I was not one of the players who went out on the floor and sucked it up, how come I feel so embarrassed? 

The Denver Nuggets had a chance to prove to the entire league that they were a team to be taken seriously.  What they proved was that they are not physically or mentally ready to handle the Los Angeles Lakers.

I was baffled by the Nuggets inability to simply compete.  They stepped on the floor and completely forgot everything they needed to know in order to play basketball at the NBA level.  The sad thing is if the Nuggets play the way they are capable of they could have at least made that game interesting.  Instead they have opened us up to a new round of enver Nuggets jokes. 

I have no idea why the Nuggets pee down their leg at the sight of the Lakers.  Is it simply the pressure of playing in front of Warren Beatty (someone at Altitude must have loved Dick Tracy because they kept showing him over and over)?   All I know is I witnessed a completely different Nuggets team in LA than I had in any other game this season.  I can assure you after last night I am no longer looking forward to the Nuggets playing teams like New Orleans or Utah because I will never know when the Nuggets are going to lay another egg.

I guess the reason why I am embarrassed is I have been telling everyone how things have changed.  The Nuggets have reformed from their former sinful ways.  As I said before the game, I still think this team can be the best Nugget team in the last 20 years, but they are going to have to prove to me that the Lakers game was the fluke and not the Boston game and it starts tomorrow night against the Chicago Bulls.

Box Score

That was unbelieveably embarrassing and pathetic.  The entire Denver Nuggets organization should be ashamed of that performance.

Pace Factor - 93.9

Defensive Efficiency - 110.7

Offensive Efficiency - 95.8

Game Notes

I am going to crank up my combination spin machine/hype machine and say that this tonight’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers.  The spin is the Nuggets season really began with the addition of Chauncey Billups so for the purposes of tonight’s game we should consider them 7-1.  That leads us to the hype machine where we can bill the game as the battle of the 9-1 Lakers against the 7-1 Nuggets which in my mind makes this the marquee game of the first month of the NBA season.

I dare anyone here to tell me I am wrong and that you are not excessively excited over this game.

Nuggets fans know what is at stake here.  A win would put expectations at an entire new level for this team, and I think deservedly so.  A loss will be disappointing, but not devastating.  We still will know this team is probably the best Nugget team we have seen in two decades.

Heading into the game tonight I think the Nuggets have two things in their favor, the law of averages and the fact the Lakers played in Phoenix last night.  Unfortunately, even though I brought them up, I do not take much comfort in either of those things.  As far as the law of averages goes, yes the Nuggets will eventually beat the Lakers again, but not necessarily tonight.  As far as the back to back issue for the Lakers their win in Phoenix last night looked almost effortless.  No Laker had to play more than 34 minutes and only three (Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom) played more than 30.  I am not sure how fatigued they will be although Kurt at Forum Blue and Gold told me that they tend to get sloppy in the fourth quarter of their second game in back to backs.  That factor certainly took a toll on the Nuggets in the first meeting, but they were coming off an overtime battle the night before.

We have made a big deal about the Nuggets defensive improvement, but the Lakers have at this point in the season taken an even larger step forward in that area.  The Lakers are currently first in the league in defensive efficiency with a rating of 95.2.  What makes them so strong is they do a great job of taking away the things a team does best.  The Nuggets killed the Clippers on the pick and roll earlier in the season and they played the Lakers the next night.  The Nuggets pick and roll game was almost completely neutralized by the Lakers scheme of bringing help immediately before the ball handler came off the screen.

The Nuggets pick and roll has improved since then as Chauncey adds the jump shot to the equation.  The Lakers were not afraid of Allen Iverson pulling up from behind the screen, but Chauncey is great at doing just that.

The other primary strategy Los Angeles will employee is to double Carmelo, especially in the post and on the wing they will bring help as soon as he puts the ball on the floor.  I think the way the Lakers guard Melo the Nuggets will be better off if he scores 16-18 points and ends up with seven or eight assists than if he scores 25 points with four assists.  Of course, 25 points and eight assists would be nice too.  Melo has done a pretty good job of not forcing his offense even though I think he is setting for midrange jumpers a little too often.  If he continues to pass out of the double team the way he has been it will make the Nuggets much more difficult to guard.  Should he try to force his way into scoring opportunities the result will be an ugly 7-21 shooting night.

Defensively the Nuggets will have to rotate to shooters like Vladimir Radmanovic, Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar.  Denver must also be ready to help close off the driving lanes for Kobe or Farmar and recover quickly once they do.  The guards will have to pinch down on Andrew Bynum and Gasol to prevent them from getting the easy layups off of penetration. 

