It rained, poured in Phoenix (Nuggets/Suns recap)
by Nate Timmons on Mar 2, 2010 10:32 AM MST
in Denver Nuggets: Game Recaps
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What we know about this Denver team is that when they play up to their capability, they can beat anyone. But when things start to go wrong the snowball effect can be tremendous and the Suns took care of business last night, beating the Nuggets 101-85, in what was a truly ugly performance by the road team.
Against the Lakers on Sunday afternoon the game was a tale of two halves. Last night against the Suns it was just a tale of one good quarter, followed by three lousy ones.
In the opening period, Denver looked pretty good. Energy levels were up, Melo was being aggressive attacking the rim and the Nuggets looked hungry to erase a disappointing loss from the previous day. The Nuggets recorded 4 assists and got to the free throw line a couple times and after the first quarter the Nuggets were in control of the game and up 33-24.
Anytime you hold the Suns under 30-points in a quarter you have to be pretty happy with your team's effort. And to start the second quarter things continued to look good for the Nuggets. Denver pushed the lead with a quick 4-0 run to 37-24 and the Suns called a timeout to regroup.
Coming out of the timeout ... everything changed, the Nuggets had Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, Arron Afflalo, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen on the floor and this group has played together before, but you couldn't tell that last night. The Suns utilized a zone defense as the Nuggets had been attacking the paint at will and something about that zone completely threw Denver off their game.
Denver's next seven possessions would result in missed shots and turnovers (even a missed dunk by Nene) and a scoring drought from the 6:46 mark until Afflalo hit a three-pointer at the 5:09 mark would see the Suns go on a 16-0 run and take a 40-37 lead. That was probably the most frustrating stretch of the season and turnovers were happening so often that I even lost the remote control to my roommate who proceeded to try to watch the season finale of The Bachelor.
Actually, Jake's decision to pick Vienna over Tenley was just as ugly as the game last night, but that's neither here nor there.
Denver went into the half down 57-44 after surrendering a 33-11 second quarter. Watching that quarter was sort of like seeing your best friend get jumped and just beating to a pulp all the while you were left to watch in horror. Coming out of the break we learned that Chris Andersen wouldn't be able to continue playing due to his balky left knee.
The Suns came out and protected their 13 point halftime lead and never allowed the Nuggets to get back into the game ... which is weird because the Suns will let teams close the gap. The most interesting thing about the second half was finding out Chris Marlowe's nickname is "The Lion" because he had a great head of hair back in the day and Scott Hastings was known as "Super Sub," then "Super," and finally just "Soup." When the local announcers are talking about anything except the game at hand you know it's ugly.
Denver's road woes (14-16) continue and their lack of ball movement is still very puzzling in their losses. After the first quarter the Nuggets would only record 9 assists in the rest of the game and that is just unacceptable.
Hopefully these last two games where the Nuggets have basically fallen apart will stop, but for now the good teams in the NBA are giving the Nuggets as many fits as the sub .500 ones.
Photo courtesy of Max Simbron.
Views you can use:
- Although it's by just .006 of a percentage point because of games played, the Nuggets have surrendered the #2 seed to the Dallas Mavericks.
- Melo's free throw shooting in the month of February was an atrocious 69.7% (53-76) and it has now spilled over into March where Melo was 2-5 from the charity stripe last night (40%). Melo needs to get back to the 85%+ shooter he has been all season and he needs to do it quickly.
- Without Ty Lawson the Nuggets are missing their 6th gear. Lawson is a key member to the team and his change of pace factor makes the Nuggets special ... without him the Nuggets bench is rather bland. That speaks volumes about the rookie.
Check out Seth Pollack's take on Bright Side of the Sun (he has credentials and some good quotes from the game).
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons
Kenyon Martin photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski
Carmelo Anthony photo courtesy of Max Simbron
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I put up a fanpost at the same time as this recap got put up.
It’s not up yet, so I’m doing a fan post.
We can talk about effort, four games in five nights, the refs, whatever you want. When it comes down to it, this game was lost in the second quarter with decisions a high school coach wouldn’t make.
WHAT THE FUCK GEORGE KARL?!?!?!?!?!?
Non-Stiff of the night: Nobody
Stiff of the Night: George Karl
Sorry, George, I was trying to go easy on you, but you need to remove yourself from in game situations until you are better.
On the Lakers game, you trotted out the lineup of A.C., J.R., Afflalo, Birdman, and Nene. It didn’t work and should never have been tried- not enough offense in that lineup. Big contributor to losing that game. Okay, anybody can make a mistake once, and really you just gave A.C. the minutes Lawson would normally get.
