Nuggets/Mavericks preview...

by Andrew Feinstein on Jan 13, 2009 6:09 PM MST

NOTE TO READERS: Since a lot of you like to comment on the game recaps but don't like waiting for the recaps to be posted, Denver Stiffs will now do mini-game previews. This will enable readers to comment during the game or immediately after, and then the preview post will morph into the recap. Since I'm having ACL surgery tomorrow, I won't get a chance to recap the Mavericks game from tonight but I trust you all understand. Go Nuggets!

While most NBA pundits would argue that the Nuggets are having a great season and the Mavericks a not-so-great season, the Mavericks find themselves just 2.5 games behind the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings. That being said, the Mavericks seem to be one of those "elite" teams that the Nuggets play very confidently against and have already won both of the teams first two matchups this season.

I'm looking for the Nuggets to make it three straight wins against Dallas and their point guard, Jason "The Poor Man's Fat Lever" Kidd.

Tweet Comment 31 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

So how many lives are left on the Nuggets's Cat-o-meter after tonight?

by Geerten on Jan 13, 2009 9:43 PM MST reply actions

man, ugly, ugly win. but still a win.
i dont know, how often you'll get that kinda call with 2.2 to play...
jr just couldn't buy a bucket, he even missed an easy layup late in the game. but how about the birdman, he was just huge

by MZG on Jan 13, 2009 9:46 PM MST reply actions

is fine if it's a W against Dallas and without Melo for me.

PS: But J.R was horrendous, we need him to improve in the next games... we cannot depend on Carter, Jones and Andersen offensively on a night basis.

by Lucas Navarrete on Jan 13, 2009 9:53 PM MST reply actions

Why again did we trade for Petro. Karl bitches and bitches to get a big man and then he doesn't even play him, unbelievable.

by Zachm219 on Jan 13, 2009 10:26 PM MST reply actions

zachm219 for christ sakes stop hating on karl. We did not need him today. The mavericks big man is dampier who is a joke. I bet you he will play in the next 3 though.

by Anonymous on Jan 13, 2009 10:39 PM MST reply actions

seriously...on a consistent basis the mavs were playing three point guards...do you want petro to match up against kidd???? karl did a great job tonight as did the players. jr played one of his best games and showed that he is really maturing because he couldnt throw the ball in the ocean and he still played well. and on a side note...cuban really needs to get something for his idiotic actions at halftime and at the end of the game.

by bring back rauf on Jan 13, 2009 10:47 PM MST reply actions

We keeping winning games that we would have lost over the last three years. We would get a big lead, and ten blow it in the 4th, and then the opposing team wold get a one or three point lead, and then we get deflated pack our bags and go home. Now we are winning most of these, sans Detroit. That is what I see as a major change between this year and other previous Nuggets campaigns.

Mordecai

by Anonymous on Jan 14, 2009 7:14 AM MST reply actions

Check the game notes from ESPN
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290113007). Look how Karl is mad that other NBA personnel are talking to JR Smith. I agree, that while somewhat inappropiate, I think Karl's mainly ticked off that 1)people other than him actually don't mind talking to Smith and 2)Cuban, while brash and considered a Maverick, would not hire Karl if he was the last head coach left in the world...

by Anonymous on Jan 14, 2009 7:57 AM MST reply actions

Hastings' indignation at Cuban yelling at the refs after the game cracks me up considering the amount of (often ridiculous) venom he spews on a nightly basis. Not to excuse Cuban's actions, he deserves a nice big fine (at least he contributes a matching amount to various charities so his outbursts genuinely help someone...)...

It also seems that Karl and JR are doing better with each other - Karl actually talked to him and coached him at the end of the Pistons game and had somewhat nice things to say about JRs potential once he realizes that he can impact a game without scoring, which he did last night and has done more of recently.

by Eric B on Jan 14, 2009 8:05 AM MST reply actions

i dont't blame jr for going 1-14, because he's a scorer and he has to look for his shot. if you're open and you know that you can make it, take it.
he passed the ball well, and even did some nice things defensively.

by MZG on Jan 14, 2009 8:36 AM MST reply actions

Last nights game went as expected, and as they will continue to go until Karl expands the lineup. We played 8 players, they played 11. The nuggets averaged close to 30 minutes each. They got tired in the third quarter - tired players miss jumpers and don't exert as much effort, so the other teams gets offensive rebounds. Sounds like the second half to me. If they use a rotation like this on the second night of a back to back, they'll be down by 20 in the first half. Good to see we had 3 timeouts left for the last 30 seconds of the game last night. Karl gets his unused timeouts bonus.

