Nuggets Blocked by Okafor & Wallace; Bobcats Win 105-101

Marcus Camby could not find the hoop when he had the ball, Steve Blake was seemingly afraid to shoot, and J.R. Smith definitely did not have his usual shooting touch tonight, as the Charlotte Bobcats upset the troubled Nuggets 105-101. Emeka Okafor, the great center for the Bobcats, brought great hands and athleticism to a great defensive effort to block the Nugget's path to victory. Okafor had 5 blocks and 10 rebounds and PF Gerald Wallace had 2 key blocks and 13 rebounds to prevent the Nuggets from picking up what was in theory supposed to be an easy win. Camby had 6 blocks and the Nuggets overall had 9, but the defense away from the hoop continued to disappoint.

Allen Iverson was rock solid yet again, but Melo was repeatedly rejected at the hoop and went to the line only twice. To add insult to injury, Melo was called for an unusual number of unintentional fouls (4), including an offensive foul. He was an expert 4-8, though, on his great midrange jumper and was 1-2 from long range.

The Bobcats, led by Okafor and Wallace inside, outrebounded the Nuggets 43-36, and the Nuggets often lose when they are beaten on the boards. The Cats were a solid 7/18 (.389) from behind the 3-point arc, whereas the Nuggets were 4/17 (.235). The Bobcats were a solid .494 from the field, versus .462 for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets bench had a respectable 32 points in this one, but Steve Blake, who started at PG again, went into a shell and failed to score a single point on 0/2 shooting in 29 minutes. With J.R. well below his usual production, and with Blake a total non-factor, the improvement from the bench was cancelled out and the Nuggets were then vulnerable from their lack of defensive intensity and lack of control of the boards. The Bobcats, like most Nuggets opponents, took advantage of alot of great looks that the light outside defense gave them.

The complicated Nuggets are one of only 4 teams with a worse record at home (12-12) than on the road (10-8). (The others are the Celtics, the Pistons, and the Spurs.) It would be one thing if many of the 12 home losses were to top rated teams, but 7 of the losses have been to losing teams. So there are many tough home games still to be played against the top teams in the Western Conference.

As depressing as this loss is, there has started to be some progress in the Nuggets task of learning how to play together. Last month, I predicted that it would be late February before the Nuggets get on the same page and learn how to play as a team and it now appears it is in fact going to take about that long. And George Karl will probably need until then to get the starting lineup, the rotations, and the player playing minutes correct. When the Nuggets have worked out how to play their best as a team, much of the extreme scoring inconsistency of Camby, Nene, Blake, and J.R. will hopefully be resolved.

It was 81-79 Bobcats going into the 4th quarter, which was tight the whole way. The Bobcats used defense in general, and blocks in particular to hold off the Nuggets during the tightly contested final 12 minutes. J.R. Smith made his only successful 3-point shot of the night with 5:47 to go and then Anthony made an alley oop dunk with Camby assisting for 96-91 Nuggets with 5:06 to go. But SG Matt Carroll immediately sunk a 3. And with 3:08 to go, G-F Adam Morrison sunk a 3 just after J.R. had missed one, for 98-97 Bobcats.

Wallace got a tip in but Iverson responded with a finger roll plus 1 to tie it up at 100. After Carroll and Iverson misses, J.R. fouled PG Raymond Felton, who made both throws for 102-100 Bobcats with 1:29 to go. Melo missed a jumper but the ball came back out to him, and then Okafor fouled Iverson, who made one of two free throws for 102-101.

After Morrison missed a jumper, Anthony was expertly blocked at the hoop by Wallace with 41 seconds to go. Wallace then missed a jumper at the other end, but the Nuggets were forced to foul when the long rebound went to Felton with 17 seconds to go. Felton made both free throws for 104-101 Bobcats with 16 seconds to go.

In the Jazz game last Friday, Blake was designated to shoot the 3 to try to get the game into overtime, but he missed badly. So this time, J.R. was designated to take the tying shot. But J.R. launched the shot off balance and it did not have a prayer. So Karl and the Nuggets lately have been ending up with the wrong player at the right time or the right player at the wrong time in clutch situations.