Believe it or not, Kobe has only scored over 30 points once this season and it was against Denver.  Benjamin Hochman from the Denver Post had a line in his story today that it is “likely” Kenyon Martin will start out guarding Kobe.  If that is the case it would be very disappointing.  Hopefully the Nuggets are just using him to disseminate disinformation to the Lakers.  Denver did not use that strategy in the first game and now that Chauncey is on board and Dahntay Jones is in the starting lineup, for defensive purposes mind you, I would be surprised, and probably a little bit hurt, if Kenyon spends any time covering Kobe. 

I will leave you with two more things to watch out for.  First, the potential for foul trouble will once again be a huge factor.  In the first meeting this year Nene was able to get two quick fouls on Bynum.  However, if the tables are turned and Nene or Kenyon get into foul trouble the Nuggets might be in big trouble with the Lakers poised to dominate the paint on both ends with Bynum and Gasol.  Secondly, the Nuggets need to take care of the ball.  You cannot afford to throw away possessions against a good defensive team.  If their turnovers start getting into the high teens, or heaven forbid, the twenties it will be a bad sign.   

Even though my brain says Denver is fighting an uphill battle tonight, I cannot stop thinking about how exciting a win would be.  I am afraid we are in for one of those games where my daughter tells me I am scaring her (she does not like sudden loud noises although I really wish she would toughen up) and my wife keeps telling me to calm down.

Make sure you visit the aforementioned Forum Blue and Gold before the game.  Kurt is a great blogger and I was fortunate enough to have him ask me to explain to his readers how the Nuggets are different with Chauncey in town as opposed to AI.  You can check out my response and see his game preview here.

Once again I am participating in the Blogger MVP/Rookie of the Year rankings that are completed every two weeks.  As usual I am a couple of days late posting the link to the first round.  I would apologize, but such is the level of service that you have come to expect from me so deal with it.  Thanks to Brew Hoop for putting everything together and to Ryan at Hoops Addict for compiling the result for Round 1.

You can find the results of round 1 here.

Check out my personal rankings here.

Box Score | Highlights

I am really trying to remain calm and collected about this season.  After all I have told myself that I am not going to get to excited until I see how these guys do through the end of November.  An 8-4 start is nothing new for the Nuggets as they have accomplished that each of the previous two seasons and we all know how those campaigns ended.  There are still 70 games left to play so many conclusions we could draw now could very well end up proven false by the end of the season.

That being said, this season’s 8-4 start feels completely different from their previous two 8-4 starts.  The Nuggets are winning with defense, they are winning on the road, they are winning on the second night of back to backs and I think I can get used to this.

As far as the game goes, I thought Denver missed quite a few chances to extend their lead in the first half.  They had shots rim out, they missed free throws, they threw the ball away (Melo did so on back to back plays) and they gave up a few second chance points, but even with quite a few mistakes and rough breaks, they were still able to take a ten point halftime lead. 

In the third quarter they were finally able to take complete control of the game.  The Nuggets defense was superlative and they started making some shots on offense.  When you play good defense, you do not need to be on fire all game long to win.  The Nuggets basically played three quarters of great defense and all it took to blow the game open was about three minutes at the end of the third quarter where they got hot offensively. 

If there is something I am a little worried about it is their tendency to let up in the fourth quarter.  They really let up in the fourth quarter for the second straight night.  In both the Spurs and Bucks games they let their opponent gnaw the lead down in the fourth quarter.  The one thing that seems to be lacking at this point in the season is a killer instinct.  Right now the Nuggets are content to win by ten instead of having the mindset that we may be up 20, but let’s see if we can win by 30.  You can get away with a mindset like that against the shorthanded Bucks and even more shorthanded Spurs, but that lackadaisical attitude will come back to bite them at some point if they do not change their approach in those situations.  Look at what the Blazers did tonight against the Chicago Bulls.  They were up 88 to 57 at the end of the third and continued to drop the hammer as they ended up winning by 42.

Part of my issue here is the Nuggets have not accomplished anything yet and I am still looking for proof that they are as good as I hope they are.  Ultimately, it really does not matter if they won this game by ten, 15 or 50.  They will be judged based on how they handle the top teams in the league, but I sure would like to see them beat someone by 42.

