| 31 March 2009
(Denver-CO) It wasn’t pretty, but Denver defeated New York the hard way, 111-104, after leading, twice, by 27 points in the first half. The win gives Denver a guaranteed birth in this year’s playoffs and jostled the playoff landscape a bit…
The Denver Nuggets started this game a half-step slow, but overcame a sluggish first six minutes to tie the game at 14 all. From that point forward, Denver completely dominated the tempo of the action. Over the next four minutes the Nuggets galloped away from New York with 15-0 run that was largely in part to Denver locking down the defensive glass. The Knicks snagged six offensive rebounds in the first seven minutes of the first quarter, but after Denver limited New York to just one more offensive board the rest of the quarter they were able to capitalize in transition. In fact, after missing three of their first six shot attempts, the Nuggets finished the quarter a torrid 14-20 from the field in the first overall after solidifying the defensive end and running out for dunks on the other. Chauncey Billups connected on back-to-back treys during this stretch and Carmelo scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting as the Nuggets led, 34-22, at the end of one.
The Nuggets continued to steam roll the Knicks with a relentless transition attack. With 5:48 remaining in the second, Denver had opened up a 26-point lead, 58-32, with six straight lay-ups book ended by a pair of three’s by J.R. Smith.
The lead would peak at 27 points with Nene scoring a lay-up with four minutes to play in in the half before the Nuggets let off the throttle. Denver scored just one more point in the half after scoring 64 points in the first 20 minutes of this game and allowed New York to loiter around, 65-52, at half.
The Nuggets had five players in double-figures offensively in the first half led by Carmelo’s 16 points. Nene, J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza each had ten points, and Chauncey Billups added eleven and four assists. For the most part, Denver’s success was largely in thanks to controlling the defensive glass. When the Nuggets would hold the Knicks to one shot per possession it would lead to easy offensive opportunities on New York’s porous transition defense. Overall, the Nuggets outscoring the Knicks 28-5 in fast break points was the primary storyline.
Do you know that smell that accompanies that last slice of lasagna from about two weeks ago when you open the Tupperware lurking in the back corner of the refrigerator? Well, that stench is what I equate the start of the second half to for Denver. The Nuggets opened up 0-4 from the field shooting with three turnovers and Carmelo missed a pair of free-throws. In fact, it wasn’t until the 7:30 mark when Chauncey Billups drained a 20-footer that the Nuggets finally scored, but someone forgot to tell New York to lay down die and the Knicks had already cut the Denver’s 13-point halftime lead down to just four, 65-61.
The Nuggets were in a funk and desperately seeking a spark. J.R. Smith provided it on both ends of the floor. Smith drew a charge on Chris Wilcox and then hit a momentum swinging three to put the Nuggets firmly back in charge by nine, 78-69, with under three minutes remaining in the third. Without J.R.’s heady play on both ends of the floor I’m not too sure that the surging Knicks don’t close the quarter closer than the seven point deficit they did entering the fourth. Denver turned the ball over seven times in the third after just nine turnovers in the entire first half and were playing the role of their own worst enemy.
The Denver Nuggets started this game a half-step slow, but overcame a sluggish first six minutes to tie the game at 14 all. From that point forward, Denver completely dominated the tempo of the action. Over the next four minutes the Nuggets galloped away from New York with 15-0 run that was largely in part to Denver locking down the defensive glass. The Knicks snagged six offensive rebounds in the first seven minutes of the first quarter, but after Denver limited New York to just one more offensive board the rest of the quarter they were able to capitalize in transition. In fact, after missing three of their first six shot attempts, the Nuggets finished the quarter a torrid 14-20 from the field in the first overall after solidifying the defensive end and running out for dunks on the other. Chauncey Billups connected on back-to-back treys during this stretch and Carmelo scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting as the Nuggets led, 34-22, at the end of one.
The Nuggets continued to steam roll the Knicks with a relentless transition attack. With 5:48 remaining in the second, Denver had opened up a 26-point lead, 58-32, with six straight lay-ups book ended by a pair of three’s by J.R. Smith.
The lead would peak at 27 points with Nene scoring a lay-up with four minutes to play in in the half before the Nuggets let off the throttle. Denver scored just one more point in the half after scoring 64 points in the first 20 minutes of this game and allowed New York to loiter around, 65-52, at half.
The Nuggets had five players in double-figures offensively in the first half led by Carmelo’s 16 points. Nene, J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza each had ten points, and Chauncey Billups added eleven and four assists. For the most part, Denver’s success was largely in thanks to controlling the defensive glass. When the Nuggets would hold the Knicks to one shot per possession it would lead to easy offensive opportunities on New York’s porous transition defense. Overall, the Nuggets outscoring the Knicks 28-5 in fast break points was the primary storyline.
Do you know that smell that accompanies that last slice of lasagna from about two weeks ago when you open the Tupperware lurking in the back corner of the refrigerator? Well, that stench is what I equate the start of the second half to for Denver. The Nuggets opened up 0-4 from the field shooting with three turnovers and Carmelo missed a pair of free-throws. In fact, it wasn’t until the 7:30 mark when Chauncey Billups drained a 20-footer that the Nuggets finally scored, but someone forgot to tell New York to lay down die and the Knicks had already cut the Denver’s 13-point halftime lead down to just four, 65-61.
The Nuggets were in a funk and desperately seeking a spark. J.R. Smith provided it on both ends of the floor. Smith drew a charge on Chris Wilcox and then hit a momentum swinging three to put the Nuggets firmly back in charge by nine, 78-69, with under three minutes remaining in the third. Without J.R.’s heady play on both ends of the floor I’m not too sure that the surging Knicks don’t close the quarter closer than the seven point deficit they did entering the fourth. Denver turned the ball over seven times in the third after just nine turnovers in the entire first half and were playing the role of their own worst enemy.
Thankfully, George Karl stayed with J.R. and his bench counterparts to start the fourth quarter and the energy defensively from the reserves translated into a 17-point lead with 9:15 remaining in regulation. Anyone not familiar with the Nuggets would have naively thought this game was all but over, but after a 10-0 Knick run capped off by Nate Robinson hitting a long three pointer this game’s outcome was once again hanging in the balance mid way through the fourth.
But, if I’m going to gripe about how close this game was after looking like a blowout, I have to also give credit to the Nuggets for not relinquishing the lead at any one point in the game and more or less handling New York with a mild level of urgency fitting of a team currently seeded second in the Western Conference playoff picture. That’s right, Nuggets Nation, with Oklahoma City beating the Spurs, 96-95, and Denver holding the tie-breaker with San Antonio. The 49-26 Nuggets are seeded second behind only the Lakers with seven games remaining in the regular season! This win also clinches a playoff spot for the sixth straight season for the Nuggets and establishes a new franchise record for wins through 75 games.
Carmelo led the way in this one offensively with a game-high 29 points, but J.R. Smith’s 17 points off the bench, many scored at crucial junctures of the game, were monumental in an overall +22 per performance for The Prodigy. Nene added 18 points and twelve rebounds.
Up next for the Nuggets is a crucial Northwest Divisional match-up when the Utah Jazz come to town on Thursday night. That game has huge implications overall for the divisional crown as the Jazz and Blazers were sitting tied and just two games back of Denver heading into tonight’s heads-up meeting in Portland.
Go Nuggets!
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