Terrific games by Birdman and Jones. That ridiculous halftime shot by Birdman won the game.

I agree with the win is a win statements, but add a man or two to the rotation and it isn't a last second decision.

This stuff in the paper is classic office politics. People who are insecure in their positions, or who know they are doing a bad job, lashing out at those around them to try to make themselves look better in comparison. Early this year it was dump on J.R. After the Pistons game, it was all Billups fault, who scored 30. Quotes in the paper about the game being lost due to shot selection and how he had a conversation with Billups so it won't happen again. Now, after last nights game, it's because Cuban was talking to J.R. at halftime. Please. Classic C.Y.A.

by KarlSucks on Jan 14, 2009 10:11 AM MST reply actions

I was wondering last night just what the new time out rules are, and I just Googled it:

--

If a team has two 60 second timeouts left in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime, one of the timeouts will be shortened to a 20 second timeout.

--

What's a time out bonus?

JR rebounded well, I thought, and I agree that everybody looked tired in the third. Dahnte Jones was a madman; he must be half cricket or something. Birdman's blocks were ferocious.

Dallas is always a fun game. I wish I had been there last night, if only for the end of the first half. Birdman's 3 was great!

Go Nuggets!

by Do We Have Any Plays? on Jan 14, 2009 11:32 AM MST reply actions

tired in the second half???? how many days did we have off before this game? that shouldn't be an excuse.

by bring back rauf on Jan 14, 2009 11:49 AM MST reply actions

I feel like a broken record but still: what the hell is Karl doing with his rotations? We've had a ton of just absolutely terrible third quarters which could be, in part, due to our starters playing tired or trying to coast until the 4th. And we rarely play deeper than 8 guys. Is Karl really not able to find more than TWO minutes for Balkman to play so far this month? I'm going from confusion about this to anger. Its just sort of maddening. Lets not even get into Karl's complete inability to play rookies. When I look at all the rooks making impacts around the league and then see Sonny Weems with zero minutes this year, I just wonder why we even bother drafting players anymore? I mean, sure, he might not be ready, but at least get the guy some garbage time.

by Denverson on Jan 14, 2009 12:59 PM MST reply actions

Just to harp for a second:

We have a player who is shooting over 55% from the floor with over 70% FT's who can guard multiple positions very well and who is a hustle/energy player who out rebounds for his size who gets no PT.

I am sort of wondering if Karl is just playing Kleiza to play up his trade value knowing that Balkman can slip in. He's a completely different player than Kleiza, granted, but I think with all our other offensive weapons, it might not be a terrible idea.

by Denverson on Jan 14, 2009 1:03 PM MST reply actions

The timeout bonus is my theory for why Karl refuses to use his timeouts. I think his contract has a clause that gives him a bonus for unused timeouts. That's the only rational other than sheer laziness I can come up with.

by KarlSucks on Jan 14, 2009 1:31 PM MST reply actions

Oh yeah Dallas has weak big men i forgot, wait didn't dirk go for 44? And if you are so confident Petro is going to play next game then why has he yet to play? And did someone seriously say JR had one of his best games?!! I'll give the guy props for his effort and his rebounding last night but 1-14 is certainly not one of his best games. And finally, if anyone has paid attention to me in the past 6 months on this site (probably not) they would know that i have been one of the biggest supporters of GK, so lay off mr anonymous

by Zachm219 on Jan 14, 2009 2:07 PM MST reply actions

This game (and the Pistons game) show how vulnerable the Nuggets are without Carmelo. It is extra important that Kleiza and JR Smith step up their scoring in these games, but these two players simply aren't as consistent with their scoring as Melo. Sure, Melo can be streaky at times, but he's had what, one sub-10 point game in the past 3 seasons? We would have had no chance in the game if it weren't for Chris Andersen, his 10 rebounds (7 offensive), and that half court shot at the end of the third quarter. For the Nuggets to win without melo, the bigs have to pound the glass harder and Kleiza and JR have to help spread the floor on offense. Not an easy task, and I think this just shows more than ever that, while we are capable of doing all this, Melo does it at a much higher level of efficiency and consistency. The Nuggets have been missing that these past two games, but we still scrapped together at the end for the W.

