Nuggets at Mavericks recap: It all works for Denver in first win

lost a portion of the lead. I hope to never see it again…but you know Karl

Several forced shots and a few turnovers. Karl likes him, but I am not sure he is the long-term answer at back-up SF. Adding Chandler at 20 minutes a night would be an upgrade, IMO.

Faried really should have played the final 7 minutes of the game. Up 25 with a compressed schedule, Karl needs to clear his bench in games like this. I suspect Karl sees that Manimal is becoming a fan favorite, and any minutes he gives him is only going to fuel the fire of the fans. Karl doesn;t want to let the Manimal out of the bottle, so to speak.

I have to admit, I felt oddly sentimental seeing Kmart watch his old team from the stands. I know it is time for the Nuggs to move on from the Kmart/JR era, but it seemed like Kmart and the players kind of felt awkward with his appearance at the game. It was nice to see Nene and Big Al give him a big hug during a timeout near the end the game. He looks like he is in top shape. Kmart was a warrior, and you have to only wish him well in his next stop. I hope he lands with Miami and gets a championship. I suspect Melo talks him into joining the Knicks. Cuban may be thinking about adding him after tonight’s debacle for the Mavs.

I skipped this Nuggets game tonight in favor of watching my Saints play on MNF, but I did jump on a couple times and read some tweets online and whatnot, and here are the impressions I got:

- Guys like Carroll and Faried were sat in favor of the established players like Brewer, Fernandez, Bird, etc. when we had a 20+ point lead. Unacceptable.
- From what I gathered, the 2-PG line-up was used quite often, but any negatives it might have had were hidden by the Mavs awful offensive game, Ty’s amazing game, and Dre playing well as well as knocking down 3s (which almost never happens).
- Hoping this game by Ty was a sign of him taking that “next step”, but will hold off for now.
- Live by the 3, die by the 3. 27 3s attempted is a LOT, but we do have a lot of established 3-point shooters and it’s clear that the 3-ball will be a huge part of our arsenal this season.
- Bird guarding Dirk? Heard that didn’t go very well.

All in all I can’t wait to catch the next Nuggets game, but this is a good sign. This was a game we were supposed to win against a team on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, but we’ve all seen the Nuggets having problems against the teams we’re supposed to beat. Hopefully this is a sign of what’s yet to come.

Looking forward to watching this season. I’m not a big basketball fan, but I do love to see the Nuggets doing well. I cut my teeth when my dad used to drive me and my brothers down to Big Mac to watch Dikembe and the boys play.

Now, I live alone and I’m a single teacher in a small town, so I have nothing better to do at night than to watch TV. A good friend of mine is a new basketball coach at my school, so I’m sure I’ll be getting plenty of Nuggets watching in.

So basically, go Nuggets!

This is what the nuggets opponents are gonna be saying. Our Nugs will be killing everyone with team basketball.

trying to win on the Left Coast. All those teams are improved, playing good D.
They should be fun games to watch.

Have you watched this guy play. The young man is a baller. Love Nene, but Faried brings a rebounding ferocious high flying shot blocking game that Nene never had. Nene has his own nice skill set. We need both.

1-0 = Profit!!!

Could not have asked for a better game and start to the season. I could go on and on but I want to point out the things thy I really took out of game 1.

Andre has such an old-school type game and I LOVE IT! The way he goes about everything is so thought out and precise,just amazing. Ty will win most improved player of the year award if he does why he did tonight on a consistent basis, he really attacked and looked for his offense. Gallo showed just how good he could be early on when he blew by a number of defenders on different occasions for dunks. Afflalo looked good towards the end of the game and I’m positive he will make a major impact on this team and be one of the leaders. Al “Buckets” Harrington looks fit and rejuvenated and has seemed to emerge as a real leader on this team. He just looks like a completely different player this season, and could come to be our x-factor during the season. The only down part was that there was no sighting of the Manimal, I really thought he coil have got 7 or 8 minutes in at the end.

that’s exciting to me. This will be an interesting season.

Beating the Champs on the first game of the season.

looking forward to his all star game debut

The game was great to watch. I don’t even care to discuss what bothered me about the it, I’m just ecstatic to have Nuggets ball back. I’m sure the feeling will wear off next week, or whenever the first L comes.

Ty was incredible, and Harrington’s instant offense off the bench was surprising. Hopefully Al can stay consistent and do exactly what he did tonight for the duration of the season.

Having Dre is great for Ty, and the production from Dre isn’t too shabby, either.

Really looking forward to watching the home opener on Wednesday.

Thats the multiple million dollar question. I mean I would welcome the talent, but I don’t know if he wants to be here.
Do we develop Brewer who wants to be here more than Chandler?
Or do we package Brewer, Andersen, and Carroll for something so we can free up space for Chandler?

