Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

George Karl and Denver Nuggets Agree to One Year Extension

February 12, 2010
by Jeremy

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract extension, according to a league source.

For now I have to say that is a good thing, but look for a little more analysis later.

2009-10 Game 53: Denver Nuggets 92 - San Antonio Spurs 111

February 12, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Lowlights

Give the San Antonio Spurs credit. They came into the Pepsi Center and flat out whooped the Denver Nuggets 111-92. I have mentioned the heart that this Nuggets team has, but the Spurs were so good that it looked like the Nuggets realized early in the fourth quarter that they had no chance to stage one of their comebacks and they basically taped out.

After defeating the Spurs twice in San Antonio this season the Nuggets seemed to take the Spurs lightly. San Antonio has not been playing their typical stout defense as they had in the past. However, tonight they looked as good as they have in a long time on that end of the floor and the Nuggets certainly did not appear to be prepared for the defensive effort the Spurs put forth.

Denver took the easy way out settling for jumpers and playing incredibly stationary on offense. Even on the possessions where Denver passed the ball, they were barely probing the membrane the Spurs set up at the three point line rarely making any threatening movements. To make things worse the shots the Nuggets repeatedly settled for were not falling and they were done in not so much by their inability to make a three, but their inability to keep themselves from jacking up the next one.

Chauncey forced several threes in the second half on his way to a 1-8 performance while J.R. attempted four, although none of his could be considered poor shots. Carmelo was the lone Nugget who shot well from behind the arc, finishing 2-3 from distance, but his shot selection was no better than Chauncey’s.

Melo started off the game probing the defense and making a couple of nice passes as he did against Dallas, but the way he played against the Spurs was wildly different from how he played against the Mavs. Instead of showing any kind of patience, he forced contested jumper after contested jumpers. The Spurs give Carmelo as much respect as any team in the league as the frequently send a player to double while the other three all have at least one foot in the lane ready to help at a moments notice.

While Melo forced a good number of bad shots that lead to his 6-17 performance we once again have to go through the chicken and the egg discourse questioning if Melo did not pass because no one would cut or if no one cut because Melo would not pass. Personnel certainly played a role with Denver’s immobility. Kenyon is Denver’s best slasher and he was wearing fancy clothes on the sideline. Neither Birdman nor Malik Allen like to cut both preferring to stand aside incase a pass comes their way off of penetration. Still it is frustrating to see Denver fall back into their no movement jumper chucking mode all the while watching and wondering if they have any idea how badly they are shooting themselves in the foot.

While I hate any loss, I have to wonder if Denver needed a wakeup call following their drubbing of the Mavericks to make sure they stay focused during the all-star break and do not enter the backside of the season overly confident.

Additional Game 53 Nuggets

George Hill was fantastic for the Spurs and I cannot fathom Tony Parker helping San Antonio tonight as much as Hill did. Hill was a bullet in transition always getting to the rim when he had the ball no matter how many backpedaling Nuggets were in his way. He did a very good job of penetrating and getting into the lane and defensively he is a bulldog. Rumor had it the Spurs were dead set on drafting Nicolas Batum when he was snatched up right in front of them. With Batum gone they “settled” for Hill. Let me tell you, if San Antonio had Batum instead of Hill, I am not sure they would be one of the top eight teams in the west right now.
Not only were the Spurs on their game defensively, but they carved Denver’s defense up with relative ease. The Spurs took advantage of Denver on the pick and roll no matter how it was defended. On switches the guards patiently backed out and attacked the big man who was in front of them. If Denver trapped, the ball handler threaded a pass to his rolling teammate. When the guard tried to fight over the screen whichever Spur had the ball would dart directly into the lane. Regardless of what scheme Denver is going to use, they need to tighten up their positioning as they are once again too easy to pick apart with the pick and roll.
The play that summed up the night was when J.R. Smith missed a breakaway layup because he was afraid of 35 year old Antonio McDyess who was hustling back behind him. Instead of sprinting up the floor and throwing down a dunk, he slowed a bit to make sure his body was shielding the shot off from McDyess, who has had multiple knee surgeries and has yet to block a shot in the month of February, and missed the lay in. He recovered the miss and later in the possession had a chance to redeem himself with a wide open three from the left wing, but missed. San Antonio pushed the ball up the floor and Roger Mason splashed a three of his own for the five point swing putting the Spurs up 15 instead of ten.
Malik Allen has done fine on a couple of occasions, but I wonder what would have happened had Johan Petro started instead of Allen. The way both teams played it probably would not have made a bit of difference although Allen seems to struggle when called upon too frequently. Plus for a guy who lives for the 18 footer, he has passed up an open look in order to drive into traffic and toss up a hopeless shot in each of the past two games. Allen did do a decent job defending Tim Duncan in the opening few minutes and I guess that is about all we can ask of him.

Featured Blogs: 48 Minutes of Hell | Pounding the Rock

2009-10 Game 52: Denver Nuggets 127 - Dallas Mavericks 91

February 10, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

If you were wondering what would have to happen tonight in order for the top story after the game to be something other than the return of Carmelo Anthony I think we found our answer. Carmelo played a very solid game, but the story of the night was the severity of the 127-91 drubbing the Nuggets laid down on the Mavericks.

