Defense steals the show in Utah (Nuggets/Jazz recap)
Sometimes all you want to see out of your basketball team is effort. Tonight the shorthanded Nuggets had a defensive intensity that rivaled their best effort of the season. Playing without Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups ... no problem for Denver tonight.
The Nuggets had five players score in double-figures and were led on the night by Ty Lawson and his 23 points and 9 assists. Denver snapped their 3 game losing streak and their 6 road-game losing streak. I really can't say enough about the Nuggets effort tonight. The Nuggets defense was a harassing one and it led to 24 Jazz turnovers and 15 steals by the Nuggets.
Nene led the team with 6 steals on the night to go along with 22 points and he played his best defense of the season. Number 31 was active on the defensive end and was moving very well. Typically we'll see Nene pick up some ticky-tack fouls on defense because he is known to reach instead of moving his feet, but tonight he was playing the passing lanes and staying in front of his man. Hats off to his effort tonight.
Coming into the game I was very concerned with how the Nuggets were going to score points. There was a moment in the second quarter where the offense stalled just a bit and that is usually where Melo can carry the team for as long as he needs to. Tonight the Nuggets got points in a couple of ways ... first, they were attacking the rim relentlessly and second they were sharing the ball very well. Utah is not a team that can block shots and Denver's game plan and attacking style was perfect (especially on the road).
Joey Graham started in place of Melo tonight and Graham had a nice game. Joey started off going 3-5 from the field and was following his teammates' lead by going to the rim. He ended the night with 7 points and looked good in his role.
Lawson played up to the role of a starting point guard tonight. Lawson was scoring in the paint, hitting some jumpers and getting his teammates involved. Lawson's vision and control with his speed is impressive. Ty set up his teammates for easy dunks and completed some very difficult passes and lay ins in his 38 minutes.
I have not heard a home crowd boo as much as the Utah crowd was tonight. The fans seemed upset with the refs and perhaps the effort from their team as well. It was a great game for the Nuggets and it was all about their effort. If Denver could come out with this kind of effort every night they would be a lot better than 21-12 right now. The 105-95 win was very impressive as the Nuggets controlled the flow of the game with their intensity.
After seeing a win like this and the defensive effort that the team displayed I want to see more of it. Good teams will give you glimpses of great basketball and great teams will bring this kind of effort more often than not. As fans sometimes losses are okay if you feel like your team left all their effort on the floor and tonight the Nuggets played their asses off and earned a win. Best of both worlds.
1-0 in 2010.
Happy New Year!
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons
Photo courtesy of AP Photos Colin Braley
23 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
First!
Ty really impressed tonight!
GO NUGGETS
by InboundingLobPass on Jan 2, 2010 10:01 PM MST reply actions
Nice Write Up Nate, As Always
I have never seen such a balanced scoring spread this whole season. Nene played his second best game of the season (after last game, other than the steals) and everyone else who played had their best games of the season except for JR. If we can play like this for even 75% of the games, we can overtake everyone else for the second or maybe the first spot with Melo and Chauncey back. This game has gotten me all excited.
Stop getting worked up over the outcome of something you can't control.
~Anonymous
Time to Trade 'Melo?
We looked like a far better, all-around team without Carmelo tonight. He’s clearly not the MVP of the league; it’s highly debatable if he’s the MVP of our team. Is it time to trade him? Perhaps we’re better off without him…
Oh, yeah, I totally agree
Time for Melo and Chauncey to go. JR also, he didn’t play well today.
While we’re at it, let’s trade for LeBron, the real MVP, to be his replacement, I’m sure if we packaged Melo with JR and Ty Lawson we could get him.
Actually let’s just trade for the entire Houston Rockets roster. Their effort and hustle will definitely be a major improvement over “talent”.
by Uh on Jan 2, 2010 10:18 PM MST up reply actions
I had a feeling that some joker
would pop up with the trade Melo bs after tonight. Lets see how many of these Melo haters come out?
On a less crazy note…as usual the key was Nene. God…I wish he would play like this ALL the time. Kenyon was solid as ever, and Ty really was a spark. Great road win.
Yeah lets not start getting crazy
Yeah sure we saw some things tonight like lawson CAN score points when giving a starter’s share of minutes and Afflalo will contribute throughout the game if he is given the opportunity. But I think the team has a mentality to rely on Melo and after tonight’s game it is apparent that everyone else needs to come to play, not that Melo missing is out. The players knew they didn’t have Melo to rely in and no one was really sure who would fill the cup so it seems that they all gave a valiant effort tonight in spite of Melo, but I would say it was more because they realized they needed “accountability” (oh man at least McDaniels can inspire one denver team) from each and everyone of themselves.
