Denver rebounds against Golden State (Nuggets/Warriors recap)
by Nate Timmons on Dec 1, 2009 11:38 PM MST
in Denver Nuggets: Game Recaps
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After a less than stellar first quarter the Nuggets woke up and dominated the Golden State Warriors in the second and third quarters to breeze to a 135-107 victory. Scoring in the paint, rebouding and sharing the ball all played major roles in the Nuggets earning their 13th win of the young season.
With the Warriors coming to town I was able to grab a nosebleed ticket to the game with my boy Rory and watch what I expected to be a high-scoring affair live. What I didn't anticipate was watching most of the game from the concourse in the Tuaca Chill Zone. Sneaking down to better seats at the Pepsi Center is a fairly difficult task ... even in the later stages of the game, but ending up in a luxury box - totally worth it.
The funny thing about watching the games live without stats readily available is you get the sense that a team is dominating in certain areas and when you see the actual numbers ... sometimes they are even more impressive. The key areas where I felt Denver was having success: scoring inside, rebounding (both ends) and assists ... numbers didn't lie.
The Nuggets outscored the Warriors in the paint 62-48, out-rebounded the Warriors 57-33 (18-10 on the offensive glass) and out-assisted the Warriors 30-15.
The most impressive numbers and the most impressive aspect of watching the game was the rebounding advantage. Denver was scoring on putbacks and earning extra possessions by putting in a little extra effort on the offensive glass. Consider ... out of the possible 41 offensive rebound opportunities the Nuggets were able to snag 18 of them or 43.9% of them. These numbers should not be a surprise as the Warriors are a very undersized team, but I applaud the effort and would like to see more of it going forward.
Another thing that I liked about tonight's game was that Denver seemed to recognize that jump shooting and shooting from three-point land was not the way to win against the Warriors. The Nuggets went just 3-14 from deep (21.4%), but limited their attempts and started taking the ball to the rack in a major way towards the end of the first quarter and throughout the rest of the game.
It was nice to see some alley-oops put down by K-Mart and Birdman and the home crowd ate it up as well. The Warriors did challenge some of Denver's attempts to drive the lane, but that didn't disuade the Nuggets and after they started finding some success they started to like it and went back for more as the entire team started getting in on the act.
The Warriors couldn't really stop anything Denver was doing because the Nuggets attack was a balanced one with seven players scoring in double figures. Ty Lawson had his jumper working early and knocked down a three, a long jumper, a runner in the lay after being inserted in the game. On the night the rookie was 5-7 from the floor and scored 13 points ... sort of a bounce back game for Lawson in the scoring department as he hadn't posted double figures since the Clippers game on Nov. 20th.
Chris Andersen continues to look better as he posted 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks in 21 minutes. In Maya Starks' postgame interview with the Bird he said he is finally feeling healthy and credited Steve Hess and Co. for getting his wings flapping again (or rather his knee feeling better).
I feel like the Nuggets did just about everything that I wanted them to do tonight ... they even turned the Warriors into a jump shooting team for long stretches of the game. While this was a nice win to right the ship, until the team can put together some consistent efforts over an extended period of time ... doubters will remain skeptical as the see-saw games continue.
Views you can use:
- Denver improved to 18-1 when teams travel for the second game of a back-to-back from the pacific time zone to the thin Colorado air (though I need to figure out the time period of this stat...)
- Vladimir Radmanovic is not "washed up" as I called him in my preview, but he isn't the same dead-eye shooter either. Rad-Man put up 17 points on 7-14 shooting (1-5 from downtown)
- The night after going for 45 points against the Pacers, Monta Ellis was held to just 15 points by Arron Afflalo and the rest of the Nuggets
Call of the night from the comments section:
- At 8:34 p.m. (mtn.) reader river-z predicted the Nuggets would score 135 points ... nice call!
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons
Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski
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wooo first, and i really have only one thing to say as it was I wasn’t able to catch this game (slow internet connections and the fact no one/bar in New Zealand gives a damn about Nuggets basketball is killing me right now) but just wanted to toot my own horn
In the comments thread I state “I wouldn’t sleep on Vlad on offense though, yes he’s not the same guy he was in Seattle but the guy has killed the Nuggets in the past.”
Told you Nate! Cheers, glad to see us get back on track, hopefully my net will be full speed come next game so I can actually watch it rather then the box score slowly upload every fifteen minutes on espn.com
Your connection
Was probably slowed down by everyone in New Zealand watching the Victoria Secret runway show. I can’t blame them either.
