Running, Gunning Nuggets (Nuggets/Celtics recap)

…against the “above .500’s.” Spurs, Suns, Jazz in the last couple of weeks? It’s nice to see the Nuggets get up against the big opponents a lot of the time, but I think they’re more than capable of pulverizing the lamer teams. I’d much rather be playing weaker teams down the stretch – especially when the #2 seed is still up for grabs.

The short rotation at C & PF is definitely a factor.

The ridiculously difficult schedule, with an absurd number of back-to-backs, is certainly a factor.

But I think the team’s mentality is a bigger factor than either of those. And spokenwar is probably right that it’s time to accept them for what they are, which is an updated version of last season’s Bad News Bears team. If they came out with focus and intensity as regularly as the Fakers do, they would be giving a serious challenge for the #1 seed right now, instead of just barely staying a fraction ahead for the #2 seed. But they’re not going to regularly have focus and intensity, because that’s not who they are. They’re going to get some more great, inspiring wins before this season is over, and they’re going to suffer some more stupid losses on nights when they can’t be bothered to produce an honest effort. That’s who they are, that’s how it’s going to go from here on out, same as it has all season.

Hilarious! Won’t let me link to this pic of Ed McMahon, but you get the idea.

It ceases to be your team when it consists of rented guns to get the ship, in my humble opinion.

Did anyone else catch how Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson expressed dissapointment that the league could okay the Jamison to CLE deal going down? In light of how both their teams in recent years benefitted from lifting out marquee players from bum franchises for next to nothing, the irony was overwhelming.

I’m glad the Nuggs are doing it with the same cast of characters and not going the NY Yankee route.

is one of the most athletic, physical, tough, and emotional teams in the league. That’s why we love them. Do you want them to win championships in a robotic, emotion-less fashion like the Spurs? No. I’d rather have them go down early playing like this, and I mean that. They are the most fun team to watch in the NBA.

 Everyone here damns the team for consistency. I’d say they’ve been pretty consistent all year long, beating the good teams, and struggling against the weak teams. It’s a strange consistency, but the pattern has been there all along. We all knew the Washington game was going to be a possible L.

 If it was the opposite, and Denver beat up the sub-.500 teams and lost to the good teams, no one here would be complaining about a lack of consistency, they would instead be complaining about a lack of talent.

The playoffs is all about getting hot at the right time. Denver went on a tear near the end of the regular season and it carried them through the playoffs. If the NBA title was decided by the best regular season record, then consistency would be huge. But playoffs change all that.

But… you have to worry about any team getting complacent and thinking they have the game in the bag. And I think this is a big part of the Nuggets’ troubles this season.

Of course they shouldn’t worry about Utah. Just like they shouldn’t worry about Minnesota or whoever. And the Nuggets come out flat, get embarrassed then beat a top-tier team a couple nights later and complain about how NBA pundits on TNT and ESPN disrespect the Nuggets.

I’m tellin’ you guys, it isn’t Denver’s lack of depth in the frontcourt that is the biggest issue going into the playoffs, it is lack of focus. But, as I said, I don’t expect that to be as much of a problem come April and May. I hope!