| 23 December 2006
(Boulder-CO) Ok, so I thought the Nuggets would win. What do you want from me? I didn’t know Camby broke his finger/hand. So, here come the excuses: Yakhouba shot dreadfully, DerMarr wasn’t much better, the Nuggets missed 14 free-throws and missed 23 three-pointers. At least I was there, right? Thanks again, Matty for the memory and the lift downtown! Denver lost to Sac-town 101-96.The Nuggets saw the dawn of a new era with about three minutes left in the first quarter. Allen Iverson played the remaining 39 minutes of the game, posting a double-double of 22 points, ten dimes, and two rebounds. Not bad numbers, but what I was watching for was his demeanor on the court. That demeanor tonight was one that was putting his teammates first, (he could have hoisted a lot more shots, and probably should have), and if Nene didn’t have his feet in wet concrete and Yak could have hit a three. He could have finished with about 15 assists on the night. Oh well, it was still a nice showing despite the loss.
Now this is where it gets ugly, Nuggets fans and I am sorry I have to do this. If you have small children near the screen I strongly urge you to shoo them away, or continuing reading this after they have left the room…
Yakhouba Diawara was absolutely regretful shooting the ball and finished the night 3-15 from the field and 0-7 from deep. You would have thought that he might have utilized a head fake and tried to attack the rim, but for some reason he just kept throwing brick, after brick, after brick. Much to my antagonization and dismay. I am a big fan of the Yak, but tonight he was a dredge that just wouldn’t stop digging this team into a hole!
Earl Boykins, despite being the team’s high-scorer, was also el stinko from trey-land. The Mightiest Micro was 2-7 from downtown, 8-23 overall, and finished with 25 points and nine assists. I mention these ugly numbers from beyond the arch because Sac-town was rooted in a zone, and until the Nugget proved they could hit the long ball, were not coming out of it for any reason. They were content letting the Nuggets shoot themselves out of this one, and that is exactly what they did. From the free-throw line, from down town, and overall this was one game that just needed a few more minutes of shoot-around prior to. Denver finished 36-97 from the field, 7-30 from three, and 17-31 from the charity stripe. Ouch!
Denver was also out rebounded (51-48), out passed (28-23), and out blocked (7-6). The loss drops Denver to 14-10 overall, and the good news out of all of this is Utah lost to Charlotte tonight 101-89. So, the Nuggets stay 3 ½ games behind the Jazz for the division lead.
The Nuggs were missing exactly 60 points in average scoring tonight when you total the missing components (Melo, Camby, and Smith) into account. This loss sucks, but what can you do? AI’s debut is a loss, but it’s still better than not having the Answer!
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