SB Nation - Chris Andersen

Best start in Nuggets history?... (Nuggets/Rockets recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:41:58 -0000

Sometimes games have absolutely no personality whatsoever. Tonight's relatively easy victory over the Rockets was one of those games. But sitting at 19-7, the best start in Nuggets NBA franchise history, who are we to complain?

First off, let's congratulate this band of Nuggets for completing the best 26-game start in Nuggets history. That's no small feat. Yes, they've had a pair of dreadful, alarming losses combined with a few more clunkers that we'd expect better from, but overall this is a damn good team. They still open games lethargically (as we witnessed again tonight), but there may not be a better third quarter team in the NBA right now. I remember just a few seasons ago when the third quarter was the Nuggets death knell. Oh how times have changed.

But is this really the best start in Nuggets history? Record-wise, yes. Through 26 games last season, the Nuggets stood at 17-9, but you could argue the first four games didn't count (no Carmelo Anthony for games one and two, versus the Lakers in game three and at Golden State in game four with no Allen Iverson). In the Nuggets first 26 games W.C. (with Chauncey), they were 18-8, one off this team's pace. But this season's Nuggets have lost five games to sub-.500 teams, including once at home, whereas last season's Nuggets (again, W.C.) didn't drop a single contest to a sub-.500 team in those first 26 games W.C. So while technically their records are almost a wash, I still liked the spirit and game-by-game seriousness of last season's Nuggets better at this point in the season.

From my seats at Pepsi Center, I don't think I saw the Nuggets break a sweat tonight. Yes, they dug themselves an early hole (I remember turning to my seat mate and saying "they only have 11 points with four minutes to go in the first quarter?!") and then suddenly they were up at the end of the first period and never looked back.

The Nuggets successfully completed what I labeled on Friday as their "no excuses week" (three home games against opponents playing them on the second of a back-to-back) with the record they should have had: 3-0. Part of being a great team is simply doing what you're expected to do, and the Nuggets have done so. Meeting expectations might be a tad boring, but we'll take these relatively easy victories any day.

The view from the not-so-cheap-seats...

...I didn't catch the Chauncey Billups groin injury but did see Chris Andersen limping a bit. The "Birdman" seemed to shake it off, however, and hold his own down the stretch.

...Melo did his best impersonation of Kevin Durant/Alex English by scoring the quietest 38 points I've ever seen him score. I guess that happens when you shoot an astoundingly high 20 free throws (and he promptly sank 19 of them). Convinced that this had to be Melo's career high for free throw attempts, I just looked it up and he amazingly had two 22-plus free throw attempt games during the 2005-06 season.

...believe it or not, watching J.R. Smith shoot threes lately had become cringe-worthy for some Pepsi Center fans. I won't proclaim that J.R. has ended his shooting slump, but tonight's 21-point effort was the most he had scored in 12 games. Eek.

...after Nene missed his wide open layup, he laughed at himself and had a "I can't believe I didn't just dunk the damn ball!" look on his face. So did we!

...did Ty Lawson's sick under-the-basket scoop layup look as good on TV as it did in person? Just wow.

...I'm embarrassed to admit this but I had no idea who David Andersen was until tonight (off the top of my head, I can go 10-11 deep on any NBA roster...12 might be a stretch). But this (legitimately) 6'11" kid from Australia has some game. And believe it or not, his 17 points against our Nuggets tonight wasn't his career high: he put up 19 against the Lakers earlier in the season.

Non-Stiff of the Night

-Carmelo Anthony: Melo didn't shoot particularly well, but as noted above - when you score 38 points and no one really notices - you've ascended to an Alex English-type level in this game. It's become expected/assumed that Melo will go for 30 nightly and anything short is considered an off night. That in itself is the definition of a super star player.

Stiff of the Night

-Chase Budinger: Pardon the reverse racism here, but if you're a white American (i.e. non-Euro), second round draft pick and you're still playing in the NBA you have one job to do: hit wide open shots. And Budinger - who deserves a lot of credit for working his way into the Rockets rotation - couldn't hit any of his shots tonight ending up 0-4 from the field.

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Keeping a safe distance (Nuggets/Thunder recap)

Nate Timmons — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:56:07 -0000

After a slow shooting start to the game Denver found their rhythm, took the lead and kept the Thunder from ever really being a threat.

This was exactly the type of hope crushing win the Nuggets needed. While the final score (102-93) doesn't indicate a completely dominant performance by the Nuggets, the Thunder were never really in this game after the first quarter. And that's the kind of performance that good teams have against opponents coming from out of town for the second game of a back-to-back set.

Too often this season we've seen the Nuggets give hope to their opponents (especially ones that are not on the Nuggets level) and it's nice to see Denver put on sort of a snoozer, by their standards this season anyway. The Nuggets bench got a bit back on track tonight with some nice efforts from J.R. Smith, Chris Andersen and Ty Lawson.

Smith and Bird each scored in double figures and the Birdman recorded his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds (3 offensive). It was great to see the Bird going strong to the hoop and his best finish came at the 3:45 mark of the second quarter when Billups took the ball towards the foul line and bounced a pretty pass between his own legs right to a streaking Andersen who kept the ball high and threw down a jam over Nenad Kristic. I think Bird went for the strong finish to insure he either made Sportscenter or so he got heavy consideration for the Chris Marlowe special ... the Kuni Lexus Drive of the Game.

It was also nice to see J.R. Smith back on track after a shaky performace against the Suns last Saturday night. As reader TheNoticer pointed out ... Smith wasn't happy after heading to the bench against the Suns, but he made up for it tonight by scoring 19 points. Most impressively, Smith got to the foul line 10 times and was able to convert on 8 of those attempts. I'll forever maintain that with Smith's shooting ability, it's a shame he can't shoot 85% or better from the freebie line.