Great job by the bench
First of all Ty Lawson: 13 points, 5 boards, 5 assist. ZERO turn overs.
But that is the problem with statistics. The numbers don’t show how he pushed the Nuggets to solid, sustained run to pull away in the 2nd quarter. Hat’s off.
Andersen had a good game. And while Smith didn’t shoot the lights out — Denver didn’t need him to — he played in the flow of the game and had a couple nice passes to Nene.
Even the end of the bench played well. Petro had a — surprisingly — nice touch shooting the ball. It is worth noting his six rebounds in limited, albeit garbage, minutes. Nice to see Allen and Graham get some points as well.
I was also impressed by Petro
All i can go on is the boxscore though but i did see where he had 6 boards in 4 minutes as well as 4 points. I also saw where he picked up 2 fouls in 4 minutes. Still I can’t help but wonder if this guy should get a little more burn. I haven’t been overly impressed with Graham or Allen. Dont get me wrong, Graham is decent and probably better than Petro. But I wouldn’t mind having Petro out there for 6 minutes a game to maybe use his size to grab a few rebounds, block a few shots and pick up a few hard fouls. I could live with that. but then again, maybe i’m crazy for suggesting it.
I wonder how horrible Petro is in practice...
…in order to play only garbage minutes. I believe he’s a 7 footer and the only one we have. He should be able to get a few minutes to spell one of the bigs, even if he doesnt get a substantial amount of minutes.
by GottaLoveMelo on Dec 2, 2009 8:39 AM MST up reply actions
+1
Yeah i’m not asking that Karl give the guy 25 minutes a game or anything but if our second unit 4 is Joey Graham, I’d rather see Petro out there for sheer size. Him and Andersen can do some damage inside on defense and grab some much needed boards and Lawson and JR can have all the shots on offense.
The more I saw of Ryan Hollins in the two Minnesota games, the more I would have liked Denver to sign him over Petro.
But Petro is still very young and may develop in the coming years … (that’s my hope anyway.)
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
Yeah I've seen Hollins a few times
since I live in this frozen hell. Hollins is the one guy that brings constant intensity to the Timberwolves and I view him and Brewer as the two guys that play their hardest on every position. Hollins definitely has the Nuggets swagger and attitude. He would’ve been a good fit. but he also got paid a little bit more than Petro if I’m not mistaken. Also in some aspects Hollins and Andersen are kind of redundant parts. both slightly undersized centers who block shots and go to the rim for offensive rebounds.
Ya, Hollins is getting paid $2.1 million this year ...
$2.3 million next season and has a player option for the 2011-12 season for $2.4 million.
Too rich for Denver’s blood for the minutes he’d be getting here.
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
by Nate Timmons on Dec 2, 2009 11:24 AM MST up reply actions
it is a start
the good- rebounding the stat line AFTER 3 QUARTERS OF PLAY- team total= 43, guards=11, center-power forward= 25 and melo=7. that is normally the rebound totals from an entire game. denver got rebounding from every position. 56 rebounds for an entire game is the type of board work that will get denver into the finals. free throws- almost 88% and shot 33 attempts to the warriors 24. execution in the half court offense- 30 assists and only 14 3 point attempts. the bad- warriors scoring by quarters. 1st-28, 2nd -27, 3rd-29 and 4th 23 points. generally holding an opponent under 25 points is good defense. warriors are a high scoring team but they were playing a back to back game.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
Birdman interview...
I wasn’t able to watch the game tonight but got home just in time to see the players leaving the court and catch Birdman’s interview. I, too, heard him give credit to Steve Hess and his staff for getting him back on his game. Wish I could have seen the 5 blocks, and 14 points from Anderson. Nate, you didn’t mention Melo in your recap so I’m wondering how many points he put up tonight of the 135? From Birdman’s interview and your article it sounds like a team effort this time – glad to hear it!
Get a Tivo!!!
The only way to watch a game, or tv at all anymore. What’s the old saying, Once you’ve gone Tivo, there’s no going back. Just wait until about an hour into the game, then fast forward through all the commercials and halftime. At halftime, you just keep going until you see one of the assistant coaches talking, then bam, it’s back to the game.
Birdman looked great
Solid win, except for the horrible first quarter. I watched it here in the East Bay. The local announcers wouldn’t stop going on about the Nugs’ 18-1 record when hosting teams that played in the Pacific time zone the night before.
Good chuckle during garbage time: AC hit a jump shot and one of the announcers says “He’s always been a really dependable backup point guard.” Okay, you guys want him? Give AC credit, though — he was on fire during those garbage minutes!