I do not want to hear one word about how Dallas played in California last night and had to travel east to play at altitude on the second night of a back to back. The Nuggets were in a very similar position Saturday night as they played in Utah the night after winning in Los Angeles against the Lakers. While it is true the flight to Denver from the west coast is longer than the flight to Utah, the Nuggets had to play without their two all-stars. Denver did fall behind by 18, but fought back to get to within three. Dallas on the other hand folded like an origami swan.

The Nuggets did not do anything special on either end of the court. They ran their offense, moved the ball and made shots. Defensively, they switched the high screen with Dirk to ensure he did not get an open look on the pick and pop, but apart from that did a little less switching than normal. Afflalo and J.R. did a solid job of chasing Terry around the many screens that were laid in their path.

The bulk of the credit for the blowout I believe belongs to the Nuggets’ bigs who controlled the paint and dominated the Mavericks front line. The group of Nene, Chris Andersen, Johan Petro and Malik Allen out produced Dirk, Drew Gooden, Eduardo Najera and James Singleton by fifteen points, 54-39, and seven rebounds, 25-18. It was not a matter of floor time as both foursomes played a combined 96 minutes.

Of course, it was great to see Carmelo back on the court. I was worried about how patient he would be with his offense as there was the possibility that he would try to get himself going by taking many quick shots early on. Those fears proved to be unfounded as Melo looked to pass as often as he looked to shoot. Carmelo started off with a nice drop off to Chauncey who ran behind him to get room for a midrange jumper on the right side. He then fed Nene off a drive that earned the big man two free throws. He made another nice drop off to Chris Andersen that sent Birdman to the line for two free throws a few minutes later. Carmelo only attempted four shots in the first quarter, making two threes and missing two midrange jumpers, but he totaled three assists good for six points and that is not including the four points that were created by his passing that came from free throws by Nene and Birdman.

Carmelo ended the game with six assists and 19 points on 8-16 shooting. Carmelo mixed in some drives and post ups and he dealt adequately with the double teaming scheme the Mavs threw at him. Overall it was a very smooth return to action and with one game remaining before the All-Star break I expect we will see Carmelo hitting on all cylinders heading into the last two months of the season. Any concern about the ankle problem lingering ended in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Carmelo caught the ball just right of the top of the circle and blew past Josh Howard with a nice move where he stepped across Howards’ body with his left foot as he ripped the ball across to his right triggering a right handed drive that terminated at the rim with an uncontested layup.

If Melo wanted to wait until his explosiveness was back before he returned, it looks like he waited long enough.

Additional Game 52 Nuggets

My favorite sequence of the game came with 3:03 left in the third quarter. J.R. Smith had just hit a three in transition to put Denver up 90-60. Coming out of a Mavericks’ timeout J.R. was hounding Jason Terry 40 feet from the basket, Johan Petro was all over Drew Gooden, who had the ball outside the three point line, and Carmelo stayed with Josh Howard tight enough when he tried cutting towards Gooden to get the ball that Gooden chose to call another timeout just ten seconds after the previous break. Of course after the second time out J.R. fouled Jason Terry shooting a three, which was not quite as high on my list of favorite moments, but I loved seeing the Nuggets playing that hard on defense with a 30 point lead.
Did Dirk know that Kenyon Martin did not play tonight and that he was being guarded by Malik Allen for the first seven minutes of the game? Usually Dirk is a very smart and aggressive player. Against the Nuggets tonight he was overly content to toss up contested jumpers. Dirk is no jitterbug, but he sure as heck has a quickness advantage on Allen and I was shocked that Nowitzki never attacked Allen off the dribble.
Anyone who watches the Nuggets on Altitude knows all about the four tacos for a dollar with the purchase of a drink promo when Denver scores over 100 points from Taco Bell. There needs to be a filet minion for a dollar with the purchase of a drink promo for when Johan Petro scores in double figures.
When Petro gets important minutes he usually does not disappoint. Last season he was more than adequate covering Dwight Howard in the Nuggets big win in Orlando. Petro’s biggest problem is that his hands have a negative reaction to leather that causes the ball to repel from them when he tries to catch it. Tonight, he displayed very good hands latching on to passes and rebounds alike.
Denver has had three incredible shooting performances from behind the arc over the past six games. In San Antonio on the final day of January they were 9-12. Five days later in Los Angeles they converted 15-22 against the Lakers and tonight versus Dallas they drained 11-18 three point attempts. Over their previous six games Denver has converted 45.6% of their threes. I do not recall a stretch like that ever although I am sure some of those great shooting teams of the 80’s had similar streaks.
These two teams play one more time this season on March 29 in Dallas with the winner earning the tie breaker. The bad news is that game is the fifth game in seven nights, all of them on the road, for Denver while Dallas has a day off at home before the game.
The Nuggets had possibly their best shooting night in years as they posted a true shooting percentage, which accounts for free throws and three pointers, of 71.3%. The closest they have been to 70% in the year and a half I have charted their game by game performances was last season when they posted a 69.6% true shooting percentage when they blew out the Raptors in the game that finally ended the Sam Mitchell era in Toronto.
The Nuggets used to struggle mightily with zone defenses, but they seem to have overcome their inability to deal with them. The Mavs themselves have been able to frustrate Denver with their 2-3 zone, but ever since Chauncey arrived he has opened up the floor thanks to his shooting ability. As long as the Nuggets move without the ball and refrain from holding the ball for too long, they can tear any zone up quickly.
By the way, Kenyon sat out with knee tendinitis while Dallas played without Shawn Marion, back tightness, and Erick Dampier who is suffering from a sore knee. Ty Lawson and Birdman deserve a mention for how well they played. Birdman is playing some of his best ball of his career over the past few games and Lawson followed up his stellar performance in Utah as a spot starter with a tremendous game tonight. He ran the one man fast break on a couple of occasions and did a very good job of setting up open teammates.