Of course, a team that wants to eventually play with the Mavs and the Suns should never be in the predicament of having to try to send a home game in to overtime against a lottery team in the first place.

Nene played just 15 minutes, but was 5/6 and 2/2 from the line for 12 points, and he also had 5 rebounds. Evans played 17 minutes and was 4/5 and 2/3 from the line for 10 points, and he had 4 rebounds and a block. And Najera played for 20 minutes and was 2/3 for 4 points, and he had 5 rebounds.

Steve Blake played 28 minutes and was 0/2 from behind the arc for 0 points, and he had 5 assists. (Blake did not take any shots inside the arc.)

Marcus Camby was 1/8 from the field and 1/2 from the line for 3 points, and he had 10 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 5 assists.

J.R. Smith played for 26 minutes and was only 2/12, 1/9 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 9 points, and he added 2 assists. Camby's misses put more pressure on Smith to score, but J.R. came up short due to an unknown reason or set of reasons. There is alot of mystery surrounding J.R. Smith and what kind of basketball career he ultimately will have. He could end up being a star, a scrub, or anything in between, though I believe he will end up at one of the extremes, namely the better one.

A.I. was 10/15, 1/2 on 3's, and 10/12 from the line for 31 points, and he had 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 rebounds, and a block.

Melo was 11/26, 1/2 on 3's, and 2/4 from the line for 25 points, and he had 5 assists, 6 rebounds, and a block.

The next game will be Wednesday Jan. 31 at Portland to play the Trailblazers at 8 pm mountain time.

Nuggets Give up 40 to Carter, Lose to Nets 112-102

Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, and Bostjan Nachbar led the Nets over the talented but tired and defensively challenged Nuggets 112-102. Nachbar moved up to second string SF as of a week ago, when Richard Jefferson was lost for the season due to an ankle injury and surgery. In 33 minutes, Nachbar had 22 points on 8/14 shooting. Jason Kidd was 4/5 from downtown and Vince Carter was 14/23, 0/5 on 3's, and 12/13 from the line for 40 points.

To state the obvious, Carter and company got too many good looks. The Nets took advantage of many of the Nugget's 14 turnovers, and had only 9 turnovers themselves. The Nets did a good job defensively against all three of the Nugget's best starters: Melo, A.I., and Camby.

The Nuggets, and specifically the three players the Nuggets are trying to over rely on, Melo, A.I., and Camby, were a little drained from their massive effort against the Jazz the night before. Melo and A.I. combined were just 11/33 and, although Camby had 3 blocks, Camby and the Nuggets were outrebounded by the Nets 45-38.

The good news is that the bench was a little more involved than in the Utah game last night. The bad news is that the bench was still not involved enough. It is true that the Nuggets bench is filled with at least as many problems as answers, but the solution can not be to have A.I., Melo, Camby and Blake playing 40 or more minutes every game.

Nene's knee limits his minutes, Evans has not developed a dependable shot, and Najera has all but disappeared off the shooting radar screen. As if to get back at the coach for no longer starting him, Najera is attempting even fewer shots per minute now than when he was getting major minutes. Tonight he played 16 minutes and attempted exactly zero shots. All of a sudden, Diawara is playing very little and Kleiza even less. DerMarr Johnson has been totally buried on the bench.

George Karl has fallen into a self fulfilling prophecy: he thinks the bench can not contribute much compared with the all-stars, so he is sharply limiting playing time for the bench. But how can the bench players contribute if they are almost never on the court?

More bad news is that George Karl is running the wrong starting lineup. Since Karl, like many veteran coaches, is relatively stubborn, it may be several weeks or even more before he makes the change to the better starting lineup. I think eventually he will be forced to make it because his starting lineup is failing in more ways than even I thought it would.

It is clear that J.R. Smith should start at SG and Allen Iverson should start at PG. In the 8 games Steve Blake has played as a Nugget at the point, he has 45 assists, or 5.6 a game. In those same 8 games, Allen Iverson at SG has 64 assists, or 8.0 a game. Iverson played the point very well and with no complaints whatsoever before Blake's arrival on the team. He will do so again when asked.