1. Gallo looked like he had an extra step this year, he had a few nice finishes at the rim and showed his leaping ability on a few fast breaks, and I will tell you right now that even though he might now have Melo’s layup prowling ability yet, he still showcased that he can dunk better than Melo. He passed a good amount of times and knew when to pass, despite being 1-5 from 3 point land, he will normally make 35-40% of those shots, so when those are falling he will be a 20 point scorer.

2. Ty Lawson looked like a sharper player this year, it is as if he is ready to play at an all-star level. The knock on the guy has never been his ability, his shooting, passing, or his ability to play the game but that is a few inches shorter than todays pro-to-typical all-star guard. He showcased his scoring ability, and the one thing I feel will make up for his size (he isn’t Earl Boykins small people, he is only an inch shorter than Chris Paul.) on the defensive side is his stealing which he had three tonight. He looked like he knew the chemistry of the team better than anyone on the court, he knew when to give it to each player at the right time, including giving it to Miller so he could facilitate the game. Overall Lawson had the best basketball I.Q out there.

3. Overall I like to say that even though I don’t think we will have a top 10 defense this year, if we can manage to create turnovers and make the other team pay on the fast break or just get more possessions overall than the other team due to turnovers, we will win 9-10 times. You can always when with a great offense and mediocre defense if you create turnovers to make up for your lack of defense. One example of this being the steals in this game. Rudy had 3, Lawson had 3, Miller had 3, and Afflalo had 2. The rest of the team had 4 steals and overall the blocking was nice as well, particularly Nene who isn’t known for being a shot blocker. If we create turnovers and exploit the other team with our super-charged offense we will do very well this season. The Suns in the mid 2000’s were not great at creating turnovers, thus the games were a high scoring affair on both ends.

The things that need improved?

The 5 position- Rebounding was not a concern for us this game as we finished with 10 more rebounds than the Mavs, but the one thing that concerns me is the center position. Mozgov looked like just a giant body out there as he finished with 3 rebounds. He did have a few good box-outs I noticed and the balls didn’t come to him so I feel that as long as Mozgov is boxing his man out, I don’t care how many rebounds he gets because we prevent offensive rebounds with a team that actually boxes out, we had 10 offensive rebounds to double what Dallas had at 5 offensive rebounds. I still think that Dallas is a poor rebounding team without Chandler so we will need to improve against Utah who has a pretty decent front-court, hopefully Mozgov has a better showing in that game.

The only two players with – stats and not + stats – This being Brewer and Chris Anderson.. both finishing with -8 and -7 on the -/+ line. Brewer can have streaks of good offense but it isn’t needed on this team. He played well defensively but he looked incompetent, almost lost on offense. I know it is a small negative and I think he will be key for us this year.. I mainly want to see how well he does against Durant because I think we got him for just that purpose. Anderson just looked a little out of shape out there.. he didn’t play that well except his rebounding game, which was pretty decent. Overall I hope he gets into better shape as the year goes along.

his d in the paint is def better then moz… his offensive game is too

First real game people, and they aren’t playing tonight. The main rotation and bench needs as much time as they can as they are still getting used to one another, not the time to develop rookies. If they were playing on a back to back (to back also) and were in this kind of blowout then it would be different. The important part is they didn’t play their best yet were in no danger of losing the game, could be more the Mavs problem but it shows how deep and versatile the Nuggets are as well. A fast start could set the table for the rest of the season, let the rooks watch and learn for a week if need be.

at 6 minutes into the 1st quarter. thats what we need out of him more often.

One of the preseason previews said the nuggets need another rotation big. I didn’t really understand the need, but watching last night, I saw it. Harrington, who played great, isn’t really big enough to be the backup 4. He really should be the backup to Gallo.

Evil G.K. is undefeated!

I was still yelling at the officials when we were up by 30 points…

Nuggets and Heat beat the Mavs in similar fashion, but this is said about the Heat:

So what can we make out of one measly game?. . .[T]his felt like a grand opening of sorts. As children around the world were anxiously unwrapping presents on Christmas, the Heat were unveiling their own little gift for the rest of the NBA: a freight train piloted by LeBron and Dwyane Wade. They flashed their athletic brilliance last season, but not for the majority of the 48 minutes. For long stretches in Sunday’s game, the Heat looked unstoppable

And this is said about the Nuggets win:

Ty Lawson and the Denver Nuggets opened their season with a performance that sent a clear message to the rest of the NBA. Not about them. About the Dallas Mavericks. The reigning champions have quickly become a team everyone wants to play. There’s no telling which is worse right now, their offense or defense, their conditioning or chemistry

Why did the Heat win?

