So much for that feel good story...

by Andrew Feinstein on Feb 7, 2009 12:30 PM MST

Nuggets/Nets Recap...

When previewing tonight's Nuggets/Nets matchup, I probably should have mentioned that of the Nuggets 16 losses entering tonight's contest, six were the result of playing their third game in four nights.

So much for 20-1 against sub-.500 teams.

When forecasting this road trip, both Denver Stiffs and this blog's readers h ad the Nuggets down for at least two losses: at New Jersey tonight and at Orlando on Wednesday. The problem was that after watching the Nuggets dismantle the Wizards last night, we were lulled into falsely thinking that the Nuggets would beat the Nets tonight.

There's no shame in losing to the Nets in New Jersey. This team has decent talent. What is shameful is the following...

...giving up more than 60 points to an inferior team for the second time in three games.

...scoring a season low 70 points, 11 less than the previous season low.

...allowing the Nets to come within one point of their franchise record 45 points for largest margin of victory ever.

...losing by 27 more points than the Nuggets previous biggest loss of the season.

A poor effort is always inexcusable and it was sickening to watch this game from start to finish. But the Nuggets were due for a bad loss against an inferior opponent (although not this bad of a loss). Let's just hope they don't make a habit of it.

Two feel good stories go head-to-head (Nuggets/Nets Preview)...

While I'll always be a Nuggets fan first and foremost and generally want the other 29 NBA teams to fail, every now and then there are other teams in the NBA that I root for.

The 2008-09 New Jersey Nets are one of those teams.

Before the Nuggets got into it, the Nets were already well into their cost-cutting phase, having turned an NBA Finals-caliber team (to be fair, during the Eastern Conference's weakest point ever) into a mediocre outfit over the years as they save money in advance of moving to Brooklyn. By the way, is that actually happening still?

Going into this season, the Nets ranked 27th in payroll and like the Nuggets, the national NBA punditry left them for dead (including me). With the exception of former superstar (and still All-Star in my opinion) Vince Carter remaining, the rest of the Nets were a collection of NBA also-rans (like Keyon Dooling, Eduardo Najera, Trenton Hassell and Bobby Simmons), first or second year players (like Ryan Anderson, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Yi Jianlian, Brook Lopez and Sean Williams) and young players yet to live up to their potential (like Josh Boone and Devon Harris).

But a weird thing happened on the way to the cellar of the Eastern Conference. The Nets played their asses off under head coach Lawrence Frank. Despite being injury prone, Carter has appeared in all 50 games and has been productive with 20.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 4.8 apg. Oh, and he's had a few game winners and game tying shots, too. Those first and second players are producing, too, including Anderson who's really heated up as of late and center Brook Lopez who was just named the Eastern Conference's Rookie of the Month for January (I feel bad for Nene already).

But the star of the season in New Jersey has been Devin Harris, and no one loves this more than me as I'm a career-long Jason (the poor man's Fat Lever) Kidd hater. And to think the Mavericks threw in two number one picks along with Harris to acquire Kidd last season?! Ha!

Nets' President Rod Thorn fleeced the Mavericks on that deal (just as he fleeced the Nuggets and, in the irony or ironies, Nets' GM Kiki Vandeweghe on the Kenyon Martin deal five years ago). The Kidd-for-Harris trade is what I call a "Double Whammy", meaning not only did the Mavericks get worse by acquiring Kidd, but they mortgaged their future to obtain him. The Kenyon Martin trade - as discussed ad nauseum on this blog - was once a "Double Whammy" for the Nuggets. But let's give credit where credit is due: K-Mart is doing everything he can this season to earn that max money (remember, he didn't offer himself the max contract, he just signed the deal). K-Mart could have gone the route of Darius Miles, Stephon Marbury and the many bad contracts before him and called it a career. Instead, K-Mart has taken personal responsibility for his health and his game, and it shouldn't be surprising that he was voted co-captain this season.

For the first time since he arrived in Denver in 2004, K-Mart should be at full strength when he plays against his former team at the Meadowlands tonight. It will be a match up of two of the NBA's best "feel good stories" from 2008-09. No one (except me) thought the Nuggets would make the playoffs, and now they have a shot at the second seed in the Western Conference. Similarly, no one (including me) thought the Nets would make the playoffs, and they could finish seventh or eighth in the Eastern Conference.

I'm sensing a close game in the swamp tonight. But thanks to the Wizards laying down for us last night, the Nuggets should be able to pull this one off.

Go Nuggets!!

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Comments

I like the young squad they're assemblin there in BK... errr Jersey. Aside from Chairman Yi perhaps. But we should be able to beat this team and if K-Mart's strep throat or whatever is over, it's gonna be a game filled with alley ooops for him I think.

But Andrew, your post seems like you're throwing yourself into the ring of sports journalists (you don't really want to go there do you?) and I'm not sure that "nobody" thought that the Nuggets would make the playoffs... is that true? I thought they would, as did many of us here (yeah, much lower than a 2 seed but whatever), so it seems like you're only referring to the "media" not picking us, which you're not really officially a part of just for having this site here, as much as it would be cool if you were.

