Nuggets at Trail Blazers recap: Completely predictable...

I see us winning the first three games at home. The real test of the week will be the Pacers at indiana next Saturday.

Why is it ‘ty looked lost out there’ but Nene and AAA didn’t? I don’t understand this coach and I doubt anyone else does.

If I was josh Kroenke, I would buy a seat behind the bench and heckle Karl

Denver G Rudy Fernandez was booed each time he touched the ball. He played for Portland from 2008-11, but fell out of favor with fans when he asked to be released from his contract before last season. Many fans also booed a video image of Greg Oden, the former No. 1 overall draft pick who has not played since December 2009 because of knee injuries.

That i previously talked about

Starting

Mozgov
Josh Smith
Gallo
Eric Gordon
Lawson

Bench

Kofous
Faried
Harrington
Chandler
Stone

Perfect time to get fresh bodies in and use energy guys like Corey Brewer, Kenneth Faried and Birdman. I’m not surprised though. I’m finally conceding my dreams for Faried and giving up. He will not play in real game this year and you have to hope he gets better in practice and works hard next summer.

I’ve been saying we should trade AAA for Eric Gordon. I’m sure even an injured Eric Gordon can score at least 2 points.

A team doesn’t unload someone they’ve invested that much in and then who would want to match the salary? He’s ours now – let’s hope he finds his wheels….

We can always amnesty him next season

So he’s not going anywhere this year. Probably for the better, as we just invested quite a bit in him. Hopefully he can turn it around and at least be the guy he was last year.

And even the home loss vs. the Clips. There are L’s you tend to expect – like tonight’s ‘wrath of the schedule’ game, and there are games where we should be on a legit playing field and taking advantage of. Our W vs. the Clips was taking advantage of LA’s schedule. We could not do the same vs. Memphis (their 2nd of a b2b) and failed to steal one vs. the Lakers.

Little bit of a gut check week. Losing 4 of 5 will cause them to plummet a bit in rankings, so they just need to hold serve this next week and steady the ship. Still in good shape, but need to win more of these closer contests.

It’s time for me to go to bed. I will be on later to continue the AAA and Nene bashing!

Sorry, Stiffs.

Nuggets are still a great team. Don’t get too down!

We will be lucky to win 20 games this season.

SEASON is OVER!!! Book IT!

How did Wyoming beat UNLV at home?

Rams 4-3 through the first round of the round robin. At TCU on Wednesday!

is looking like a K Mart max contract…I hope I’m wrong.

Andre Miller: 14 minutes, 2 points. Anybody know what happened to the fellow who averages 30 minutes per game? Yeah, b2b2b, but still.

Corey Brewer: 20 minutes, 14 points 4-10 from the field, 6-7 from the line, 5 rebounds (1 offensive), 2 assists, 1 turnover, 2 steals, 1 block. Bright spot.

Speaking of bright spots, Koufos needed to step up tonight, and he did in a big way. It’s easy to see why the FO locked him up, and he doesn’t take up much cap space. I see him becoming part of the glue in Denver.

Ty Lawson was making things happen tonight, especially for Koufos. They both seemed interested enough in the outcome of the game to play hard all night.

Another bright spot was our 24 free throws (and we made 22) to their 12. Of course, they didn’t really need to take the ball to the hole that much since it was raining threes in the Rose Garden.

Arron Afflalo: 20 minutes, 0 points, 0-5 from the field, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 steal. Something’s wrong. Big revelation, yes. Soon the team will have to provide some answers about what’s going on.

Nene: The invisible man.

Nuggets 3Pt shooting: 5-22

Portland had 30 assists and 14 turnovers. They shot 53% from the field, 45% from behind the arc. Those stats translate to a poor defensive effort from the Nuggets. Of course, you can’t run as much if you don’t turn them over.

Does Masai Ujiri do press conferences? Some Denver sports journalists need to prepare a few questions for him about this team’s lack of execution. Losses aren’t the issue. But this Nuggets roster is much too good to lose in the manner they lost tonight, regardless of the terrible schedule and the weather that must have compounded the fatigue problem.

If running and three-point shooting aren’t putting nearly enough points on the board, there have to be other ways to score. How will this team get shots in a half-court offense if the defense isn’t producing the running game?