Featured Blogs: The Two Man Game | Mavs Moneyball

The Denver Nuggets Continue to Impress

February 9, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets split a back to back in Los Angeles and Utah over the weekend and despite the loss in Utah, I continue to be impressed with this team and the way they are playing.

Denver started the weekend off in style defeating the Lakers 126-113 (Box Score, Forum Blue & Gold) . Obviously the Nuggets played great on offense lead by Chauncey Billups’ career high 39, 37 of which came in the first three quarters thanks to nine fancy threes. Chauncey was slowed in the fourth quarter after rolling his ankle, but J.R. Smith picked up where BIllups left off dropping in 16 fourth quarter points to close out the Lakers.

It is one thing to be hot on offense. Any team can catch fire for a night and bury their opponent. To me the real story was the way Denver defended the Lakers in the second half. The two Lakers who have had their way with Denver in the past are Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Those two combined to score 33 of the Lakers’ 64 first half points. However, in the second half Denver held L.A. to 49 points and Kobe and Pau only netted 17 between the two of them.

Kobe was red hot in the first quarter producing an impressive 20 points. Kobe is an incredibly competitive individual, which is news to no one. After the credit Arron Afflalo received for his performance against Kobe in the first meeting this season, you knew the Black Mamba would be out to prove Afflalo could not handle him. Despite the big scoring quarter, I thought Afflalo did about as good a job as he did previously. Kobe was just hitting difficult shots. Even with Afflalo playing solid D, the Nuggets chose to double Kobe for much of the second half to prevent him from having one of those nights.

With the double teaming of Kobe, it would stand to reason that Pau would get loose inside and dominate with his touch and passing ability. Not so. The Nuggets also had a new wrinkle for Pau. When Pau caught the ball with his back to the rim, the Nuggets waited for him to put the ball on the floor and then sent a double team at him as well. Gasol tends to take his time in the post and once he starts dribbling, you can expect him to dribble more than once or twice. Knowing that, Denver was able to wait for him to dribble before they doubled him. This prevented him for working to get exactly the shot he wanted and either rush the shot or pass out of the double.

It was a significant change for Denver who generally dislikes doubling anyone, but it was an effective strategy and a big reason why they were able to win the game. With Kobe and Gasol held in check, none of the Lakers supporting cast failed to rise to the occasion. Ron Artest was 3-9 and scored 12 points. Andrew Bynum shot 5-7, but only scored two second half points. Derek Fisher had four points on seven shots. Sasha Vujacic missed all five of his threes and only totaled four points on six shots.

The Los Angeles bench did manage to score 37 points, which is a good total. The kicker is it took them 36 shots to get there. Conversely the Denver bench (J.R. Smith, Ty Lawson and Chris Andersen) racked up 47 points, but did so on a mere 27 shots. Birdman actually outrebounded the entire Laker bench by himself 15-13.

If there is bad news, it has to be that despite Birdman’s aforementioned 15 boards and stout 12 rebound effort from Kenyon Martin L.A. pulled down 18 offensive boards and outrebounded Denver by 7.

The other aspect of the game that I found interesting was Nene was aggressive offensively against Bynum, which has not always been the case. In the past Nene has shied away from attacking bigger defenders such as Bynum, but he went right at him on a few occasions and had success. Now he just needs to pull down a few more rebounds to help reduce the Lakers’ offensive rebounding advantage.

The very next night Denver found themselves in Utah once again playing without Carmelo Anthony, but this time sans Chauncey Billups as well. Denver had already defeated Utah three times this season, the Jazz had been red hot and were sure to be highly motivated to dump the shorthanded Nuggets.

I do not have time to go into detail on that game, (Box Score, Highlights, Salt City Hoops, SLC Dunk) but I will say that I was thrilled with the effort and heart the Nuggets displayed. Playing without Melo and Chauncey and on the second night of a back to back (one of the late game in the Pacific time zone flying east that Greg Popovich thinks are unfair) and with Utah sitting at home for two days waiting for Denver to roll into town, the odds were not in the Nuggets’ favor.

Instead of folding after getting down 18 in the third quarter the Nuggets fought back and were within six points of the streaking Jazz with less than three minutes left.

Denver certainly lacked effort in some games earlier in the season, but they seem to have focused in on how important every game truly is. That bodes very well for the future even as Denver heads into possibly the toughest stretch of their regular season schedule.