In come the suns. First quarter arrives, and for some reason both J.R. and Birdman don’t come into the game at their normal times. Things are going good, maybe you are staying with a hot hand. Up by thirteen, and in comes the A.C., Jr., Afflalo, Birdman, and KMart lineup. Okay, the first time you did this was a mistake, but A.C. was not expected to play. This time is not excusable. At no point in this game should both Billups and Melo be on the bench at the same time. Again, no offense, and the suns make a run, cutting the lead to 6 with two free throws coming. Billups off the bench and all the fans are thinking, okay, here comes billups for AC to restore some order. A little late to fix the lineup, but okay, we’ve still got the lead at least. And Billups comes in for Birdman.
A FOUR GUARD LINEUP? REALLY? WHAT THE FUCK?!
Stunningly, the four guard lineup was terrible, and soon the game was over.
Most places of employment have what are known as “firing offenses”. Turning in an assignment late, you get a dirty look from your boss. Get caught banging a co-worker on your desk. Fired. The four guard lineup is a firing offense. You get a pass because of your current condition, but if it happens again, A.D. is now authorized to relieve you from duty immiediately. As in, in game, send you home.
I don’t know Karl, or how this treatment is affecting him. When my father was getting chemo, it slowed him down a lot. I think the same is happening with Karl, as evidenced by the late rotations of players and the weird lineups. I think Karl should still go to games when he can, but he needs to turn over in game duties to someone who is fully healthy. This is a difficult jog when you are 100%. Karl is now likely somewhere between 50 and 75% and that’s not enough. Take some time and come back when you are healthy, George.
Get caught banging a co-worker on your desk= getting fired?
That makes the office environment a whole lot less interesting than it already is.
I agree with your post though. Karl needs to just take some time off. We have Chauncey and one of the best coaching staffs in the NBA, I think we will be fine and it would be good for everyone if Karl took a sabbatical, again.
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
I agree in fact I posted last night
that GMK should take a leave of absence. His passion is to be in the gym however he could take a Doug Moe like position and be in the back ground.
melo's shot will drop eventually
but the best way for him to breakout of his slump is just let the game come to him. play solid defense, grab rebounds, pass the ball and his shots will fall eventually.
he had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals last night. good start.
OKC game will be big. 3 homes games before we hit a 4 game road trip. all games are winnable, just need to stay focused.
...
I know Nate doesn’t do the stiff of the night like Andrew does but Karl gets it. He should remain at home and resting for the next 4 weeks.
Can someone explain why Karl ran a 4 guard lineup as CancerSucks asks above?
Seriously. Who are we, Golden State?
That made no sense and only contributed to the snowball run that that Suns were on. The Nuggets beat teams with athleticism and bruising play and 4 guards is not how you do that. Nene was playing well inside and we went completely away from him. Nobody was driving or cutting, nobody passed, passes were lethargic.
A deserved loss and a disappointing one.
Swats.
by BeefySwats on Mar 2, 2010 8:52 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
No, I don't think they can
I’m a fan of both Pheonix and Denver and that lineup was the WORST idea to go against the Suns. Some teams you can really take advantage of with the extra speed and ball handling, but that kind of lineup takes away from Denver’s strengths and plays into Pheonix’s strengths. They can D up a 4 guard lineup very well. Not so much if you keep playing a bruising game and get your big guys in the paint.
I was pretty disappointed with the Nuggets last night. I’m a fan of both teams, so I don’t feel horrible (unlike the other night when my favorite two teams lost to my two most hated…Lakers and Spurs…UGH), but I don’t like seeing Denver not even being in the game at the end.
"Precipitation, which side are you on?
Are you on the rise? Are you falling down?
Let me know, Come on let's go, yeah
Got some if you need it!" -EV
4 Guard lineup = FAILURE
Seriously? What was Karl thinking? We’re currently third in the west now, but there’s still time to get it back. Worried? Yes. Anything can happen though.
I tell you one thing, not sitting out during the beginning of the season screwed Andersen this year. His knee never healed properly, thus, making him injury prone. Sure hope Kenyon’s knee doesn’t give out either…
anyone trying to dump OKC tickets?
If so, I’ll link you to my facebook page to send me a message.
And last night was miserable. Championship teams don’t have a one quarter collapse like last night’s second quarter, let alone 2 in just 2 weeks (4th quarter Washington). It was just a brick fest where Camby’s jumper would have been an improvement.
I have lowers available
Call me 7204045364
by The U.N. Fab Five on Mar 2, 2010 12:05 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
Time To Nut up or Shut Up!!!