The starters tonight also put forth a solid effort. Kenyon Martin was a workhorse on the glass, collecting 6 of his 11 rebounds on the offensive end. The Thunder are not the biggest team around, but they work on the glass and seeing Martin's effort just makes me greedy wanting him to come out with the same tenacity every night on the offensive end.

Keeping with good rebounding ... Nene posted 9 boards and got to work on offense as well posting a shooting night of 6-11 for 13 points. When Nene gets going on offense it continues to open up the floor for the rest of the Nuggets. The Brazilian is so tough to guard one-on-one that when he gets going teams almost have to double him and if you have to double Nene your team is in trouble because the big guy can pass the ball and his teammates like to cut to the rim. Nene also got a few dunks in tonight and it's always good to see the "big fella" (Bill Hanz!) get some easy ones.

Speaking of easy ones ... Melo was able to score at will tonight. Melo lost the one-on-one scoring battle against Kevin Durant 31 to 32 respectfully, but his team got the win. I thought the game really started to swing early when Melo made two passes on one possession that resulted in a Arron Afflalo three-pointer at the 5:19 mark of the first quarter. Scott Hastings could be heard on the broadcast saying to himself, "please go in," as Afflalo's three found its mark. That play gave Denver an early 12-11 lead, but seemed to get the team away from one-on-one jump shots and to focus more on moving the ball and eventually getting to the rim.

Billups had a poor night shooting the ball, but he was getting his teammates involved (7 assists) and was active in the passing lanes and overall on defense collecting 4 steals. The task of covering Russell Westbrook didn't prove to be a difficult one for Denver's floor general and that's a good thing because I was pretty concerned that Westbrook could be an X-factor tonight.

Turns out this game wasn't of the exciting brand and perhaps for the team and for us fans that's a good thing for a change. I had just about all I could handle against the Suns in my emotion department and a win like this tonight was again exactly what this team needed.

Random thoughts during the game:

The Thunder have the worst away uniform name plates in the league. Seriously, "Oklahoma City" ... just horrific and don't get me started on their nickname. (Am I still bitter the Sonics are no longer around? Yes! We beat the Sonics in the 1994 playoffs ... not the Thunder!) Funny ... Sonic Boom sounds like Thunder.
Thabo Sefolosha no longer rocks the corn-rows, didn't notice until tonight. Also sort of weird that he's from Switzerland isn't it? I'm not much of a world traveler and I'm probably an idiot for thinking that, but is basketball big in the land of Swiss cheese?
Robert Sanchez of 5280 magazine shows us how Bird styles his hair. With the long hair in the back I propose we call Bird's look the "Mull-hawk" since it's basically turning into a mullet in the back.
With 2 minutes left in the first quarter Scott Hastings said after a Nick Collison dunk that the former Kansas star had speed like a "1928 flatbed ford" ... I'm guessing he probably meant this 1939 version.
After Lawson snuck behind the defense for a wide open layup I finally figured out that if he were a NBA Jam character he'd be those annoying little guys ... the John Stockton NBA Jam type. I loved that game and almost guarantee I'd beat anyone at the original Sega version. Dikembe Mutombo and LaPhonso Ellis can hit 3's on that game!
The reason this game might seem a bit slow paced, a combined 71 free throw attempts. BLAH.

ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs Denver Nuggets

Mike Lisboa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:29:12 -0000

More photos » by Barry Gossage - NBAE via Getty Images

More of this, please. (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

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There is absolutely no way this game ends well for the Phoenix Suns. Whatever your bar is for the Suns' performance in this game, lower it. I'm eschewing the typical "match-up" format for this preview in favor of bullet points, because while the Suns may have an edge here or there with regards to personnel, none of that has mattered so far on Second Nights.

I know that's not very Bright Side of me, but the deck is stacked heavily against the Suns tonight:

Denver is ranked 3rd in offensive efficiency. The Suns are ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency.
The Suns are on the second night of a back-to-back. They are 1-4 in these games, 0-4 against teams with a winning percentage higher than .217.
On second night games, ALL the Suns starters shoot notably worse except for one: Steve Nash. He actually has higher FG and 3PT percentages on the wrong side of back-to-backs than his season averages. His overall totals are down in these games, but so are his minutes as they've generally ended in blow-outs. Could Steve Nash be any more amazing?

Also, when the other 4 starters are not shooting well, that means fewer assists for Nash, which means he's reduced to being a scorer, which he does more than competently. At some point, Robin Williams is going to show up and hug Nash and tell him, "It's not your fault (unless your man went for a career-high again)."

The Nuggets are 1 of only 3 teams that plays at a faster pace than the Suns, so there is no "running these guys off the court." Oh yes, the game also takes place a mile above sea level. Winded won't even begin to cover how Phoenix will feel come the second half.

Guard play: As awesome as Chauncey Billups vs. Steve Nash sounds on paper, I doubt we'll see it very often. I expect we'll see lots of J-Rich on Billups (who is tough cover for Nash) and vice versa while the Nuggets continue the trend of putting longer defenders on Nash in the form of Arron "I'd Like To Buy A Vowel" Afflalo.

Guard play, part 2: The Suns badly need Jason Richardson to shake off his Second Night slumping if they hope to have a prayer in this game. His shooting percentage drops from .485 to .385 on Second Nights.

Guard play, part 3: Goran Dragic against Ty Lawson could be really, really fun if Dragon Frosty shows up. However, if it's Tragic Frosty, he will find himself in a couple of posters before the night is through. I have a hunch Dragon Frosty will be making an appearance tonight (though Dragon Frosty runs the risk of melting himself, so I don't really know how that works in the grand scheme of things).

Ditto Channing Frye whose 3PT percentage drops from .435 to .300 on Second Nights. If he's not hitting, that frees up Nene, Chris Andersen, and/or Kenyon Martin to stay in and protect the paint. It's an offensive double whammy for the Suns as it hurts both their perimeter and inside games when he is missing.