In closing, I will say that most people, especially most guys young or old, fancy themselves as being tough. One thing I learned as a father is to never assume you could handle the pain someone else is experiencing. That point was struck home to me when my son was about 12 years old and foolishly decided sun tan lotion was unnecessary for someone who was in the sun as much as he was and returned from a trip to the lake with friends with skin that could easily be classified as well done. When it was time for bed, he was crying because his skin hurt so badly. My first reaction was to tell him to quit being such a baby until I stopped to put myself in his place. Maybe it was his own fault and maybe I would not be crying as he was had I scalded my exposed skin as badly as he did, but would I be able to lay down and fall asleep without uttering a single complaint? I had to figure as tough as I believed myself to be, a sunburn like that was certainly painful and while it was my job to make sure my son was not a sissy, it was not my job to dismiss his pain and label him a pansy.

I am sure you are wondering why I am telling you such a boring story. My point is I am really shocked that Carmelo Anthony has not played since spraining his ankle two weeks before the Utah game. Carmelo himself said the ankle was not as badly sprained as those he has suffered in the past. After seeing video of him working out before the game against the Lakers and knowing he has been practicing I started questioning both his toughness and how badly he wants to play. I do not take making accusations like that lightly, which is why I shared the sunburn story. Perhaps Carmleo’s ankle is much worse than any of us know, or have been led to believe. Perhaps working out is causing more pain than you or I could endure. We simply do not know. While an absence of this length is suspicious, it is not enough to lead me to proclaim Melo is a sissy or is more interested in making sure he can drop 30 points a night when he returns.

I have not seen evidence of Melo skipping out on playing when he was banged up in the past. In fact, if you recall he finished the game against the Indiana Pacers in which he broke his hand last season.

Do I want Carmelo to play? Absolutely. Is the fact he is missing games causing more harm than good? I think that question is up for debate. Maybe the Nuggets go 6-2 or 7-1 instead of 5-3 over the eight games he has missed. However, players like Kenyon Martin and Arron Afflalo have been forced to raise their game and now the team knows that those two are capable of answering the bell should the need arise. That is a good thing and had Melo only missed a game or two Kenyon might not have been such a force against San Antonio and Afflalo probably does not get the opportunity to hit the game winning shot against Sacramento.

The wins in Houston, San Antonio and Los Angeles without Carmelo were big wins for this team and I believe have helped build tremendous momentum for this team and helped them truly believe in what they can accomplish together.

Chauncey Billups is an All-Star

February 3, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have announced that Commissioner David Stern has named Chauncey Billups as the player who will replace the injured Chris Paul in the 2010 NBA All-Star game. Congratulations to Chauncey on a well deserved honor.

2009-10 Game 47: Denver Nuggets 103 - San Antonio Spurs 89

February 1, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

Who needs Carmelo Anthony when you have…Kenyon Martin?

When Kenyon announced before the season that he wanted to be more aggressive offensively I do not think any Nugget fan thought to themselves, “Thank God, it is about time!” With Carmelo Anthony dressed in fancy clothes for the fourth straight game Kenyon lead the Nuggets in scoring and rebounding and Denver won 103-89 in San Antonio against the Spurs.

Typically when Kenyon has a big scoring night he has three or four, or more, highlight reel dunks. Today I do not think Martin had even one slam dunk, but converted on a variety of right handed jump hooks and open jumpers. He even tossed in his patented and this one is for your mother late game three to close off his work week.

To be honest, when I saw Joey Graham’s name in the starting lineup, my heart sank. It was not that I did not think the Nuggets were capable of winning in San Antonio without Melo, just that it was not very likely. However, the fact that Melo was out again gave us a chance to see which of the previous two games would be validated. Would it be the gritty win in Houston, or the no show in Oklahoma City on Friday night? I firmly believed the true Nuggets were on display in Houston and the loss in Oklahoma City was the fluke and I think today’s win proved that to be the case.

The Nuggets did two things very well on defense. They forced Tim Duncan off the block when he tried to post up and the guards really tried hard to fight over top the high screen the Spurs kept throwing at them possession after possession. The bigs did a decent job of hedging and doing just enough to prevent the Spurs guards from getting in the lane too often.

More than anything I was impressed with Denver’s resiliency.

There were four or five times during this game where the Nuggets could have gotten down on themselves and at any of those times had they started feeling sorry for themselves or doubted themselves the Spurs would have taken advantage and thrown a knockout punch. Denver held a 21-17 lead with 2:34, but less than four minutes later the Spurs had gone on a 10-0 run and were up 27-21. Three and a half minutes later Denver had taken the lead back. At another point in the second quarter Manu Ginobili hit a three to put the Spurs up 41-33. The Spurs did not score another point over the final 3:26 of the first half and Denver ran off 12 straight points. Even with all the good things Denver was doing, the Spurs were right with them in the third quarter. On three occasions the Spurs grabbed a one point lead, but the Nuggets never blinked and took the lead back on the next possession all three times.

To close out the third quarter and open up the fourth the Spurs did not score for almost four minutes as Denver reasserted control. Still the Spurs fought back and were able to get to within two points three times in the fourth quarter. Denver answered yet again as they scored on the next possession two of those three times and the instance where they did not score on the possession immediately after the Spurs got within two, Denver scored on the second one. The result was the Spurs only had the ball with a chance to take the lead once over the final 15:47 of the game and after the Spurs’ miss on that possession Chauncey pulled down the rebound, dribbled up the floor, threw a shimmy at Richard Jefferson that tricked Jefferson into giving Billups about six feet of space and he promptly drained a three to put Denver up five.