The Lakers loss was acceptable but THIS!?!?! We looked horrible and I couldn’t watch the 4th. If this doesn’t serve as a gut check and wake up call then we are in trouble. Or we could just act like LA fans and say “Nothing matters until the playoffs” “In a 7 game series the Suns/Spurs/Mavs/Jazz/OKC/Whoever else that we choose to overlook in the regular seaon wont stand a chance” Blah Blah Blah. Lets finish out March strong! Here’s to a great season, a tight race to the finish, and finally landing that BIG MAN (Blount?)
Sounds like a broken record.
How many games have we seen like this in 2009-10…for easy reference go back to last time the Nuggets played Phoenix.
While the Lakers can afford to wait for the playoffs, based on the fact that they are comfortably ahead in the standings and have shown that they can win a championship, the Nuggets are not in that position. The Nuggets need the 2 spot and homecourt to succeed. For a team that hasn’t accomplished much, they are showing a surprising lack of urgency…especially when no playoff team in the west should be taken for granted…they are all very tough and most of them are playing very well right now. I think we need to get our focus off the Lakers and on to all of the other teams that we are competing with for the 2-8 spot.
FYI - is something wrong with Melo?
Elbow? Why can’t he hit FTs now?
FYI FYI
Do the Nuggets go after M. Finley?
He’s not the big that they need, but he can knock down an open shot. Never can have too many shooters in my opinion.
Not unless he can play point
If he can displace A.C., then I’d go for it. Otherwise, he won’t play.
I think he would be a good add
A shooting guard to teach JR how to become consistant. He isn’t going to get that from Melo and I think he looks at Melo as a guy to get drunk with not a mentor. Finley would be a great add for the stretch run and for next year to mentor JR.
proviso east high school maywood, illinois
doc rivers and mike finley went to the same high school. other players currently in the nba are shannon brown and steven hunter went to that same school. other people you may have heard of that went to proviso east are dee brown, anthony cotton, donnie boyce and jim brewer. there is no way the spurs would let finley go to the nuggets. this is a done deal- finley to boston.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
I would like to see Finely land with the Nugs
I’ve always appreciated his shooting ability, thought is’ a bit low these days.
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
lack of urgency
I don’t think we can put last night on the players lack of urgency. They started the game on fire and were up 13 in the second quarter when they were sabotaged by the coaching. It’s not on the players when the coach puts in a rotation with J.R. as the only offensive threat, and goes small and smaller against a zone when what you need to do is go bigger and attack the zone inside.
I am glad
Last night was the first Nuggets game of the season I didn’t watch. I am actually glad I didn’t from the sound of it.
I have to admit, I have lost quite a bit of faith in the Nuggs this year. I don’t understand the point in paying all the money to go to the games and planting my ass on the couch every game of the year when the nuggets don’t show up on road games. It’s almost like we swapped places with the 2008-2009 Utah team. We don’t need another big. We need a psychologist……for the whole team including GK. I do have compassion for anybody who has a condition, but that doesn’t make up for bad coaching decisions.
MY PREDICTION (and I truly hope I’m wrong here) We will tank the Northwest division and lose first round.
Not there yet
with losing in the first round, but it did occur to me. 5 and 5 in the last ten, and not looking good. We’ll need to see a few more losses like last night before I start to worry about the first round. I’m really hoping that this is a function of Karls treatment and he’ll get better when it’s over.
That said, reading “the book of basketball”, it wasn’t at all helpful to see Simmons call G.K. the most overrated coach in basketball and the cause of more game and series losses than anyone else. Not good.
Really?
Lawl, that’s hilarious. I pretty much agree with Simmons on everything. I need to start reading that book.
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
GN
If Simmons didn’t write it in his book its obvious and you know the deal. How many times have you agreed with AF defense of GMK just to go on to voice your displeasure with his efforts? Cracks me up
Not that many that I can recall
Andrew supported the one year extension, I didn’t. He thought Karl should have gotten the coach of the year last year, I didn’t. He thinks he should get a longer extension, I don’t (unless of course we beat the Lakers and make it to the Finals). I tend to agree with Andrew on a lot of things, similar to Simmons, but I don’t think I have ever entirely agreed with him on GK. I understand where he’s coming from though, but don’t confuse that with agreeing with him.
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
"I'm kinda grumpy today, dude. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was having those dreams again. Ya know, how it's just me in a castle and I gotta fight, like, a thousand wizards and the only way to beat them is to punch them as hard as I can in their faces. Then, when I'm done, all their little wizard wives came out and wanted me to have sex with them - which is kinda weird."
by GoldenNugget on Mar 3, 2010 11:11 AM MST up reply actions
Who Mr. Pessimistic
I agreed with your first part, but the prediction is just dumb. We aren’t going to tank the division, maybe we will lose in the first round but highly doubtful. I agree 1000% about the psychologist part though.