by Anonymous on Jan 14, 2009 3:31 PM MST reply actions

Zachm look at the + - JR was +7 which was the best on the floor.
Also wtf, Petrov is 7 feet tall he is a fucking center. Dirk is A Forward.

by Anonymous on Jan 14, 2009 3:42 PM MST reply actions

i was the guy that said JR had one of his best games because he did. like anonymous said his +/- was great. i am beginning to wonder if balkman has a lingering injury. at every game he always sits on a ball at the end of the bench. i dont know if that is an attempt to strengthen a groin or something but that may be why he doesnt play because it is idiotic that he doesnt play. i have no idea just throwing that assumption out there to see if anyone else possibly has some light they could shed on all our confusion as to why he doesnt play.

by bring back rauf on Jan 14, 2009 3:58 PM MST reply actions

KarlSucks said...
The timeout bonus is my theory for why Karl refuses to use his timeouts. I think his contract has a clause that gives him a bonus for unused timeouts. That's the only rational other than sheer laziness I can come up with.

--

LOL

I wonder if he also gets a bonus for how many cough drops he sucks on.

Was Birdman's 3 at the end of the 3rd? Man, I must have been more tired than I thought last night.

I think JR had a good game, he just didn't shoot well. Yes, I realize that's his main role, but at least he contributed in other ways and didn't do too much damage while he was in. Shooters are supposed to shoot through the dry spells, so I think he did what he was supposed to.

I think that even though they were off they are tired because of the (non) rotation. We're not using enough people, imo. Balkman should be playing.

by Do We Have Any Plays? on Jan 14, 2009 5:12 PM MST reply actions

Denverson - Weems is in the D-League, thats why he isn't getting any time.

Karlsucks - I love what you said about Karl being insecure and a looser blaming everyones else for his problems, it is so true.

First off, I hated the way the game ended last night. It was such a great game up to that point and to end on free throws was extremely frustrating even though we won. It really made it bad when on the ESPN game chat room there were all kinds of loosers comming in when they found out how it ended just to criticize the NBA about how the league has no "integrity", and my point in return was that we have had one big blunder and that was Danaghy, but otherwise the league has been just as clean as any other, it just sucks because Danaghy could have been in any major sports league it just happpened to be the NBA. It really pissed me off because there were all kinds of baseball heads there saying bs like "baseball is the best sport because it has kept it's integrity through all these years". What? Baseball has been ten times worse with the steroids era and Roger Clemens, you can't say that was any worse than Danaghy. Then they wanted to argue that in other sports calls and refs don't decide the games like they do in basketball which was also bs. I see calls all the time in football that you could say decide games. What about a few weeks ago on 3rd down in OT of the Colts Chargers game when the ref called holding, that was just as bad as any call made in the NBA and it decided the playoff game too. And baseball, those guys were the biggest hipocrites, every single freakin play in baseball is up to the ref to decide (balls or strikes) and you are telling me that the NBA is bad because the refs decide the games, give me a break. Anyways, when I saw the replay it was clearly a foul, so you can't blame the refs too much.

There were a few things I did notice last night though that kind of blew me away. First off, we let Dirk go to the line 7 times last night. Ok, when someone is a 90% free throw shooter the last thing you want to do is foul them, yet here the Nuggets were fouling him every time he touched the ball. Karl called a time out when Dirk went to the line after about 3 or 4times and I figured he would adress the situation but nope, the Nuggets came right back out, kept fouling him and eventually K-Mart fouled out. The other thing I noticed is that JR actually played smart last night, for the first time...ever? Yeah, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn but he knew it and created other oppertunities for his teamates which I am sure Karl noticed. Hopefully he and Karl are getting on better terms.

by Goldennugget on Jan 14, 2009 6:09 PM MST reply actions

Hey Andrew, good idea about the preview things but you should consider adding a chat box to your site. I don't know if you know what it is but if you don't it is basically a litttle box that allows you to post instant messages on your websites homepage. It is easy to get and other blogs have them, like needforsheed.com. Here is the link to the webiste where I have got all of mine http://www.cbox.ws/ It is really easy and if you need help setting it up I might be able to help out, although I admit I am not the best with them, but I kind of know what to do. Anyways, just an idea. It would save you having to type the preview for every game.

by Goldennugget on Jan 14, 2009 6:24 PM MST reply actions

Well I for one am happy. I scored tickets for the Nuggets and Phoenix calling the fan tonight.

