Denver Nuggets

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Dallas Mavericks Denver Nuggets 1st Team F Alex English (Three All-NBA selections) F Spencer Haywood (ABA MVP and Rookie of the Year, 1969-70) C Dan Issel (Seven 20-plus ppg seasons as a Nugget) G David Thompson (73 points in one game, highest non-Chamberlain total) G Ralph Simpson (Three All-ABA selections) 2nd Team F Kiki Vandeweghe (Three 20-plus ppg seasons as a Nugget) F Bobby Jones (Four All-Defensive Team selections as a Nugget) C Dikembe Mutombo (Three-time NBA shot blocking leader as a Nugget) G Lafayette Lever (Two-time All-Star) G Larry Jones (Three All-ABA selections) Memphis Grizzlies San Antonio Spurs Utah Jazz   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 1) Contrary to revisionist history, Iverson did not "fail" in Denver: he ranked seventh in scoring and eighth in assists in 2006-07 and third in scoring and ninth in assists in 2007-08. The Nuggets made the playoffs both years, including a 50 win season in 2007-08 that was the best regular season performance by that franchise since 1987-88. In 2007, the Nuggets lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion Spurs, winning one more playoff game against San Antonio than LeBron James' Eastern Conference champions did in the NBA Finals. In 2008, the Nuggets were swept in the first round by the eventual Western Conference champion Lakers; Iverson led the Nuggets in scoring and assists during that series, while Carmelo Anthon...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) ABA regular season single game record 40 rebounds versus New York, 2/3/74 Four-time ABA rebounding champion (1972-74, 76) 1974 ABA All-Star Game MVP 1975 ABA Playoff MVP Appeared in 670 consecutive ABA/NBA games 11 All-Star selections in 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranked in the top ten in rebounding in 12 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranked in the top ten in blocked shots in 13 of 17 ABA/NBA seasons Ranks first in career ABA/NBA regular season field goal percentage (.582); also holds the NBA (.599) and ABA (.558) career records Ranks third in career ABA/NBA regular season blocked shots (3178) Ranks fifth in career ABA/NBA regular season rebounds (16,330) Ranks 18th in career ABA/NBA regular season points (24,941)   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) About a minute and a half after the Detroit Pistons acquired Allen Iverson from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess (the Pistons later re-signed McDyess after the Nuggets released him), Dave Berri--of Wages of Wins/True Hoop fame--blamed every ill in the Detroit metro area on Iverson. When I posted some comments on Berri's site pointing out that it was not fair or logical to hold Iverson entirely responsible for the Pistons' record considering that the Pistons were without McDyess' services for a month, that they had a new coach and that they foolishly decided to bench either Iverson or Richard Hamilton so that Rodney Stuckey could start, Berri's dittohead idiot followers came out of the woodwork...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 6) Denver Nuggets: Reasons for hope: The Nuggets have made the playoffs for six straight years and last season they took advantage of the injury travails suffered by the Spurs, Jazz, Hornets and Mavericks to finish second in the West in the regular season before advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Energetic reserve Chris Andersen ranked second in the NBA in blocked shots (2.5 bpg) and helped the Nuggets to become a much stingier defensive team. Chauncey Billups averaged nearly nine fewer ppg than his predecessor Allen Iverson did in 2007-08 when the Nuggets won 50 games but Billups received a lot of credit for helping the Nuggets to become a more mature, disciplined squad.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Aguirre was an explosive scorer: he had a 24 point quarter against the Nuggets on March 24, 1984 (finishing with 46 points) and on May 5, 1988 he scored 27 points--two short of the NBA playoff record--in a quarter against Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets. Aguirre led the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals that season and Dallas pushed the powerful Showtime Lakers to the limit before bowing in seven games. The Oregonian selected the 37 year old Pippen as the midseason MVP of the resurgent 2002-03 Blazers: "Statistics don't tell the whole story with Pippen, whose ability to guard anyone from Atlanta power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim to San Antonio point guard Tony Parker to Boston small forward Paul Pierce has given the Blazers incredible ve...