I kid about Kenyon Marin filling the role of Carmelo. Chauncey was incredible, as he has been through the entire month of January. The Spurs took the lead for the final time with 4:41 left in the third quarter. From that point on Denver converted on 13 field goals. Chauncey scored three of those 13, all three were from behind the arc, and he assisted on eight of the other ten.

Chauncey continually worked the Spurs defense to get the shot he wanted for himself or for Kenyon. It was beautiful to watch and he deserves all the credit in the world for the way he played and for this victory.

If there is any bad news for Billups it is that he played a game high 45 minutes. Chris Paul is going to miss the All-Star game and if Billups is not named the replacement I think we all need to pay a little visit to Commissioner Stern in NYC. One can only hope Chauncey will be playing at this high of a level come May and dare I say June?

The Nuggets have now defeated every team in the Western Conference except for Dallas, who they have only played once, and the Sacramento Kings and the Kings will be in Denver Monday night. Whether Carmelo is able to play or not, I do not expect to see the Nuggets fall or 0-3 against the third worst team in the conference.

Additional Game 47 Nuggets

Not only did Chauncey and Kenyon raise their level of play, but Arron Afflalo and J.R. Smith were very good on both ends of the floor. J.R was an efficient 5-9 making 3-5 from behind the arc. Afflalo was even better making all six of his shot attempts including two from behind the three point line. Arron even dropped in a couple of contested jumpers off the drive, which is not his strong suit. It was good to see J.R. cut his three point attempts in half from the previous three games as he only shot off the catch and not off the dribble. Smith can certainly knock any three he attempts down, but he is much better on the catch and shoot than the pull up. As a result of taking better attempts, J.R. has converted on 11 of his previous 22 threes. J.R. is a second half player as his best months last season were March and April and in 2007-08 he was tremendous following the All-Star break beginning with his 43 point outburst in Chicago.
With the Nuggets defense looking more and more solid, the rumored return of Carmelo Anthony to the lineup and J.R. potentially playing smarter and better there is no doubt in my mind the Nuggets are at worst the second best team in the west.
Speaking of Arron Afflalo and defense in the first two Nuggets, according to ESPN Stats and Research Afflalo yields the six fewest points per defensive play in the entire NBA at only .77 points per play. Watching Afflalo play defense reading that stat is no surprise to me. What is a surprise is that players like Mehmet Okur and Nenad Krstic are on the list ahead of Arron. I guess there is something to be said for not having to guard the opponent’s best scorer every night. Unlike Okur and Krstic, Afflalo is facing slightly stiffer competition.
The Nuggets do not like to double in the post and they largely played Tim Duncan one on one although the Spurs really did not go to him on the block very often, especially in the second half. Even without Tony Parker the Spurs were content to run their high screen and roll for most of the game. On the other end, the Spurs were very weary of whoever was in the post as they ran a second defender at the post frequently. There was even a play where J.R. smith was on the block being guarded by George Hill and Duncan started to cross the lane to double, but J.R. beat him to it by launching a turnaround jumper that had little chance of going in.
According to Elias, George Karl is now 22-11 against Greg Popovich for a winning percentage of 66.7%. That is the second best percentage against Popovich behind only…Danny Ainge who was 9-4 against Coach Pop good for a 69.2% success rate.

The Return of Game Stats

Combined Pace Factor: 89.4 – Much to the Spurs liking
Defensive Efficiency: 99.6 – Impressive performance
Offensive Efficiency: 115.2 – That is even higher than the Nuggets’ average of 108.8
Bonus – Denver’s Effective FG%: 60.1%
San Antonio’s EFG%: 44.9% - Denver was 9-12 from downtown while the Spurs were only 3-17

Featured Blogs: 48 Minutes of Hell | Pounding the Rock

Friday Night Links

January 29, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have just tipped off in Oklahoma City without Carmelo Anthony and I have a couple of links to pass along for your enjoyment.

I will be on Sports Talk Soup tonight at 9:30 Mountain. Click here for details.

Congratulations to George Karl on being named the coach for the Western Conference All-Stars.

David Thorpe makes the case for Ty Lawson to be in the Rookie/Sophomore Challenge and Chauncey Billups and Nene also have an argument why they should be All-Stars.

A fun idea from Dan at Piston Powered. Would the Nuggets be interested in bringing in more Detroit Pistons? I say no, but it is an interesting discussion.

2009-10 Game 45: Denver Nuggets 97 - Houston Rockets 92

January 28, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

That was freaking fantastic.

Thirty days ago the Denver Nuggets lost in Sacramento. It was their fifth loss in six contests. Their defense was atrocious and Chauncey Billups was injured. Plus that was the game Carmelo bruised his knee and as a result missed the next five games.

Fast forward to today and things could not look more promising. The Nuggets have won 11 of their 13 games since the loss in Sacramento. They weathered a J.R. Smith controversy. They should be at full strength on Friday in Oklahoma City and most importantly, they are looking like a determined team completely different than the bunch that consistently struggled to beat the dregs of the NBA.

With all of the good things the Nuggets have accomplished so far in January tonight’s 97-92 win in Houston might be the most impressive. The Rockets are a solid home team. They play tremendous defense and work together on offense to maximize their somewhat limited talents. Throw in the fact Houston was coming off back to back home losses and the Nuggets had their work cut out for them.

