| 16 April 2009
(Denver-CO) Someone must have told the Denver Nuggets the Houston Rockets had just lost to the Mavericks moments before they tipped things off against the Portland Trailblazers. I say this because it’s the only excuse I can offer for the way Denver played this game. They knew they had nothing to gain by beating the Blazers and their effort reflected such in this, 104-76, debacle.
The best way to describe the first half effort by the Denver Nuggets is foolish. On three separate occasions the Nuggets couldn’t even execute inbounding the ball after made Portland baskets. One of the three turnovers was the result of a two-handed, underhanded toss out to half court by Chris Andersen. Seriously.
On top of shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly with unforced turnovers, the Nuggets were shooting the ball at a frigid rate. ‘Melo was too cute around the cup and didn’t capitalize on three point blank lay-ups because he didn’t try to finish with authority and when you don’t finish with gusto you don’t attract many whistles. Furthermore, as a team the Nuggets were stagnant in half court sets much to the credit of great interior defense by Portland. But, and with their good interior defense aside, the Nuggets weren’t passing the ball in any attempt to shake the tightly compacted Portland D loose with any ball movement so Denver suffered in the first half with only four assists. And without any interior attack it should come as no surprise that the Nuggets shot only four free-throws in the first 24 minutes of this game.
The best way to describe the first half effort by the Denver Nuggets is foolish. On three separate occasions the Nuggets couldn’t even execute inbounding the ball after made Portland baskets. One of the three turnovers was the result of a two-handed, underhanded toss out to half court by Chris Andersen. Seriously.
On top of shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly with unforced turnovers, the Nuggets were shooting the ball at a frigid rate. ‘Melo was too cute around the cup and didn’t capitalize on three point blank lay-ups because he didn’t try to finish with authority and when you don’t finish with gusto you don’t attract many whistles. Furthermore, as a team the Nuggets were stagnant in half court sets much to the credit of great interior defense by Portland. But, and with their good interior defense aside, the Nuggets weren’t passing the ball in any attempt to shake the tightly compacted Portland D loose with any ball movement so Denver suffered in the first half with only four assists. And without any interior attack it should come as no surprise that the Nuggets shot only four free-throws in the first 24 minutes of this game.
The first half reached rock bottom offensively for the Nuggets in the second quarter of which they shot a combined 2-13 from the field. So, needless to say, the three or four unforced turnovers and ten overall in the half combined with the icy 30% shooting left the Nuggets on the short end of a 19-point margin, 53-34, at the break. The only highlight of the half for Denver was an absolutely freakish display of athleticism by Kenyon Martin. Off of a three-point miss by Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin exploded, vertically mind you, from outside the charge semi-circle and caught the rebound from behind his head and proceeded to throw it down with one hand. It was the dunk of the year. Hands down.
The good news is after a terrible first half effort I wasn’t worried. I figured the Nuggets were due to start hitting some shots and if they were able to cut out the stupid decisions and get few calls they were still in this game.
The third quarter backed up my nonchalant attitude towards the first half. The Nuggets cut Portland’s 19-point halftime lead down to five points with just over two minutes to play on the back of a 14-4 run spanning three and a half minutes. The Nuggets were finally getting a few jumpers that were rattling in and out in the first half to stay in the cup and with a tighter defensive grip were able to pull themselves back into the mix. So, with the Rose Garden quieted, the Nuggets looked to have new life. The only problem is they only played the first ten minutes of a twelve minute period. Denver failed to close out the quarter and allowed the Blazer lead to once again climb into double digits, 71-60, entering the fourth.
Still with the game in reach at the start of the fourth, the Nuggets acted as if they were already down by 30. Denver offered five three-pointers for their first seven shot attempts with all five being flat out bricks. All those empty possessions left the Nuggets on the bruised end of a 21-2 run and down by 30, 94-64.
Game over.
What should have had me worried from the word go about this game is the Nuggets obviously knew Dallas had beaten Houston and the second seed was all Denver’s regardless of this game’s outcome. Denver played without discipline for all but the first ten minutes of the third quarter and did so against a team fighting for home court in the first round of the playoffs. Offensively, this is highlighted by Denver’s pitiful offering of nine assists. They didn't play as a team and lost as individuals. Defensively, being outrebounded 45-40 and Portland dissecting the Nugget defense for 29 assists is outright embarrassing.
So, tonight’s, 104-76, loss is definitely a blue note to end what was an otherwise fantastic regular season of which the Nuggets did tie the best 82-game record in franchise history. But what’s important going into this year’s REAL season is for the Nuggets to forget about this game and get mentally prepared for the Hornets because Chris Paul is surely going to test the Nuggets ability to control a true superstar who can single handedly take over a game and/or a series.
And here’s a final note for Violet Palmer… A player must have BOTH feet set to draw a charge. I just thought you should know.
Go Nuggets!
The third quarter backed up my nonchalant attitude towards the first half. The Nuggets cut Portland’s 19-point halftime lead down to five points with just over two minutes to play on the back of a 14-4 run spanning three and a half minutes. The Nuggets were finally getting a few jumpers that were rattling in and out in the first half to stay in the cup and with a tighter defensive grip were able to pull themselves back into the mix. So, with the Rose Garden quieted, the Nuggets looked to have new life. The only problem is they only played the first ten minutes of a twelve minute period. Denver failed to close out the quarter and allowed the Blazer lead to once again climb into double digits, 71-60, entering the fourth.
Still with the game in reach at the start of the fourth, the Nuggets acted as if they were already down by 30. Denver offered five three-pointers for their first seven shot attempts with all five being flat out bricks. All those empty possessions left the Nuggets on the bruised end of a 21-2 run and down by 30, 94-64.
Game over.
What should have had me worried from the word go about this game is the Nuggets obviously knew Dallas had beaten Houston and the second seed was all Denver’s regardless of this game’s outcome. Denver played without discipline for all but the first ten minutes of the third quarter and did so against a team fighting for home court in the first round of the playoffs. Offensively, this is highlighted by Denver’s pitiful offering of nine assists. They didn't play as a team and lost as individuals. Defensively, being outrebounded 45-40 and Portland dissecting the Nugget defense for 29 assists is outright embarrassing.
So, tonight’s, 104-76, loss is definitely a blue note to end what was an otherwise fantastic regular season of which the Nuggets did tie the best 82-game record in franchise history. But what’s important going into this year’s REAL season is for the Nuggets to forget about this game and get mentally prepared for the Hornets because Chris Paul is surely going to test the Nuggets ability to control a true superstar who can single handedly take over a game and/or a series.
And here’s a final note for Violet Palmer… A player must have BOTH feet set to draw a charge. I just thought you should know.
Go Nuggets!
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