Good to see Birdman playing with a lot of hustle & energy.
I wish the game against Miami on Thursday could be this easy.
fun game to watch
i loved billups passes to kmart and bird, rlly woke up the crowd… then melo had a good night, nene was dominate, bird looked like a bird, ty really does great playing with the starters, especially billups, good on ellis by AA, kmart good energy…. at one point we played bird, aa, jr, ty and billups…. thats 4 guards, i know the warriors do this but i was rly suprised to c it.
garbage minutes?
what really impressed me was the way the team finished off the game. instead of run-and-shoot, they actually played basketball. I have always thought that those seemingly wasted minutes would be a great time for our bench unit to to operate like starters – passing the ball; running the floor; and even playing some defense.
maybe even george would have said that they, “respected the game…”
Nene
Fun Fact: A nene is an endangered goose in Hawaii. There are signs all over to be careful of the nene.
Watching last nights game, we saw what nene should be – a 20-10 player. Admittedly, he won’t get to play against Mikki Moore every night, but he should look like that every night. I think they should start running the offense through him the way the Lakers used to run through Shaq. Throwing it into him on the post makes everyone’s job easier. He either gets a good shot (leads the league in dunks) or hits a cutter, or can pass out to melo for my favorite shot, the screen/handoff for an easy jumper.
Why doesn’t the team run more pick and roll?
Given the stastistics, I think Nate should have to do all game previews until the team loses again!
Tied for the best start in team history. Go Nuggets!
Remember
In the offseason when people were throwing out Mikki Moore as a possible “fix” to our big man issues? What a riot!
Well, this is boring...
I’m going to go over to the Suns blog where their fans are no doubt freaking about a 30 point loss to the Knicks.
Just kidding, nice game.
A note on the comments
Everyone who has been posting the negative “our season is already over/this team is no contender” comments are nowhere to be found. Hmmmm? C’mon guys, have a slice of humble pie. And in the future don’t react so quick to a bad loss.
Very nice watching the Nuggs put together a complete game. Let’s hope it continues to improve. GO NUGGETS!!!!!
Agreed...
It’s sad that the losses drum up so many more comments than the wins. If you look at the site historically, big wins – like against the Lakers, Celtics, etc – seem to get lots of comments but “expected” wins (like last night) just don’t get a lot of buzz unfortunately. Great recap by Nate!
Andrew Feinstein | DenverStiffs.com | denverstiffs@gmail.com
by Andrew Feinstein on Dec 2, 2009 9:07 AM MST up reply actions
Exactly
The Nuggets played an injured team that played back to back.
Any thing other than a win would have sent this site through the galaxy.
I admit
if they dropped last night’s game, I may have had what psychologists refer to as a complete and total loss of all brain function.
by Joelsopinion on Dec 2, 2009 11:30 AM MST up reply actions
I blame it on the economy
Just like everything else
by Artimus Mangilord on Dec 2, 2009 9:33 AM MST up reply actions
So to say something positive
I love watching Melo or JR go off, I do, but there’s nothing like having the whole squad on board to hand out an old-fashioned shellacking. Great effort from everyone, but really loved watching Lawson control the ball.
by Artimus Mangilord on Dec 2, 2009 9:44 AM MST up reply actions
Okay then
I’ll go ahead and say it: the Warriors had a game in Oakland the night before, arrived in Denver at 3:45AM, and I think they only dressed 8 players.
I’m glad the Nuggets won and everything, but this win’s nothing to be too excited about.
If they play well and beat the Heat tomorrow night, I’ll be very pleased.
by ParkHillNative on Dec 2, 2009 11:15 AM MST up reply actions
Word
This game was about diddly squat do me not. (Expected win)
Tomorrow’s game will prove weather or not if the Nuggets did their due diligence.
GK’s rotation should be down to a science now although an eight man rotation is demanding on the players. He should expand it to ten or eleven.
He should know that you call TO to slow the opposing team’s momentum and you might want to get a tech to motivate your players.
You don’t play 3 pg’s etc.
Tomorrow will give the Nuggets an idea as to what they are
rotation
I’m happy with the current rotation because we all know who the next man off the bench would be – A.C. Plus, there have been several blowouts where the starters have been able to sit all or most of the fourth quarter. Now, if dreams were to come true and they acquired a true center somehow, I’m all for expanding the rotation, but not if it means bringing in A.C. off the bench.
And how about that four guard lineup yesterday? Good thing it worked or I’d have been screaming bloody murder about Karls idiotic substitutions. It was crazy to watch.