Of course, losing Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson will do that, but Spoelstra’s new groove had as much effect on the final score as Chandler’s absence did. There’s no doubt that the Mavericks deeply miss Chandler, but it’s not like he alone could pull the emergency break on the Heat’s fast-paced attack.

Why did the Nuggets win?

Dallas has been behind by at least 23 points in every game since being crowned champs. There are plenty of reasons to choose from: an overhaul of their rotation, the shortened training camp and other teams being motivated to take them down.

Heat scored points against the Mavs:

Miami went on a 12-0 run late in the first quarter, a 15-1 spurt in the second quarter, then the 14-0 binge in the third period.

Nuggets didn’t score points, Mavs gave points up:

Dallas gave up 20 straight points in the second quarter and had a stretch of 14 straight missed shots during a 9:52 drought between baskets. It was so bad that their player of the game, Sean Williams, threw up when he left the court.

Heat unselfish play is part of their brilliance:

James and Wade led a series of scoring waves that put Miami ahead by 35 points midway through the third quarter, the lead peaking when James soared to the rim and tipped an alley-oop pass to Wade so he could have the dunk instead.

Nuggets unselfish play shows how bad the Mavs are:

The Nuggets had enjoyed so many easy baskets at that point that they didn’t even bother doing anything fancy, with Gallinari softly tossing the ball to Harrington for a routine dunk that made it 65-41.

Good start. Sean Williams puking about summed up the Mavs’ effort. They’re more hung over than CloudBurst. Early season observations:

Ty Lawson: If a guy that short can be dominant, he was. Speed kills. Good 3 point shooting.
Trip(A): Rusty.
Danilo: Not in game shape but this kid proving all comments about possible break-out player. Not fair to compare to Melo, who is a 2 playing 3. Unique.
Nene: Should be embarrassed to take that money but he played better in 2nd half. Defacto starting center.
Moz: Can’t see Slew Foot playing much. A lot of human mass form and he did clog the middle a bit. Like to see him play and learn some kind of positioning and better footwork. Needs to learn to use his size. John Wooden recruited on the basis of foot speed and quickness. You can see George favoring those types of players.
Bench:
Dre: He’s better than ever. Just schooled the Mavs. George’s favorite player. 2 point guard offense will get figured out by other teams later in the year when they iso and post our guards.
Big Al: He played well and is not injured. I’m still not a fan. Plays like a shooting guard. Who jumps higher, Scott Hastings or Big Al?
Bird: God he is awful. Ditto all the posts on this site about his terrible footwork, positioning and tendency to go for every head fake in the world. I think Dan Issel could go for 30 on him, at his current age.
Corey Brewer: He was out of it on offense but he will help this team. See speed comment.
Rudy: Can see his talent but plays too far from the basket to be effective. Another Euro whiner and flopper. Shut up and play.
Kosta: I like this guy. Better feet and quicker than Moz.
Kenneth Faried: Perhaps he would have been better served by working on his defense and offense than hiring handlers and coming up with self-promotional nicknames. We don’t see what George sees in practice and I have to trust his judgment, no matter how much we all admire the kid’s hustle and want to.

Conclusion: If you are a betting man you might consider Denver against the spread during first half of season until the East coast odds makers catch up. Like I said, their depth and “every man contributes” is key to this weird truncated season.

I miss his math.

So guys, who is the 3rd point guard on this team, Rudy? I’m worried about the two point guard lineup wearing Dre out, esp. on back-to-backs.

MONDAY’S BEST
lastname
Lawson

Ty Lawson, Nuggets: The former Tar Heel went 10-for-15 from the field en route to 27 points in a 115-93 win over the defending champ Mavs. In other news, Rockets pine denizen Jonny Flynn was picked a dozen spots ahead of him in the 2009 draft.

I have got a good feeling about this season (of coarse i say that for every season season). But here is why I am delighted to begin this season:

1. We are presenting the largest front court I can remember.
2. We are playing unselfishly!
3. We have the deepest team in the league. The reason that will be important is to properly gauge our output on back to back to back games. And also to constantly barage our opponents.
4. We have flexibility if for some reason we NEED to make a move.
5. Nene back at PF will prove to be the best move of the season.
6. Moz is a really good fit, (he does not need to score, he just needs to be a presence)
7. We have deceptive speed! Not only with Lawson, but with Gallo and Fernandez.
8. Andre Miller

I can keep going on and on but for now…Three cheers for the best opening day game for our Nuggets. Hip Hip….

Those guys are rusty. Give them a couple games and their games will pick up.

I think the biggest challenge this year will be keeping everyone happy. I’m not really that concerned about who will be the “go to” guy. A team is more dangerous if the defense doesn’t know who to key on. I think AAA, Gallo or Lawson all have the right make up for being the big shot guy.

I’m surprised how highly people have been rating them coming into the season. I just don’t see that team of aging superstars being the threat that last year’s team was.