Yeah baby.

by markp on Jan 14, 2009 7:28 PM MST reply actions

Look here, karl does suck!
The fact that he is playing a 8 man rotation and should be playing a 10 man is ludacris. He needs to play balkman and petro. Especially Balkman in the 3rd quarter when they are leading. Balkman wouldnt let these easy baskets happen, he'd put someone on their a$$ first. thats what they need when kmart comes out, not kleiza that runs back to the offensive end to spot up for a 3 and raise his hand! Dont get me wrong, i like kleiza but karl is infatuated with him. Think long term they play a 10 man rotation now and keep their minutes down, when the playoffs start they wont be fried. As is just the opposite.

by BrIcKLaYeR on Jan 14, 2009 7:41 PM MST reply actions

Does anyone else wonder why George Karl refuses to ever call actual plays? Denver time and time again ends up with terrible shots because they have no plans offensively. All of you wondering why George doesn't use all his timeouts....he does NOTHING when he actually takes them. When Karl takes a timeout he reminds me of me, back when I worked maintenance at a golf course. I would drive a cart around looking extremely focused, or like I was about to do something extremely important, but in reality I was doing nothing. Karl always has this look on his face like he is about to do something with his timeouts, and then he does nothing. Billups coaches the team much more than Karl does. I think he should be getting paid the coach's salary.

by Adam on Jan 14, 2009 8:57 PM MST reply actions

Adam,

So that's what that look is about! I thought he was constipated...

by KarlSucks on Jan 15, 2009 10:04 AM MST reply actions

Anybody else see the Cuban JR Smith spat, I didn't catch it game tie but there is a good article on ESPN.com about it. Cuban is such a joke

by Zachm219 on Jan 15, 2009 11:58 AM MST reply actions

Yeah I guess Cuban came up to JR at half time and said something like "I saw that elbow you threw at my player, and I plan on sending the tape into the league and I plan on you getting suspended, but no offense I just wanted to let you know." I guess JR blew him off and then Cuban started talking trash to Chauncy too. Then after the game obviously everyone saw the profantiy comming from Cuban's mouth and according to Cuban it wasn't directed towards the refs for the bad call, but rather towards someone else (Im guessing our players). Then after all this JR sends a pair of signed game shoes to Cuban for what ESPN said was a kind gesture, but I wouldn't see it that way if I was Cuban. It's not like Cuban would give a damn about JR Smith, especially after they had a dispute, he has one of the best players to ever play the game in Nowitzki on his team, if he wanted a pair of signed shoes from anybody he would probably ask him or even Jason Terry for cryin out loud. So either JR is really dumb or really funny, I can't figure out which one but I am thinking he wasn't very sincire with the gesture so I am thinking it was supposed to be kind of a joke since we ended up winning the game, and he ended up not getting suspended.

by Goldennugget on Jan 15, 2009 1:00 PM MST reply actions

S. Weems is on the nugs roster right now we called him up from the d-league last week so denverson your right where are the mins we need to get all of these guys mins Weems Balkman everyone on the bench if we have another injury we will be screwed

by Sk8erp on Jan 15, 2009 1:08 PM MST reply actions

by Sk8erp on Jan 15, 2009 1:09 PM MST reply actions

Comments For This Post Are Closed

STIFF LIST (as of 4/26 by Andrew Feinstein)

1. METTA WORLD PEACE

Metta resorted back to Ron Ron last Sunday by clubbing James Hardenwith an "inadvertent celebratory elbow", landing him a 7-game suspension. Apparently, changing his name didn't prevent NBA commissioner David Stern from overlooking Metta's past behavior problems.

2. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS

The 'Cats are on the verge of securing the worst winning percentage in NBA history. Given that the guy who runs the team - Michael Jordan - had previously drafted Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison, should this really be a shock?

3. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
The team that was supposedly built to overcome the lockout-shortened season managed to lose 7 of its last 14 games, ceding the Western Conference's 1-seed to the Spurs in the process. Their reward might be a first round matchup with defending champion Dallas.

4. BILLY HUNTER AND DEREK FISHER

With report after report coming out about NBPA union head Hunter's shady, nepotistic dealings and questions arising about Fisher's own role in dealing with NBA owners behind Hunter's back during the lockout, this off-the-court scandal could prove to be more exciting than the playoffs themselves!

5. STEVE NASH AND THE PHOENIX SUNS
The Suns are on this list for squandering the last few great seasons from Nash. Nash is on this list for his stupidly stubborn loyalty to a franchise as awful as the Suns.