The Rockets, stinging from their recent losses to Chicago and Atlanta, started off the game with a great deal of intensity and they jumped all over Denver surging to a 14-4 advantage. Denver responded getting the lead down to five at 19-14 only to see Houston close out the first quarter on a 12-2 run.

Denver was not shooting well, they were getting outworked in transition and without Carmelo in a building they traditionally struggle to win in, things looked very bleak.

Denver refused to give up and put forth one of the best two or three defensive efforts I have seen from them this season. The bigs did a great job of stopping the dribbler on the pick and roll and the guards were equally as good at fighting around the screen and recovering. Denver did very little switching and as a result their defense was much more focused and aggressive. They also fought hard for rebounds and challenged every shot in the lane.

I wrote after their win against Utah that the Nuggets were the second best team in the west even though their defense was not performing at the level it should have been and that I expected to see their defense return to the level we saw last season making the Nuggets an even stronger team. With what we have seen over the last three and a half quarters against New Orleans and Charlotte and the last three quarters tonight, Denver is well on the way to recapturing the style of play that worked so well for them last season.

The other development was the play of J.R. Smith. Smith’s biggest problem as of late has been his overreliance on the three point shot. In Houston he still fired up eight three point attempts, but only one of them was a poor shot. He went at the rim more frequently than he has in a long time and even hit a pretty floater in the lane with one second on the shot clock to put the Nuggets up 96-89 and only 17 seconds remaining. As far as his shot selection J.R. took five shots and six free throws before he attempted a three pointer, although one of them was a shot with his feet on the line. All eight of his threes came in the final 18 minutes of the game. He made three and one was a desperation half court shot to end the third quarter. All in all I thought J.R. played a very smart and effective game and that is a big relief for Nuggets supporters.

Additional Game 45 Nuggets:

Scott Hastings pointed out in the post game that the key stretch in the game was a two minute burst in the fourth quarter when Chauncey returned to the game. Denver was behind 80-79 and had been hanging tough ever since the end of the first quarter, but was never able to really take control of the game. On the first play he drove baseline and dumped a beautiful bounce pass to Nene when three Rockets players collapsed on him for a layup. Next he backed down Aaron Brooks and shot a pretty turn around over him from the right elbow. On the third possession he caught a swing pass from J.R., passed up the quasi open three, drove the middle of the floor and kicked out to J.R. for a three. On the fourth possession Chauncey one again backed Brooks down, this time on the left block and when he was doubled thew a diagonal pass to J.R. who made a second long three. Just like that a one point deficit turned into a nine point lead the Nuggets would never fully relinquish.
Denver was only credited with seven assists, which would lead you to believe they played a selfish, one-on-one game and somehow were able to get away with it. The reality is the Nuggets moved the ball pretty well as a team. If you want to know why their assist total was so shockingly paltry, I give you their 39 free throw attempts. A big reason why the Nuggets were able to earn that many free throws was because they were moving the ball and playing patient unselfish offense. By the way, three of those seven assists came from Chauncey in the four possession stretch we just outlined above.
We have discussed how there is no doubt that J.R. Smith will bounce back from his shooting slump and have an absolutely red hot stretch. Tonight we saw a correction in the opposite direction with Arron Afflalo. Obviously Afflalo could not shoot as well as he had the past two games, cashing in on 16 of his 23 shot attempts, in perpetuity. Afflalo missed all seven of his shot attempts including two or three layups. For all I know he is still out on the court practicing jumpers still hoping to sink at least one before the team heads to Oklahoma City.
No matter how well you play, there is always something to improve on. The Nuggets blew a couple of decent fast break opportunities with poor decision making. On one occasion on a three on two break J.R. had Chauncey on his left and Nene on his right. He actually passed the ball to Nene just inside half court and the result was not surprising as Nene drove as far as he could and just before reaching the rim charged into a waiting defender for the turnover. There was another break where Nene caught a pass by the right side of the rim and dumped a pass to Afflalo who was on his left instead of shooting. The pass off gave the defense that extra second to catch up and Afflalo’s layup attempt was blocked.
I have not gushed enough about the play of Kenyon Martin. Over Kenyon’s previous 15 games where he was not ejected by an insecure referee in the second quarter he has pulled down double digit rebounds in 13 of them. The other two games, he had nine boards. For a player who was never known for his rebounding prowess, that is an amazing stretch. His play is a big reason why the Nuggets are no longer getting demolished on the offensive glass night in and night out. Here is to you Kenyon Martin, kudos on a job well done and keep it up.
The other reason for optimism is the play of Chris Andersen. He is still not blocking shots at the rate he did last season, which is probably not fair to expect, but he is rebounding very well and looks to be more spry (no Word, I am not going to replace more spry with spryer, is that even a word?) than he was earlier in the year when he was battling knee soreness.

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2009-10 Game 44: Denver Nuggets 104 - Charlotte Bobcats 93

January 26, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

I was very pleased with the Denver Nuggets 104-93 victory tonight against the once red hot Charlotte Bobcats. I admit I was a little worried heading into the game after finding out that Charlotte had actually moved ahead of Boston for the top spot in the defensive efficiency rankings as well as in points allowed per game. I had no idea the Bobcats were doing so well defensively and knowing the Nuggets would be without Carmelo Anthony due to a sprained ankle seemed like a dangerous combination.