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Behrens: "I'll just talk a little bit about what we’re doing here in Denver. We started on Monday with our 'Read to Achieve Caravan.' Bob led a group of former players, WNBA players and family members of NBA players out to visit two schools here and had a great time. We had reading rallies in both schools, reading to kids and talking about the importance of education. We did 'basketball and books' clinics the next day with some members of the Junior NBA and Junior WNBA programs. We had a WNBA fitness day on Wednesday. We did a basketball clinic for wheelchair bound kids who are part of the 'Junior Rolling Nuggets' program. On Thursday we visited the Children's Hospital of Denver and brought them books, teddy bears—beautiful visit with them, very emo...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Before the 1975-76 season the Colonels decided to trim their payroll by trading star forward Dan Issel. Gilmore increased his scoring to a career high 24.6 ppg (fourth in the league) and led the ABA in rebounding (15.5 rpg) while ranking second in field goal percentage (.552) and third in blocked shots (2.4 bpg). Despite his Herculean efforts, the Colonels fell from 58-26 to 46-38 and lost to the 60-24 Denver Nuggets—Issel’s new team—in the second round of the playoffs. Gilmore and four-time NBA scoring champion George Gervin led the Spurs to a then franchise record 53 wins and a berth in the 1983 Western Conference Finals, but the defending champion L.A. Lakers won four games to two. Gilmore led the NBA in field goal percentage (.626) while ranking...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) No Reunion events were scheduled on Saturday, so players gathered together informally or did some sightseeing. The next morning, Cedric the Entertainer emceed the NBA Retired Players Association's annual brunch, held this year at the Hyatt Regency/Denver Tech Center. Hundreds of retired NBA and ABA players packed the hotel ballroom, including Rick Barry, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving, Bill Russell, David Thompson and Bill Walton. Several ABA players and coaches received awards, including Byron Beck (Original Denver Nugget), Larry Brown (Coach of the Year; he was unable to attend the ceremony), Spencer Haywood (Legend Award), Dan Issel (Founder Award), Doug Moe (Humanitarian Award) and David Thompson (Mr. Denver Nugget Award...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) In the 1974 ABA playoffs, Silas and the Spurs extended the defending champion Pacers to seven games. The teams met again in the 1975 playoffs, with the Pacers advancing after a hard fought six game series. The Pacers double teamed Silas even though he was playing alongside future Hall of Famer and Top 50 selection Gervin. Leonard says, "He was that dangerous. If you go down there (to San Antonio), when they left Hemisfair and went into the Alamodome, you see the two players up there in great big pictures across that backdrop—George Gervin and Jimmy Silas." Despite the extra defensive attention, in the 1975 playoffs Silas averaged 18.8 ppg and led the ABA in postseason assists (10.0 apg).   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Epilogue: As great as James' statistics were versus Orlando, Erving put up even better numbers in the 1976 ABA Finals as a New York Net facing the Denver Nuggets, leading both teams in scoring (37.7 ppg), rebounding (14.2 rpg), assists (6.0 apg), steals (3.0 spg) and blocked shots (2.2 bpg). He also shot .590 from the field in that series. The Nuggets had a Hall of Fame center (Dan Issel), a Hall of Fame forward (David Thompson, who later shifted to guard in the NBA) and the best defensive forward in either league (Bobby Jones); the Nuggets were good enough to beat a team comprised of All-Stars from the rest of the teams in the league during All-Star Weekend.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) No mercy," Kobe Bryant instructed his teammates during a second half timeout when the L.A. Lakers already enjoyed a double digit lead over the Denver Nuggets and they followed his advice, rolling to a 119-92 game six victory in the Western Conference Finals to advance to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season. The Lakers are the first team to make it to the Finals in back to back years since the Detroit Pistons did it in 2004 and 2005. As ESPN analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy noted, Bryant's words resonated with the Lakers because Bryant backed up his talk with actions, producing game-high totals in points (35) and assists (10) while also grabbing six rebounds, making all nine of his free throws and authoring symmetrical 6-10...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 31 points but he shot just 9-23 from the field and did not score for a 12 minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters as the Lakers took control with a 23-5 run; during that crucial time, ESPN's Mark Jackson said, "The question for (Denver Coach) George Karl is, 'Where is Carmelo Anthony?' You need a guy offensively to stop the bleeding." Chauncey Billups had a quiet 12 points and five assists while Kenyon Martin added 12 points but shot just 6-15 from the field as the Lakers invited him to keep shooting his patented no-arc jump shots and awkward runners. J.R. Smith, apparently believing that his salary is linked to three point field goal attempts per minute, shot 1-10 from three point range; this is...