| 11 February 2009
(Denver-CO) It was refreshing to not see any hangover from the 44-point loss the Nuggets suffered just a few nights before as they defeated the Heat, 97-82. If there was any doubt that this year’s Nuggets are indeed a legitimate contender they were silenced last night as Denver opened the throttle early and took care of business throughout last night’s contest despite Miami making things interesting in the third quarter.
In the first half, Denver was firing on all cylinders on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets connected on a 17 of their first 23 shots out of the gate and held the Heat to just 40 points in the first two quarters combined. The unbelievable shooting percentage was a direct result of Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene working together like a well-oiled machine. Either of the three, take your pick, would take the ball right to the rack with aggression and either dish off to one of the other duo or finish the drive themselves. In fact, 22 of the Nuggets’ first 32 points in the first quarter were scored by the frontcourt trio with many by thunderous dunks.
The Denver offense came back down to earth after the torrid start and by doing so it really drew the kind of attention that the defensive effort deserved. Holding the Heat to just 20 points in the first quarter, the Denver defense doubled up their effort only allowing 20 more in the second. A combination of good hedging of the pick and roll, denial of the first pass from point, and quality contests on perimeter jumpers resulted in what I believe to be one of the best halves of defense played by the Nuggets this season. Never mind Dwyane Wade scoring 18 points in the first half. He’s on a different level that’s not even controllable, but to hold another four professional basketball players attempting to work in unison to just 22 combined points in 24 minutes of play is outstanding. And while his individual defense may still need some tinkering with, Carmelo Anthony gave us at least a glimpse of what he’s capable of in the future as he dominated Shawn Marion and the little we got to see of Michael Beasley. Kudos deserved all around to the Nuggets for putting together a great defensive performance through two quarters.
There was a scary moment late in the second quarter when Chris Andersen, our beloved Birdman, hit the floor hard and awkwardly after tossing in a lay-up on a fast break. There was no ill intent on the part of Shawn Marion, but the Bird landed very hard on his hip and wrist. Andersen did make his free-throw to complete the and-1, but did not return to the game. Marion was issued a flagrant foul type 1 for the incident.
The second half wasn’t as smooth sailing, but Denver showed a lot of guts holding on to the lead throughout the half as things started going Miami’s way. The Heat starter the third quarter on a 19-8 run ending with Mario Chalmers hitting a pair of three-pointers to get the Heat within five, 64-59, with just over five minutes left in the quarter, but some of that comeback was due to the Nuggets not being able to buy a bucket offensively through part of that stretch as Denver missed eleven of twelve shot attempts. Regardless, the Nuggets found a way to finish the final three minutes of the third on a 10-6 run and held a, 74-65, advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets had missed all 15 of their three-point attempts through three quarters, but that all changed in the fourth with Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith connecting on a combined five treys. The first two came on back-to-back possessions by each man, but the final two were nailed consecutively by Mr. Big Shot giving the Nuggets an 18-point lead with just over three minutes to play crushing any and all hope for a late Heat comeback.
Even more than the Nuggets getting 15 of their 25 points in the fourth from three-pointers by Smith and Billups was Denver following up their fabulous defense in the first 24 minutes with some tenacious defense in the final twelve. The Nuggets limited the Heat to, get this, three points in the final 6:22 and only gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter on their way to allowing their lowest point total of the year - 82 points!
Chauncey led the way offensively with 23 points and a team-high tying five assists. Kenyon Martin was an efficient 9-14 shooting on his way to his fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and ten rebounds and Carmelo Anthony, despite shooting just 5-15 from the field, finished with 19 points and nine rebounds with a 9-11 night from the charity stripe. And J.R. Smith may have only scored ten points, but I thought he played well. Linas Kleiza was all-around terrible, (getting his ball blocked not once, but twice, down low when he should have been dunking it instead of trying to softly lay it in off the glass and bricking all six of his three-point attempts) but for some reason played 27 minutes while J.R. only played 19.
