Champions these are not... (Nuggets/Suns recap)

You must have started writing this at halftime

I’ll read it later when I can read things

this recap could have been summed up by just posting a GIGANTIC ?

Since the Nuggets have 53 wins.

Usually I am the one of first persons to damn the refs, but tonight they weren’t as terrible as the nuggets playing horrible defense. Bad refs or not they cant make the ball go into the basket that happens when only one guy (AAA) is playing D.

I still think this team has a chance at a championship, but the big men have to show up and stop complaining because it seems like the refs are gonna ignore you anyways. We can only hope that the division crown can be our. I dont like the Utards but when the division is on the line they will fight for it tomorrow night, all I can say is go suns.

I’ve been defending Bird’s ass all season long and it’s obviously clear that he’s not the same man he was last year.
‘Melo b*tches too much.
Nene is too f*cking soft
Chauncey’s worn down
Kenyon Martin missed a good portion of the season.
I can go on and on.

And it’s official, if Utah wins tomorrow, not only do we lose the Division, but we hate a date with the team that blew us out three out of the four games. I’m about to call it quits.

and compare that to those of the Suns, jazz, and Mavs?

Almost as fast as a Suns fastbreak.

but I don’t care. I’m 31 and tired of watching too many games like tonight’s. And with this, it’s off to bed. It’s almost 2 am here on the east coast. Hard bein’ a transplant, y’all.

http://andherecomethepretzels.blogspot.com/2010/04/letter-to-denver-nuggets.html

Are something really good teams can fall back on when the talent well runs dry, I feel certain key players (Nene especially) try to rely too much on intangibles (steals etc) than just doing what good basketball players do. Unfortunately it bit us tonight. I hope EVERYONE realizes now how much of a genius George Karl must be to get the team to win despite our now obvious deficiencies. If only he hadn’t been put in the situation we now find ourselves in. I really hope he can do for us next year what he was able to do this year.

Get well soon George!

PS… Trade Nene ASAP! I’m not even kidding, I realized tonight that he’s just not playing for the nuggets’ fans or his team, he’s playing “for God” and guess what? God doesn’t know how to box out or contest offensive rebounds.

PPS… sorry God

I was sitting back absorbing this horrid effort by the Nuggets tonight and I was beside myself….

Then I read this write up. Thank you Andrew for galvanizing me again. I’ve never seen people abandon ship faster in my entire life. That’s ok. We deal with things differently as fans….but I do owe you some thanks. You’re abandon ship write up helped me rationalize this….

Bad Effort by everyone. Hope they can turn it around in the playoffs.

about the whole coaching staff. The playoffs are here and what do we know about our team. Are Tacos and AC still in the rotation? Who is the backup point guard? Will Petro continue to have a role if Kenyon returns? BALKMAN PLAYED.

A combination of booze and homerism leads me to believe we could still win a series against Utah with home court. But, I’m not sure they deserve it and I’m 84% sure they are a 5 seed. They can be a dangerous 5 seed, but I honestly would not be the least bit surprised in a first round sweep, which is funny because for me the difference between that and a championship could have been one game. But it wasn’t. And all of those stupid losses finally managed to build up and ruin what could have been a truly kickass regular season.

Is it totally inexcusable to lose maybe the biggest game in franchise history before the opening tip? Yeah, but you just have to man up and laugh it off. This team has what they need to be great, if they win a series Karl could possibly come back. If you can;t handle a single heartbreaking no-show, you have a way short term memory for a Nugs fan. Just get behind them or make a like a tree and get the hell outta here

That popcorn prank was the straw that broke the camel’s back? You’ve all heard how Kenyon reacted, makes you wonder if that stunt totally disrupted our collective coach Karl-less team mentality… seems your teammates should get your back and show you some love, not steal your keys corn your Range…

Go Nug…nevermind.

If it were Popovich and the Spurs in the Suns’ place tomorrow, I’m 95% sure he would tank the game by resting Duncan & Co. just to get to the Nuggets. However, I don’t think that’s the kind of DNA Nash is walkin around with. That’s my hope. Beat the Jazz. If we wind up against this Phoenix team, I’m afraid we’ll be serenading them with “Beat LA” chants sooner rather than later.

After a season with such potential, so many great games and moments, this has been a profoundly sad finish. From Coach George and Kenyon’s health, up to this moment now. Just very depressing.

Phoenix wants to tank tomorrow so they get us

Just like 2006 with the Clippers. Fuck me

No matter what happens this season, I have Chauncey Billups, Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, and Carmelo Anthony to look forward to watching next year. This has been an incredibly rough season with Karl’s cancer and the injuries that have taken key cogs out of this team at the most inopportune times.

I think to discount the Nuggets in the playoffs is sheer folly. They have mustered some incredible road wins this year and let us not forget – there are no back to back games in the playoffs.

Nevertheless, it is a tough row to hoe for our Nuggets, but I am behind them all the way.

I just want to throw this out there. Amongst the other 15 playoff teams, imagine any of them losing their head coach for the last quarter of the season. How would they fare? How would their assistants do in place of the head coach?

