(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets were not going to win all 82 games. So, while the, 96-88, loss to Miami stings a little bit, there were other aspects of this game that are going to hurt this team far worse than having one game notched in the loss column. For starters, Kenyon Martin going down in the second quarter and not being able to return with what the team is calling a, “lower leg contusion” has me far more concerned.

In the first quarter, I felt the only Nugget that came with their game face was Carmelo Anthony. Some interpret his aggressiveness perhaps as selfishness, but at one point I think Carmelo realized that his starting counterparts were not mentally in this game and he decided to try and carry his team. Of the 21 points Denver was able to muster in the first, Carmelo scored twelve and Nene added six to an uninspired effort coming off a days rest overall.

George Karl went with a line-up of Chauncey, Ty, Carmelo, Afflalo, and the Bird to start the second quarter. At this point, Chauncey Billups was really struggling offensively and looked offbeat (maybe because of the tender ankle?) so with limited offensive ability from the Bird and Lawson the Nuggets were in the midst of laying down their worst quarter up to this point in the season. The combination of an offbeat Chauncey, too much one-on-one offense, not a lot of help from the officiating crew, and Kenyon Martin going down left the Nuggets supremely discombobulated. The end result of the quarter was 17 points on five made field goals, nine turnovers, and the Nuggets heading into halftime down by twelve, 50-38.

At halftime I looked over to one of my faithful game viewing mates and asked him if he wanted to talk about the 500lb gorilla in the room? He smiled, told me we’ve been tip-toeing around this possibility since last June, and said, “Sure, the timing seems right.” And if you haven’t been able to figure out what we were talking about it’s the scenario where one of Denver’s lean front court performers gets hurt. The Nuggets are frighteningly thin in the front court and it has been my unwritten contention that if any of the trio of Chris Andersen, Nene, or Kenyon Martin went down for any extended time this season that it would be devastating…

I’ll delve into how Kenyon’s injury effect more in its own post, but just know in the second half the Nuggets’ starters played emotionally hurt as if their middle school girlfriend just broke up with them via a passed note.

Denver opened up the third quarter scoreless over a six-minute stretch ranging all the way back to the first half. It was during this stretch that Miami’s lead went from five to 17 and by the end of the third had blistered to 26 points. Scalded, George Karl removed his starters and went with an all bench crew who surprisingly salvaged some dignity for Denver by playing the right way, with intensity and teamwork, before Denver slipped into the night, 96-88. And who knows? If Denver doesn't allow seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter the bench might have been able to pull this game out, but too many second chance opportunities left the Nuggets short on possessions.

Carmelo Anthony finished as the game’s high-scorer with 30 points, but with just 17 points from the rest of the starters it was all in vain. Anthony Carter failed to score in 19 minutes of burn and, honestly, looked terrible. I can go along with Karl keeping a starting five  that is winning games, but at one point he’s going to have leave superstition alone and realize that Anthony Carter isn’t making this team better, but rather just trying to not make it worse.

Not a single starter finished with a positive +/- with Chauncey and Nene each recording a team-worst -26 overall. In fact, the only Nuggets to finish with positive +/-’s were Chris Andersen (+17), Joey Graham (+18), Arron Afflalo (+12), and Ty Lawson (+18), but by the time the bench was inserted this game was lost. Afflalo led the charge with 18 points and Lawson added 11, but when the Nuggets’ combined statistics read ten assists, 19 turnovers, and 2-13 from three-point range the Nuggets were lucky to have not lost this game by 20.

As for how Miami won, let’s just say I was foolish to think they weren’t capable of winning as a team; not only defensively, but offensively as well. The Heat finished with five players in double-figures led by Dwyane Wade’s 22 points.

The good news is in the NBA you play 82 games and no loss is as bad as it seems and no win is as good as it feels, but with Kenyon Martin hurt for, “a week or two”, this team is going to be put through a fire test.

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