Bucked by Milwaukee... (Nuggets/Bucks recap)

One picture is worth a thousand words to describe the Nuggets' effort tonight:

After a double overtime victory in Sacramento and traveling to the Pepsi Center, there are no excuses for our Denver Nuggets' loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.  Coming off a day of rest and the Bucks on a back to back, selfish one-on-one basketball and some truly horrific shooting doomed the Nuggets.  Count this one squarely in the "bad loss" column.

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Pregame - Good to see the top 10 plays of the week and all those dunks from JR and Nene.  Even better to see Ty Lawson in shootaround and hopefully in the game!  The Bucks allow only 96.3 points per game (good for 7th least PPG in the league), have gone 13-3 since the All-Star break, and average margin of victory has been +10.7.  Yikes.  Denver is 3rd in PPG at 107.7, behind only Golden State (2nd) and Phoenix (1st).

1st Quarter Notes:

11:36 - A solid defensive rotation for 20 seconds and we get a wide open Jennings three.  It doesn't matter though, as Chauncey comes right back with his own on the next possession down.

10:35 - Nice assist by Melo to Petro.  Could we be seeing the softening of Petro's hands, finally?

8:30 - A slow-footed Nene rolling to the basket leads to a blocked Billups layup, turnover and layup on the other end.  Meanwhile, Melo is getting baseline all day.  No answer for him from the Bucks.

5:51 - Petro's active defense leads to a turnover and 2nd foul on Bogut.  Can't say enough about Petro's effort lately.  Chauncey's first 3 after missing ten in a row!

4:40 - Three fouls on Petro.  Looks like we'll be seeing extended Bird minutes tonight.

1:28 - Melo may have broken something in his wrist on a play where it appeared his hand got caught in a jersey.  On the bench with Jim Gillen Melo is clutching his hand in what looks like extreme pain.  UPDATE: Sprained middle finger on left hand, expected to return.

Good first quarter from the Nuggets.  The Bucks can't possibly continue to shoot 70%, can they? Chauncey with 11 points and being very aggressive.

2nd Quarter Notes:

12:00 - Still no Ty Lawson!  He's available, when will we see him?

11:15 - Luke Ridnour looks like a leprechaun in the Bucks' colors.  JR with a pretty but meaningless windmill dunk after Ridnour picks up his second foul.

9:45 - Bird's 500th block on a Jerry Stackhouse wearing cement shoes, apparently.  Melo returns to a very relieved crowd.

6:45 - BEAUTIFUL feed by a baseline-thundering Melo to Nene for a dunk right down the middle.  Bogut picks up his third shortly thereafter.

3:30 - Pretty play by Melo.  Dribbles behind his back and around his waist for an easy layup after a long outlet pass from Nene. 

1st half impressions:  The Bucks shot a very respectable 47.7%.  For a team that got in last night at 4:00am, they sure aren't playing like it.  While the Nuggets were able to muster only 8 assists and missed five freethrows, they take a 1-point lead into the locker room at the half.  On the flipside, the Bucks have to be concerned about their foul situation: Jennings, Bogut and Ivey all have 3.  The Nuggets HAVE to take advantage of the Bucks fatigue to open the the 2nd half.

3rd Quarter notes:

11:08 - As Afflalo thieves the ball from the left elbow and gets fouled on the fast break, I idly wonder if his layup attempt would've been blocked anyway.  AAA has gotta learn to finish on the run.

9:28 - More offensive rebounds on that single possession than I've seen all year from the Nuggets.  Unfortunately Afflalo's shooting slump continues after shaking his defender.  0-2 in 17 minutes, though he does have 2 steals.

8:30 - How many more offensive rebounds will it take for the Nuggets to realize that after a block or a box out, someone actually has to collect the ball?

6:45 - The Nuggets look sluggish.  For a team on a back to back the Bucks are frustrating the Nuggets' offense expertly.  Melo is jawing and nobody is staying in front of the ball.

5:35 - A 16-3 run to start the third and AD calls for time.  Ty Lawson time, anyone?  The Nuggets need a spark and we know he can give it.

3:08 - Bird and AC come up with a steal leading to another Bucks foul and freethrows. 

Timeout - We've discovered the reason for the Nuggets' sluggishness: March Madness interrupting Chauncey's naps.  Damn you, Robert Murray!

3:00 - Melo makes a circus shot, and JR with a fastbreak dunk.  Carter's still a great catalyst for Nuggets offense.

1:30 - Denver's jumpers finally start falling against the Bucks 2-3 zone.  Teams seem to have figured out that if they can keep the Nuggets stalled out for 4-5 minutes in a zone they can build a big lead and force the Nuggets into bad turnovers and fouls. 

0:31 - Finally, some offense from Bird and Melo.  Great boxout by JR nets the last shot.

0:03 - Bird's tipdunk misses, but a great effort to close tied 76-76.  Hopefully the Bucks fatigue begins to play a role in the rest of the game, because the Nuggets are struggling.  JR's game seems to be on, so look for the Nuggets to go to him early in the 4th.  Melo can keep cutting to open up the zone.

4th Quarter Notes

11:45 - Bird's 501st block to open the fourth.  good runs start with defense.  The entire bench is in right now with Carter, Bird, Graham, Tacos and JR.  I hope AD knows what he's doing.

