Too many whistles and too little defense (Game 2 recap)...

Even Jazz fans should agree with me that the refs were completely out of line tonight,

Nope, my Jazz rooting friend said that it was the most fair game he had ever seen.

And he wasn’t being sarcastic.

He also thinks the Jazz will win in 5.

Look at the game quarter by quarter
1st: Utah wins by 3
2nd: Utah by 9!!!!!
3rd: Denver by 6
4th: Denver by 3

The margin of error is so small in playoffs, you can’t have a quarter like that 2nd. Complete failure to execute at the end of the game because we actually played pretty well in the 4th quarter. The difference was CB dribbling into triple coverage and dishing 3 times in a row, and finally getting called for a charge. Good call. Melo committed the worst foul of the game on Miles. First of all it’s a 1 pt game. Second of all, it’s Melo’s 6th foul and hes out for overtime. Stupid, stupid, stupid – bad call or not. AD can say whatever he wants getting a 4pt lead in fourth and choking it’s all on the players. CB and Melo dominated the ball at the end, and they made one too many mistakes.

It shouldn’t have come to that, but it did. Andrew, I hope you didn’t record this game because you would swear of Birdman the rest of your life. He was a total disgrace and the stiff of the game, by a long shot. Watch the replays if you dare. No effort or resistance whatsoever. If he isn’t healthy, then admit it and shut it down. The guy sucked

I liked your recap, and I COMPLETELY agree that these Refs were — honestly — the worst bunch I’ve ever seen in my life. It wasn’t that they were missing calls and then making obvious make-up calls. The refs dominated the game in the 2nd half. Jazz fans over the net clearly see this as well. It was bad for both teams. This was not a game the Nuggets lost, or a game that the Jazz stole. This was a game where Leon Wood got to call a billion fouls that should not be called in a pre-season game.

Denver is a very strong team, and Utah’s offense relies on off-ball physical play. Both teams were hosed by the refs today. What is worse that the calls were inconsistent. In the fourth quarter players on both team would spend time complaining after non-calls to refs instead of going back on defense — only to have ticky tack fouls be called for apparently no reason.

The fans of both teams were cheated out of a good ending to a great game with a number of stories (Nuggets storm back from a 14 pt hole; Jazz playing tough with no depth).

Great blog, and best of luck for the rest of the series from all of us @ Slcdunk. (also on the sb network)

but I don’t comprehend the optimism that the Nuggets can regain control of the series by winning on the road. Sure, they played well enough in SLC during the regular season, but that was a long time ago, before the tendonitis and cancer starting sending things downhill.

Maybe I’ll cheer up tomorrow, but I feel pretty gloomy about the Nuggets’ chances at this point.

I cant help myself for blaming the refs and the refs alone for this loss. I thought that even though in the first have the nuggets didnt play anything that resembled defense, in the second half they came out much more focused on the defensive end of the floor but with the referee’s blowing their whistle at every chance they got it became hard to be aggressive defensively especially when all 5 of your starters had 4+ fouls. Gotta get this one back Friday night GO NUGS!

Refs were HORRIBLE
Too many fouls
Bad shots
Lack of rebounding
Missed several open people
Defense?
Not being able to shut Williams down
Etc…

For those hating on Bird:
I understand everybody getting pissed off at the way he looks out there, but Dantley has
specifically said that they don’t expect him to do anything except rebound and block shots. To me, that’s pretty retarded. Basically, they’re not expecting him to do much, or anything. I agree though, he’s just too f*cked up to be playing out there. I have also noticed Dantley going up to Andersen during the game a few times.

I guess you can call this game the Jazz’s “emotional comeback game” In a way, I saw it coming. Not having your best players can do that to you, Remember, the Nuggets did just that against Utah without both Carmelo Anthony AND Chauncey Billups.

Overall,
I’m expecting the Nuggets to come out and take game three and four.
Fear not Nuggets fans, we’re going to be fine.

dwill- 44+ minutes, 33 points, 14 assists = 4. fesenko- 19 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds = leads jazz with +10. go figure. dwill put on a clinic. scored from every place on the court, took a hard foul, forced to leave the game, SCORED 33 POINTS ON 14 FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS and played the most minutes of any player from both teams. he also had 7 turn overs. the most impressive thing about dwill is it does not matter what is going on in the game or how he is playing. he stays on task and never gets rattled. he never gets too high when things are going good or too low if the play does not go his way. say what you want about referees, coaching decisions or the home court advantage. deron williams WILLED his team to victory.