Jared Dudley and Grant Hill will have their hands full with Carmelo Anthony. And by "full" I mean "no one else has been able to guard him this season and I don't see that trend magically ending tonight." Carmelo has been downright Kobe-like in his ability to score from anywhere inside of half-court this season.

Amare Stoudemire has to get it going on down low, which is a tall order against Martin, Birdman and Nene. The Nuggets get more free throws per field goal attempt than any team in the NBA. A healthy dose of Amar'e And-1s would help things considerably tonight.

Unless the Suns suddenly start closing out on shooters, I can see J.R. "My Name Is Isn't Earl" Smith going to town on Phoenix tonight. Again.

The one true Bright Side I foresee going into this game is that since the Nuggets are a faster team than the Suns' more recent opponents, I expect to see heavier minutes for Lou Amundson and "My Name Really Is Earl" Clark. If 'Melo gets it going early, Gentry might give Earl a whirl on the Denver's scoring machine. And we all know how much Nene likes playing against Looooooooouuuuuuuu.

Predictions

This game has blow out written all over it. The Suns remaining competitive for more than 2 quarters, much less winning this game, flies in the face of everything we've seen from them so far this season. For the Suns to win, they have to somehow find that crazy offensive rhythm they had through the first 17 games of the season and Denver has to be commensurately ice cold from the field. A Suns victory isn't impossible tonight, just highly improbable. But that's why they play the games, eh? Denver wins 122-100 and the Suns get a moral taco victory.

P.S. - I have no problem being wrong about all of the above and the Suns pulling one out tonight.

[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/12/09 11:55 AM PST ]

It's unfortunate this is a Second Night game, because with both teams well-rested, this match-up has the potential to be a fast-paced yet nasty shoot-out. Fortunately, the next couple of times these two teams it will be after a day or two's rest.

Game Links

Check out the view from a Mile High over at Denver Stiffs.

Suns vs Nuggets coverage

Suns vs Nuggets preview

Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats vs. Denver Nuggets

David Arnott — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:31:22 -0000

Pump Up Music: Jonathon Coulton -- "I Feel Fantastic"

The Big Picture: The Denver Nuggets are a borderline juggernaut. Carmelo Anthony has always been a scorer, but after his Olympic experience in Beijing, he's picked up his rebounding a notch and suddenly started showing some defensive desire in crunch time, turning it up to 11 when he's feeling it. They still lack a prototypical inside scorer, but that's okay because Nene can score some, everyone (including Kenyon Martin) has accepted that Martin won't be an offensive threat the way he was when he was younger and Jason Kidd was running the show, freeing him to do what he does well without expectation of more, kind of like late-career Horace Grant, only paid way more, and with Chris Andersen in the fold, every front court player they'll send out there has the capacity to be a plus defender.

The good news for the Bobcats is that Denver is on the back half of a back to back, in the middle of a four-game road trip, having defeated the AI/AI2 Sixers last night in Philadelphia. 'Melo struggled mightily against AI2, but Chauncey Billups torched the Sixers' back court to the tune of 31 points on 8-15 from the floor. Billups played 41 minutes, but he was the only one who played more than 34 minutes, so they're going to be reasonably well rested for tonight's game at the Cable Box.

Key to Victory: I swear this isn't because the guy went to UNC and I'm baiting the Tar Heel zealots, but I think Ty Lawson is going to play a big role tonight. Will Bynum has torched the Bobcats' point guards, and Lawson reminds me a lot of him. I suspect George Karl and company are going to test Raymond Felton and Ronald Murray a lot with their super-fast point guard since neither of the guys the Cats have been playing at the position are noted for their foot speed, and that could explain, in part, why Billups played so many minutes last night. Of course, it could also be that everyone just decided he was feeling it and they didn't worry about tonight.

They match up with us. We match up with them. Except for the whole "only D.J. Augustin can keep up with Lawson, so will D.J. play after two straight DNP-CDs?" thing.

Detail That Might Interest .08% of You: Kenyon Martin has a tattoo of a lipstick kiss on his neck. That kiss is from his long time girlfriend Trina, a hip hop singer with a reasonably successful career.

Welcome back, Birdman?... (Nuggets/Heat recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:02:06 -0000

I'll happily take the Nuggets being on the right side of a blowout any day of the week. But it's extra special when the blowout comes during a fair fight.

Before we recap tonight's events, it should be noted that I - Andrew - is covering tonight's game and not my partner-in-crime Nate Timmons. So while blowout wins for our Nuggets tend to come on Nate's watch, let's hope my recent spate of jinxes has begun to reverse itself!

The other blowout win I covered recently was when the Nuggets clocked the Lakers a few Fridays ago. But as I alluded to at the time, that game wasn't a fair fight. Not only were the Lakers playing shorthanded, but they had to fly into Denver in the middle of the night coming off the late TNT game the Thursday before. (It should be noted that the Heat playing at the Lakers tomorrow won't be a fair fight for the Heat whatsoever. Tonight's game against the Nuggets started a half hour late, the Heat will have to travel to L.A. in the middle of the night and the Lakers have been off since Tuesday. Have I mentioned that the Lakers schedule is a fucking joke yet?)

Unlike that Lakers victory we can gloat for a while about tonight's conquest. The Heat had no excuse to show up flat: they're healthy, had plenty of time to acclimate to Denver altitude, had more than one day's rest and had confidently beaten the Trail Blazers in Portland on Tuesday. The Nuggets are just a hell of a lot better than their South Beach counterparts, and it showed.