Anyway, we all know the Nuggets are a force to be wreckoned with this year, and I agree that Opie has really worked magic with a team that you have to think a lot of other coaches wouldn't have been able to get to excel as much as he has... but sorry about his luck, he's running into the better of the two feel good stories of the year here, and I fully expect a win. A close one, but a win nevertheless.

by Eric K on Feb 7, 2009 2:01 PM MST reply actions

It was sad when every sports magazine and every article I read from analysts last summer discluded the Nuggets from playoff contention. Those asses. They felt that by trading Camby we gave up our only defensive asset and would thusly only place 9th or 10th in the west. These guys put the Jazz, Blazers, Rockets, Suns, Mavs, and Warriors ahead in the predicted standings. Granted some of those choices were acceptable "guesses" and didn't take into account injuries (Jazz) and trades (Iverson/Billups) but I think it was just more Nuggets bashing showing through.

by The Lark on Feb 7, 2009 2:22 PM MST reply actions

Eric - Who else would he refer to for preseason predictions? He wouldn't say "My grandma knew we were gonna make it". The media is where we go to get our news from and it makes the Nuggets success this year all the better by proving them wrong! I agree most everybody here believed we were going to make it and that we would be fine without Camby. It just goes to show how much the Media really knows. I loved how they would say stuff like "Now that Camby is gone there is no defense whatsoever", when in fact we are playing much better defensively without him. Not to throw him under the bus or anything, I love Camby, but it just goes to show how predictions are actually more like guesses

by Goldennugget on Feb 7, 2009 3:08 PM MST reply actions

Chairman Yi...greatest nickname in sports

by john on Feb 7, 2009 3:56 PM MST reply actions

Well it's mid 3rd quarter and I'm leaving to go see taken. Fuck this game.

by Anonymous on Feb 7, 2009 7:10 PM MST reply actions

We're down by 29 =______=".

by Anonymous on Feb 7, 2009 7:23 PM MST reply actions

This game not only suck balls, the Nuggets have no sportsmanship. How in such a short span of time can we look like a bunch of pathetic losers.
Here at the beginning of the 4th we should play all players who never get any ball time.
This game is worse than any bad game played last year.
Yeah all teams have off nights but not as awful as this.

by markp on Feb 7, 2009 7:33 PM MST reply actions

Cut em some fucking slack... It's 1 game.

by john on Feb 7, 2009 7:37 PM MST reply actions

44 point giveaway ?!!? Give 'em shit

by markp on Feb 7, 2009 7:55 PM MST reply actions

Honestly no disrespect John but this is a Nuggets team with a best W/L start ever in their history and this is what they dish out. I can't accept that.
I hoping for more-even in a loss.

by markp on Feb 7, 2009 7:59 PM MST reply actions

Well...at least Sonny Weems is consistent

by Zachm219 on Feb 7, 2009 11:13 PM MST reply actions

Karl is an idiot, why wouldn't you play your bench more, these guys were clearly gassed, yet Karl keeps playing them.

by Goldennugget on Feb 7, 2009 11:38 PM MST reply actions

I live in NJ, spent $100 on this game (plus parking, etc.) and boy do I want my money back. I can handle going to see the Nuggets lose, but they didn't even try - from the first quarter on. Nothing. George Karl owes me $100

by Anonymous on Feb 8, 2009 8:46 AM MST reply actions

Anonymous. You better get in line for your roll of quarters

by markp on Feb 8, 2009 10:02 AM MST reply actions

Mark P. doesnt know what he's talking about, nuggets are winning the championship in 4 against the magic.

by Alex on Feb 8, 2009 10:39 AM MST reply actions

hey Alex,

Have you had a sobriety test latley ?

by markp on Feb 8, 2009 11:33 AM MST reply actions

Sometimes people read posts the wrong way (either me reading Andrews, or Goldennugget reading mine), and sometimes teams just have off nights.

Chalk it up as such, don't forget about it, but be sure to move on and "wash it off in the shower" as Chauncey put it.

by Eric K on Feb 8, 2009 12:07 PM MST reply actions

Shyte happened.

Time to take it out on the Heat.

by JTR on Feb 8, 2009 1:02 PM MST reply actions

What we should have done was pull a Popovich, sat Chauncey, Melo, Kmart, and Nene. Let the young energetic bench guys hustle their asses off, and only lost by 8.

by john on Feb 9, 2009 6:27 AM MST reply actions

I called it, but damn I didn't want that. This game was disgusting. Now they get to rest up in Miami.(Typed with a hint of sarcasm)

I know from personal experience that a hangover + 48 minutes of game time = puke fest in the locker room. I just hope the boys don't party too hard.

by joelsopinion on Feb 9, 2009 10:39 AM 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.