Dwyane Wade received very little help from his teammates. The Miami bench could only muster 19 points in total and the rest of the starters combined for just 30. Wade finished with a game-high 33 points and a game-high tying seven assists. I don’t say this often, but dude is a monster!
Go Nuggets!
In the first half, Denver was firing on all cylinders on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets connected on a 17 of their first 23 shots out of the gate and held the Heat to just 40 points in the first two quarters combined. The unbelievable shooting percentage was a direct result of Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Nene working together like a well-oiled machine. Either of the three, take your pick, would take the ball right to the rack with aggression and either dish off to one of the other duo or finish the drive themselves. In fact, 22 of the Nuggets’ first 32 points in the first quarter were scored by the frontcourt trio with many by thunderous dunks.
The Denver offense came back down to earth after the torrid start and by doing so it really drew the kind of attention that the defensive effort deserved. Holding the Heat to just 20 points in the first quarter, the Denver defense doubled up their effort only allowing 20 more in the second. A combination of good hedging of the pick and roll, denial of the first pass from point, and quality contests on perimeter jumpers resulted in what I believe to be one of the best halves of defense played by the Nuggets this season. Never mind Dwyane Wade scoring 18 points in the first half. He’s on a different level that’s not even controllable, but to hold another four professional basketball players attempting to work in unison to just 22 combined points in 24 minutes of play is outstanding. And while his individual defense may still need some tinkering with, Carmelo Anthony gave us at least a glimpse of what he’s capable of in the future as he dominated Shawn Marion and the little we got to see of Michael Beasley. Kudos deserved all around to the Nuggets for putting together a great defensive performance through two quarters.
There was a scary moment late in the second quarter when Chris Andersen, our beloved Birdman, hit the floor hard and awkwardly after tossing in a lay-up on a fast break. There was no ill intent on the part of Shawn Marion, but the Bird landed very hard on his hip and wrist. Andersen did make his free-throw to complete the and-1, but did not return to the game. Marion was issued a flagrant foul type 1 for the incident.
The second half wasn’t as smooth sailing, but Denver showed a lot of guts holding on to the lead throughout the half as things started going Miami’s way. The Heat starter the third quarter on a 19-8 run ending with Mario Chalmers hitting a pair of three-pointers to get the Heat within five, 64-59, with just over five minutes left in the quarter, but some of that comeback was due to the Nuggets not being able to buy a bucket offensively through part of that stretch as Denver missed eleven of twelve shot attempts. Regardless, the Nuggets found a way to finish the final three minutes of the third on a 10-6 run and held a, 74-65, advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets had missed all 15 of their three-point attempts through three quarters, but that all changed in the fourth with Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith connecting on a combined five treys. The first two came on back-to-back possessions by each man, but the final two were nailed consecutively by Mr. Big Shot giving the Nuggets an 18-point lead with just over three minutes to play crushing any and all hope for a late Heat comeback.
Even more than the Nuggets getting 15 of their 25 points in the fourth from three-pointers by Smith and Billups was Denver following up their fabulous defense in the first 24 minutes with some tenacious defense in the final twelve. The Nuggets limited the Heat to, get this, three points in the final 6:22 and only gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter on their way to allowing their lowest point total of the year - 82 points!
Chauncey led the way offensively with 23 points and a team-high tying five assists. Kenyon Martin was an efficient 9-14 shooting on his way to his fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and ten rebounds and Carmelo Anthony, despite shooting just 5-15 from the field, finished with 19 points and nine rebounds with a 9-11 night from the charity stripe. And J.R. Smith may have only scored ten points, but I thought he played well. Linas Kleiza was all-around terrible, (getting his ball blocked not once, but twice, down low when he should have been dunking it instead of trying to softly lay it in off the glass and bricking all six of his three-point attempts) but for some reason played 27 minutes while J.R. only played 19.
Dwyane Wade received very little help from his teammates. The Miami bench could only muster 19 points in total and the rest of the starters combined for just 30. Wade finished with a game-high 33 points and a game-high tying seven assists. I don’t say this often, but dude is a monster!
Go Nuggets!
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