Redick, Anderson make Denver disappear (Nuggets/Magic recap)

Disappointing loss, because of our effort at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth, but also because the refs were terrible in this game.

not a bad game from denver, too bad we couldnt get the W. bird had a very bad game tonight.

17 seconds left, 6 point deficit and we have so many shooters….

or is he still injured ?

I mean he beleives Carter wins a game for us against Toronto which may be true, but all I remember about AC in the 4th quarter was that he turned the ball over.
I feel like Lawson with one arm is still better than AC. Ughh soo frustrating when the coach is not in sync with the fans and it seems more and more he is not sync with the players as well.

Go Nuggets

I guess the only good news is that the Nuggets clinched a playoff berth today, hopefully getting that 2 spot……..kick the shit out of Dallas

Great recap by Nate as always.

As one of the readers above pointed out, Dantley pulling out the white flag with 17 seconds left while the Magic had just a six-point lead is beyond unacceptable. Courtesy of Rodney Rogers and Robert Pack, Nuggets fans – above any and all other NBA fans – know damn well that anything can happen within the last few seconds of an NBA game. So why not give the team a last-ditch chance to win, regardless of how slim that chance may be? This will befuddle me to no end if the Nuggets fall short of a two-seed in the Western Conference.

Petro wasn’t playing horribly against Howard,
we didn’t calls that should have been whistled,
that left the team feeling frustrated. I don’t think I’ve
seen Billups that pissed on a no call all season.

its a shame we can’ t take a deep breath and say
to ourselves, “ok we need to change our style and play
a different way before we get Kenyon back etc etc.”

If Ty Lawson starts playing again, we’ll have a better chance of finishing the season strong.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that people were advocating that AD sit the starters or rest them for significant minutes to keep them fresh for Dallas tomorrow? And now he doesn’t know what he is doing?

Fact is, tomorrow night is of far bigger importance than tonight game was. This is not excusing the poor play I witnessed tonight, but ask yourself this: do you want a shorthanded Nuggets squad, down 6, to go into an overtime game the night before a tiebreaker game at Dallas?

I didn’t think so. That said…GO NUGGETS!

but it sure didn’t help them. How Afflalo didn’t get an and-1 when he was fouled low by Nelson and clobbered up top by Howard is beyond me. At one point one of the Magic (probably Barnes) made a swipe at Melo’s shot and hit him in the head. No call. And the one right before Chauncey took the tech where Nelson grabbed his wrist?
That is either the biggest show of incompetence I’ve seen in a basketball game or else the league decided that Nuggets shouldn’t win this game. And I’m not one for conspiracies.

But this is a loss I expected probably more then any this season. The Nuggets are playing poorly, they’re in the middle of a road trip, they’ve got Dallas on the brain, they never seem to win in Florida…too many factors for the negative side. What sucks is that this road trip is now a disappointment, a win tomorrow salvages it from being a total bust but since the Nuggets we’re not able to win more games then they lost on this trip it has to be considered not up to snuff.
Tomorrow is a true test of Denver’s character. They are in a slump, they are on a back to back, they are on the road and they are playing their most important game of the season. Will they rise to the challenge and overcome, or will they concede and fold? Here’s hoping its the former.

It starts with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. They are our most prolific and inefficient scorers. They shoot 19 out of 45 shots tonight and combine for 7 assists. Make some more fucking shots or create more for your teammates. I’m tired of hearing excuses about how bad we have it with Karl and Kenyon out. What we are getting out of these guys is just not good enough right now. Shut the fuck up about how hard it is and play like a good team, and get a god damn win.

All those people getting mad at him for passing the ball can’t be mad now.

When the shots aren’t falling is when you have to rely on your big money star player. If you want to have him as your star then let him do his shit. I do not understand sometimes how the team can just forget about him. Yes he took way too many shots to get his points, but it is not like anyone else was doing anything either.

Also AD’s rotations were not normal. Why rest the starters until 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter? Why is Melo starting the 4th quarter when he usually rests for about 3 minutes and comes out a little before the end of the 3rd. If we really are a rotation set minute team why mess with that? If we had let the bench take the start of the 4th and played starters from about 9 minutes left and on we might have been able to finish the game stronger.

In any case it seems to be the same thing that is losing us games. We get a nice lead on an opponent by taking the ball to the hoop, passing, slashing, off the ball movement, and pressure defense. Then we start being lazy going one-on-one on offense and too often “helping” on defense without actually helping and leaving your guy open for a wide open three, last night especially.

The second guys are totally gassed so why not try playing Ty? At the very least he can push the tempo, pass the ball, drive and create contact, and have pressure defense just by staying in front of his guy.

The big thing is realizing that all of these things can be fixed and fixing them fast. We have eight games, six against playoff contenders, to tune up for the playoffs. Hopefully we use this time to realize what got us so far last year was passing the ball, taking the ball to the hoop, and by having a great pressure defense.

Denver actually played pretty well. they shot 52% from the field and outrebounded Orlando (Orlando did have 1 more offensive rebound than Denver). they went through a cold spell at the middle/end of the 3rd after going up 10 and couldnt recover. during that stretch, the passing wasnt too bad but we were missing a lot of open jumpers. Turnovers, blocks and steals were all pretty even.

Orlando had 22 FT (2 were Ts, both misses) attempts to Denver’s 11 (1 was an illegal D). Both teams shot the ball ~80 times, but Orlando shot 29 3s, Denver shot 16.

I thought the Nuggs played well, overall, but still disappointing because we needed a win. All those early season losses to crummy teams will now hurt because the tough games on the road against good teams like Orlando and Dallas become must wins. As Denver continues to fade, Portland, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix and OKC are all stepping it up a notch.

The reason we are stinking and still 3rd is because the rest of the west is not that great. Even OKC SAS DAL POR UTH PHX lose to sub 500 teams and are inconsistent. We are lucky to be in a seemingly strong, but free of elite teams Western conference this year

It goes without saying that Denver is a different team without Ty pushing it fast up the floor and Kmart defending and exploding to the rim. With those two out and Bird playing with one wing, the Nuggs look quite a bit slower and less athletic, which has been their trademark the last few years. Where di all of the running and gunning go?