| 14 March 2010
(Denver-CO) I have to hand it to Blake Olsen. Last night, in the Altitude Studios, he had the cojones to step up and make a bold prediction even when former Nuggets player and coach, Bill Hanzlik, told him he was crazy. Blake said that if the Nuggets were trailing by six or fewer points they would win. Straight faced, all kidding aside, and I told him if his premonition was true, I’d write it up as such.
Due credit given.
The Nuggets were able to put the Grizzlies back into hibernation, in their own den, after trailing Memphis by six at the half, 63-57. Memphis did a superb job in the first half getting to the rim for easy looks whereas the Nuggets were reluctant to take it inside. This could have been due to the size of Memphis (Marc Gasol, Hasheem Thabeet, and Zach Randolph), but the results were less than favorable due to the Nuggets carrying over a bit of their struggles from behind the arch after going 3-22 the night before in New Orleans.
However, Denver never let this game get too far away from them and countered nicely when Memphis built a twelve-point lead late in the first half.
Late in the third quarter is when Denver started to come alive. Carmelo Anthony scored ten of his eventual 24 points in the third before J.R. Smith’s three with 35 seconds remaining in the period knotted things at 85. ‘Melo and Smiths’ (who was just getting started) offensive exploits aside, it was the Denver defense which really laid the groundwork for what was to come. The Birdman was everywhere in the third quarter changing shots, blocking shots, aggressively clearing the defensive glass, and all but shutting down the smorgasbord of pointblank looks Memphis feasted on in the first half. The Bird, plus the extended perimeter defense of both J.R. Smith and Anthony Carter, enabled Denver to allow Memphis just 22 points in the third quarter after allowing 30+ in each of the quarters in the first half.
And when Denver plays great defense it’s just a matter of time before their talent-packed roster takes over on the other end.
Now before I get into how great J.R. Smith’s shooting performance was in the fourth quarter there are two other areas that need to be praised. The first is how a quartet of reserves provided the energy that sustained a 17-0 run spanning a jumper by Carmelo and J.R. Smith’s three to tie the game at the end of the third quarter through the first two and a half minutes of the fourth. The line-up of Joey Graham, Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, Chris Andersen, and Nene ratcheted up the defensive energy missing from the starters for most of the previous three quarters and took control of this game. The second is Anthony Carter’s defense and ball distribution. Carter dished four of his seven dimes, grabbed a gritty rebound, and came up with a great steal on Sam Young during this dominating stretch as he and the Nuggets went up by a dozen, 97-85.
The rest is all J.R. Smith.
The Prodigy spontaneously combusted in a supernova of heat from downtown making 4-6 of his attempts (he was 7-10 from range in total) in the fourth quarter and scoring 16 of his 30 points in the money period. At one point, J.R. appeared to look into the Memphis crowd and shoosh down some hecklers after he drained his third consecutive long ball.
The lone starter who was in the game during Denver’s amazing stretch, and often times the forgotten man in the middle, was Nene. Big Brazil scored just five points in the fourth quarter, but did a tremendous job, along with Chris Andersen, shutting down the Grizzlies in the paint. Their combined efforts, with the Birdman flying high and Nene anchoring, held the Grizzlies to just four points in the paint in the fourth quarter. Nene finished with 13 points and four rebounds and the Birdman added eight points, five rebounds, and five blocked shots when all was said and done.
Denver outscored the Memphis Grizzlies 40-23 while shooting 16-19 from the field in the fourth quarter and dominated the scoreboard 68-45 in the second half before eventually turning a tightly contested game into a blowout victory, 125-108.
The Nuggets have now won six straight games and are playing some of their best basketball with Kenyon Martin and Ty Lawson still ailing from injuries. However, unfortunately for the Houston Rockets Schedule is Denver will wrap up this four-game road trip at the Toyota Center tomorrow night where they will look to improve to 46-21 overall.
Due credit given.
The Nuggets were able to put the Grizzlies back into hibernation, in their own den, after trailing Memphis by six at the half, 63-57. Memphis did a superb job in the first half getting to the rim for easy looks whereas the Nuggets were reluctant to take it inside. This could have been due to the size of Memphis (Marc Gasol, Hasheem Thabeet, and Zach Randolph), but the results were less than favorable due to the Nuggets carrying over a bit of their struggles from behind the arch after going 3-22 the night before in New Orleans.
However, Denver never let this game get too far away from them and countered nicely when Memphis built a twelve-point lead late in the first half.
Late in the third quarter is when Denver started to come alive. Carmelo Anthony scored ten of his eventual 24 points in the third before J.R. Smith’s three with 35 seconds remaining in the period knotted things at 85. ‘Melo and Smiths’ (who was just getting started) offensive exploits aside, it was the Denver defense which really laid the groundwork for what was to come. The Birdman was everywhere in the third quarter changing shots, blocking shots, aggressively clearing the defensive glass, and all but shutting down the smorgasbord of pointblank looks Memphis feasted on in the first half. The Bird, plus the extended perimeter defense of both J.R. Smith and Anthony Carter, enabled Denver to allow Memphis just 22 points in the third quarter after allowing 30+ in each of the quarters in the first half.
And when Denver plays great defense it’s just a matter of time before their talent-packed roster takes over on the other end.
Now before I get into how great J.R. Smith’s shooting performance was in the fourth quarter there are two other areas that need to be praised. The first is how a quartet of reserves provided the energy that sustained a 17-0 run spanning a jumper by Carmelo and J.R. Smith’s three to tie the game at the end of the third quarter through the first two and a half minutes of the fourth. The line-up of Joey Graham, Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, Chris Andersen, and Nene ratcheted up the defensive energy missing from the starters for most of the previous three quarters and took control of this game. The second is Anthony Carter’s defense and ball distribution. Carter dished four of his seven dimes, grabbed a gritty rebound, and came up with a great steal on Sam Young during this dominating stretch as he and the Nuggets went up by a dozen, 97-85.
The rest is all J.R. Smith.
The Prodigy spontaneously combusted in a supernova of heat from downtown making 4-6 of his attempts (he was 7-10 from range in total) in the fourth quarter and scoring 16 of his 30 points in the money period. At one point, J.R. appeared to look into the Memphis crowd and shoosh down some hecklers after he drained his third consecutive long ball.
The lone starter who was in the game during Denver’s amazing stretch, and often times the forgotten man in the middle, was Nene. Big Brazil scored just five points in the fourth quarter, but did a tremendous job, along with Chris Andersen, shutting down the Grizzlies in the paint. Their combined efforts, with the Birdman flying high and Nene anchoring, held the Grizzlies to just four points in the paint in the fourth quarter. Nene finished with 13 points and four rebounds and the Birdman added eight points, five rebounds, and five blocked shots when all was said and done.
Denver outscored the Memphis Grizzlies 40-23 while shooting 16-19 from the field in the fourth quarter and dominated the scoreboard 68-45 in the second half before eventually turning a tightly contested game into a blowout victory, 125-108.
The Nuggets have now won six straight games and are playing some of their best basketball with Kenyon Martin and Ty Lawson still ailing from injuries. However, unfortunately for the Houston Rockets Schedule is Denver will wrap up this four-game road trip at the Toyota Center tomorrow night where they will look to improve to 46-21 overall.
Go Nuggets!
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