I don't know about you, but I thought the story of the game tonight was the continued - and desperately needed - resurgence of Chris Andersen. For the second game in a row, the Birdman reminded all of us why I started the "Bring Back Birdman" petition last season: blocking and altering shots, grabbing big rebounds, finishing around the rim and generally wreaking havoc - in a good way - inside. And his bench mate J.R. Smith also brought back the energy and production that made the Nuggets bench so special last season. Now the question is whether or not they can replicate this production on the road. I've always felt like if the Birdman and J.R. are solar panels, then the Pepsi Center crowd is their sun.

Tonight's victory might also send a more profound message throughout the NBA than the Lakers victory did. What does it say to the rest of the league when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups shoot horrifically (and indeed they did, even as Melo eeked his way to the 20-point plateau for the - gulp - 19th straight game!) and yet the Nuggets can still beat a playoff caliber team in a walkover? It says we have balance and when we play the game the right way, look out.

A few observations that I'm sure most of you noticed, too...

...you have to love J.R. dishing out a season-high six assists. Imagine if he starts embracing the pass?

...under the radar, Arron Afflalo is finding his role with the Nuggets and is becoming a major contributor. I couldn't be happier having him on the Nuggets.

...I was thrilled that George Karl picked up at technical foul early in the game when he sensed the Nuggets sluggishness, and even more thrilled to see Kenyon Martin hold his coach back by embracing him. But I have to admit I was a little disappointed that Karl didn't get himself kicked out alongside K-Mart when K-Mart got tossed in the second half. Given that the game was clearly over anyway, I'd have loved to see the two of them walking out the tunnel together a la Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in Casablanca.

...for those who watched the Celtics/Spurs game beforehand, are you as frustrated as I am that the Nuggets didn't draft DeJuan Blair when they had the chance in the second round? Even though the Nuggets were able to sell the draft rights to their second round pick (Sergio Llull) for a record price, they were being penny-wise and pound-foolish by passing on Blair (along with 28 other teams). Blair is yet another example in a long line of slightly undersized but gutty, tough power forwards who kicked ass in college and yet NBA teams routinely pass on (just a few off the top of my head: Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Jason Maxiell, Leon Powe and Glen Davis). Damn I wish Blair was in a Nuggets uniform right now. I just can't shake it.

14-5. Pretty damn good. A few more victories like this, and the home loss to the Timberwolves will prove to be a wake up call, and not a trend.

Go Nuggets!

Photo courtesy of AP: David Zalubowski

K-Mart for Shaq: Would you make this deal?...

Andrew Feinstein — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:58:16 -0000

The Cavaliers need an athletic, quick, tough power forward. The Nuggets need cap relief. If the Cavaliers offered Shaquille O'Neal to the Nuggets for Kenyon Martin, should the Nuggets make that deal? It deserves some serious consideration...

How many more games do the Cleveland Cavaliers need to play before realizing that the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal has been an utter failure? As noted in last week's Stiff List, without O'Neal the Cavs are 5-1. With him, 7-4 (including losses to the Raptors, Bulls at home and the Bobcats).

But that record doesn't tell the whole story.

Watch any Cavs game with Shaq on the floor, and it becomes immediately evident that he clogs up the middle, slows the game to a halt and, even worse, contributes next to nothing defensively. Moreover, not only weren't the Cavs hurting at center to begin with, but the center they had/have - Zydrunas Ilgauskas - may have been/may be the perfect center to play alongside LeBron James. After all, the Big Z can hit a long jump shot from anywhere on the floor, forcing opposing defensive big men to play him outside while leaving the lane wide open for an LBJ dunk or drive-and-dish to an open teammate.

(On a side note, I found myself in an elevator once with the Big Z at the historic Boston Harbor Hotel in downtown Boston. At a legitimate 7'3", the poor guy had to completely bend his head and arch his back down to fit into the tiny elevator. Nice guy, though!)

If you watched the Cavs play last season, their biggest problem wasn't at center but rather, power forward. Anderson Varejao is a nice change-of-pace, wreaking havoc, flopping pest for 20 or so backup minutes, but you don't want him as your featured power forward late in games (remember his shot attempts against the Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals? Ghastly!). The Cavs are in dire need of a power forward who brings Varejao's defensive toughness and peskiness, but can also finish on a fast break and will get out of LBJ's way on the offensive side of the floor. The Nuggets just so happen to have such a player in Kenyon Martin.

Having spent over six seasons learning how to play alongside Carmelo Anthony, K-Mart would be a great fit for Cleveland. With K-Mart on board at the four spot, the Cavs could move the Big Z back to being starting center and fill out their lineup with LBJ at small forward while their backcourt combo of Mo Williams at point guard and Anthony Parker at shooting guard stays in-tact. As another plus, rather than having Big Z eat up meaningful bench minutes the Cavs bench would be comprised entirely of their "energy foursome" of Delonte West (when he's on his meds), Varejao, Daniel Gibson and Jamario Moon. Now that's a team that can contend with Orlando and Boston in a conference final.

And while K-Mart's salary (more on that momentarily) might be tough to swallow for Cleveland, it will feel a lot better if K-Mart helps get LBJ back to the NBA Finals meaning LBJ will be more apt to stay in Cleveland. (And yes, I know I predicted that LBJ might go to the Nets to be coach by George Karl just a few days ago. While I believe LBJ will stay in Cleveland - and why would those Chinese investors pony up to own the Cavs if LBJ is walking? - I also believe if he goes anywhere, it's to the Nets.)

By now you're probably thinking: you haven't said one good thing about Shaq, so why the @#$% would the Nuggets do this deal?

For the Nuggets, it's all about economics. Shaq's $20 million salary comes off the books at the end of this season, whereas K-Mart's is still owed $16.5 million next season. (It should be noted that the money due to K-Mart next season is a "player's option," but I have a sneaky suspicion he'll be exercising it. Thank you, Kiki Vandeweghe. K-Mart's contract is the gift that keeps on giving.) Also, K-Mart's $15.4 million salary this season is close enough to Shaq's $20 million that the Nuggets would only have to use a little trade exception money to make the numbers work.