However its disapointing we’re not able to dominate every game playing sound fundamental basketball Our Team is Jekyl and Hyde sometimes with D and Korver was being left open…

How can anyone deny that ONE (obvious) non-call cost the Nuggets the game. Granted they had a bad stretch in the 2nd quarter….but as far as I could see, that was it. Solid game by the Nuggets. What’s with Melo’s 3 offensive fouls that weren’t called on Jazz players?

What the hell is wrong with the NBA. If they call the game normally we STILL would have had a close game (because the teams are evenly matched) but the NBA has to put two refs out there who have a history of problems with the Nuggets….Bill Spooner and Kenny “I hate Kenyon Martin” Mauer.

i’m watching the replay of game 1 on espn right now. it takes some of the pain away. i’ll just pretend tonight never happened. i’m in denial. :(

we worked so hard to get it, then we just lose it to a inferior team

I agree that they single handily took over the game from both teams and influenced the game in ways that only the NBA lets its refs do. No other sport allows their refs to be in the game so much. I cannot name a single umpire crew, soccer ref crew, and only a handful of NFL crews. These refs think that they need to be the center of attention and it is disgusting. Obviously there were some fouls that were obvious fouls, but many times there were fouls when they should have let the players keep playing on both ends of the floor! I would never see them foul out Kobe, LeBron, or DWade the way that they seemed to call the fouls on Melo either.

That said I put this lose on the Nuggets inability to focus and work for 4 quarters. The defense and ball pressure in the 4th was great, but where was that in the 1st half? 63 points in a half is way too many in the playoffs against a team with only 3 good players. That right there is where we lost this game. I expect us to bounce back though and I don’t expect Melo, JR, and Chauncey to all be shooting bad at the same time again and I hope that Williams and Boozer playing over 40 minutes again will hurt the Jazz eventually. Let’s go out, play hard, and win game three!

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14918630

“In that position, you want your best player to have the ball to make the play,” said Billups, when told that the play interim coach Adrian Dantley called was to have rookie Ty Lawson hustle the ball up the court. “There was no way I wasn’t going to get that ball.” Billups said he didn’t know that Lawson was supposed to bring up the ball, because Billups was waiting for the free throws to be shot and didn’t hear the call.

i understand where billups is coming from, but at the same time it shows that the players are basically in charge of this team. even if dantley had the play set up before the free throws, chauncey would have still ignored him.

Does anyone else dislike seeing Billups and Lawson in at the same time? I’d much rather see Lawson’s minutes dedicated to running the floor, and have JR or AAA at the 2. I think Billups for 30 minutes and Lawson for 20 (approx) would be extremely appropriate. When they’re both in, I think it makes us too small on the defensive end.

Also, Melo needs to take a break sometimes. There’s no reason we can’t put Graham in for 5 minutes a game to give Melo a break, especially when his shots aren’t falling and during a game when fouls are being handed out like candy on Halloween.

Screw the NBA refs.
Not time to get angry…time to get even.
Take both games in Utah and win it in Denver in 5!

But idk about the 2 before that. Especially the one where Deron Williams was guarding and he superflopped. Also, Melo said a couple weeks ago that the refs stopped calling so many fouls while he was driving because he was initiating the contact. Deron Williams was just running over Ty Lawson, in both games, and they keep calling ty for the foul! What the hell. Also…when ty speeds to the whole and gets bumped by somebody, that HAS to be a foul! They are barely calling it. It to Fesenko’s big ass nailing Ty mid-air before they had to call a foul when ty had the ball. Even then they almost waited until he hit the ground.

sigh

Overall, Jazz were hot shooting tho…Nugs…horrible D. Lots of easy layups in the 4th.

As I watched the game, I didnt think that Melo’s foul was flagrant. I knew the whistles would be blown like crazy when they called that.

As a Blazer fan I can relate to the frustration Nugget fans are feeling about the officiating. Ken Mauer is possibly the worst official I have ever seen. He damn near caused a riot at the Rose Garden (hyperbole) a few weeks back when Portland played the Mavs. He reminds me of a cross between Jake O’Donnell who clearly hated Portland in our hey day, and Little Nicky’s brother Adrian reffing the Globetrotters game. Hopefully the league will get a clue and send this fool to the WNBA or something.