I would’ve loved it too if the Nuggets could’ve drawn inspiration from Karl’s battle with cancer…

Wait, actually, they did exactly that. Right after he left the team, didn’t they go on a 6-game winning streak?

But asking them to sustain that for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs, I don’t know man. Isn’t that asking a LOT? Dantley’s been doing the best he can, I suppose, and it often hasn’t been very good, but yeah, who’s the assistant coach in this league who would’ve kept things going and had the Nuggets clinching the 2 seed or maybe even fighting a struggling l*kers team for the 1 seed in the last week?

Someone tell me if I’m way off here, I dunno, I’m trying to make sense of all this.

They own our souls :(

the front office- there is only one thing i disagree with and it is a huge issue. karl’s contract not being settled before the season started. nuggets had a situation where the inmates were running the insane asylum. case in point was earl smith not being suspended. last season melo refused to come out of a game and was suspended. smith walks out during the game and nothing happens. the front office did not support the coaches and the players knew it. the coaches- still the best staff in the nba INCLUDING ADRIAN DANTLEY. the head coach did not get backed up by the front office. the assistant has no leverage in a situation he was put in. the only player that would have had his back was kmart. he was not playing the majority of the games ad was coaching. listening to the radio broadcasts of the nuggets game had ad’s post game interviews. 3 statements he made sum up the season. melo can play defense WHEN HE WANTS TO. jr is jr. we talked to him about taking taking 3 point shots late in a blow out and embarrassing the other team. we talked since the beginning of the season about passing, rebounding and playing defense. dantley has been around along time, is a hall of fame player, played in some of the biggest basketball games in history and played with and against some of the greatest players of all time. dantley knew better then anybody he was in no position to impose his will. the players- forrest gump once said life is like a box of chocolates. you never know what you are gonna get. that applies to earl smith. nobody knows what you get with smith including earl himself. billups- because of smith’s suspension he was forced to play shooting guard. he never got out of shooting mode all season. the final regular season game is a classic example. 33 minutes of playing time and zero assists for a starting point guard in the nba. the nuggets did not need an encore performance of allen iverson or a player coach. melo- he will never be an mvp or nba champion unless his defensive game catches up to the level of his offensive game. he had 18 rebound in a single game last month. kenyon martin- this season’s mvp for denver. he is worth all the money he is paid and earned every last penny. the rest of the team- you could not have a better group of teammates anywhere. enough said. the final game of the regular season could be an important lesson for this team. THEIR BIGGEST OPPONENT AND WORST ENEMY IS THEMSELVES.

Of the 30 teams, 19 of them have assistant coaches on staff who were once NBA head coaches. And that is not counting Del Harris in New Jersey (who resigned mid-season) or Tim Floyd in New Orleans (who took the UTEP job. [Incidentally, the Hornets coaching staff does sport Robert Pack and Robert Werdann]).

It’s just Nugg luck that we would be one of the one’s without and wind up in the unfortunate situtation we find ourselves in.

Couldn’t we have backed the money truck up to Doug Moe’s front door and begged him to come hop on? Hell, he may have done it for free just to help out George. Is it too late to bring Moe in for the playoffs? We know he knows this team. Of course, that might also be why he chooses to stay away.

Come on, Doug, do it for George!

The suns will tank this game. They have the nuggets figured out. Plus then the NBA ie Stern doesn’t have to “fix” things against the nuggets. It’s a win-win or should I say lose-win for everyone but the nuggets. Side note is the nuggets end up the 4 if suns win and 5 if jazz win right?

…against the Jazz. Remember, the third-seed is key. Whoever wins tonight gets to face Portland in Round One and gets to be on the opposite side of the bracket as the Lakers. Yet another reason why the Nuggets HAD to win last night, but didn’t have the courage, heart or game plan to do so.

Andrew, I don’t think you give the Suns enough credit. They are a good team playing great basketball right now. Are they going to win the Championship…maybe? The West is so close right now, that I envision each of the first round matchups going at least 6 games (if not 7). Every team has their strengths and weaknesses. Suns like to run and gun, San Antonio the opposite. Even when the Nuggets are on top of their game, they are one of the best teams in the league. It all comes down to execution.
I understand last night’s game stunk. Down 18-2 in the first quarter?! Don’t think we’ve seen that all season.
However, with the experience they gained last year, I truly feel the Nuggets have a good chance to get out of the first round. Yes, they have to play a lot better and more consistent. But that’s where Billups, Melo and Kenyon strenghs lie, and they will carry our team to the second round. It won’t be easy (like I said, be ready for a 6 or 7 game series), but there won’t be any team in the West getting a free ride out of the first round.

then go after the Lakers….why? They don’t have any fear against the Lakers. The more I think about it….the more it occurs to me that this may be why the Nuggets weren’t exactly hanging their heads after the game. I’m not saying the PLANNED it this way, but it seems like this scenario fits them better than the others (but not preferred)

I still think that the Western Conference is so competitive that being in the playoffs in general gives you a good shot. I think this team is too good to just go out like they are and we will get right in the playoffs. Chauncey is gonna be right and you know Melo is gonna bring it. Hopefully JR has some crazy games. Idk why Im so optimistic but damnit we are better than this and it HAS to show soon…right? Right?!

go suns tonight.