Before you accuse me of asking the Nuggets to throw away this season just to get K-Mart's salary off the books, consider this: next season, Melo, Chauncey Billups, K-Mart, Nene and J.R. Smith's salaries combined will be $64.2 million - expected to be near the luxury tax line in 2010. Throw in Chris Andersen's $4 million due for next season and the Nuggets are guaranteed to be at or over the tax line paying the salaries of just six players. Last I checked, that's less than half of a 13-man NBA roster.

If this deal actually happened (and remember, I've suggested crazier deals before...like the time I proposed trading Allen Iverson to Detroit for Billups and Antonio McDyess way before it actually went down), what would it mean for this season? How would it affect the Nuggets on the floor?

In theory Shaq would give us the center we desperately desire, enabling Nene to dominate at power forward (Nene's more natual position). In theory Shaq would give the Nuggets much needed size to go up against the bigger Western Conference teams. And in theory Shaq would be so amped up to get revenge against his former team, the Lakers, that he'd give the Nuggets a much needed ally in their war with L.A. with one more burst of energy for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs before riding off into the sunset. And lest we forget, good Shaq or bad Shaq, he puts asses in the seats (admit it, you'd watch every game with Shaq in a Nuggets powder blue and gold jersey).

But these are the same arguments that recently duped Phoenix and Cleveland into acquiring Shaq. And watching the 37-year-old center "play" these last few weeks, I can't with a straight face say that he'd be good for the Nuggets on the floor. Shaq would undoubtedly clog up the lane for Melo and Nene and slow down the Nuggets overall pace, which is what makes the Nuggets so deadly in the first place...especially at Pepsi Center. It shouldn't be a surprise that a Suns team sans Shaq is back to running teams off the floor en route to a top two record in the Western Conference right now.

Furthermore, in spite of the inexcusably unacceptable loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday night and another bad loss to the Clippers a few weeks ago, at 13-5 the Nuggets have tied their best start in franchise history and have a good thing going. The players seem to genuinely like each other, seem to listen to head coach George Karl (at least a majority of the time) and it feels like they haven't even played that well yet. (They also haven't played that many good teams yet...it has to be said.) As-is, we're looking at back-to-back-to-back 50-win seasons and another shot at the conference finals, if not more if the Nuggets catch a few breaks.

That said, if we - and/or Nuggets management - truly believe that this incarnation of the Nuggets, constructed as-is, can beat the Lakers and march into the NBA Finals then I say fine; let's see how the season plays out and hope for the best. Maybe Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol will get injured. Maybe the Lakers will get shorter. Who knows.

But if we - and/or Nuggets management - think that another Western Conference Finals appearance is the best this team can do, why not bring in Shaq and unburden ourselves of K-Mart's contract? At the very least, the Nuggets would remain a top five team in the West, would be fascinating to watch, would make any Nuggets/Lakers games and a possible playoff series an instant ESPN Classic and, most importantly, would free the Nuggets up financially to be a player in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes. As of today, the only free agents the Nuggets will be able to afford next summer will be from the D-League.

K-Mart for Shaq? Would you make this deal?

Like I said at the top of this column, it deserves some serious consideration.

Shaquille O'Neal photo courtesy of Getty Images: Isaac Baldizon

Kenyon Martin photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Denver rebounds against Golden State (Nuggets/Warriors recap)

Nate Timmons — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:38:29 -0000

After a less than stellar first quarter the Nuggets woke up and dominated the Golden State Warriors in the second and third quarters to breeze to a 135-107 victory. Scoring in the paint, rebouding and sharing the ball all played major roles in the Nuggets earning their 13th win of the young season.

With the Warriors coming to town I was able to grab a nosebleed ticket to the game with my boy Rory and watch what I expected to be a high-scoring affair live. What I didn't anticipate was watching most of the game from the concourse in the Tuaca Chill Zone. Sneaking down to better seats at the Pepsi Center is a fairly difficult task ... even in the later stages of the game, but ending up in a luxury box - totally worth it.

The funny thing about watching the games live without stats readily available is you get the sense that a team is dominating in certain areas and when you see the actual numbers ... sometimes they are even more impressive. The key areas where I felt Denver was having success: scoring inside, rebounding (both ends) and assists ... numbers didn't lie.

The Nuggets outscored the Warriors in the paint 62-48, out-rebounded the Warriors 57-33 (18-10 on the offensive glass) and out-assisted the Warriors 30-15.

The most impressive numbers and the most impressive aspect of watching the game was the rebounding advantage. Denver was scoring on putbacks and earning extra possessions by putting in a little extra effort on the offensive glass. Consider ... out of the possible 41 offensive rebound opportunities the Nuggets were able to snag 18 of them or 43.9% of them. These numbers should not be a surprise as the Warriors are a very undersized team, but I applaud the effort and would like to see more of it going forward.

Another thing that I liked about tonight's game was that Denver seemed to recognize that jump shooting and shooting from three-point land was not the way to win against the Warriors. The Nuggets went just 3-14 from deep (21.4%), but limited their attempts and started taking the ball to the rack in a major way towards the end of the first quarter and throughout the rest of the game.

It was nice to see some alley-oops put down by K-Mart and Birdman and the home crowd ate it up as well. The Warriors did challenge some of Denver's attempts to drive the lane, but that didn't disuade the Nuggets and after they started finding some success they started to like it and went back for more as the entire team started getting in on the act.

The Warriors couldn't really stop anything Denver was doing because the Nuggets attack was a balanced one with seven players scoring in double figures. Ty Lawson had his jumper working early and knocked down a three, a long jumper, a runner in the lay after being inserted in the game. On the night the rookie was 5-7 from the floor and scored 13 points ... sort of a bounce back game for Lawson in the scoring department as he hadn't posted double figures since the Clippers game on Nov. 20th.