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The L.A. Lakers had an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals but the Nuggets played what Lakers Coach Phil Jackson termed "crash ball" and the Lakers simply crashed, losing 120-101, their worst defeat in this year's playoffs. The Nuggets drove the ball to the hoop aggressively and when they missed shots they either scooped up the offensive rebounds and/or they drew fouls. The final margin is a bit artificial--the Nuggets led by 11 with 2:25 remaining and then poured on some meaningless points in the last couple minutes--but there is nothing fake about Denver's rebounding dominance in this game: the Nuggets outrebounded the Lakers 58-40 and became the first team in 15 years to ha...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) This is a great time to be a basketball fan, because The Best the Game Offers are both performing splendidly on the sport's biggest stage, the playoffs: LeBron James is averaging 42 ppg in the Eastern Conference Finals and just hit the biggest shot of his career to tie Cleveland's series with Orlando at 1-1, while Kobe Bryant is averaging 37.7 ppg in the Western Conference Finals and just scored 41 points as the L.A. Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 103-97 to take a 2-1 series lead. Bryant shot 12-24 from the field and 15-17 from the free throw line and also contributed six rebounds, five assists and two steals. He had just one turnover in 41 minutes and scored 13 of his points in the fourth quarter, with 12 of those points coming in the final 6:46, start...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Although homecourt advantage is important, the Nuggets have been in similar situations before and failed to deliver: in both 2005 and 2007 the Nuggets split the first two games in San Antonio only to lose the next three games. Also, in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Detroit Pistons won game two in Boston and still lost the series in six games. Similarly, in the 2006 Western Conference Finals the Phoenix Suns took game one in Dallas but lost the series in six games. The Nuggets are a good home team but the Lakers are a good road team that is certainly capable of winning one or both games in Denver.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Kobe Bryant scored 40 points--including 18 in the fourth quarter--and alternated between guarding All-NBA players Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony as the L.A. Lakers rallied from a 13 point deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets 105-103 in game one of the Western Conference Finals. Bryant shot 13-28 from the field and 12-13 from the free throw line but in the fourth quarter--during which the Lakers trailed by as many as seven points--Bryant shot 4-5 from the field and made all nine of his free throws, including six pressure-packed free throws in the final :30.5. Bryant played a game-high 43 minutes--including all 24 minutes in the second half--and he also contributed six rebounds and four assists, two of which resulted in big Derek Fishe...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Western Conference Finals 1 L.A. Lakers (65-17) vs. #2 Denver (54-28) Season series: L.A. Lakers, 3-1 Denver can win if…their frontcourt players dominate the Lakers' frontcourt players, Chauncey Billups continues to play at a very high level, Carmelo Anthony is productive and efficient at both ends of the court and none of the Nuggets' "knuckleheads" revert back to their previous ways. L.A. will win because…the Nuggets have no answer for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers have homecourt advantage. Bryant averaged 33.5 ppg, 6.3 apg and 5.3 rpg versus Denver in last year's playoffs, shooting .500 from the field; in four regular season games versus Denver this season, Bryant averaged 31.0 ppg, 2.3 apg and 4.8 rpg while shooting .478 from the field.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Chauncey Billups added another chapter to his fairy tale return to Denver, posting 28 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and just two turnovers as the Nuggets beat the Mavericks 124-110 to close out their second round series 4-1 and advance to the Western Conference Finals. Carmelo Anthony had a team-high 30 points, while J.R. Smith contributed 18 points off of the bench. Dirk Nowitzki had 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in defeat. Nene and Kenyon Martin are both healthy for the first time in a while and they are providing great inside play at both ends of the court, while Dahntay Jones has emerged as a Raja Bell-style defensive irritant. The Nuggets have an excellent bench, led by the scoring prowess of J.R. Smith and the shotblocking of...