Effort and Hustle Go A Long Way
Best win of the season, IMO. This is the kind of effort the Nuggs need to bring night in and night out. I really liked the way they played D and ran the court, with Lawson giving his best performance as a Pro. It’s amazing to me that players will ramp up the defense and hustle if they know they are going to get their fair share of shots on offense . .. (subtle message to Melo).
Great Win!!
Thread
Should be titled “No Melo, no problem” :).
Sometimes the stars need to sit out...
…so the role players quit leaning too much on the stars and learning balance and team ball instead.
two major reasons nuggets won
melo did not argue with the referees. melo did not try to shoot every time he touched the ball.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
Where was Melo tonight?
Just a minor injury hopefully. Nice win either way!
"But it doesn't matter what I do, what I choose. I'm what's wrong. This is fate" - Dexter season 4....I mean Lovie season 6.
what a diffrence passing the ball makes
great job by the nuggets tonight .they need to play like this every game. games like these are what you think of when it comes to nuggets basketball and who would of thought it would of come without billups and melo. this by far i my favorite win because they finally came out and played hard. ya it looked like they were getting alittle lazy about the 3 min mark in the fourth but they they won and you gotta love that. great job tonight nuggets lets keep it going.
Thank you nuggets
Did a pre-emptive face palm and didn’t think we could possibly score 100 without melo and cb. Everyone played D yes including AC. If JR can make this his “bad” game and not totally implode with suck we can become who we thought we were. Also we should get AA more involved.
by runningdonut on Jan 2, 2010 11:01 PM MST via mobile reply actions
interesting stats
the most minutes by any single player was lawson with 38. denver was out rebounded 41 to 31. kmart had a very solid game with the exception of his 3 turnovers. earl had a typical game. 1 for 8 from 3 point land and 3 for 5 from the free throw line. he shot 6 for 11 on his remaining field goals, got the ball to nene in a position to score and his 5 fouls shows he was active on the defensive end. the guard tandem of afflalo and lawson combined for 36 points. they work well together and it would benefit denver to have them come off the bench when billups returns.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
Consistent Theme: Nuggets Played Hard!
In reading the “blogs” around the net, the consistent theme is that everyone was impressed with the team effort/energy for 48 minutes. Key question for Karl and the team – - how do you give this same effort with Melo IN the lineup???
I’m not crazy and saying the Nuggs are better with Melo, but they showed a level of effort and energy that I have not seen a whole lot with Melo on the road. (Caveat: 4 days rest).
I'm one of the complainers
And so I just gotta stop in and say, I’m thrilled with this victory.
I was in Denver last week and got to see a few games on Altitude. Of course as soon as I’m back in the East Bay, they right the ship and play great.
I guess I better not watch any more games this year. :(
Did the Nuggets out-fundamentalize the Jazz? Somewhat.
There’s not much to add, but I did have a comment to illustrate something we were discussing previously about officiating. Early in the second quarter Nene poked the ball away from Okur and Lawson picked it up for a breakaway layup at the other end. Marlowe was ragging about how Nene was fouled on the play but there was no call. I say “who cares?” and the ref probably did too. The foul may have been by the book, but the play made it like in football when you have a penalty on the other team that you decline. The referee knew that calling the foul on Okur would be a disadvantage to the Nuggets so it was let go. This is something that officials consider in making calls. You wouldn’t want a robot out there that would have called that foul.
"Woohoo Denver, Yeah... All right Denver justify my love!" ...Homer Simpson
Good win without Melo and CB.
But let the crazy talk end. We won. Good game. Melo criticism can cease tho. Where was this team without melo? Not in the playoffs every year since he’s been here. Celtics won the other night without KG, Paul Pierce and Rondo. Are they better without those three and just Ray Allen running the show? Kings have rattled of a couple of wins/close games without Tyreke Evans. Would they be where they are at this point without him? Come on now get serious. Would this team had gone to the WCF last year without Melo? We need The Melo Man.
I'm all for Melo and his ability to assist
The Koby syndrome has engulfed Melo. He doesn’t trust his teammates. Now I can understand not trusting AC, however if he gets his teammates into the game with assists he can always get his.

by 















