| 12 November 2009
(Denver-CO) There are a few things we know after watching last night’s, 108-102, loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. First off, we know if Brandon Jennings keeps up the kind of performances he gave last night he will win the Rookie of the Year honors without much of a fuss. After that, we know the Denver Nuggets have serious problems in their front court, Carmelo shooting anything less than 40% from the field will kill this team, and George Karl’s rotations are indeed killing this team.
Forget about reading a traditional recap. If that’s what you want, go read the AP’s report. Instead I’m going to spit some real talk as to why the Nuggets are losing games to teams they should beat if they are one of the Western Conference’s true contenders.
Ready?
- One of the contributing reasons why the Nuggets lost this game is because of not being able to close out quarters. You might be interested to know that in the last three minutes of each of the four quarters combined the Nuggets were outscored 35-27.
- The 500lb gorilla in the room is Denver’s front court. In six out of nine games so far this season Denver has lost the rebounding battle. Against the Heat and the Hawks they were without Kenyon Martin, but that’s not enough of an excuse to look over Denver’s inadequacies rebounding the basketball. Nene would average twelve rebounds a game if he would actually box out and then go get the ball. Time and time again he gets outworked to the loose ball and the opposition gets second chance points off his reluctance to play the game fundamentally sound. And Nene’s not the only one. Carmelo Anthony does this (at nausea) and so does the Birdman more often than not. In Carmelo's defense, he did finish with a team-high ten rebounds against the Bucks.
- In addition to Denver’s rebounding woes, the Nugget bigs do a terrible job defending opposing centers of true size - and they haven’t even played a true dominant center yet. Last night, Andrew Bogut looked like an All-Star finishing with 23 points, ten rebounds, and four blocks. Whether they start doing a better job by committee or someone steps up this has to change or Denver is going to have serious problems.
- In the three games Denver has lost, you might be interested to note that Carmelo has only shot better than 40% once. Sure, he may have scored 30+ in each of those losses, but it’s my contention that when Carmelo doesn’t have his shot falling he’s forcing his way to get to that high of a point total. So, is Carmelo turning back into the one-trick pony he used to be offensively? Well, so far, the answer in games where the Nuggets have lost is an emphatic yes because he has yet to hand out more than two assists. Case in point, there were multiple stretches last night where Carmelo missed three or more consecutive shot attempts.
- George Karl’s superstitious/stubborn/ erratic rotations are making it very hard for Denver to transfer/maintain continuity in any facet of the game. Last night, Karl started Arron Afflalo at shooting guard. I have no problem with that, in fact, as long as A.C. doesn’t start I could care less who starts at the two spot. But tell me why, after starting Afflalo for seven minutes, Karl wouldn’t play him again until he again started the second half? It certainly wasn’t because Afflalo was ineffective. He scored five points in his first seven minutes and held Brandon Jennings scoreless. Additionally, he played a line-up that was so small last night J.R. Smith was actually playing small forward! Is this because Renaldo Balkman and Joey Graham have Karl’s hands tied behind his back so tight at the three spot that there is nobody else who can step in and give him some minutes or because Karl is still foolishly trying to give Anthony Carter (who only played six minutes after the aforementioned line-up looked terrible by the way) some burn?
That’s what’s eating at me, Nuggets Nation. Agree, disagree, have other ideas? Leave it in the comment section!
Forget about reading a traditional recap. If that’s what you want, go read the AP’s report. Instead I’m going to spit some real talk as to why the Nuggets are losing games to teams they should beat if they are one of the Western Conference’s true contenders.
Ready?
- One of the contributing reasons why the Nuggets lost this game is because of not being able to close out quarters. You might be interested to know that in the last three minutes of each of the four quarters combined the Nuggets were outscored 35-27.
- The 500lb gorilla in the room is Denver’s front court. In six out of nine games so far this season Denver has lost the rebounding battle. Against the Heat and the Hawks they were without Kenyon Martin, but that’s not enough of an excuse to look over Denver’s inadequacies rebounding the basketball. Nene would average twelve rebounds a game if he would actually box out and then go get the ball. Time and time again he gets outworked to the loose ball and the opposition gets second chance points off his reluctance to play the game fundamentally sound. And Nene’s not the only one. Carmelo Anthony does this (at nausea) and so does the Birdman more often than not. In Carmelo's defense, he did finish with a team-high ten rebounds against the Bucks.
- In addition to Denver’s rebounding woes, the Nugget bigs do a terrible job defending opposing centers of true size - and they haven’t even played a true dominant center yet. Last night, Andrew Bogut looked like an All-Star finishing with 23 points, ten rebounds, and four blocks. Whether they start doing a better job by committee or someone steps up this has to change or Denver is going to have serious problems.
- In the three games Denver has lost, you might be interested to note that Carmelo has only shot better than 40% once. Sure, he may have scored 30+ in each of those losses, but it’s my contention that when Carmelo doesn’t have his shot falling he’s forcing his way to get to that high of a point total. So, is Carmelo turning back into the one-trick pony he used to be offensively? Well, so far, the answer in games where the Nuggets have lost is an emphatic yes because he has yet to hand out more than two assists. Case in point, there were multiple stretches last night where Carmelo missed three or more consecutive shot attempts.
- George Karl’s superstitious/stubborn/ erratic rotations are making it very hard for Denver to transfer/maintain continuity in any facet of the game. Last night, Karl started Arron Afflalo at shooting guard. I have no problem with that, in fact, as long as A.C. doesn’t start I could care less who starts at the two spot. But tell me why, after starting Afflalo for seven minutes, Karl wouldn’t play him again until he again started the second half? It certainly wasn’t because Afflalo was ineffective. He scored five points in his first seven minutes and held Brandon Jennings scoreless. Additionally, he played a line-up that was so small last night J.R. Smith was actually playing small forward! Is this because Renaldo Balkman and Joey Graham have Karl’s hands tied behind his back so tight at the three spot that there is nobody else who can step in and give him some minutes or because Karl is still foolishly trying to give Anthony Carter (who only played six minutes after the aforementioned line-up looked terrible by the way) some burn?
That’s what’s eating at me, Nuggets Nation. Agree, disagree, have other ideas? Leave it in the comment section!
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