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) On a night when the Atlanta Hawks fought valiantly--but unsuccessfully--to avoid being swept, the Dallas Mavericks showed that they will not go down without a fight. Dirk Nowitzki scored 44 points, grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and shot a sizzling 14-25 from the field to lead the Mavs to their first win in four tries versus the Denver Nuggets. Nowitzki scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a tough fadeaway jumper with 1:05 remaining to put Dallas ahead for good, the Mavericks' first lead since early in the first quarter. Josh Howard, playing on two bad ankles, had 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Jason Kidd added 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while committing just one turnover. Carmelo Anthony scored a playoff career...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The most obvious difference about the Nuggets this year is their team-wide commitment to playing good defense. Billups certainly has always displayed that type of commitment but he is not even the best perimeter defender on his own team (Dahntay Jones, not Billups, guarded Chris Paul in the first round). Chris Andersen does not play heavy minutes but his shotblocking has had a huge impact, because any player who drives to the hoop versus Denver has to be wary of his presence. It has also been critically important for the Nuggets that Nene and Kenyon Martin have been healthy for most of the year. Acquiring Billups turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle for the Nuggets; mixing metaphors, the Nuggets have really enjoyed a perfect storm th...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Dallas can win if…Jason Kidd cuts off the head of the snake by containing Chauncey Billups, Josh Howard harasses Carmelo Anthony into shooting a poor percentage and Dirk Nowitzki understands that he is taller and more skilled than Kenyon Martin, so he can get whatever shot he wants to get if he is patient. The Mavericks did a good job defensively versus the Spurs in the first round but right now the Nuggets are a much deeper and healthier team than the Spurs; it is imperative for the Mavericks to play good defense, because the Nuggets still have a tendency to take bad shots when they are forced to set up in the half court, particularly J.R. Smith. I still find it hard to believe that all of Denver's knuckleheads (Anthony, Smith, Martin in particula...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) Kobe Bryant: Con: Pro: The NBA's scoring champion has done an excellent job of leading the Heat to a playoff berth. In addition to his scoring prowess, Wade also ranked eighth in the league in assists and second in steals while becoming the first NBA player 6-4 or under to block more than 100 shots (106); David "Skywalker" Thompson blocked 102 shots as a rookie in 1975-76 for the ABA's Denver Nuggets and Thompson blocked 99 shots for the Nuggets in 1977-78 (two seasons after the NBA-ABA merger). Dennis "Airplane" Johnson had 97 rejections in 1978-79 for the Seattle SuperSonics. Blocked shots have been an official NBA statistic since 1973-74 and were tracked by the ABA from 1972-73 until the league merged with the NBA after the 1975-76 season.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) The Lakers went 2-0 versus the Celtics, 2-0 versus the Cavaliers and 2-1 versus the Spurs but still failed to reach their goal of securing home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs. The Lakers posted their most victories since 2000--when they won the first of three straight titles--but if they do not capture the crown this year due to losing game seven on the road in the Finals then they will surely rue their 0-2 record versus the Charlotte Bobcats and the come from ahead home defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers on March 17, the setback that gave the Cavaliers the lead for good in the race for the best overall record.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) 3) San Antonio Spurs (35-17): The Spurs have weathered injuries to Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and seem to be just pacing themselves until the playoffs; in a recent game against Denver, the Spurs trotted out their "B" team (i.e., no Tim Duncan, Ginobili or Parker) and still almost won the game. While the Nuggets are a "mystery guest"--an unproven entity in terms of postseason play--the Spurs are like a wily, veteran gunslinger who may be up in years but can still take out the young guns. If their Big Three players are healthy during the postseason then the Spurs will pose the most formidable challenge to the Lakers in the West. I expect to see the Lakers battling the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, unless that matchup is not possible in t...