…that the free throw attempts were virtually even (Nuggets 44, Jazz 47) as were just about every other statistical category except three: FG, FT and three-point %. The Nuggets shot 4-for-18 from three-point range whereas the Jazz made 6 of their 13 attempts. But since the Nuggets missed just 7 free throws while the Jazz missed 17 free throws, the Nuggets were in this game until the very end.

Andrew, you have to mention something about how Williams absolutely destroyed Chauncey towards the end of the 3rd and most of the 4th when he was guarding him. Deron would use a high rub screen on Chauncey and Chauncey could absolutely NOT get in front of him in time. Layup after layup, and you could tell that DWill knew it. All he had to do was get the high pick from Boozer and he knew that he could get anything he wanted in the paint.

There was one play in particular where DWill used a Boozer screen on the weak side, slipped BETWEEN Chauncey and Boozer and simply floated it up for an easy bucket 5 feet from the rim. Chauncey looked absolutely GASSED. On the second to last play of the game before the Korver FTs, he took a desperation 3 – and didn’t even draw iron.

When Deron is on the court, he MUST be guarded by Lawson or Afflalo, period. He is too strong and too fast for Chauncey to cover him 1 on 1. If we trap, then it leaves Millsap or Fesenko wide open in the paint because our bigs do not know how to rotate and I don’t think they ever will.

I love Chauncey, but he made some truly uninspired plays last night. A minus 4 for the evening and FIVE turnovers.

The Nuggets did not lose this game because of officiating. They lost by giving up 114 points to a Jazz team playing D-leaguers and missing two of its starters. Carmelo Anthony committed one of the dumbest fouls of his career on CJ Miles, fouling out of the game and sending him to the line, when all he had to do was keep him hedged on the baseline.

The only reason the Nuggets lost this game was a poorly executed gameplan by not adjusting to the DWill/Booz pick and roll and losing the defensive intensity they played with for much of the 3rd quarter. Defense, period, has been a huge problem, and we can expect the Nuggets to get blown out if they play like that again in Utah.

See, the sun came up. It’s OK.

Look, you didn’t want the Nuggets to face the Lakers without being battle-hardened, right? It would do them no good to easily win a cupcake series against a dead opponent. They need to deal with all of these obstacles: physical play, emotional discipline, smart playmaking. If you think these factors are severe with the Jazz, you should know they’re twice as severe with the Lakers. Without facing frustration, the Nuggets will never conquer their adolescent tendency to react to the officials, which will never serve them well, regardless of how unfair we interpret the calls to be.

Likewise, the Jazz are better for all of their adversity. In no other scenario would their young, unknown players be getting big-game experience. They would never find out what these players can really do. So, these injuries may actually help them in the long run, if not in this postseason.

Both teams will end up tougher for having fought each other. Remember, this could’ve been a Conference Finals matchup, it was never gonna be easy for either team. Denver won in Utah this year, so there’s no reason for Nuggets fans to be overly gloomy. Denver has been up and down for weeks. They’ll come back up I have no doubt.

Forgot he took the 3 with a lil under 2 minutes maybe left in the game. We were up by one and he took that dumbass 3…then a possession or 2 later Korver hit that 3 to go up by 2.

I beg to differ with the sentiment that the Referees controlled that game or the second half. There were simply fouls being committed, and they were blatantly obvious. Don’t get me wrong, as a New York Knicks fan, I vow for the days of the 90’s myself, but a foul, is a foul, is a foul, and both teams fouled hard and often last night (That’s what she said!).

I think the real problem was that each team got away from their offense, Denver more so than Utah. The game turned into a bit of a track meet, with a lot of sloppy play. In hindsight and in looking at my notes, there actually were a lot of uncalled fouls, which is why you saw a lot plays being made off steals and swipes, not to mention a lot of plays (prior to the 4th) made at the rim.

I didn’t see it.

That game pissed me off.

I am eager to see this footage, too. My seats were in one of the upper corners. I didn’t even know until reading Andrew’s recap that the call was missed.

Terrible officiating. Terrible. It went both ways, to be sure. But too many whistles.

Nuggets should still win this series, but my lack of confidence for them to advance past the second round is seeming justified now.

Reading that quote about Chauncey overruling AD’s plan for Lawson to bring it up on the last play just disgusts me (I don’t buy that he didn’t hear Dantley, we’ve seen Chauncey do this before). With Lawson’s speed and vision, we are almost sure to get a good look with that play. Hey Chauncey: if you overrule the coach because you have some fantasy that you’re the god of crunch time, YOU BETTER GET OFF A F***ING GOOD SHOT!! And then he heaves up a 25 foot runner with 2 full seconds left. what a joke. It’s so disappointing because I thought he was playing great in the 4th up until the last few minutes.