Blake had 3 nice games, 2 against the Rockets and 1 against the Trailblazers. In Blake's 5 not so nice games, he was just 11/34 from the field. I know that looking at just those five games is not completely fair, so I will report that his overall shooting percentage is still a decent .453, but the trend is down, and the real problem is that he is only getting 9.9 points a game over the 8 games. That puts Blake in the bottom third of starting point guards in the League and it strongly appears that it is downhill from here.

Meanwhile, J.R. Smith is 25/57 or .439, from behind the long ball arc, which means Smith has quickly become one of the very best 3-point shooters in the NBA. There are only two players in the League who are making more 3-pointers per game than J.R. so far this season: Ray Allen and Gilbert Arenas. And J.R. is ahead of both of the Sun's major long range threats: Raja Bell and Steve Nash. Smith is also a fast break specialist, much more so than Blake, and I thought that was what the Nuggets wanted to do alot of.

Now let's look at a statistic not commonly looked at that can make a coach's lineup decision easier: points per minute played. J.R. has played 9 games since returning from suspension, and he has scored 145 points in 239 minutes, or .61 points per minute. Keep in mind that this includes the first two games back from the 3 week sit down, when some rust had to be brushed off his shooting. Since Blake joined the Nuggets and became a PG starter, his points per minute production is just under .30. Smith scores twice as much as Blake per minute on the court!

Let's take an even closer look at what J.R. is doing. Anything above .50 points per minute is considered very solid shooting production, anything above .60 points per minute is considered high level or expert shooting production, and anything above .70 points per minute is all-star level shooting. Only players such as Melo, Wade, and Kobe Bryant get more than .70 points per minute. Lebron James is at .66 points per minute. Melo is at .84 points per minute, which is basically off the chart.

The Nuggets are going nowhere in the playoffs without substantial 3-point shooting from somebody, and J.R. is the only somebody available because neither A.I. nor Melo have a dependable 3-point shot and Blake has yet to prove that he can get enough of the 3-point looks he wants or needs to shoot 3's. So clearly, the best starting lineup is to have A.I. at the point and J.R. at SG and have Blake come in off the bench. A coach should never make a semi-permanent starting lineup decision based on just 3 games, so I am hoping Karl's start Blake decision was only meant to be an experiment, and that the coach will make the right conclusion about the experiment sooner rather than later.

Melo's lack of a good or great 3-point shot is the thing that he needs to work on more than anything else, and it is the biggest thing which keeps him from being considered on the same level as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and so forth by many basketball analysts. Melo is more accurate than anyone out to about 19 feet, and then his accuracy drops off quickly.

Reggie Evans played just 13 minutes and was 2/3 and 1/3 from the line for 5 points, and he led the Nuggets in rebounding with 8. But if a player is going to get 8 rebounds in 13 minutes, you can forgive his poor free throw shooting.

Nene, who has admitted that he still has pain from his knee, played just 16 minutes and was 3/5 for 6 points, and he had 5 rebounds and a block.

Blake played 38 minutes and was 3/8 and 1/6 from downtown for 7 points. He also had 6 assists and 3 rebounds.

Camby was 5/9 and 3/4 from the line for 13 points, and he had 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 assists.

A.I was 6/19, 1/3 on 3's, and 5/5 from the line for 18 points, and he had 8 assists, 2 rebounds, a steal, and a block. A.I. used so much energy in his huge effort against the Jazz that he seemed a little tired in this one. Even A.I. does get a little tired sometimes, but he never admits it and hides it well. A.I. will be 32 years old in June. The earth would not explode if his playing time was kept at 40 minutes.

Melo was 5/14, 0/3 on 3's, and 13/16 from the line for 23 points, and he had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Melo's suspension has temporarily cost him his pinpoint jumper. How long it will be before he gets back the almost perfect mid-range jumper he had before the suspension is a major question right now.

J.R. Smith played 28 minutes and was 9/17, 4/10 on 3's, and 6/7 from the line for 28 points, and he had 2 rebounds and a steal.