Now the Nuggets can turn their attention to the Los Angeles Lakers and their showdown Friday night at the Staples Center.  Last season they had no chance to beat the Lakers.  I am not sure how much things have changed with this version of the Nuggets.  All I know is last year I had absolutely zero expectation that the Nuggets could beat the Lakers.  This year, I am cautiously optimistic.

Other Observations from Game 12

• J.R. Smith has transformed himself once again.  Last season he became the explosive scorer that we all hoped he could become.  This year it is easy to be disappointed in his scoring, but even though he is not putting up points like last season, he is truly part of the offense.  Over the last few games he has become a player who makes sure the ball keeps moving.  Either he passes to an open teammate or attacks the paint.  He is always looking to pass.  Maybe he is not going to put up 20 points a game like I expected, but he is actually a much more dangerous player as he makes the offense more effective.  Add that on to his immeasurable defensive improvement and he has been a huge contributor off the bench.  What is really exciting is at some point his shots will start falling.  He will not end the season shooting 38% from the floor and 28% from downtown. 
  
• Melo has also played a much more effective half court style this season.  He is much more willing to share the ball and has made teams pay for doubling him on a consistent basis.  I expect him to average well over four assists a game this season.
• George Karl did not mess around in the fourth quarter tonight like he did against Milwaukee.  The bench got off to an awful start in the fourth quarter and he instantly sent some starters back in.  In fact there were still starters on the floor with less than two minutes left.
• One big reason why the Nuggets were able to extend their lead in the third quarter was Kenyon Martin’s defense on Tim Duncan.  I thought the fact that Kenyon only had one foul at halftime allowed him to play very physical and aggressive against Duncan.  With Nene around I did not think Kenyon would spend much time on Timmy, but the way Kenyon played him, there was no need to put Nene on Duncan.
  
• Nene had a really nice game.  I thought he could have had a better one, but the Nuggets just do not try hard enough to get him the ball in the post.  He had Matt Bonner guarding him for much of the second half and rarely got the ball in the post.  Nene did have a great sequence where he blocked a jump hook by Duncan and then posted him up and drew a foul on a great spin move in the post.  I doubt Duncan does not look forward to playing the Nuggets when Nene and Kenyon are both healthy.
  
• The Nuggets offense is getting better, but there is still much room for improvement.  They are much better in the half court under Chauncey than they were with AI, but they still tend to play a lot of one on one and they go through long stretches where they stand around.  The good news is they have posted good to great offensive efficiency numbers in four of their last five games.  With Billups getting in the lane and drilling long balls, Melo a threat to score from the three point line and in, Nene strong enough to post up whoever guards him and quick enough to blow by them too and Kenyon shooting his improved jumper and his ability to spin into the lane with his little push shot there is no reason these guys should not be as good offensively as they are defensively.
  
• When I first started talking about slowing the game down much of the feedback was along the lines of the fast breaking style is too much fun to abandon.  My counter to that was that winning is what is truly fun to watch.  Well, so far the Nuggets are playing slower, but I have yet to hear anyone lamenting the lack of run and gun basketball.
  
• I think it is safe to say that Chauncey is feeling more comfortable.  His first three games with the Nuggets he shot 11 of 42, which is 26%.  Over his last five games he has shot 31 of 64 just a hair shy of 50% including 12 of 25 from three point range, also a hair shy of 50%.
  
• At some point we are going to see Chauncey, Melo and J.R. all on at the same time and that is going to be fun to watch.
  
• Renaldo Balkman played tonight, but he did not seem like his usual spunky self due to a bum ankle.  It was really important for the Nuggets that he be available for this game considering the Birdman is out until at least the end of the month.  Let’s all give a laurel and hearty handshake to Balkman.
  
• Watching Cheikh Samb play makes me long for the days of Mark Blount.  I think his nickname should be Sushi because he is as raw as it gets in the NBA.
  
• I wish I could say I felt sorry for the Spurs having to play without Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, but I am a small petty man and I am kind of enjoying it.  Even so, the Spurs are hovering around .500 and before all is said and done they will be a team to be reckoned with.
  

Razzle Dazzle Game Stats

The pace factor for tonight’s game was 89.4.  It was the sixth straight game they have had a pace factor of less than 100.  On the season their pace is down to 94.3. 

Defensively for the sixth time in 12 games the Nuggets held their opponent to less than 40% from the floor.  Their defensive efficiency rating for the game was an impressive 90.6 dropping their season average to 101.3.

Offensively the Nuggets had a solid game with an offensive efficiency rating of 101.8 which will pull their average for the season down to 104.2.