Looking forward to some home cooking, which should help turn some of this around. Yet the questions remain.

It was almost 2 yrs. ago that I posted a get well card to coach Karl on Blazersedge. I am glad to see George healthy & back. I was not a big fan of the Nuggets with EgoMello & KMart but as a fan of team basketball, The Nuggs are one of my fav. non Blazer teams. You guys are only a piece or two away & have an entertaining fun team to watch. Good luck the rest of the year & above all beat LA.

The Nuggs have some issues to address, but we should not get into “the sky is falling” mode around here yet. This is a young team, and is probably 2-3 years out from truly contending. My hope is that the Nuggs keep getting better, and give the players who are going to be relied on in the years to come enough minutes so they can grow (Faried). Ultimately, the Nuggs are missing 3 things that I have Masai and Josh address over the next 18 months:

1) A Post Scorer That Demands Double Teams – - The Nuggs lack of post scoring allows teams the luxury of not having to double team, and put more pressure on our perimeter player. I don’t believe there has ever been a championship team without a reliable post scorer. Nene is good off the pick and roll and running the floor, but one probably the Nuggs have is getting a bucket in the post when they really need one.

2) Shot Blocker – The Nuggs could really use someone that protects the rim and allows Denver to pressure 3 point shooters. Maybe Moz develops here, but imagine a McGee or Jordan type player guarding the Nuggets rim.

3) Explosive Scoring at the 2-Guard – The Nuggs consistently get off to slow starts, primarily due to a lack of scoring at 2-Guard. Hate to pile on AAA now, but he does not look ready to play this year, and has shown little signs of improvement. It might be interesting to give Hamilton some run hear, but the long-term answer may be Wilson Chandler. With Chandler at 2, the Nuggets immediately become more dynamic in their half court offense.

All that said, this a young team that will need some time to grow and mature. Not sure Karl is the perfect coach for a young and growing team (cmon GK – - turn the Manimal Loose!) , but he is better than 90% of the other coaches in this League.

I say put Chandler at the three and Gallo at two, based on their respective handling abilities. Regardless of what you call it, this would toughen up the lineup and add a little length. Gallo can play 2/3/4 so it’s just a matter of how you stack the others. Chandler can rebound, play defense etc. Fills in for AAA’s current lackluster game.

But there is still some quirky scheduling to come, especially this month.

Very frustrating game to read the box score and see that while Gallo showed up, as he seems to do every other game now, that Miller was bad and Nene was abysmal.

Clearly the big man is tired. Poor guy probably needs a night off. I bet his heel is acting up, if you know what I mean.

Mostly, I’m sore that I left Nic Batum off my fantasy roster in two leagues. Ugh.

The trade deadline is right around the same time Wilson Chandler will return from China. I figure the Nuggets see if they can at least get a second round pick out of the deal from someone and if no one bites give him the amnesty. Either way Denver will want to free up some cap space to avoid paying some luxury tax when they sign Wilson

Run a batum. Portland was not able to reach a contract extension w/ him and his agent said they will test the other 29 teams befor they go back and talk to Portland. I know Masai is has a man crush on him. But what I don’t know is is batum a starter or a 6th man? He’s also friends w/gallo so chemistry would be good. I was never big on these Euro players but I’m coming around. We need a frenchman lol. Lets talk bird now in one of his latest tweets he’s disappointed in not playing and says he needs to talk to the coach about this. As much as I love bird and is probley my most favorite player in the NBA it’s heart breaking to see his diminished skill set/pt but I believe he still is serviceable and has a role with this team he just needs to embrace his role it’s better to ride the bench on a good team then play on a bad team but that’s just me. One day I would like to see the #11 raised up to the rafters of
the can. But once again that’s just me. I still love this team and I’ll tell you what those last two games those guys looked tired.

everyone should act like there on a string one slides the other slides. also this team needs to stop acting like there snowflakes and get up and hit someone

if you wanna comment during the game feel free, or talk about whatever…within reason :)

BAD MOVE: Karl tried to use 6-3 Andre Miller on the 6-8 Batum for a spell in the second quarter. Batum scored 14 of his 17 first-half points in the period, including four treys.By Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com