Five Straight Losses a New Low for Denver

(Boulder-CO) It was the worst first half of basketball I have seen played by the Denver Nuggets in about three years. After every conceivable blunder, mishap, botched play, and poor decision the Nuggets had only 32 measly points after two equally pitiful 16-point quarters to start off the game. It was really no surprise to me even though the Nuggets pulled within 3 at one point that Denver lost tonight by the score of 96-84. The Jazz are very good and the Nuggets are very bad at this point in the season.

How bad were they? Let me tell you all about the coffin-like half the Nuggets decided to lay themselves in. After the first quarter alone the Nuggets committed nine turnovers in about the most uninspired effort I have ever seen. Strange names like Sampson and Hodge were playing for some reason and it took the Nuggets more than four minutes to even score a single point in the opening quarter. Sixteen garbage points later and the buzzer sounded.

Then the Nuggets decided that they weren’t through struggling like a new born giraffe trying to stand up. In the second quarter it was the same old lethargic-ass basketball. It took them nine minutes into the quarter to score nine points to bring the score to 42-25, and even after a made basket the Nuggets were beaten down floor for an easy deuce. You could hear Coach Karl yelling for guys to turnaround and look at the ball fly by for a lay-up, but the Nuggets were completely out to lunch. They managed to turn the ball over seven more times, bringing their whoops-a-daisy total up to 16 and had only scored a season-low 32 points in the half.

Then the Denver Nuggets decided to get serious, and after a 30-17 point drumming in the third quarter, they seemingly decided that they had salvaged enough pride and were just going to lie back down in their coffin only down three with the score 65-62 going into the fourth. Hell, a more optimistic Nuggets fan might have thought that the beloved Nuggets were going to pull out a much needed victory, but I know this team too well and knew that the flash of greatness was just merely the brightest instance before the bulb blew out for good.

Linas looked decent with 17 points and Earl and Allen both scored 22. The Nuggets are now 16-15 overall and the road doesn’t get any easier as they play Milwaukee, San Antonio, and Houston in the next six days. Five straight losses is a new low for defeats in succession for the Nuggets this year.