The next game is Monday Jan. 29 in Denver against the Bobcats at 7 pm mountain time

Nuggets Fall to Jazz Full Team Press 116-111

In the western frontier, you had to be tough to survive and prosper and in the Western Conference of the NBA the same rule applies. The Utah Jazz played smart and tough and held off the Nuggets in Utah, 116-111. It was a playoff quality game as both teams shot over 50% and the Jazz defended their home turf tooth and nail. The Jazz play rough defense and are not afraid to get personal fouls if that will help them win. The Nuggets had what was for them a very unusual high foul count at 31, although no Nugget had more than 4 fouls except Nene, who fouled out with 31 seconds to go.

The Nuggets three all-stars all played well enough to beat the Jazz, but there were two main missing ingredients. The main missing ingredient was J.R. Smith, who in 20 minutes took only one 3-point shot and made it. The Nuggets have been living off of Smith's magic 3-point shot and his breakaways during the 5-game win streak that is now over, and the huge reduction in J.R.'s scoring was a loss too big to handle easily. The other missing ingredient was Nene, who was looking like a major new Nuggets weapon in recent games, but was a non-factor on tonight's scoreboard in 22 minutes.

So the Nuggets tried to run everything through A.I., Melo, Camby, and Blake, but the rest of the Nuggets would not or could not contribute very much at all. It was as if the Nuggets gang rode into town, but only the three leaders of the gang were shooting it out with the Jazz, while the rest of the gang was hanging out in the saloon. This is exactly what happened during the 7 out of 8 losing streak during the suspensions: the forwards had trouble even getting layups and rebounds, and Iverson, Boykins, and Camby could not possibly win the games on their own.

George Karl and the rest of the coaches have to be very careful about falling into a trap with this roster. This loss proves that you can not expect to automatically win simply by allowing A.I., Melo, Camby, and Blake to dominate the minutes and the ball to the point where Nene, Evans, Kleiza, and Diawara do alot of standing around, with an occassional rebound or two. There are 3 major all-stars on this team, but you absolutely must get more from the others than you got tonight if you are going to be successful from here on out. George Karl has to realize fast that he has to give enough minutes and enough plays to Nene, Evans, Kleiza, and Diawara.

And I don't even want to think about how much trouble the Nuggets might be in if J.R. Smith does not play at least 24 minutes a game, or if he does not take at least 10 shots a game.

I know that this new roster is a learning process in progress, so what I am saying is that I hope and expect that the Nuggets coaches will learn this lesson from this loss: Do not rely on the starters to do almost everything! The drama that the outside "experts" thought there would be between Iverson and Melo is a no-show, but the Nuggets now need to avoid the trap that no one predicted.

All the Western Conference powerhouse teams get more contributions from their benches virtually every game than the Nuggets got from their bench tonight. The Jazz tonight had three backups in double digits. In just 15 minutes, SG Gordan Giricek had 13 points on 5/8 shooting, including 3/6 from 3-point land. G-F Matt Harpring played 22 minutes and was 3/4 and 5/8 from the line for 11 points. G-F Ronnie Brewer played for just 16 minutes, but had 12 points on 5/6 shooting. And to add insult to injury, Paul Millsap, who backs up Boozer at PF, had 2 key 4th quarter blocks. That, friends, is very well coached efficent teamwork, and this type of team is going to beat a team depending only on three all-stars on a regular basis.

You need more than all-star heroics as a foundation to winning in basketball. Tonight, the Jazz bench outscored the Nuggets bench 46-11! Ouch.

And whether or not the coaches are aware of the problem, it is time for Melo, A.I., and Blake to make sure that J.R., Nene, Evans, Kleiza, and Diawara get more than one or two shots a game. It is time for Melo to prove once again that he is the ultimate team player: he needs to help the coaches balance things out more and make sure the team does not turn into two teams in one, the stars and the scrubs.

Reggie Evans played just 15 minutes and was 2/3 for 4 points, and he had 5 rebounds and a steal. Najera played for 17 minutes and was 1/1, and 1/1 from the line, for 3 points, and he had 2 rebounds and a steal. Nene played 22 minutes and was 1/5 and 2/2 from the line for 4 points, and he added 4 rebounds.

