| 14 December 2006
(Boulder-CO) Obviously, no one delivered the memo to the Denver Nuggets that to win a game in the NBA a defensive commitment is needed. I usually never stop watching a game, but this was so absolutely atrocious that I had to switch the channel. Tonight’s game reminded me of the last pick-up game at the rec center. You know, the one where no one plays any defense and everyone is pulling circus shots trying to get oohs and awws out of each other. It was that bad, seriously! Denver was sluggish out of the gate and once again let a team get nearly forty off the bat (39 to be exact) in the first quarter. It was blatantly apparent that they had no aspirations of playing defense and were going to try and out score the Wizards in an attempt to find victory. Tough sell because, as they proved tonight, the Wizards have the offensive capabilities of scoring with nearly anyone in the league.
The three-headed monster in Washington, Gilbert “Agent Zero” Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison, combined for 79 points and got help from Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, and Jarvis Hays who all scored in double digits. Contrary to Washington’s six players in double figures; the Nuggets only had four players break the ten-point mark.
Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 37 points, but in my opinion needs to pass the rock a little more to get other Nuggets involved. Marcus Camby evidently agrees with me and made this statement after the game, “That's our coach's job. If he's (Carmelo) taking the majority of the shots, who else is there to shoot the ball? There's no shots to go around, so Coach has to do a great job of figuring that out. That's a tough situation that he's in.” Camby adds, “ Carmelo is a great scorer. We all know he's our go-to guy, but we have to spread the wealth around to keep guys happy.” Well said, Marcus and Amen.
Thankfully, I didn’t make a prediction about this game. I hate to pick against the Nuggets, but some how knew that tonight was going to be a rough one. The Nuggets were out shot from the field 50-40% and from beyond the arc by a grotesque 32-10%. They were also out rebounded, out assisted, out stolen, out blocked, turned the ball over more, and shot a worse percentage from the free-throw line. There was not a bright spot to be mentioned in tonight’s loss. I just do not know how else to say it. The box score is a total abomination if you are a Nuggets fan.
Oh, and by the way, the Nuggets lost 120-91. A day of rest and right back at it is the only good news. The Boston Celtics on Friday and a prescribed win is all the doctor has ordered. The only bright spot of tonight’s game was James Earl Jones reciting the National Anthem in a fashion that I thought was absolutely amazing. I love that guy!
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