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
While we are at it
let’s tank the next 5 years and get 5 number one picks and start a dynasty that will last 20 years!!!!(sarcasm). No team 3rd in the West tanks games, that’s what losers do.
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
Nuggets suck
This is not a championship team, or even a a conference finals team. The Nuggets will be lucky to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
How lucky the Mavs are to have an owner who cares about winning, and who’s smart enough to make it happen!
I disagree that the Nuggets suck
however I do agree that there is a lack of commitment of the owner to the players and the fans.
No respect for the game
We continue to get toyed with on the road and wilt away at the first sign of adversity. First it’s the sub. 500 excuse now it’s a zone defense. Every year there is a pretending team that sneaks in as a playoff favorite and predictably gets bumped by a hungrier team or comes up with a convenient excuse to bow out. For the Nuggets, all it will take is one player out of the 8 man rotation to suffer a minor injury at the right moment in May. At that time there will be too many excuses to blame coaches and management, but the decision not to trust Graham or bolster the roster with help is costing us right now. We have the same roster we did coming out of training camp
Malik Allen and AC were filling in for the wounded yesterday and both fell flat on their faces. What I saw were 2 guys whose playing careers are over, a tragic comedy in the fight against father time. After this season both will be done with the Nuggets, and if we do have to see them come playoff time the series is as good as lost. JR deserves blame as part of the all-collapse unit as well, but he was the one player threatening to breathe life into a comeback if the Nuggets could find any fight in them. If this is our first line of defense against injury how can you defend coaching and management? Nuggets could have cemented their place as the second best team in the West on this trip. Now they’ve given up that spot and the margin for error is gone should they want to get it back. This team will be gassed heading into the playoffs with broken backs from carrying dead weight all through the season.
by runningdonut on Mar 2, 2010 12:05 PM MST reply actions 2 recs
sigh
I think this is dead-on, unfortunately.
by ParkHillNative on Mar 2, 2010 1:03 PM MST up reply actions
Ugh
I saw the first quarter before I had to leave the house. I checked the halftime score and was completely deflated. 11 points in the 2nd? How? Even when Denver was chocked full of scrubs and DL players they managed more than 11 points in a 2nd quarter. depressing.
From now on I’m only posting after wins. All of this negative energy is fuckin’ up my Chi.
Maybe birdman being hurt will force the issue… I hope SOMETHING happens since clearly Stone Hands won’t help us… and Tacos is only good for taco time not regular minutes that’s why he’s “tacos”…. AC should only be allowed to fill in SPARINGLY, as his play tends to be 50/50 good & bad
by InboundingLobPass on Mar 2, 2010 1:27 PM MST via mobile reply actions
AC needs a nickname in your post since you gave good ones to Petro and Allen
How about, WOAT? (worst of all time, opposite of GOAT)
"Jive turkey is a little over the line my man!"
i've got it!
From now on let’s call AC “Bad Anthony” since the good one is melo…
by InboundingLobPass on Mar 2, 2010 3:35 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
It wouldn't matter if Bird was out for the season
I highly doubt they would do anything. He’s been hurt all season and Karl didn’t do anything.
Zone Defense
The Nuggets couldn’t score against a zone defense?! There is a reason why NBA teams don’t run zone defenses…because most teams will shred a zone apart. If the Nuggets can’t figure out the Zone D, they will be seeing a lot more of it in the future. Figure it out!
Hanzlick has the remedy
That’s all he talked about on the post game show.
Which was?
You get massive fan points for watching the post game after a game like that. What did Hanz say is the answer? Him coming out of retirement to play?
I had to hear what Karl and the players had to say about this loss
Nothing about coming out of retirement.
Attack the zone and pass it to the open man.
the zone...
Melo played for boeheim at cuse where the ran zone almost exclusively….and boeheim again drilled him on the zone as an assistant on team usa….melo should be a zone busting basketball genius by now!
by porridgeorange on Mar 3, 2010 6:12 AM MST via mobile up reply actions
It's a case where you forget everything you learned when coming to the Pro's
Then again GMK has something to do with it. He’s the coach
As always, lack of focus and care hurt the Nugs
this team really gets pumped for huge games and usually plays very well, but I don’t think they see Pheonix as a major threat. I guess that’s good come playoff time but this lack of intensity in the regular season may lose home court starting round 2.
March 14, 2010: The great one returns!
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