Steve Blake played for 28 minutes and was 2/5 and 1/4 on 3's for 5 points, and he had 6 assists, a big 5 steals, and 2 rebounds. Blake badly missed the 3-point shot attempt to send the game into overtime with 12 seconds to play. Smith was in, he is the main three-point specialist on the Nuggets, and there was plenty of time to get the ball to him, so I can not figure out why Blake got the shot. Karl should have specified that Smith take the shot. Smith earned it.

J.R. Smith played just 20 minutes and he was 1/1 (a 3-pointer) and 1/1 from the line for 4 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Marcus Camby was 7/11 and 7/7 from the line for 21 points, and the best rebounder and blocker in the NBA added 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.

A.I. was 10/21, 1/1 on 3's, and 12/15 from the line for 33 points. He also had 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

Melo was 14/28, 1/4 on 3's, and 8/13 from the line for 37 points. He added 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Normally almost perfect from the line, this game could easily have been a win if Melo had hit 2 or 3 more free throws. But that is just another reminder that you can not expect to automatically win when you rely on just 3 or 4 players, no matter how good they are, to do almost everything.

The next game is tomorrow night, Saturday, Jan. 27 in Denver against the New Jersey Nets. The game will tip a few minutes after 7 pm mountain time.

Nuggets Machine Too Much for Allen & Sonics 117-112

The Nuggets played a balanced and well coached game, keeping their turnovers in check and starting to develop favored scoring plays and defensive patterns for the starters and primary players off the bench. On defense, the Nuggets committed just 17 personal fouls, though obviously they are still far away from having the defensive skills that teams like the Spurs and Rockets have.

George Karl sharply limited player rotations and gave just 7 players most of the minutes, a luxury that he will not be able to afford indefinitely due to the inevitable wear and tear on players of a long season. His objective was most likely to get the starters as much playing time together as soon as possible, to get everyone on the same page as soon as possible.

For now, Nene Hilario's knee inflammation remains dormant, so he was one of the seven who got almost all of the minutes. His playing time rose to a substantial 25 minutes in this game. On the other hand, Najera could not play due to a left quad contusion.

The Sonics also played very good team basketball, shooting .517 and getting 6 out of 20 threes. And they also had 3 players with outstanding nights, led by the great SG Ray Allen, who was 16/31, 6/17 on threes, and 6/8 from the line for 44 points. PF Chris Wilcox was 11/15 and 3/3 from the line for 25 points, and center Nick Collison had 18 points on 9/13 shooting. Allen and the Sonics, who had 19 fast break points, played uptempo and well executed basketball, and moved the ball around very well. Their crowd saw a genuinely well played and entertaining game.

Led by Wilcox and Allen, Seattle started off very fast, and lead 20-8 halfway through the first. A quick pair of scores by Iverson and a quick pair of threes by J.R. Smith, who has been uncannily hitting them on back to back or almost back to back possessions, in pairs or in triples, made it close. It remained close the entire rest of the game. The Sonics led it 28-25 after one and 60-53 at the halftime.

The Nuggets came out of the break the sharper of the two squads, and quickly tied it up. Melo and Nene lead a quick 2 minute 10-0 run later on in the third, giving the Nuggets a 77-70 lead. Late in the third, J.R. Smith made another pair of back to back threes in 35 seconds, and now Denver had a small lead: 83-78.

The fourth quarter was a deluxe basketball treat where both teams poured out their best. Allen and J.R. traded long balls at the very beginning of the quarter. Allen then hit three straight shots and added a free throw on another possession, versus one Iverson jumper and two A.I. free throws for the Nuggets, and the score at that point was 92-89 Nuggets with 8:37 to play. Smith sunk his 6th 3-pointer of the night with 7:11 left to make it 97-91 Nuggets.

But Seattle was still very much alive and kicking. They hit four straight shots: Ridnour, Collison, and Allen hit jumpers, and Wilcox had a monster reverse dunk. All of a sudden it was 99 each, and J.R. magic can only work so many times, so the Nuggets were still in trouble, especially since Allen was (and is frequently) virtually unstoppable by a Nuggets type defense. Nene and Collison traded dunks. Allen broke the 101-101 tie with a 27-foot 3-pointer with 3:45 left. Then Melo was fouled going to the hoop, and he hit both throws. Wilcox stuffed a Gelabale miss for the Sonics, and it was 106-103 Sonics.