Chris Andersen continues to look better as he posted 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks in 21 minutes. In Maya Starks' postgame interview with the Bird he said he is finally feeling healthy and credited Steve Hess and Co. for getting his wings flapping again (or rather his knee feeling better).

I feel like the Nuggets did just about everything that I wanted them to do tonight ... they even turned the Warriors into a jump shooting team for long stretches of the game. While this was a nice win to right the ship, until the team can put together some consistent efforts over an extended period of time ... doubters will remain skeptical as the see-saw games continue.

Views you can use:

Denver improved to 18-1 when teams travel for the second game of a back-to-back from the pacific time zone to the thin Colorado air (though I need to figure out the time period of this stat...)
Vladimir Radmanovic is not "washed up" as I called him in my preview, but he isn't the same dead-eye shooter either. Rad-Man put up 17 points on 7-14 shooting (1-5 from downtown)
The night after going for 45 points against the Pacers, Monta Ellis was held to just 15 points by Arron Afflalo and the rest of the Nuggets

Call of the night from the comments section:

At 8:34 p.m. (mtn.) reader river-z predicted the Nuggets would score 135 points ... nice call!

ntimmons73@yahoo.com
Twitter: Nate_Timmons

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

Unacceptable... (Nuggets/T'Wolves recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:02:02 -0000

There are good losses, bad losses and unacceptable losses. This one falls squarely in the "unacceptable" column.

Call me the Nuggets Curmudgeon from now on, because I've had it with the way this team is playing. Going back to the Nuggets no-show performance against the Heat in Miami at the beginning of the month, the Nuggets nasty habit of waltzing through games against lesser competition finally bit them in the ass tonight. Could this be the wake up call the Nuggets needed moving forward? Or was tonight's unacceptable (I'll get to why it's unacceptable in a moment) loss to the god awful Timberwolves be the continuation of a pattern that we'll be seeing all season long?

Sitting at 12-5, in theory there shouldn't be much to complain about. In theory. But among those 17 games played, only five - home against Utah and the Lakers, on the road against Portland, Miami and Atlanta - were against teams that actually scare anyone in the NBA, and including Miami in that fivesome is a stretch. While the Nuggets have been cursed with a league high 22 back-to-backs, they were also given a blessing by getting 13 weak opponents out of their first 18 games (Golden State being the 13th weak opponent...coming into Pepsi Center on Tuesday).

But rather than take advantage of these circumstances and pad the win column early as they did admirably last season, the Nuggets have pissed away two should've/could've/gift wrapped victories (at the Clippers last week against an injury-depleted Clips squad and tonight against the lowly Wolves) and almost gave away a third to the Knicks on Friday night.

Before everyone says I'm being too negative, allow me to explain the difference between a good loss, a bad loss and an unacceptable loss.

When the Nuggets lost to the Bucks in Milwaukee, I'd call that a good loss. The Nuggets were wrapping up a tough road trip that included three pairs of back-to-back games, and even though the Bucks were the more energized team the Nuggets dug deep and put up a fight through the very end of the game.

When the Nuggets lost to the injury-rattled Clippers in Los Angeles last week, that was a bad loss. The Nuggets had been off for two days, had played only twice in eight days (both at home) prior to that game and both those games were walkover, no-energy-needed contests. But they were on the road and anything can happen on the road.

Tonight's game falls into the nether regions known as an unacceptable loss. Entering tonight's contest, the Nuggets had a day off, last played at home and, oh yeah, the Wolves were 1-and-fucking-15 before tonight! All the Nuggets had to do was watch game tape of their easy victory against the Wolves in Minneapolis last week to further exploit the Wolves myriad problems, pound the ball inside and play halfway decent defense.

So who were the culprits for tonight's embarrassing home defeat? In no particular order, allow me...

...head coach George Karl, for waiting until the five or so minute mark remaining in the game to demand that his team start playing harder and turn up the pressure on the Wolves (according to Altitude's Maya Starks).

...Carmelo Anthony, for continuing his El Matador-style defense for the second game in a row turning Ryan Gomes into an All-Star while getting to the free throw line for a mere five attempts. Five attempts?!!

...Chauncey Billups, for continually chucking three's even though he made just 25% of them tonight and finished a ghastly 2-13 overall (and yes, I had claimed Chauncey's shot was back after the Knicks game...shows you what I know).

...J.R. Smith for playing defense so erratically, I thought he might take out all his teammates on several possessions like a bowling ball crashing into the pins.

...Ty Lawson for being so careless with the ball, I thought Anthony Carter had suddenly reemerged as the backup point guard.

...Chris Andersen for remaining grounded as teams take it right at him inside with no fear whatsoever. Three @#$%& rebounds? Three?!!

Ok. Deep breath. My venting is over (for now). I still have the utmost confidence that this Nuggets team can make noise when it counts. But when they finish one game behind Portland or Dallas for homecourt advantage in the second round of the playoffs (forget the Nuggets catching the Lakers by season's end, that ain't happening) remember this loss. This unacceptable, unwarranted, inexcusable, horrible loss.

Photo courtesy of AP: David Zalubowski

Nuggets get pass happy against Raptors... (Nuggets/Raptors recap)

Nate Timmons — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:40:05 -0000

The Nuggets outscored the Raptors in the second half 66-48 en route to their eighth win of the season. Along the way, Billups racks up 10 of his teams' 34 assists.

In the first half of tonight's game ... the Raptors couldn't seem to miss and the Nuggets couldn't seem to get on track defensively. With the score tied at 64 a piece heading into the locker room, I was a bit concerned with the Nuggets focus in their defensive rotations because the Raptors were getting a lot of open looks and making them.

Before the contest I said this could be a "trap game" for Denver after coming off a big win with a lot of rest. The first half didn't do anything to quell my fears. But then the second half began and once again Denver came out ready to go in the third quarter and looked to have their killer instinct back and took control of the game's tempo.

