| 01 April 2010
(Denver-CO) I think this is the point where the wheels officially have fallen off. The combination of not having Head Coach George Karl, Kenyon Martin, and Ty Lawson’s sporadic playing time since returning to action against the Celtics has left the Nuggets on the losing end in five out of their last six contests. Oh, and the lone win sprinkled in during this stretch came by way of a Carmelo miracle in Canada.
And I haven’t even mentioned the playoff picture.
Sure, Denver is in. But our beloved team has dropped from the second seed all the way down to fifth during this, shall we say, less than favorable stretch. This means, obviously, if the playoffs were to start today. The Nuggets wouldn’t even have home court. And what’s worse is now any hope of such advantage is long gone.
Against Orlando, it was J.J. Redick’s night to shine. The Dukie went absolutely bananas scoring 23 points on Denver while setting career-highs in assists (8) and rebounds (7) off the bench in a, 103-97, Magic win.
Also against Orlando, Denver crumbled like blue cheese on a salad. The Nuggets had a ten-point lead early in the second half, 67-57, but then went scoreless over the next 3:21.
Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points in the loss and Chauncey Billups added 18 points and five assists, but an 18-7 run late in the fourth quarter put Denver to sleep like a drunk old man. The difference? Contributors.
The Orlando Magic bench outscored Denver’s 44-29.
It also didn’t help the NBA’s top free-throw shooting team by volume was fighting an officiating crew that was about as inconsistent as Denver’s weather in early spring. The Nuggets shot just eleven free-throws (making eight) in comparison to Orlando’s 22 attempts from the charity stripe.
Ugh! C’est la vie on the road in the NBA.
To prove that I’m fair, Carmelo and Chauncey stunk up the joint against the Mavericks. Denver’s dynamic duo shot a combined 6-30 for a paltry 21 points and their selfish, get-my-shot-first, mentality was enough to sink the Nuggets. Carmelo’s ten points were a season-low.
On the other hand, Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t so selfish. Nowitzki posted his second triple-double of 34 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists - just two shy of Denver’s overall total of assists for those of you keeping track.
Needless to say, Denver was dominated by Dirk and the Mavericks, 109-93.
This post is your official venting headquarters for everything that's currently wrong with this team.
Open the flood gates.
| < Prev |
|---|
