(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets were as good as gold in their home opener defeating the Utah Jazz, 114-105. Rookie Ty Lawson made a huge impact in 26 minutes off the bench, Carmelo looked in midseason form, Chauncey Billups shot the lights out from three-point land, and Kenyon Martin and Nene each scored 16 points with K-Mart notching a double-double with a team-high eleven rebounds.
In a bit of a surprise move to start the game, George Karl started Anthony Carter saying, “I go with what I know.” Fine by me, but George couldn’t have been happy with how the Nuggets played in the first quarter. The Nuggets turned the ball over four times which translated into seven Utah Jazz points, were beaten on the boards, and surrendered 30 points all in the first twelve minutes of the game.
Denver was trailing by seven, 30-23, entering the second with about the only bright spot in the first minutes of the season for the Nuggets being ‘Melo offensively. Carmelo scored eleven points and grabbed five rebounds while playing the entire first quarter.
In the second quarter, I felt that the second unit plus Nene really played surprisingly well defensively. Perhaps this was due to the unfamiliarity offensively of playing with Afflalo, Graham, and rookie Ty Lawson all in the game so soon, but the defensive effort surrendered by the aforementioned plus the Birdman and Nene enable Denver to hold the Jazz to just six points in the first six minutes of the quarter. Now, with a different defensive atmosphere in the Pepsi center, George Karl reinserted Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, and Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets were able to enter halftime down by only one after pasting the Jazz with 31 points in the quarter.
Keeping things close at the half were lot of Nugget free-throw opportunities. Denver was 13-18 from the stripe in the first half with Carmelo Anthony leading the way with 17 first half points.
Not a lot of fire was displayed in the first three minutes of the second half by the Denver starters. Defensively, they looked confused. Deron Williams absolutely torched Anthony Carter for eleven straight points in the first eight minutes of the third quarter. Offensively, they looked bewildered. There was too much standing around while Chauncey Billups tried to make everything happen single handedly. The deadly combination resulted in the Nuggets falling behind by as many as eight points before Kenyon Martin’s two-handed, double-clutch stuff ignited a 10-0 run. Carmelo had a nice dunk tip, Billups hit a three, and Nene winning a jump ball led to another Chauncey Billups trey that gave Denver back the lead, 72-70.
Up to this point, Chauncey hadn’t put his signature on this game. He had only handed out two assists and scored a quiet nine points in the first half. But, Mr. Big Shot made his presence known in the third quarter with three, three’s in the third for a total of 16 points total in the quarter.
It’s also important to note that the Nuggets won all four jump balls in the third quarter and scored on each of the ensuing possessions. In all fairness, one of those jump balls ended up in another jump ball, but winning those extra possessions was pivotal in the Nuggets being able to take the lead entering the fourth quarter. I feel that by making the Jazz play those extra possessions on defense it seemed to frustrate them out of their overall game plan as illustrated by Ty Lawson drawing a charge on D-Will in the backcourt that showed maturity beyond his years and Chauncey being fouled with .4 seconds on the clock which earned the Nuggets three free-throws and the lead entering the fourth quarter. Overall, Denver finished the third quarter on a 20-10 run and took an, 84-80, lead entering the money quarter where the Nuggets were 45-3 last season in such scenarios.
The fourth quarter was all about the rookie. Ty Lawson gave the Nuggets their biggest lead in the game three minutes in to the fourth quarter, 91-80, after scoring seven straight points. Five came by way of impressive drives to the rim and Ty displayed a nice transition jumper before an official timeout left the Jazz scratching their heads.
Then. It. Happened!
Carmelo Anthony absolutely revoked Paul Millsap’s player card with a posterizing dunk off of an errant outlet pass that kept the lead at eleven, 99-88, midway through the quarter. Millsap cleared the defensive rebound and lobbed an ill-advised outlet to Deron Williams that looked like a fireman had tossed a baby out of the window of a burning building. Carmelo was lurking behind Williams like a snake in the grass and after intercepting the pass made Millsap pay with a one-handed ego-crusher reminiscent of his earlier baptism of Theo Ratliff.
Kenyon Martin then followed up a Ty Lawson drive-and-miss with a thunderous dunk tip that took the wind out of the Utah Jazz’s sails and Nene following up yet another driving attempt by Lawson with the dunk and the foul sank Jerry Sloan’s ship as the Nuggets extended their lead to 15 points, 106-91, with under five minutes to play in regulation.
Denver would easily maintain that lead throughout the remainder of the game and win by a final of, 114-105. Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 30 points, nabbed eight rebounds, and dished five assists. Chauncey Billups finished with 25 points, but did not score in the fourth quarter. Off the bench, Ty Lawson finished with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds, and a steal. They say that George Karl doesn’t like rookies, but with a guy like Lawson what’s not to like?
It should also be mentioned that Arron Afflalo did a great job cinching down on Deron Williams defensively. D-Will was held to just four points in the fourth quarter after scoring 24 points in the previous three. It’s obvious that as he goes, so do the Jazz, and when a defensive effort like Afflalo’s takes Williams out of the game for even a quarter it’s apparent the Utah Jazz go to pieces.
Up next for the Nuggets is a look at yet another division rival, the Portland Trailblazers. It’s a chance for the Nuggets to put themselves up a peg in the super early divisional picture, but they will have their work cut out for them playing Portland on the tail end of back-to-back games and battling a blizzard that surely complicates things flying out of Denver.
1-0, but 2-0 would be so nice written by Tha PaK MaN,
October 29, 2009
I totally agree with the analysis of the beginning of the game, A.C. looks old and slow and I think the combination of affalo, billups, graham, and lawson will be a great combination until JR Swish comes back. But I'd like to point out the last 3 or 4 minutes of the game after Nene fouled out how important he actually is. This is the year I think Nene becomes the player that Denver knows he is and makes the all-star team. But Ty Lawson, what can you say? Unbelievable
+1
... written by NuggDoctor,
October 29, 2009
I'm with ya, Pak. Lawson may very well put AC down at the end of the bench if he keeps playing beyond his years games.
Nene is critical. Without him, we are uber-soft in the middle.
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