The Nuggets held down the fast-forward button as the Raptors moved in slow motion after the break. Being at the game I couldn't really count, but Denver may have had 152 straight possessions that led to fastbreak points. (A bit of a stretch?) The Nuggets came out of the locker room and just owned the tempo of the second half. The Raptors started missing contested shots and the Nuggets took advantage in a major way. You could see the Raptors become deflated and Chirs Bosh even earned himself a technical foul after getting whistled for a double foul along with Birdman.

There was a stretch in the third quarter where J.R. Smith and Chris Andersen walked up to the scorers table, but were not able to get into the game for a large chunk of time because there was no stop in the Nuggets' fastbreak action. By the time play came to a stop you could see Toronto was worn out and the Nuggets starters were a bit gassed themselves ... as Lawson, Smith, and Bird entered the contest.

The passing got contagious as the game progressed and Billups (10), Lawson (6), Melo (5), Nene (5), and Double A (4) all finished with more than four assists. Sometimes the ball was being whipped around so fast that I thought the Raptors players were going to get dizzy and fall over ... then the play would end with a wide open dunk or shot for Denver.

That was a very fun game to be at with all the offensive firepower and Denver earned a 130-112 victory with a great effort in the second half. Definitely a tale of two halves.

Player Notes:

CB1 - logged his second game of double digit assists of the season. Denver is 2-0 in those contests. This was one of those games where the veteran guard realized his offensive prowess would be best served getting his teammates involved ... and he did just that tonight. Billups will probably always find ways to be useful on the floor.

Ty Lawson - "the Rook" logged meaningful minutes as the primary backup once again with A.C. on the shelf. Lawson's effectiveness allowed Billups to play just 27 minutes. More games where Billups plays less than 30 minutes and the Nuggets win, will prove very valuable down the road. Lawson made a play on a fastbreak that just shows his basketball I.Q. ... Amir Johnson was chasing him down on a breakaway and instead of trying to get the layup off over the bigger guy, Lawson used his body to shield Johnson off and almost made the difficult layup anyway. We've seen body defense on layups become a staple of the Rookie's game since getting some layups blocked in the preseason.

Double A - as he continues to get more comfortable with his new teammates we're starting to see the all-around game that Afflalo talked about wanting to be known for when he was traded to Denver. He shot 5-9 on the night and 2-4 from downtown ... it's nice to have a weapon like him. There seems to be some nice chemistry between Lawson and Afflalo as well. Lawson knows when he drives the lane that Afflalo is going to be in the corner waiting to launch one of his text book threes.

J.R. Smith - the Nuggets are a different calibar team with #5 on the floor. J.R. loves to toy with his defender ... especially if his defender is not as quick as him. Tonight Smith abused Marco Belinelli with his offensive arsenal. When Belinelli sank off and gave J.R. room he was burying threes (5-9) and when Belinelli tried to play J.R. straight up Smith would call for a clear out and take the ball to the rack. Belinelli had a nice night shooting the ball, but he was not up for guarding Smith. It was nice to see J.R. find his stroke and yet remain aggressive attacking the rim for 29 points.

Melo - had it going tonight ... his shot was falling, but it seemed like he knew he was starting to force some stuff so he started using his brilliant passing ability to find wide open shots for his teammates and they were WIDE OPEN ... maybe because the defense figured he was going to shoot. He scored 32 points in three quarters of basketball and didn't even play the fourth quarter as George Karl has adopted the superstar mentality with Melo ... meaning he may sit to start the fourth and then be used only if necessary. My favorite play that Melo made ... after stealing the ball with the quarter winding down in the third Melo drove baseline and drew a foul. He then walked over to the crowd and encouraged them to cheer the teams' effort in the period. Nothing better than players recognizing the crowd and mixing it up a little bit (no, Ron Artest does not typically mix it up correctly with the crowd.)

Renaldo Balkman - saw 11 minutes as K-Mart found himself in a touch of early foul trouble. Balkman wasn't effective and was trying to guard the massive Andrea Bargnani ... total mismatch. Balkman's hustle unfortunately didn't become a factor tonight.

K-Mart - had a nice game and got out on the fastbreak a few times and was rewarded for doing so with a couple nice throw downs. I don't know if there is another player on the team that can fire the crowd up with a dunk the way Martin can ... maybe Bird ... sometimes Nene, but a K-Mart dunk just has that anger behind it that lets you know it's a big dunk and probably a momentum changer.

Nene - had perhaps his best game of the season. He was attacking very quickly ... as soon as he got the ball he was on the move with it going to the rim with a pretty left baby hook. Usually Nene will get in trouble when he holds the ball too long, but when he attacks quick the way he did tonight ... guys can't stay with him. Nene notched his third double-double on the year with 20 points (season high) and 10 rebounds. Denver is now 3-0 when Nene has a double-dip.

Birdman - had a block where his elbow was just about above the rim it seemed. It was nice to see some of that Bird back. There was another play where he tried for a finger-roll on the baseline and came up just short ... he jumped a bit too early with the ball as his window for a clear path wasn't very open, so I don't think it was a lack of hops or anything like that. There were also a couple plays where after setting a pick, Bird rolled to the hoop and the ball hit him in the back as he wasn't expecting the pass. On the second one you could see the frustration on Bird's face ... I believe Lawson threw the pass and the chemistry will come eventually. Some of Nuggets Nation (including myself to a degree) are worried about the Bird and his ability this season. Suffering injuries to your legs (especially nagging ones like he's had) are very frustrating things ... I think we'll see a more explosive Bird as the season presses on.

