All of the following excerpts come from could-have-been game 6 recaps. You will probably have to think about each scenario before you read its recap.

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The Denver Nuggets finished 53-29 this year. It was a frustrating season at times, featuring embarrassing losses to teams such as the Wizards, Kings (twice), Timberwolves, Clippers, Pistons, Sixers, and Knicks. But the season was not only difficult for the on-court issues. Off the court, the Nuggets were forced to deal with the absence of long-time head coach George Karl as well as several major injuries. Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, and Ty Lawson all missed extended periods of time while Chris Andersen struggled through knee problems all year long.

But although 2009-10 presented many obstacles to the team, it was also a year for rejoicing among Nuggets fans. In addition to their third consecutive 50-game season (franchise record!), the Nuggets finished with the 4th seed, securing home court in the first round for the second year in a row. We also were fortunate enough to witness great individual accomplishments, such as a career year for Chauncey, a superb season both offensively and defensively for K-Mart, and the return to form of Carmelo, whose superb 28.2 points per game was third highest in the NBA.

And of course the games. 82 of them every year. Only a few stand out, or else stick in your memory long after the season closes. These 10 were the ones I felt were either the most meaningful or the most fun to watch.

Let's get this started...

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EDIT: I know we lost to the Mavs. But the message remains the same.

So, yeah. I'm not too sure what I plan to say here but whatever.

Warning: fragments of life story and *gasp* optimism may be found below.

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I don't know how this is going to go, what with the trade deadline being so close (Thursday)...but I figure we ought to have a single thread where we can put our trade proposals, opinions on trades, etc. Mainly so that we aren't getting a ton of "ESPN trade machine" Fanposts cluttering up the site.

So...if you have any good trades or D-League call-ups or various methods of improving the roster obtaining Tyrus Thomas, put them here. Also, if you have any news about other teams making certain players available, you can put those here too.

What with the recent outcry over Hollinger's, Marc Stein's, Fox Sports', and NBA.com's "power rankings," it became even more clear to us Nuggets fans that our team is consistently underrated. For example, despite beating the Lakers (on the road, while playing shorthanded), almost all "power rankings" lists have the Jazz above the Nuggets. The Jazz, you may recall, have recently been blown out by the Lakers despite LA missing Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum and despite having home court. The Jazz also pride themselves in their grueling home victory over a tired, injury-wracked Nuggets team a few days back.

Many of you wonder how these so-called "experts" derive their power rankings. This is a question I am very curious about as well. In the spirit of devising power rankings based on obscure and mysterious methods, I have decided to take a stab at ranking NBA teams as well.

1. Atlanta Hawks (33-18)

         One of the Big Four in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks are coming off of a stellar 3-0 streak that ended yesterday when they scored 76 total points against the Miami Heat. This is a team that surprised everyone at the beginning of the season, and while not quite as hot as they started out, Atlanta is still the number one team in the NBA.

2. Boston Celtics (32-18)

          Despite recent losses to close rivals Los Angeles, Orlando, and New Orleans, the Celtics remain one of the elite teams in the league, boasting three All-Stars and depth to match. How deep is the Boston bench? Well, even in their loss to the Hornets yesterday, the Celtics bench was able to score a whopping 40 points! Not to mention that they have one of the best tenth men in the league in Brian Scalabrine.

3. Charlotte Bobcats (26-25)

          Charlotte is renowned for its league-best defense, behind the breakout season of Slam Dunk contestant Gerald Wallace and his excellent rebounding. This defense was on display during their last two games (both wins), in which the Bobcats held the fearsome Washington and Minnesota offenses to just 92 points each. With a two-game winning streak headed into the break, Charlotte is in position to make a serious title run.

4. Chicago Bulls (25-26)

          Despite an extremely slow start that had many talking up the possibility of a lottery season, the gritty Bulls have bounced back to playoff status in the East. Led by All-Star guard Derrick Rose and possible Nuggets trade target Tyrus Thomas, the Bulls are looking to repeat last year's incredible playoff performance, in which they battled the defending champion Celtics for 7 games and 7 overtimes. This year, they hope to reach at least 8 games and 12 overtimes.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers (42-11)

          The Cavs are definitely one of the league's elite teams, especially when it comes to scoring, ball movement, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, ability to draw fouls, free throw shooting, dancing, the transition game, the half-court game, closing out quarters, closing out games, ability to win on the road, defense, depth, team chemistry, and experience. These talents were on full display during the Cavaliers' recent victory over the youthful, underrated New Jersey Nets. Reigning MVP Lebron James has continued his excellent production, and is joined this year by an array of talented teammates and 7-footers. However, the Cavs do have one key weakness that opponents consistently exploit: coaching. does mike brown even draw up plays. ever.

6. Dallas Mavericks (32-20)

          Hold on now. I know you are all probably wondering, what's this guy's deal? How can he put the Mavs over the Nuggets after seeing Tuesday night's Pepsi Center Massacre? Well, the answer is that the Dallas Mavericks are not as bad as you think. Firstly, Rick Carlisle is an excellent, creative coach who has found success in most places he has been. Also, the news was announced today that Jason Kidd will be an All-Star reserve alongside teammate Dirk Nowitzki, so the Nuggets' advantage in number of All-Stars is gone. And finally, while I admit this is a bit of a "preemptive strike," I have a very good feeling that Dallas will soon be receiving a number of the 2010 Free Agent All-Stars , including Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Amare Stoudemire. Just a hunch.

