We pretty much dominated the Lakers Sunday for 3 quarters, but just like the playoffs last year we beat ourselves and ended up losing, barely. If we are just able to maintain a little more focus each game we would be in a totally different situation. I think Karl should take some time off. It’s clear when you put 4 Guards on the floor at the same time that somethings not clicking.

I think every March you have written a “sky is falling” post. Last year the Nuggets pulled through and got hot going in to the playoffs.

A little perspective is needed. The Thunder don’t scare me the next game because it’s at Pepsi Center, Neither do the Blazers who, while plucky, should be down 2-0 to the Nuggets if Chauncey were healthy enough to play the second half of the Christmas day game.

The Dallas slurping going on here is ridiculous. Dallas will always be soft as long as they have Dirk. Their offense goes through him. As long as that’s the case they will continue to be soft. Look at it this way….when Dirk get’s pushed around (thank you Kenyon) the rest of the Mavs (even with Butler and Haywood) will get out of sorts.

Denver has the tie breaker on Utah…so you add a game to whatever record the Nuggets have.

Phoenix is the only problem for the Nuggets outside of LA….because of the zone they play. They are the ONLY team that plays that kind of zone (and it’s only played by their second unit) and that clearly bothers the Nuggets. That is a big issue.

Things that need to be corrected:

1. Melo….for gods sake start passing out of these double teams. You’re starting to believe your own press and it’s causing turnovers. I’m not suggesting you shoot twice a game and get 25 assists like some people who post on DS do…but you are HURTING US when you try to run up against a brick wall

2. Chauncey’s shot selection the last two games has been piss poor. I know he will correct it and go with the flow…but he needs to start taking heat from people when he makes bad decisions.

3. Play Graham more. Why he wasn’t inserted into the game last night (till late) is really beyond me. He SHOULD be backing up Melo…that’s on Karl.

Other than that….lets everyone calm down. We were missing two of our energy guys (Lawson and Anderson for most of the game) and we LOOKED like we played 4 games in 5 nights.

If you guys want to call me naively positive go right ahead. I’m sick of this constant negative crap. Imma go down with the team.

if it means we lose a couple more games now as we experiment with expanding the rotation, thats fine….possibly graham to rest melo and keep size in at the SF position. playing johan “i have career performance against the mavs and then sit on the bench for the next 3 weeks” petro over malik allen to see what kind of energy he brings off the bench. or even going small and playing graham at the SF position. or going crazy and playing JR at the point over AC while Ty recovers.

but we really do need to expand the rotation to keep the players fresh.

maybe getting the 3rd/4th seed will put that chip back on our shoulder.

especially MARLOWE.

It’s time to call these guys out as Andrew did. Nuggets had such a golden opportunity. Pull those 2 wins out and we’re right behind the lake show and even more inside their heads than we are now. Split and you’ve done your job, and still standing pretty firmly at the 2 spot. Instead we blow 2 double digit leads in a row. Now, the margin for error is gone, Nuggets are comfortably under .500 on the road again and begging the rest of the league for favors to keep afloat in the playoff seeding. I wouldn’t call that an earnest effort. It starts with the franchise player, the ownership and the coaching gameplan that got us here. Is it time to panic? Not for us but the coaches and execs should start feeling a fire burning under their asses. We need a jolt and we need to get our shit figured out because the margin of error is gone.

but I can hear what you are saying loud and clear.

suns had 17 offensive rebounds. both teams took 77 field goal attempts. suns had 33 free throw attemps and nuggets 16. getting out rebounded by phoenix is like losing an arm wrestling match to your grandma.

 to playing that physical brand of bball. IMO we’re better when nuggs play with that chip on their shoulder. Other teams/fans call it thuggets, we need to get back to playing thugget ball then.

Good write up, Andrew. Spot on.

I love melo, and it hurts me to say it, but he is clearly a level below them. Last season Melo had his lowest scoring average in 4 years (22.8) and coincidently nearly got to the finals. We don’t need Melo to be a superstar. We just need him to be a good small foward. Go back and look at some of the Nuggets big wins. A lot of those games, Melo has 20-25 points and no more.

…That Melo has shifted into ‘Me’ mode. Though the advantage we have with the Melo, that few other teams have, is the potential to get to the line every time he takes the ball to the rack. It’s frustrating that he has to be reminded of this. Because he has nothing but to gain by doing it (scoring average, peronsal glory, wins, pussy, etc). That shows it, pretty obviously, as what it is, Laziness. (If only every game could be an all-star game). It kills me to say that ’cause I love Melo, and will continue to wear my Melo headband for every game, but when you watch a team for 50 some games, you start to see trends, good and bad. God bless League Pass.

However, this consistence is what separates him from the likes of a JR (for those that always bring up Anthony’s deficiencies in response to Smith criticisms), Honestly, I don’t feel that JR is a bad soul I want him do do well for us, (though he has killed one too many people for my taste) but paying this guy off and letting him go chill in da club, or whatever, might be a classic ‘addition by subtraction’ scenario. It’s absolutely killin me to watch this guy come in and start jackin up ill-advised shots at the worst possible moments, while we drop down more and more points. Straight up takin us out of games. He’s an insult to anyone who takes Smart Basketball seriously.

I spend too many games just watching Smith move about he court, surely stoned, as we surrender lead after lead. I hate to crib from Simmons, but it’s appropriate, his autobiography should be “My Bad” by JR Smith. This guy is the opposite of a championship. And a big answer to the question about why no one takes the Nuggets seriously. He makes it easy on ’em.

This season we haven’t seen the fire that we saw in last year’s playoff games. Some of that has to do with the fact that the playoffs haven’t started yet. I’ll keep drinking the Kool-Aid until April and we’ll see what happens. But if they haven’t transformed into the Thuggets by playoff time we’re all going to have a longer off-season.
Karl should have opened up the rotation about 5 months ago. His pledge to play Chauncey fewer minutes was tossed to the wayside in week two. With no LK, Graham should have garnered more minutes so that Melo could sit and not jack-up his elbow before February. Extended minutes have hurt Nene, KMart, Bird, Melo, and Chauncey.
Melo’s early season transformation into possible MVP material has been revealed as nothing more than the Emperor’s new clothes. While he has put together a number of good games, he has had just as many stinkers, and his average game is just that. In the Phoenix loss he had two turnovers while standing still, and his shot was blocked three times. Pass the damn ball.
JR and Chauncey both need to take advantage of getting to the paint. There have been an exhorbitant amount of times where JR or Chauncey has gotten to the rack only to pass off the ball to a big. I realize that in most cases that is smart basketball, except when you have an easy layup because the big’s defender stayed home. Why pass up 2 points to force the ball to a well-defended man? On the other hand, Melo needs to pass off more often when he gets to the paint – as the 3 blocks against in Phoenix showed.
But ultimately there is only one reason why the Nuggets aren’t winning. Effort. As everyone knows, defense is all about effort. It’s fighting through screens, following your man, or making the extra rotation. How do you beat the zone defense? Effort. You cut through the lane without the ball and force defenders to follow. You don’t stand around and pass along the three point line.
Denver needs to figure this out and figure it out fast. Of the remaining 22 games, 11 are on the road, 6 are back-to-backs, with 4 second-games on the road at Memphis, Boston, Dallas and Phoenix, and two second-games at home against Washington and the Lakers.