Fortunately for Denver they still had a red hot Arron Afflalo and Western Conference Player of the Week Chauncey Billups who both continued their stellar play. Afflalo nailed shot after shot as the Bobcats vaunted defense struggled to rotate in time to slow him down.

Defensively the effort reminded me quite a bit of the previous game against the Hornets. Denver did a very good impersonation of a sieve for the first five or six minutes before getting their act together in time to put the clamps down. The Nuggets combined a switch and help scheme with a trap and recover style that kept the Bobcats off balance and succeeded in keeping them mostly on the perimeter.

After building up a double digit lead the Nuggets drove any thoughts of a Charlotte comeback out the window during a stretch of over five minutes spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth where they held the Bobcats to a mere two points.

Offensively the Nuggets racked up the assists thanks to the hot shooting of Afflalo and a running game that tallied 18 points against the team with the fourth slowest pace factor in the league.

The victory is made even more impressive by the ejection of Kenyon Martin in the second quarter. You can argue whether or not it was a good idea for Kenyon to clap vociferously in front of Ken Mauer immediately after Stephen Jackson missed a free throw following the first technical Mauer called on Martin. You can also argue the old adage that no one shows up to watch the refs officiate the game and Mauer surely could have let Kenyon’s enthusiastic response to the miss go.

It only served to add to the quality of the victory as the bench was forced to play an even bigger role. When Kenyon was ejected the Nuggets were up 49-42 and just over 90 seconds later the Bobcats had clawed back to within one. The fact that the Nuggets pulled out an easy win over a decent team down two starters is a very good sign.

To me the biggest storyline from the game was the decision not to suspend J.R. Smith after his antics against the Hornets Saturday night. Smith came out focused and he drained two threes, both within the flow of the offense after entering the game late in the first quarter. George Karl had talked about how the goal of whatever decision the team would make was to help J.R. play better and stop being such a three point chucker. After those first two shots it appeared the staff made the correct decision as J.R. seemed to have derived confidence from the team’s choice to play him.

However, as the game wore on J.R. continued to shoot three after three and he finished the game having missed his final seven three point attempts. He did play hard on defense and did a nice job on the glass pulling down six boards and that is to his credit. However, the nine three point attempts were not a good sign. Karl mentioned that they needed to get J.R. less focused on threes and more focused on getting to the rim, drawing fouls and setting up his teammates, all things he can do. As long as J.R. plays as hard as he did tonight he will help the Nuggets. On the other hand if he keeps shooting threes at this rate he clearly did not learn much from the threat of being suspended.

Additional Game 44 Nuggets

As we all know Denver has given away a number of games they should have won, but since the calendar flipped to 2010 the Nuggets have done a much better job of taking control of games they had been losing in 2009. Denver is now only three games behind the suddenly struggling Lakers who are only 5-5 over their previous ten games. I am not ready to call the Nuggets legit contenders for the top seed just yet, but if they can do well on their brief three game road trip against playoff caliber competition (Houston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio) we might have to start talking about giving the Lakers a serious run for their money.
In order to build a winning roster you have to win trades. In 2008 the Denver Nuggets sent their first round pick to the Bobcats who drafted Alexis Ajinca, who to be fair just posted a triple double in the D-League, but has not done anything in the NBA. The Nuggets were able to trade that pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2009 for the rights to Ty Lawson. Who knows what Charlotte’s pick turns into for Minnesota, but as of now I think it is safe to say the Nuggets won that trade with Charlotte.
I think we set a record for most plays in a game where players were left rubbing their face after a play. A lot of incidental contact between limbs and grills none worse than when Gerald Wallace caught J.R. Smith’s cheekbone with an elbow as he brought his arms up to shoot. Smith was left with a bump that would have made Tom and Jerry proud.
After Kenyon was ejected it was clear that Malik Allen was going to have to play some significant minutes. You may all know I am not a big fan of Allen’s. Then Chris Andersen sprained his ankle early in the fourth quarter and suddenly Allen was the Nuggets number two big man. Allen played a solid game though and did more good things than bad. Somehow the Bobcats failed to take advantage of the fact he was covering Gerald Wallace for much of the fourth quarter. I will never feel comfortable having to rely on Allen to play many minutes, but it is good to know he is capable of filling in from time to time.
Tonight was the last game Jerry Schemmel would call as the voice of the Nuggets. Schemmel is a multitalented man who even coached baseball at Metro State last year. He has ridden his bike across the country to raise money for charity and he also has an amazing story to tell. He was onboard United Airlines Flight 232 that crashed in Iowa in 1989.

I have been fortunate enough to hear him recount the horrific events of that day firsthand and it lead him to a relationship with Jesus Christ. I encourage everyone to read the book he penned called “Chosen to Live” that follows the bouts of depression and guilt that were spawned by the weight of dealing with such a tragedy.

Fortunately for Colorado sports fans Jerry is not going far as he will be calling Colorado Rockies games. I want to wish him good luck with the Rockies, but I hope he will know how much he will be missed.

Jason Kosmicki was already calling the road games on the radio for the Nuggets and I am sure he will continue to do a great job as he steps in for Jerry on a full time basis.

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What to do with J.R.?