Malik Allen, Joey Graham, Johan Petro - the end of the bench guys played very little late in the fourth quarter. I was surprised that Karl chose to use Balkman over Graham because Karl has a tendency to use guys who used to play for former teams ... Petro got some run against the Thunder whenever Denver played them. Speaking of Petro ... he was wearing sneakers that was white with a lot of yellow on it ... for some reason it looked like he was wearing two school buses out there. (I'm also a bit concerned about Afflalo playing in Adidas Superstar shoes ... they just don't seem like great shoes for bball, maybe he'd be even better in some Jumpman's?)

And speaking of former players ... Sonny Weems has found a home in Toronto this season. Weems played 27 minutes and scored 12 points. It was nice to see him get some burn in Denver and mix it up with his old teammates.

ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: David Zalubowski

It's your turn, Melo...

Andrew Feinstein — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:25:35 -0000

There's only one path to an NBA Championship for our Denver Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony must play like a superstar every night.

Fair or not, the consequences of the Nuggets brass making the necessary moves over the summer to keep their Western Conference Finals team in-tact without breaking the bank means that to top last season's stellar performance - i.e. reach the NBA Finals - an upgrade in play must come from within.

And news to Nuggets fans: that upgrade isn't coming from Kenyon Martin, who will never live up to his max contract. Nor will it come from Chauncey Billups, who will age gracefully but age nonetheless. Nor from Chris Andersen, who we just hope will replicate his remarkable 2008-09 season even after receiving a comfortable contract. Nor will Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter and Johan Petro - whose collective effort is always sincerely appreciated - magically turn into anything better than the solid role players that they are.

I do foresee Nene playing better, but not turning into the 20/10 player he could be if he was stationed permanently at his natural position of power forward. And J.R. Smith should continue to improve even after serving a seven-game suspension, but he'll still be coming off the bench, will have minutes eaten into by Arron Afflalo and won't be appearing in Dallas in mid-February at the All-Star Game (maybe just the dunk contest).

And, as mentioned above, those fine new acquisitions - Afflalo, Ty Lawson, Malik Allen and Joey Graham - are solid enough to keep the Nuggets among the Western Conference's best.

But to be the Western Conference's best? That's up to Carmelo Anthony.

Simply put, when Melo is at his best the Nuggets might be the best. In Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers, Melo racked up 39 and 34 points, respectively, and shot a combined 22 free throw attempts. Moreover, Melo played the closest thing to "lock down defense" that we've ever seen from him and in Game 2 in particular had several crucial offensive rebounds. Had Nuggets head coach George Karl not foolishly decided to insert Anthony Carter on Game 1's final inbounds play and/or gotten the ball to Melo more in the final minutes of both Game 1 and 2 (near the end of both games, Melo inexcusably didn't have a field goal attempt), the Nuggets leave Los Angeles up 2-0.

But the next four games told a different story regarding Melo's performance. From Games 3 through 6, Melo shot an atrocious 32% and looked visibly sluggish. He got to the free throw line quite a bit, but his defensive effort lapsed and he had only two (two?!) offensive rebounds in those remaining four games. It was as if Melo had exerted all his effort through Game 2 and had nothing left in the tank. This poor performance allowed the Lakers to steal Game 3, lay down and rest up in Game 4, and then wallop the Nuggets in Games 5 and 6 to take the series 4-2.

Momentarily forgetting Melo's performance in those last four games, the Nuggets star player had a sensational playoff run. Prior to Game 3 of the WCF, Carmelo Anthony unloaded on his opponents for 28.6 ppg, shot well over 50% from the field and routinely got to the free throw line. Coincidentally, the Nuggets were 9-3 in those games. And the numbers don't tell the whole story. Melo didn't exactly pull a George Gervin (i.e. scoring most of his points through quarters one and three), but rather made big shots at the end of the shot clock, at the end of quarters and at the end of games. Just ask former Maverick Antoine "I fouled him, no I didn't, yes I did!" Wright.

Whether he likes it or not, Melo showed us just how good he - and therefore, the Nuggets - can be. Frankly, had the Lakers not acquired Ron Artest, the Spurs not acquired Richard Jefferson and the NBA not screwed the Nuggets with the worst schedule in recent memory, Melo could replicate last season's performance and the Nuggets would be one of the favorites to appear in the NBA Finals. But that's not reality. And thus, if the Nuggets are to reach the Finals for the first time in their NBA franchise history, replication from Melo isn't going to cut it. We've been teased, and now we want the real thing for an entire season.

We need the WCF Games 1 and 2 version of Melo for 82 games plus the playoffs. There will still be those 4-of-15 shooting nights here and there and inexcusable efforts where Melo only gets to the free throw line a handful of times. But over the course of the season, we need Melo filling it up much more so than he did last season. Consider these numbers from 2008-09...

...when Carmelo Anthony shot over 50% from the field, the Nuggets were 22-5.

...when Melo attempted at least nine free throws, the Nuggets were 20-7.

...when Melo grabbed at least nine rebounds, the Nuggets were 22-5.

These numbers aren't accidental and they paint a very clear picture: when Melo is smart and aggressive, the Nuggets win almost 75% of their games. This doesn't mean that if Melo racked up 29 ppg, nine rpg, shot 50% from the field and took at least nine free throws per game the Nuggets would win over 60 games. But I bet if Melo was able to put up these types of numbers, the Nuggets could repeat or exceed last season's 54-win total, repeat as Northwest Division Champions and be in position to exact revenge on the Lakers in the conference finals. From there, Melo would have to step up even more and put on a performance a la Paul Pierce from the 2008 playoffs to lead the Nuggets to the promised land.

In spite of the formidable opposition out West and the brutal schedule, Melo has the experience, the talent and enough quality players around him to take the Nuggets all the way. And if what we've seen from Melo in the preseason thus far is any indication, he's going to have a huge season. Perhaps his best ever. But anything short of that, and Denver Stiffs' prediction of a fourth-seed finish for the Nuggets comes true.

It's your turn, Melo.