Then Steve Blake, who had come in for J.R., hit a very clutch 3 to tie it again, at 106. Nene was fouled and made both throws, and then Blake did his best impression of J.R. by hitting another 3, for 111-106 Nuggets. Blake's shots were 1:11 apart, and separated by Nene getting fouled, so technically they were not quite as spectacular as either of the two J.R. back to back 3-pointers. All told, the Nuggets were 10/22 from beyond the 3 point arc.

Things have changed. If both Blake and J.R. can keep their 3-point accuracy close to what it has been lately, the Nuggets can compete with the many 3-point shooters found on the other top teams in the West.

Anthony blocked Allen's driving layup and scored his own lay-in off the break to put Denver ahead 113-106 with 1:12 left. In that last 72 seconds, Allen was 2/4 on 3-point hail marys, but Iverson and Melo hit 4 of 6 free throws to seal the win.

The Sonics, especially Allen and Wilcox, left it all on the court, and played as if it was their last game, falling just short to the Nuggets carefully built machine. It was an outstanding game of basketball on an otherwise run of the mill mid-winter night. The Nuggets no doubt left Seattle needing both of the two nights off they now get.

Nene was 5/7 and 7/9 from the line for 17 points, and he had 7 rebounds. Reggie Evans was 2/3 and 1/4 from the line for 5 points, and he had 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.

Marcus Camby was 4/8 and 2/2 from the line for 10 points. Camby is leading the NBA in rebounding and blocking. Tonight he had alot of help from Melo, Nene, and Evans on the boards, so he had 8 rebounds and a massive 5 blocks. He also had 4 assists and a steal.

Steve Blake played 28 minutes and was 2/6 and 2/4 on threes, for 6 points, and he had 2 assists and 2 rebounds.

Iverson surpassed 20,000 points for his career, becoming only the 30th NBA player ever to score this much. A.I. played virtually the whole game as usual, and he was 7/19, 2/5 on 3's, and 5/6 from the line for 21 points, and he also had 10 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

J.R. Smith played for 27 minutes and was 7/15 overall and 6/10 on 3's for 20 points. He also had 3 rebounds and an assist.

Anthony played almost the whole game and was 12/26, 0/3 on 3's, and 10/11 from the line for 34 points. A reliable 3-point shot from Melo remains much more a dream than a reality at the moment. Melo also had a big 9 rebounds, a huge 4 steals, and 3 assists.

The next game will be against the team that is leading the Nuggets by 4 1/2 games in the Northwest Division, the Utah Jazz. The game is in Salt Lake City on Friday night Jan. 26 at 7 pm mountain time.

Melo Joins AI, JR, MC & Company: Nuggets 115 Grizzlies 98

Steve Kerr: "The gap between the top two teams – Dallas and Phoenix – and the rest of the NBA is widening."

Tremaine: "But, the gap between the Nuggets and the Mavs and Suns is narrowing to very little or nothing."

Was that static electricity in the air on a cold winter night or was that Nuggets basketball electricity? That was a stupid question. The home crowd could feel and hear an electric buzz in the air as the new, true Nuggets roster took the court. The Nuggets, pumped up with a huge amount of adrenalin and sheer enthusiasm for their reunited team, for the fans, and for the game, threw up everything but the kitchen sink against the Grizzlies in the first quarter alone. The Nuggets had 6 steals and 38 points in the quarter. They were so pumped that, were it not for the limited amount of adrenalin available to a human, they would have won this game by at least 40 points.

The Grizzlies, who have been able to win just two games on the road, one of them against the Nuggets back on November 28, ran into the basketball version of a pack of wolves whose prey has gone into hiding and is now so hungry that it is going after anything that moves.

Melo wasted no time. He had the first Nuggets bucket with an alley oop layup, and had 6 of the first 14 points. Then he mostly watched as A.I. and Camby went to work at the top of their games. A.I. scored 11 points in the quarter and Camby had 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals in the quarter. J.R. came in for Melo late in the 1st quarter onslaught, with about 5 minutes to play in it, and hit on everything he threw up: 3 threes and a finger role, and he also had a steal in those 5 minutes. The Nuggets had exploded for a twenty point lead after one quarter: 38-18.