If you want to know how life is like for a team struggling to survive without two of their three best players check out Pounding the Rock to get their reaction to the game.

Game Notes

Yes the Denver Nuggets are 6-1 since Chauncey arrived, but honestly, they have only had one win that was truly a statement game.  They have proven they can take care of business against the mediocre to poor teams I the league, but starting tonight they get a chance to show us how good they really are.  I think by the end of November we will have a sense if this is a team who will just squeak into the playoffs or if they are a team who can challenge for home court advantage. 

The Nuggets have been somewhat fortunate that they have had a few games on the easy side that has allowed them to work Billups into the lineup.  There are seven games over the next two weeks and four of those games are against quality teams.  They have road games against the Spurs and Lakers followed by home games against New Orleans and Houston later in the month. 

How they fare in those four games, assuming they continue to take care of business in the other three remaining November games against Chicago and at the Clippers and Wolves, the Nuggets will have put themselves well on their way to a very successful regular season.

However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Tonight the Nuggets face an old nemesis in the San Antonio Spurs.  Some will discount the Spurs due to the fact that they are playing without Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, but the Spurs are actually playing very solid basketball.  Roger Mason, Jr. is playing very well on both ends of the floor and Michael Finley has found the fountain of youth.  One thing potentially working in the Nuggets favor though is neither Mason nor Finley have shot well at home so far this season.  Of course, that may just mean they are due for a big game.

The big key for the Spurs though is of course Tim Duncan.  He is playing great at an MVP level and he has drug the Spurs to wins in their last three games.  Teams must double him in the paint and that opens up the floor for Mason and Finley.  The Nuggets rotations will have to be tight tonight to prevent the Spurs from getting open looks.

Once again it is important that Nene does not get into early foul trouble.  Adding even more importance to Nene being available to play his typical 35 minutes is the fact that Renaldo Balkman, who has been filling in at center behind Nene and Kenyon, is questionable with a bad ankle.  Denver dodged a bullet last night as Andrew Bogut was banged up and missed some time while Nene was out with his two early fouls.  They will not be so lucky against the Spurs although Kenyon can do a decent job on Duncan as long as he has help.    

Tonight will be a good test as we will get to see if they can again raise their game facing a tough opponent on the road or if the Celtics game was a bit of a fluke.  I think they can and will get another nice win tonight to give them even more momentum as they head into the Staples Center to throw down with the Lakers again on Friday.

Make sure you check out Pounding the Rock to get some coverage from a bunch of Ginobili lovers.

Box Score

Tonight’s game between the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks was your typical no win situation for the home team.  Win big, so what.  Just squeak by, or heaven forbid, lose and we all go nuts.  I guess the good news is that the 114-105 result was not news worthy.  The Nuggets simply took care of business.

While beating the Bucks was not a major accomplishment there were a couple of aspects of the game to be encouraged with.  The Nuggets really put the pedal down early in the second quarter as they went on a 14-0 run, that continued into a 19-3 stretch, where the Nuggets ran the Bucks ragged.  Another positive was that they put up 114 points, but Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smtih combined for only 33 points.  They had great balance on offense.  In fact no Nugget played more than 29 minutes.  The other aspect of the game that I thoroughly enjoyed was the fact that after the Nuggets built up their big second quarter lead the Bucks were never able to get back in the game.  The final score was as close as it was due to Austin Croshere and Joe Alexander getting hot late in the game.

The Nuggets defense in the first and fourth quarters left a little something to be desired.  They allowed Milwaukee to make their first five shots and three of them were wide open layups.  Those easy buckets served as a wake up call and the Nuggets defense improved quickly.  In the second quarter they held the Bucks scoreless for five decisive minutes.

In my preview I lamented that if Nene were to get into foul trouble that Andrew Bogut would be in position to go hog wild on the Nuggets.  Interestingly enough, Bogut was injured on the play where Nene picked up his second foul early in the first quarter and sat out until the start of the second.  I thought the game really turned on the couple of possessions where Bogut was on the floor before Nene reentered the game.  The Nuggets played great defense and swarmed around Bogut forcing missed shot after missed shot.  Nene returned soon after and he proved to be too much for Bogut to handle on both ends of the floor.

I know I have been driving the bandwagon for the Nuggets to slow down and play a more defensive oriented half court game, but I was happy to see the Nuggets put up 29 fast break points tonight.  Playing a half court style does not necessitate a team to stop running.  A good team can take advantage of all of their scoring opportunities.  I will always remember how the San Antonio Spurs at their peakof their powers could beat any team in any style of game.  They would outscore the Suns in one round and then out scrap the Lakers in the next one. 