10:45 - JR's offensive rebound off a dead duck from Carter for 2, but it doesn't matter as Salmons strolls into another 3.  The Bucks are shooting a very respectable 45% (9-20) from downtown.

9:10 - If you're wondering how the Nuggets have only managed to score 80 points by this point in the game, look no further than the anemic 12 assists they've put up as a team.The Nuggets are now down 3, potentially four, after Carlos Delfino's and-1 on Nene.  Whatever confidence they had against the zone has evaporated.

7:51 - The Nuggets have responded with a zone of their own, forcing Ridnour into a turnover.  Down 4, the Nuggets need some offense. 

Nene responds and stuffs the ball into the side of the rim.

6:48 - Down 6 and Chauncey fake-and-rakes Delfino into his 5th foul on a long 2.  Chauncey freakin' Billups.  The guy responds when you need him.

5:55 - The assistant coaching staff needs to ban eating cotton candy before games, because the Nuggets fingers are just sticky.  They've missed at least 5 fingerrolls right at the rim.  The latest, Chauncey's on a fast break, lead straight into a Nuggets turnover and foul.  Still sitting on just 12 assists.

Timeout - No Ty Lawson tonight.  In a close game, that is a good decision by AD.  Were this a blowout he might've seen some garbage time, but he needs to practice more before he sees significant minutes again.

4:27 - Denver can't score but Milwaukee can't either.  Down 5.  At 9-23, Melo is having a tough shooting night. A foul nets the Nuggets 30th and 31st FT and  cuts the lead to 3.

3:40 - Nene plods through the lane and gets an offensive three seconds.  If you want a good mental image of the Nugget offense tonight, picture a blind snail on Quaaludes.

As I type that, Carmelo fails to see a wide-open Birdman rolling to the basket, followed by two missed jumpers off the offensive glass.

Timeout Milwaukee.

1:59 - Carmelo strips Salmons for a dunk, then fouls Mbah A Moute on the other end.  Down 3.

1:58 - Salmons commits probably one of the dumbest fouls of his career by running into Chauncey before halfcourt.  Chauncey hits 2 and cuts the lead to just 1.

1:28 - Chauncey and Melo have 29 apiece.  38.8% shooting for the game.  Horrific.

1:14 - A complete defensive breakdown results in a wide open Ilyasova layup.  4 point lead for the Bucks after a turnover on Melo.

37.3 - Thomas flops himself into 2 FTs.  Nuggets down 5.

21.2 - Melo misses another layup.  At 10-27, Carmelo just took (and missed) too many difficult shots.  Delfino misses two FTs to give the Nuggets some last second life.

Missed jumper from JR Smith.  Game.  102-97, bucks.

Postgame thoughts:  A bad loss right before one of the longest road trips of the year.  For as indomitable as the Nuggets have been at home this year, they looked very mortal tonight.  Maybe that's because I just beat God of War 3 earlier, but nothing in the Nuggets play showed me anything about their commitment to the immortality of a championship.

If the Nuggets want the 2 seed, they are now going to have to win at least 3 of 5 on the road trip to stay ahead of Dallas and Utah.  As reader nohoops4u mentioned in a fanpost earlier this week, the last thing we wanted the Nuggets to do was to overlook the Bucks for the 5 game roadie.

It appears that is exactly what happened tonight.  A complete lack of focus throughout the game, particularly down the stretch.  A number of costly turnovers (11 for the game) and missed fingerrolls right at the basket killed the Nuggets.  The Nuggets outrebounded the Bucks 53-40, but when you shoot just 37.2% as a team from the field, there's a lot of garbage to collect.

Still no Ty Lawson, even though Altitude teased us with reports that he "would play tonight".  Hopefully versus the Knicks on the 23rd.

The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Boston Celtics 102-93, so the Nuggets retain a half game lead for the 2 seed.  Utah's win pulls them within 2 of the Nuggets.  Time to get ready for D'Antoni's Knicks, then to Boston.  I expect a much better effort from the entire team after a 2 day break.

Non-Slugs:

- Birdman had 6 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks and a number of "bothers".  He was very active on the court tonight and was one of the few bright spots.

- Johan Petro collected 6 boards, went 2-2 for the field and scored 4 points in just 13 minutes.  AD did not play him enough tonight.

- Chauncey was perfect from the line at 17-17.  29 points, but only 3 assists.

- Joey Graham was 5-5 from the field and collected 6 boards in 12 minutes.  He should've replaced Carmelo after his finger sprain.

- The Milwaukee Bucks.  They played their game, a solid, lockdown defense, to perfection.  They shut the Nuggets down with a 2-3 zone and forced them into some very difficult attempts.  The Nuggets shot just 37.2% (32-86) from the field (21.4% from 3, 3-14)

Slugs:

- Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points, but it took 29 shots (10-29).  He also turned the ball over 4 times and spent most of the evening yelling at the officials.

- After period of improved play, JR Smith was just 5-16 and turned the ball over twice (1-5 from 3).  JR may be coming out of his season-long slump, but he must display more consistency down the stretch.

- Arron Afflalo's horrific shooting slump continues.  He went just 0-2 for 1 point, notching 2 steals and 2 boards.