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) What a treat it is to watch "Game to Remember: Game Six, 1976 ABA Finals"! NBA TV broadcast this program last night, with Julius Erving and Brian Taylor sharing their recollections of the last ABA game, a 112-106 championship-clinching victory by their New York Nets over the powerful Denver Nuggets. Erving won the regular season and Finals MVPs in 1976 as he led the Nets to their second title in his three years with the franchise, while Taylor made the All-Star team and led the league in three point field goal percentage; he is the only player to lead the ABA and the NBA in three point field goal percentage in a season. Denver, coached by Larry Brown and led by Hall of Famers David Thompson and Dan Issel, went 60-24 in 1975-76; their team was so goo...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) At full strength, the Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, Jazz, Rockets, Blazers and Mavericks are better than the Nuggets. The Suns look a bit shaky but I expect them to pull things together eventually. Denver will not win too many games against those teams this year. The Nuggets may very well pad their record in their next three games (at Sacramento, followed by home games versus Minnesota and Golden State) but then they visit Dallas and Houston in a killer back to back before playing Cleveland in Denver, traveling to Phoenix and battling Portland in a home and home series. Let's just say that Denver will most likely not be in third place in the West after those nine games.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) In Iverson's first game with the Pistons, Detroit lost at New Jersey. Then the Pistons fell to the Celtics in Boston. Detroit next played four road games in six days, winning three of them, including one over the Lakers, the only defeat that the Western Conference Champions have suffered this year. In their last four games, the Pistons beat Cleveland, lost again to Boston, got blown out by Minnesota and then bounced back to rout the Knicks. The Minnesota loss at home is bad, no doubt about it, but over the course of an NBA season every team has some bad losses. Iverson's Pistons have played six of their 10 games on the road.   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) During a timeout early in the game, Denver Coach George Karl implored his players to finish out defensive possessions by getting rebounds. Meanwhile, several disinterested players looked at the floor, the ceiling and everywhere else but at Karl. Jackson commented, "If you're going to be a great defensive team, you have to get upset when teams score on you. I don't see the Nuggets talking about it, getting upset, discussing how they're missing assignments. That's the first step to being an effective defensive team." Although the Nuggets looked like they were not paying attention to Karl, they did start doing a better job on the glass and the Nuggets finished the game with a 43-37 rebounding advantage. Plus/minus data can be "noisy" (decept...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) Some people may believe that the Nuggets came out ahead in the Billups-Allen Iverson trade but Denver's 3-0 record prior to the Cleveland game was fool's gold: a close home win against a struggling Dallas team followed by victories over the lottery bound Grizzlies and Bobcats. I didn't expect the Nuggets to make the playoffs even with Iverson and my initial thought was that the trade would not change things that much--but after watching Denver play (not just in this game but also in the previous ones) it seems distinctly possible that the Nuggets will be worse off in the short term, never mind that their long term prospects are crippled by the poor salary cap management that made the owner feel compelled to dump Marcus Camby and buy out Anto...   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) Before this season began, did you believe that the Detroit Pistons had a very good chance to win the Eastern Conference? Did you think that the Denver Nuggets could even make the playoffs in the Western Conference, let alone advance past the first round? If you answered "yes" to either of those questions then you are apparently more optimistic than the general managers of those franchises: the 2008-09 season is not even a week old and those teams have agreed to swap All-Star guards, with Detroit sending 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb to Denver for 2001 regular season MVP Allen Iverson.