| 10 February 2009
(Denver-CO) Still in the midst of an eight-game road trip of which there still remains five games to play, and coming off their worst loss in over a decade, the Denver Nuggets have to find a way to bounce back tonight in Miami. Denver was able to beat the Heat on January 7th, without Carmelo, with three blackjack performances offensively by Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith, and Linas Kleiza to give the team its only five-game win streak of the season.
Carmelo is back, but the real story is going to be how the Nuggets react after being disrespected by 44 points in New Jersey on Saturday. Nothing went right for the Nuggets in East Rutherford. Their offense was stagnant, defense wasn’t even played after the first half, and to be quite honest with you, Denver looked content to just keep the clock running in the second half after mailing it in with a 16-point third quarter and then clocking off the job with a 15 measly points in the fourth.
However, the silver lining, and I’m stretching here, from the New Jersey debacle is the Nuggets should be well-rested after three whole days off and not a single Nugget logging more than 30 minutes in the 44-point loss.
The best case outcome is for the Nuggets come out refocused and hungry against the Heat. I think Chauncey Billups said it best with this quote after the loss in New Jersey, “I've been in this league a long time and I know you're going to have three to four games like this on both sides. It's over. We washed it off in the shower.”
And if Chauncey and the Nuggets washed it off, the Nugges Nation should too in trust of his word.
The Heat are looking for their sixth win in their last seven attempts at home with their only loss in that stretch coming by way of the Celtics. Dwyane Wade has coincidentally led the team in scoring in nine out of the Heat’s last ten games covering that stretch and is still leading the NBA in scoring overall with a clip of 28.3 ppg. This poses a huge defensive task for Dahntay Jones, J.R. Smith, and Anthony Carter, as well as the rest of the Nuggets, tonight as the key to beating Miami is slowing down D-Wade. 17 of Miami’s 23 losses have come in games where Wade has been unable to score 30 points or more, which seems simple seeing how it would be fundamental to not allow one player to beat you, but with the Heat it’s paramount. Wade scores nearly a third of Miami’s 96.6 ppg and when you account for his nightly average of 7.1 assists it’s crystal clear what he means to the Heat’s chances of victory.
I wouldn’t be against double-teaming Wade from the opening tip to the final buzzer in an effort to make someone else on the Heat beat us. Rookie Michael Beasley is their second leading scorer with an average of 13.3 ppg and from there things taper off despite the Heat having four other players averaging double-digits. With that being said, Shawn Marion has always had his way with the Nuggets, even going back as far as when he was with the Suns, and in the first meeting between these two teams it was business as usual for the Matrix. Marion scored 25 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds so if there is another Heat player for the Nuggets to keep in check it would be him, but first and foremost on the Denver agenda is stopping D-Wade.
Go Nuggets!
Carmelo is back, but the real story is going to be how the Nuggets react after being disrespected by 44 points in New Jersey on Saturday. Nothing went right for the Nuggets in East Rutherford. Their offense was stagnant, defense wasn’t even played after the first half, and to be quite honest with you, Denver looked content to just keep the clock running in the second half after mailing it in with a 16-point third quarter and then clocking off the job with a 15 measly points in the fourth.
However, the silver lining, and I’m stretching here, from the New Jersey debacle is the Nuggets should be well-rested after three whole days off and not a single Nugget logging more than 30 minutes in the 44-point loss.
The best case outcome is for the Nuggets come out refocused and hungry against the Heat. I think Chauncey Billups said it best with this quote after the loss in New Jersey, “I've been in this league a long time and I know you're going to have three to four games like this on both sides. It's over. We washed it off in the shower.”
And if Chauncey and the Nuggets washed it off, the Nugges Nation should too in trust of his word.
The Heat are looking for their sixth win in their last seven attempts at home with their only loss in that stretch coming by way of the Celtics. Dwyane Wade has coincidentally led the team in scoring in nine out of the Heat’s last ten games covering that stretch and is still leading the NBA in scoring overall with a clip of 28.3 ppg. This poses a huge defensive task for Dahntay Jones, J.R. Smith, and Anthony Carter, as well as the rest of the Nuggets, tonight as the key to beating Miami is slowing down D-Wade. 17 of Miami’s 23 losses have come in games where Wade has been unable to score 30 points or more, which seems simple seeing how it would be fundamental to not allow one player to beat you, but with the Heat it’s paramount. Wade scores nearly a third of Miami’s 96.6 ppg and when you account for his nightly average of 7.1 assists it’s crystal clear what he means to the Heat’s chances of victory.
I wouldn’t be against double-teaming Wade from the opening tip to the final buzzer in an effort to make someone else on the Heat beat us. Rookie Michael Beasley is their second leading scorer with an average of 13.3 ppg and from there things taper off despite the Heat having four other players averaging double-digits. With that being said, Shawn Marion has always had his way with the Nuggets, even going back as far as when he was with the Suns, and in the first meeting between these two teams it was business as usual for the Matrix. Marion scored 25 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds so if there is another Heat player for the Nuggets to keep in check it would be him, but first and foremost on the Denver agenda is stopping D-Wade.
Go Nuggets!
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