utah in the semifinals.

How is that for positive?