Go team...
I was very critical of Denver following their loss to Minnesota. It wasn’t your typical road loss following a back-to-back. Sure, it wasn’t a “must-win” but the thing about early games is that when you win the games you are supposed to win early on you don’t have that sort of pressure late in the season.
A loss to a 1-15 team is a good reason for Coach Karl to be critical of his team. And I think fans like me have just as much right to react strongly to such poor effort. It definitely feels betters on days after a win. And it makes losses like Sunday’s seem more of an aberration when the Nuggets played like they did last night.
But, just as I was quick to be critical, I was equally quick to praise. I call it like I see it, good and bad.
Fair enough then
I just can’t be one of those fans. I honestly can’t harp on the negatives surrounding something that I have so very little control over. The roller coaster ride of season can be fun, but I don’t have a heart condition and I’d like to keep it that way. Besides you heard Arti, it’s all the economy, and those damn Stone Cutters holding the team down on certain nights.
by Joelsopinion on Dec 2, 2009 11:28 AM MST up reply actions
Under the Bus
Gk threw his team under the bus when in fact he was as much to do with the loss as was the team for the poor production
He knew the problem of the team yet he failed to correct it. And just because you win against an injured riddled team is not an indication that the teams problem is solved.
Lucky call
Thanks for the shout-out Nate. I thought it might be a highscoring game, so i hazarded a guess and scored.
by river-z on Dec 2, 2009 9:40 AM MST via mobile reply actions
Artest
Did anyone hear Ron Ron’s statement about drinking during Bulls games? That guy is a box of rocks. I’m very happy he is a Laker and not a Nugget.
Yes
That was the funniest thing I’ve heard this week. “I would keep it in my locker.” “I’d just walk over to the liquor store near the arena before the game.” This guy is classic. If he’s serious about becoming a boxer after his NBA carreer I’ll watch every pay per view.
by Joelsopinion on Dec 2, 2009 11:21 AM MST up reply actions
Punching Bag...
While I actually think that Bron Bron could probably make a little noise in the NFL because he is a pure athlete with speed, strength, size and intellect, Ron Artest will be a punching bag if he chooses to become a boxer. Jim Brown tells a GREAT story about Ali and how he privately pulled Brown aside to try and talk him out of all the fight rhetoric. Apparently Ali tapped (with the pads of his fingers) Brown in 20 different spots on his face before Brown could even raise his guard and told him that he admired him far too much to damage him in the ring the way that he knew he would. Needless to say, the talk of a Brown/Ali fight ended and the two became fast friends.
It is hard to put a price on what I would pay to see even the worst heavyweight knock out Artest…
Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
by Big Mickey D on Dec 2, 2009 11:32 AM MST up reply actions
Free
Fox would be the kind of network to get Artest and Ben Wallace in the ring. I’m thinking an undercard of Carlesimo vs. Spreewell; dude needs cash to feed his kids (literally).
by Artimus Mangilord on Dec 2, 2009 5:19 PM MST up reply actions
hahah...Spreewell is an idiot...
for choking his coach and that dumbass comment
by GottaLoveMelo on Dec 3, 2009 9:11 AM MST up reply actions
artest is a pretty tough guy
i bet he could break somebody’s fist with his cheekbone.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
He also admitted to marajuiana use ... wonder if the league will suspend him?
Probably not since he’s a Laker and all … right? Right?!
“When I was a 19-year-old father, whew. I was a single pimp! I was wild,” he told the magazine. “A lot of marijuana and alcohol — even before [that age]. … I [still] party and I have fun, but not like I used to. I used to drink every night and party every night.”
Link.
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
by Nate Timmons on Dec 2, 2009 11:27 AM MST up reply actions
Please!
He probably buys from Phil. Why else do you think he’s so Zen, and he’s put on so much weight? The munchies Nate…the munchies. Odom is selling candy on the side too.
by Joelsopinion on Dec 2, 2009 11:33 AM MST up reply actions
Ha ha ha! Phil is pretty "Zen" these days and even in his playing days!
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
by Nate Timmons on Dec 2, 2009 11:39 AM MST up reply actions
I was watching CU basketball shellack San Francisco
But it looks like I missed a solid game. It’s good to see that we rebounded not only physically but mentally like I hoped we would. The box score makes it looks like the bigs played really well.
And even better news, the Blazers just dropped their third straight.
tic tac toe
Saw the Blazers dropped three in a row. I’m hoping that with such a young team this is really rattling them.
by Artimus Mangilord on Dec 3, 2009 12:16 PM MST up reply actions
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