January 25, 2010
by Jeremy

As I mentioned in my recap of the Nuggets win over the Hornets, I was very displeased with the way the Nuggets played on offense. They were far too perimeter oriented and did not do enough to work to earn good shots. As you can imagine, J.R. Smith and too perimeter oriented go hand in hand.

Smith is one of the players who has the athleticism and skills to make the Hornets pay for their hard doubling of Carmelo Anthony. Sadly, he was all too ready to play into the Hornets hands by launching threes instead of taking advantage of the quickness advantage Smith had over any Hornet who tried to guard him. J.R. was on the court for 12 minutes, but still managed to launch five threes.

J.R. was not the first guard off the bench in the second half as Karl sent in Ty Lawson to play with Chuancey Billups. When Smith entered the game to start the fourth quarter, the spot where Lawson usually relieves Billups, he turned the ball over and attempted three three pointers, one of which he did convert. Karl rightly yanked him and reinserted Chauncey and J.R. started to the bench and then changed direction and headed to the locker room.

I can understand Smith’s frustration. He has been mired in perhaps the worst shooting slump of his career. So far in the month of January he is shooting only 25.4% on threes. If he does not improve his conversion rate January 2010 will be the worst of any single month since he became a Nugget in 2006. In fact, J.R. is posting his poorest statistical season as a Nugget. His shooting percentages are down across the board, his turnover rate is the highest of his career and his assist rate is down. Even with all of his struggles, his usage rate is a career high. All in all his PER of 12.76 is lower than every season he has played save his rookie campaign as a Hornet.

We all know Smith is too good of a player to put forth an entire season like this. At some point he will absolutely explode. The problem is, he knows that when his shot starts falling, it might not stop for a while and he is eager for that day to come. As a result he is chucking threes every chance he gets in anticipation of the incendiary streak that is undoubtedly around the corner. When he struggles against a former team, in a game that is close and his team could really use a good night from him, and on top of it sees his role limited and minutes yanked I can understand why he would be upset. The frustration that is piling up will undoubtedly boil over and that is what appeared to happen when J.R. left the bench and went to the locker room.

The question is how do you reach out to a player who is a key component to your team’s ability to be a contender, is probably very down on himself and has displayed a sensitivity to criticism? At this point, the Nuggets are in high level discussions where they are deciding whether or not to suspend J.R.

It is not an easy decision, but as for me, I would suspend him. The Nuggets have proven that they have the courage to sit a player down when they benched Carmelo last season for refusing to leave a game in Indiana. If you recall, Carmelo was mired in a bad shooting slump of his own and had finally hit a couple of big shots when his time to rest came around. Understandably, Melo wanted to ride the hot streak he though he had found. However, he did so at the expense of his teammates, Kenyon Martin had to sit down because Melo did not want to, and he displayed that he was in charge and not the coach.

J.R. did not cost a teammate playing time, nor did he refuse to follow direction from the coach. What he did do is put himself ahead of the team by leaving his teammates, even if just for a few minutes as he was back on the bench well before the end of the fourth quarter, and that cannot be tolerated. J.R. must learn that the coaches, front office and his teammates care about him and they need him. No matter how rough things are going, no one or nothing is bigger than the team. If the Nuggets are better off with J.R. playing 12 minutes, then J.R. has to be OK with that.

I have always been a fan of J.R. ever since I saw him play in summer league as a rookie. He is immensely talented and I honestly believe he has all-star level talent. His mental state has come a long way since he first arrived in Denver as has his game. Even so, he still has lessons that he has not learned and his behavior when being removed from the game on Saturday proves it.

With Carmelo Anthony already ruled out of Monday night’s contest with the Charlotte Bobcats, it will be tempting to let J.R. skirt by and play. I hope the Nuggets take the road less traveled and make the tough decision to demonstrate no player is bigger than the team.

Last season when Carmelo was suspended the Nuggets went out and lost a difficult game to the Detroit Pistons with him on the sideline, but Melo served his sentence and then bounced back and played his best month of the season. The Nuggets went on to post a 15-6 record to close out the regular season and as we all remember finished second in the conference.

I am not saying if Denver suspends J.R. he will bust out of his slump or it guarantees great things will happen for the Nuggets upon his return, just that making the right decision, especially when it is the most difficult, can help forge perseverance and strength.

Suspensions do not have to be negative experiences, and J.R. is no stranger to having to sit out, but what comes of a suspension is on the player. Smith needs to be told that he was wrong, there is a consequence for his behavior and that he can use it to become a better player, teammate and person.

Record	54 - 28
Pythagorean Record	50.4 - 31.6
Projected Pyth Rec	50.4 - 31.6
Defensive Efficiency	107.7
Offensive Efficiency	111.4
Pace Factor	93.4
Field Goal %	47.0%
Opp Field Goal %	44.0%
Effective FG%	51.2%
Opp Effective FG%	48.5%
True Shooting %	56.2%
Opp True Shooting %	53.6%
Def Rebound Rate	71.7%
Off Rebound Rate	27.5%
Total Rebound Rate	50.2%

Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

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2009-10 Game 47: Denver Nuggets 103 - San Antonio Spurs 89

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2009-10 Game 45: Denver Nuggets 97 - Houston Rockets 92

2009-10 Game 44: Denver Nuggets 104 - Charlotte Bobcats 93

What to do with J.R.?