This Denver Nuggets team has the potential to be that kind of team.  They played half court grind it out basketball against the Celtics and tonight they scored a bunch of fast break points.  The important thing for the Nuggets to remember on offense is to push the pace when they can, but to be patient when the break is not there. 

With each passing game my optimism for this team grows.  Next up they have another opportunity to raise my opinion of them a tick higher with a big road game against a battered and bruised San Antonio Spurs team.

Other Observations from Game 11:

• J.R. Smith had another rough shooting night, but I thought he played about as well as I have seen on offense.  He was very patient and worked to earn his teammates good scoring opportunities.  Last season he took a shot almost every couple of minutes, but tonight he only took one shot during his first nine minutes of game time.  Even so he had a man sized impact on the game.  Defensively he chased cutters and pressured them into catching the ball outside the three point line.  He also grabbed two rebounds and he handed out three assists during that nine minute stretch.  Many fans will look at his five points on 1-7 shooting and figure he had a bad game when in fact the opposite is true.
  
• Linas Kleiza ran the floor as well as I have seen him since his 41 point game against the Jazz.  He played a tremendous offensive game from inside and out making two of his five three point attempts (with a third barely rimming out) and getting to the line 15 times (more than doubling his previous career high of seven). 
  
• Chucky Atkins made his return tonight and promptly missed all three shots he took, including missing two three point attempts.  He did net four assists, but they were all on long jumpers.  Atkins will be a better fit this year than last year with the Nuggets as he is good at running the pick and roll and the Nuggets are running more pick and rolls with the point guard this season.  Even so, I hope his time is limited to games like tonight.
  
• I was impressed with Joe Alexander.  He is strong, has good length, is athletic and tough.  He also has a nice short range jumper.  He made a couple of threes and if he can add that as a consistent weapon he will be a big help to the Bucks in the future.
  
• I did grow a little concerned towards the end of the game when Karl ran out the scrubs a little early.  He did have to reinsert J.R. with a couple of minutes left just to make sure nothing disastrous happened. 
  
• I mentioned I was at the game tonight and was fortunate enough to watch it from a luxury suite.  Well, I would like to offer my special thanks to good friend Mike McWilliams from 3t Systems for his company’s hospitality and allowing me to attend the game tonight.  I highly recommend 3t for all your technological needs.
  

Razzle Dazzle Game Stats

Despite the Nuggets running for a couple of quarters the pace of the game was a moderate 95.4 raising their pace factor for the season up to 94.7.

Their defensive efficiency left a little to be desired thanks to the Bucks making ten of their 20 three point attempts.  As it was they posted a rating of 110.0 raising their defensive efficiency for the season to 102.2.

Denver’s offensive efficiency was a very impressive 119.4, their best mark of the young season, raising their rating for the season to a respectable 104.4.

One last thing, make sure you check out Brew Hoop’s top notch coverage of the game.  

Game Notes

I can stomach one sluggish effort at home against an inferior opponent, but not two.  The Bucks are not a bad team, but they are missing two starters in Michael Redd and Charlie Villanueva.  The Nuggets have had nice success against the Bucks at home having won five of the last six games.  History also tells us that it will not be a particularly close contest as the last four games in Denver, of which Milwaukee won one, have been decided by an average of 16 points.

There are two things that frighten me about the Bucks.  One is Bogut getting Nene in foul trouble early.  Nene is the only player on the roster who can guard Bogut.  If his playing time is limited the Nuggets will have to double Bogut every time he touches the ball.  The good news is without Redd the Bucks may struggle to take advantage of the double, but anytime your defense is forced into doubling it is exposing a weakness somewhere.

The second thing that frightens me about the Bucks is Ramon Sessions.  He is a quick athletic point guard with good size who can give defenses fits.  He is crafty and is good at setting up his teammates.  Fortunately Scott Skiles has been playing him behind Ridnour and I doubt that Sessions gets promoted into the starting lineup tonight.  Just remember, the less he plays the better it is for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets need a win to keep pace with the Jazz who ran away from the Suns last night in the last five minutes of the game and hopefully we see a more well rested and energized Nugget team than we did on Sunday against the Timberwolves.

I am still unsure if I will be allowed to bring my laptop to the game, if I can I will try to live blog it, but I am going early for some tech presentation on document imaging so hopefully I can sneak it in.

For some thoughts on the game from the Bucks point of view check out Brew Hoop.