7. Denver Nuggets (35-17)

          The moment you've all been waiting for, I'm sure. While the Nuggets have performed admirably during the absence of superstars Carmelo Anthony and Renaldo Balkman, their recent play cannot hide the fact that they lost to the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns, both of which are overrated, easily beaten teams. Their defeat of the Lakers was impressive, but must be taken with a grain of salt as they were only able to win thanks to a career night from guard Chauncey Billups. While still an elite championship contender, the Nuggets will need to win tonight against San Antonio to provide some much-needed momentum heading into the break.

8. Detroit Pistons (18-33)

          Although their record does not indicate it, the Pistons have been playing very well as of late. They have gone 3-2 in the month of February with key wins against New Jersey, Milwaukee, and New Jersey, and almost pulled out victories against Sacramento and Indiana (where they lost by a paltry 24 points). Expect Rookie Team selection Jonas Jerebko and company to experience a resurgence in the second half.

9. Golden State Warriors (14-37)

          The Warriors are a team that is inconsistent, divided, and yet oh so talented. They have talent coming out everywhere. Monta Ellis is an amazing scorer, despite the turnovers and attitude problems. Corey Maggette is having a comeback year, averaging 21 and 6 for Golden State. Stephen Curry, Anthony Randolph, and Anthony Morrow are all superb talents who could be even better if given more playing time or shots (unfortunately, all excess minutes are transferred to Monta Ellis along with any excess touches, misguided fouls, and shot attempts).

10. Houston Rockets (27-24)

          One of the best Cinderella stories in the 2009-10 season (whatever that means), the Rockets added to their already impressive Yao-less year by defeating Golden State and Memphis to start February. Houston then put up some excellent hustle and effort in two heartbreak losses to Philadelphia and Miami, the latter of which they were able to score 66 points against despite facing the all-world defensive line of Jermaine O'Neal, Quentin Richardson, and Michael Beasley. Interesting stat: the Rockets lead the league in "hustle" with approximately 12.3 HPG, dwarfing their nearest rivals.

Notables: #13 Los Angeles Lakers, #18 New Jersey Nets, #27 San Antonio Spurs, #29 Utah Jazz, # 30 Washington Wizards

From these rankings we can see that we should not be afraid of the Jazz or Lakers as much as we should fear the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, and Houston Rockets, all of whom are either catching up to or already better than the Nuggets. Also, note the surprising talent in the Eastern Conference, which contains the top 5 NBA teams and the Detroit Pistons.

After the loss in Sacramento, the reaction from Denver Stiffs readers seemed to be that of disgust and anger. I mean, how can a team that most projected to at least challenge for the Western Conference's best record, play like a team that is headed for the lottery? Many of you pointed out (rightfully) that the Nuggets just did not put forth 100% effort when going on the road (as evidenced by an 8-11 road record, good for 8th out of 15 West teams). There is also the issue of losing to bad teams (as evidenced by an 11-8 record against sub-.500 teams, this is not good).

But in the end, the Nuggets will be fine. Maybe not great like we had hoped for; but at this point, nearly halfway into the season, this is pretty much it. Unless the FO can trade for an impact player, this is the Nuggets. Frustrating on the road, brilliant at home, frustrating against bad teams, brilliant against good teams, unable to win without their stars, able to win without their stars.

The team is good. They will make the playoffs, they will probably cruise to a division title and at least a 3rd seed (unless Portland makes a big trade which would drop Denver to maybe 4th or 5th), all on talent alone.

Sure, we had hoped before the season that the Nuggets would win 55ish, maybe even 60 games if everything broke exactly right. But unfortunately, reality kicked in (in my opinion) after the loss to a severely undermanned Detroit team on December 10th. All the problems we saw in advance (lack of rebounding, lack of size, inconsistency from JR) were compounded by several key injuries as well as newer, more unexpected problems (poor defense, slow starts for Birdman and Chauncey, why the heck does Balkman never play). Also, Anthony Carter.

Can the Nuggets win 60 games? Yes, they can. But if you want to be technical about it, they can also lose 60 59 games and hope no one notices.

Can the Nuggets win 50 games? Well, it would require them to go 27-18 the rest of the way. Considering that they have 23 games left at home and 22 on the road, 27-18 should be reached. The schedule does get tougher though, particularly in the month of February, when the Nuggets will visit Cleveland, Utah, and the Lakers twice, and receive visits from Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, and Boston. Next month also comes complete with 3 back-to-backs, with 2 of the 3 being road back-to-backs.

For us fans though, we realistically cannot expect the Nuggets to overtake the Lakers. Whereas our team is not very deep and pretty banged up, the Lakers have a ton of depth and Kobe playing at an elite level with, what is it, 3 fingers on each hand? Despite this, we can hope for the Nuggets to overtake Phoenix and Dallas while holding off Portland and San Antonio.

Even if they don't acquire a big man, the Nuggets will still be fine. They might have a tougher time down the stretch, but as presently constructed the Nuggets do have the talent to stay among the top 3 in the West. It's just not reasonable to expect a big trade or a "wake-up call" at this point. It could happen, but the chances are small at best. (And no, firing the longtime coach in the midst of a potential 50-game season is not the best way to "wake up" the team.)

So let us, the fans, calm down and be thankful for what should be a good season, and keep the disgust level to a minimum. Because in the end, there is one thing which brings us all together: we all hope that, sometime in June, there will come a time when Anthony Carter is holding a basketball and we are not shielding our eyes, because the ball in his hands is golden.