That the refs were comically bad goes without saying and I am used to it with this league by now. I was predicting in the game thread that the refs were going to swing the game one way or another at the end. Well, the missed step out of bounds by Miles probably did just that. But then melo follows up what should have been the best play of the game with the dumbest. No play could better encapsulate how referee ineptitude combines with Nuggets’ stupidity to doom the team.

And finally, I know they wont, but the NBA has simply got to do something about flopping. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention in earlier Jazz games this year, but they might be worse than the spurs. It is an epidemic in this league, and the refs are unequivocal enablers (yet another reason they are the worst refs in sports, as if we needed one). I think one of the reasons soccer is a marginal sport in this country is disgust over flopping and how it’s just an accepted part of the game. The NBA is rapidly going down this road.

okay, rant over. I feel better. go nuggets

BUT the Nuggets were up by 4 with 4 minutes to play and they couldn’t stop dribble penetration. How many easy layups and dunks did Utah have in those last 4 minutes?
I still stand by my opinion that the refs sucked and messed this game up, but the Nuggets should still have won. Come’on. DWill played 40 minutes before the last 4 and the Nuggets STILL couldn’t slow him down.

Yeah, the refs were bad, but that’s just an excuse.

Here’s the deal: This team is capable of playing terrific defense. With Chauncey and Lawson’s inability to guard D-Will aside (not many players in the world can, given his size, speed, and smarts), this team is capable of shutting teams down on the defensive end, and that’s what makes it so damn frustrating. Speaking of shutting down D-Will, we have 2 guys who are capable of playing him well. Afflalo tries, and he can’t be blamed in this rant, because he’s the only one that gives constant effort any more, but he can’t guard everyone on the floor. JR is perfectly suited to guard D-Will, he’s longer, stronger, and quick enough to give him fits when guarding him, yet he doesn’t do.

It all comes down to effort. We didn’t start playing defense last night until we were down by 14 points, then we went on a big run because of that defense and smart decisions/sharing the ball on offense, once we tied it up, we quit playing D again. Then we lost. Why not give constant effort on defense? This is the smurfing playoffs after all!

Again, when we actually put forth effort on defense, we can blow people out, and that’s what makes this crap so inexcusable. We played a short-handed team, at home, in the playoffs, it was a must-win game, and the guys couldn’t be bothered enough to give effort on D? You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.

And, on the offensive end, Chauncey has lost his mind. I can’t believe this is the same player from last year. Calling him a point guard is offensive to the position. He doesn’t pass the ball. Yes, I understand he had double-digit assists last night, he did pass in stretches last night, but when it matters lately, it’s the “Chauncey is either going to dribble around for 17 seconds, drive the lane and throw up a shitty shot while trying to draw a foul or he’s going to launch a haphazard 3” show. It’s completely ridiculous. At what point did he turn into a cocky, greedy, ballhog? His play lately makes me yearn for Allen friggin’ Iverson. He used to be the quintessential team point guard, foregoing his stats and glory for the good of the team. Playing smarter than everyone else on the floor and putting his team in position to succeed. Now, he’s a shoot-first point guard that doesn’t share the ball and is a liability on defense. Maybe JR has rubbed off on Chauncey more than the other way around, and this is the product.

There are no excuses for this team to lose this series, I know it’s only one game, but I couldn’t be more disappointed in this extremely talented team over the last 2 months or so.

Opinions on that? I always liked that guy.

so my memory may be skewed.

Never. Unless, we’re talking about the F*** Melo edict. He was clearly premeditating calling a foul on him before it actually took place. Thus, the reason why he missed the biggest call of the game.

But it should never have come down to that.

No it shouldn’t have come down to it, but in fact, most playoff games come down to a play or two. Was it a fact that the Nugs played horrible defense for much of the game? Yes. Was it also a fact that they hunkered down in time to “steal” a game at the end from the Jazz like they do so often? Yes. The ref should be reprimanded for such a terrible missed call.

Let’s just rebound and win in Utah.

i wanna see that again!!!

Finger rolls, backboard, quick chipshot, nothing would just get in the hole. There must have been too much air in the ball or something lolz