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) The Suns have replaced Mike D'Antoni and his offensive philosophy of shooting in "seven seconds or less" with Terry Porter, who plans to place an emphasis on defense and half court offensive execution. As Porter put it, the Suns will still run this season but they want to do so after defensive stops, not after taking the ball out of the basket after the opposing team scores. The Nuggets feature the same coach (George Karl) and the same stars (Iverson and Anthony) that they have had in recent years. They lost defensive hub Marcus Camby but the defensive intensity of their bench figures to improve with the addition of energy players like Renaldo Balkman, Chris Andersen and Ruben Patterson. However, the "knucklehead quotient" on this team is re...   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) For this year's edition, I wrote the Sacramento Kings preview for the third year in a row, the Phoenix Suns preview for the second year in a row and I wrote the Cleveland Cavaliers preview for the first time, ending my run of writing three straight previews about the Denver Nuggets. For the sidebar stories that accompany each preview, I wrote about Ron Artest, Shaquille O'Neal and the Cavaliers' underrated defense respectively. Winter concluded, "I tend to think how very much they're alike. They both display tremendous reaction, quickness and jumping ability. Both have a good shooting touch. Some people say Kobe is a better shooter but Michael really developed as a shooter as he went along. I don't know if Kobe is a better shooter than Michael...   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) Any Denver fans who entertained notions that Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson would ever lead the Nuggets to playoff glory received a very rude awakening when Nuggets management "traded" starting center Marcus Camby to the L.A. Clippers for the right to swap second round draft picks in 2010. Camby is 34 years old but he is still a highly productive player: he won the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year Award and he has led the NBA in blocked shots the past three seasons and four times overall during his 12 year career. Last season, Camby averaged a career-high 13.1 rpg to rank second in the league. He has been selected to the All-Defensive Team for four straight seasons, including First Team nods in 2007 and 2008.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (David Friedman) 15) The Denver Nuggets are the NBA's mystery team: they have a former MVP who is still playing at a high level (Allen Iverson), one of the premier scorers in the league (Carmelo Anthony), a former Defensive Player of the Year (Marcus Camby), a top sixth man (J.R. Smith)--and yet they simply cannot get out of the first round of the playoffs. Despite all of the talent on their roster, they have problems at both ends of the court: their defense is terrible and their offensive execution is wildly inconsistent, with Iverson and Anthony taking turns running the show while the other players pick up the table scraps that are left over. It is either entertaining or sickening to realize that ESPN pays "expert" Stephen A. Smith a lot of money for "insights" s...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Nuggets shot just 32-86 (.372) from the field, with their All-Stars Carmelo Anthony (16 points on 5-22 field goal shooting) and Allen Iverson (15 points on 5-16 field goal shooting) leading the way in both points and missed shots. After the game, Anthony bluntly stated what anyone watching the game could plainly see: "We quit." He hastened to add that he included himself in that assessment and that he was not singling out anyone in particular but just like there is something wrong with the Suns laying an egg in game three at home versus the Spurs there is something wrong with the Nuggets just quitting in game three at home versus the Lakers. The issue is not even so much the outcome of the game or the series but just the total lack of professiona...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Nuggets have a lot of offensive weapons. Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 30 points and 12 rebounds but he shot just 11-26 from the field and never put his stamp on the game; he's just out there "getting buckets" (to borrow a phrase from the similarly inclined Gilbert Arenas). Allen Iverson, who Denver Coach George Karl has correctly identified as the team's most valuable player, also had 30 points, shooting 11-24 from the field and leading the Nuggets with seven assists. He also had five rebounds but he had an off day from the free throw line, shooting just 7-13 (.538), well below his career playoff norm (.767). Kleiza (23 points) and Smith (15 points) provided plenty of production off of the bench.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Denver can win if...Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony both get hot in the same game and/or the Lakers suffer an injury to Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol. During the playoffs you will probably hear things like "A series does not start until the home team loses" and "A series does not begin until one team faces elimination." The reality is that the game one winner in an NBA best of seven series has gone on to win the series 78.5% of the time. With that in mind, the most important game of this year's playoffs may be game one in the San Antonio-Phoenix series because it could play a major role in deciding which of those teams eventually makes it to the Western Conference Finals and which one suffers a devastating first round elimination.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Score: Golden State 122, L.A. Clippers 116 The Bottom Line: Either Denver or Golden State will probably set a record for most wins without making the playoffs but are these teams really so great? They both run hot and cold, depend far too much on their offense and thus cannot hang their hats on fundamentals like defense and rebounding to help them to win on nights when their shots are not falling. The Warriors benefited in last year's playoffs by getting a favorable matchup with Dallas but--contrary to the hype in some quarters--I don't believe that either of these teams will pull off that kind of an upset this season.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman An 8-0 run in the last 1:25 enabled the Denver Nuggets to beat the Phoenix Suns 126-120, earning a split in their back to back meetings and moving them past Golden State into the eighth spot in the Western Conference. Allen Iverson scored a game-high 31 points on 9-18 shooting from the field and 11-11 free throw shooting. He also had three assists and two steals. Carmelo Anthony had 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists but he also committed eight turnovers. J.R. Smith again provided scoring punch off of the bench (17 points in 28 minutes). Leandro Barbosa, who has moved into the starting lineup recently due to Grant Hill's groin injury, led Phoenix with 27 points. Amare Stoudemire contributed 25 points and 10 rebounds, though he also had six t...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman This was the first game of a home and home series for these teams, so the Nuggets will be able to seek revenge in Denver on Tuesday night. These games are very important to both teams: the Suns are vying for the number one seed in the Western Conference, while the Nuggets are fighting just to get the eighth and final playoff seed. In Tuesday's game you can expect the Nuggets to score a lot of points but Phoenix has a good shot to win again, albeit in closer fashion. Granted, the back to back situation does not favor an older player like O'Neal--and of course there are no back to backs in the playoffs, which is another reason that he and the Suns will be a tough out in the postseason--but now that the Suns have an inside game to go with their outside game they...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Before this season began, Denver players openly spoke about winning 60 games and contending for a championship. Now, with 16 games to go, the Nuggets are trying to make a late push to get the eighth and final playoff spot in the very competitive Western Conference. They have won their last three games, all at home, by at least 22 points, albeit against weak opposition: Memphis, Seattle and a Toronto team that is floundering without the injured Chris Bosh. On Sunday, the Nuggets scored the fourth most points in a regulation game in the history of the NBA, blasting the Sonics 168-116. That total obviously established a season-high for this year, smashing the mark that the Nuggets had set against the Sonics on February 27 in a 138-96 win.   [read the full post]

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By David Friedman Small forward Grant Hill spent a lot of time chasing around Iverson, which left shooting guard Raja Bell to deal with Carmelo Anthony, who pushed Bell all over the court, snaring 13 rebounds--including six on the offensive glass--and scoring 30 points. At times, Anthony seemed to have a look of disbelief on his face that Bell was trying to guard him. Clearly, the Suns could have used Marion here but since the Suns no longer have him they have to take better advantage of the mismatches that are in their favor, such as O'Neal posting up much smaller defenders like Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin and Eduardo Najera. The Suns have another 21 games to get used to each other before the playoffs begin and in the postseason they will have at least a day off be...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The other DDN article about the NBA had this headline: "Teamwork rarely on display in selfish NBA." It's not a good sign when the headline simply regurgitates a tired stereotype. The author of this piece, Hal McCoy, is a Hall of Fame baseball writer. He is truly one of the best baseball writers around. However, he drew his conclusion about the NBA on the basis of watching one game between Denver and Portland; McCoy admits in his first sentence, "Ordinarily, I wouldn't watch an NBA game unless somebody offered me a free $20 cigar, that is, unless LeBron James is playing."At least he is upfront about his bias; the bias in other sections of many newspapers is generally shrouded beneath a veneer of objectivity. McCoy's beef is that Kenyon Martin--wh...