1.) #4 Seed with home-court versus Utah (with Phoenix win).

2). #5 Seed and opening on the road in Phoenix (with a Utah win).

even when they win, they aren’t playing the right way. This is because Karl has said numerous times that he will take the result if it’s a win, and be happy about it, no matter how the game was played. (A win is a win).

Larry Brown is the opposite. Even if you win by 30 points, he will tear you a new one if you play the wrong way. He would rather lose playing the right way. This style prevents games like tonight.

 Denver lives and dies by the outside jump shot. If that doesn’t go in, they don’t have a chance. They might as well flip a damn coin at tipoff to decide the winner.

LOOSEN UP!
I know that’s going to sound like the exact opposite of what they need to do, but it’s not, trust me. They are all wound so tight right now that they’ve forgotten that it’s just a god damn game. Nene is too afraid to shoot the ball, Chauncey and Melo are too afraid to pass the ball, and JR is too afraid that people might mistake him for a good basketball player.
Denver needs to rebound and be stronger in the paint. After Afflalo got 13 boards in the Memphis game, why did he change his gameplan in the Suns game? There were at least a dozen rebounds that ALL of the Nuggets left on the court. I couldn’t count the number of times where the Nuggets put up a shot and they were all at halfcourt before the ball touched iron. A handful of times the ball bounced EXACTLY where a Nugget was standing just a moment before. But if you hang around to try to get an offensive rebound you actually have to run back to cover your man. That’s too much effort.
But, give the Suns credit, they shot lights out and manhandled Denver. This wasn’t about coaching. I felt that AD put the right guys on the court at the right time, they just didn’t execute.

None of our bigs played anymore then 20 minutes. NONE!

we match-up very well with Utah and a home series is always nice. Then I don’t care when we play LA, knocking them out in round 2 might not be as satisfying as the WCF but it’s still knocking off the motherfuckin Lakers. If we beat LA it doesn’t matter who we get in the WCF, we will have our swag back. The biggest task is getting by round 1 w/o GK, if we do and GK comes back for the Lakers we could see a very motivated and inspired(and well coached of course) Nuggets team just when we need them. So go Suns and make this all possible.

1) The OP is nuts if he honestly thinks that the Denver’s bench is better than Pheonix’s bench. NUTS. I’m very excited about some guys on Denver’s bench, but the Suns have a much stronger bench … rating on a scale of 1 – 10 the Nuggets bench is a 7 and the Suns bench is a 9 easily.

2) Denver does NOT want to play Pheonix in the 1st round. If they do play each other, the Suns will be eating Denver’s cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Cheer the Suns on so we can play Utah who we have a much better chance of going to the 2nd round.

3) What is up with Billups??? Dude just looked empty last night!

4) Afflallo looked great…that kid is going to be something special for sure.

If the Nugs can win Game # 1 of the first playoff series, they might get their confidence back.

Last night and against the Spurs, the Nugs looked like a team in disarray.

Alright, first of all Andrew the world has not come to an end. Yes the Nuggets blew this one, hard. But I firmly believe that were if any other team the Nuggets would have come out and played a hell of a lot better. It just seems that during the regular season Phoenix has had our number. But if we do match up with them in the playoffs things can definitely change. A playoff series is an entirely different monster than one game here and there. Teams can get into the other’s head, build momentum and start a whole new chapter in their book. It happens all the time in sports, so I am not that worries as EVERYONE ELSE IN NUGGETS NATION SEEMS TO BE!!!

Also, the Suns are a damn good team. There is a reason they are where they are now. They play sound, fundamental basketball, but they arn’t that hard to figure out. They pass a lot which goes through Nash, and hit the three very well. If we play good defense on the pick and roll and don’t allow them to hit the three and defend passing lanes well, we will have them. Still, I’m worried about AD and his deficiencies as well as not having home court if Utah wins tonight. Those could be prime recipes for a huge disaster, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

In general, I just want to say, chill people. I remember last year when we lost to Portland last game of the year, I was pretty shocked, and although that was an entirely different situation it seems clear to me that the Nuggets plain and simple are just ready to get it on in the playoffs. This team is incredibly mental, which is a gift and a curse, but if we find out how to bring out the gift more than the curse we all know what that means.

GO NUGS!!!!

Let’s face it, our Nuggs are not playing well and have played in a funk for the last 6 weeks or so. They just don’t seem to be a happy group. Melo has been down and unhappy for weeks ( something up with za za , ga ga, or whatever her name is?). Cb seems tired. Nene has become very soft and can’t finish( can someone play him some Moses Malone tapes please??). JR hoists up bad shot after bad shot. Kenyon seems a long way from being back where he was. And Bird is a medical mess right now. A quick first round exit will merit some serious changes to our aging roster.