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The top five scorers in the NBA each played in one of the TNT games. Here is how they did: Memphis 104, Chicago 90 Cleveland 97, Miami 90 L.A. Lakers 116, Denver 99 For some strange reason, the "experts" continually underrate Cleveland--a team built on rebounding and defense that is led by the second best player in the league--and overrate Detroit and Denver, two teams that are stocked with individual talent but have yet to reach their full potential in postseason play (the Detroit teams that reached back to back Finals had Larry Brown and Ben Wallace; I am referring to the current group that loses in the playoffs to lower seeded teams).   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Bryant reached the 20,000 point mark by draining a pullup three pointer early in the third quarter. Not long after that, Frazier added, "One thing I noticed about Kobe when he came into the league is that he had so much confidence that he could be great--and he has achieved that." By the 6:28 mark of the third quarter, the Lakers led 70-45 and the New York fans were raining down boos on their hapless Knicks. Teams usually make runs, as Frazier predicted, but when Bryant sat down for his normal rest with 2:36 remaining in the quarter the Lakers still enjoyed a comfortable 73-55 advantage. The Knicks trimmed four points off of that margin to trail 75-61 by the end of the quarter.   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Spurs dropped a couple games when Tim Duncan sat out due to injury, so the Celtics--owners of a nine game winning streak--pulled away a bit. Are the Magic going to duplicate last year's fast start and slow fade? Dwight Howard is still putting up MVP caliber numbers but the Magic are just 5-5 in their last 10 games; they are also 5-5 at home, which is very strange considering their 12-3 road record. One of those numbers will turn out to be a fluke; if it is the former, then Orlando could win 50-plus games but if it is the latter then the Magic will end up with 40-45 wins. Detroit has been winning "quietly," fueling the predictable and tired talk that the Pistons have been disrespected. Guess what? The Pistons have four All-Star caliber players and n...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman After playing all 48 minutes and scoring 51 points in a 114-107 loss versus the Lakers on Wednesday, Allen Iverson and his Denver Nuggets faced a tough back to back game at Dallas on Thursday. The Nuggets had lost 18 of their previous 19 games in Dallas, including five straight defeats, but Iverson produced 35 points, 12 assists and six steals as Denver cruised to a 122-109 win. This kind of game is sometimes referred to as a "scheduling loss" for the road team, although in this instance it should be noted that Dallas was also playing for the second time in two nights. Iverson's great performance--including 12-19 shooting from the field and 11-13 free throw shooting--helped the Nuggets to overcome a bad shooting night by Carmelo Anthony, who...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman There were many interesting storylines and subplots in this game. The Nuggets came in averaging 106.6 ppg (fourth in the NBA) and the Lakers were right behind them (106.1 ppg, fifth in the NBA), so the resulting shootout is hardly a surprise. However, as ESPN's Jon Barry noted, Denver should clearly be the superior team: "I don't think there's a more talented roster in the NBA." The Nuggets have a former MVP (Iverson), a perennial All-Star (Anthony), the reigning Defensive Player of the Year (Marcus Camby), a former number one overall draft pick (Kenyon Martin) and several other talented role players, yet something is clearly missing with this group. Even granting that Bryant is the best player in the league, the Nuggets have the deeper and m...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Bryant sat out the first 6:09 of the second quarter and Denver pushed the lead to as much as 38-21. TNT's Doug Collins talked about how Kwame Brown's injury has had a domino effect, moving Andrew Bynum (12 points, 13 rebounds) into the starting lineup and upsetting the chemistry of the bench. Collins has a point but would a truly good team be that dependent on the contributions of a career journeyman like Brown? The answer to that question is obviously, "No." Bynum is an improving player but he is still inconsistent. Take a good look at the Lakers' top six players other than Bryant in terms of minutes played per game: Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Vladimir Radmanovic. How many of those guys would be a top seven...   [read the full post]