In the second quarter the laws of physics said that the energy level had to come down and it did. The Grizzlies righted their ship and took advantage of a few Nuggets turnovers and a heap of Nuggets misses, such as J.R. missing 5 straight shots, 4 of them 3-pointers. I'm sure Karl told J.R. to at least try to mix up his shooting a little during the timeout. The score was 56-47 when Steve Blake sunk a three at the buzzer, for a 59-47 Nuggets lead at the intermission.

Early in the third quarter, the still over-revved Nuggets had 5 turnovers, 3 of them by Iverson, and the Grizzlies reduced the lead to 5 points at 68-63 half way through the 3rd. Now it was just a matter of finding a player or two who could bring the crowd to its feet again by converting some adrenalin into some made shots instead of into turnovers and poor shot selections, so that the Grizzlies would not be "hanging around" anymore.

The Grizzlies were knocked out of the game in the second half of the 3rd quarter mostly by Camby, with his blocks, rebounds, and good shot selection, and by J.R. Smith, on his mission to match or beat any 3-point ace the Lakers, Mavs, Spurs, or Suns might have. Smith went on his second tear of the night, this time getting 8 points in 48 seconds: a finger roll, a jumper with a made foul shot, and a 3-pointer. After Smith did his damage it was 86-68 with a minute left in the 3rd.

Memphis pulled to within 10 early in the 4th, only to fall victim to basketball excitement so extreme that it almost seems like it should be illegal. The Nugget's fans had been waiting for the Melo-A.I. duo for weeks, and now it was a reality. It was 98-80 with 7 1/2 to play when, finally, there was a play dramatic enough to make every television sports report. Iverson lobbed to Melo for the one handed jam. This was followed by a bad pass by Mike Miller of the Grizzlies, and a Blake to Nene alley oop. Then Nene stole the ball from Warrick, and there was another Iverson to Anthony alley oop dunk.

Now the score was 107-82 with 5:43 to go and fans were now divided into three groups. Most of the fans at the Pepsi Center were in sheer joy that they had witnessed the first Melo-A.I. game and that it was everything that had been anticipated and hoped for, including highlight reel plays that many of the youngest fans get a special thrill out of. After all, sports are for kids, too. As Iverson said: "That's what it's all about. It's about the kids, and about the fans that love the game and the excitement of the greatest game in the world. I'm enjoying myself. I know it's my 11th season, but this is a fresh start for me, and it feels like my first. I am having a great time and I love my situation here."

Other Nuggets fans were already looking ahead to playing squads like the Suns, the Lakers, and the Mavs, now that the Nuggets can no doubt compete. Still other worry warts, such as myself, were starting to wonder how long Karl would leave the starters in the game now that it was garbage time. To his credit, he yanked the starters in a timely fashion, with about 4 minutes to play. Way to go Karl.

Reggie Evans started at PF and played 19 minutes. He finished 2/4 and 2/6 from the line for 6 points, and he had 5 rebounds and an unusual 2 steals. Nene played 18 minutes and was 4/5 from the field and 3/5 from the stripe for 11 points, and he also had 5 rebounds, a block, and a steal. And swingman Diawara played 18 minutes and was 1/4, and 0/1 on 3's, for 2 points, and he had 2 rebounds and 2 steals. And as usual, he was working on his man to man coverage skills.

Steve Blake at the point had 12 assists. His motto must be: "all shooting stars will have to share and share alike". He himself was 2/8 and 1/4 on 3's, for 5 points.

Carmelo Anthony, sprung from living room confinement, played 33 minutes, and was 10/25, 0/1 on 3's, and a perfect 8/8 from the line, for 28 points. He added 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Before the game, he thanked everyone for supporting him and he promised the fans: "It's like a new beginning for us, and we're going to give y'all something to cheer for."

Allen Iverson played virtually the whole game as usual and was an expert 9/16, 2/3 on 3's, and 3/5 from the line for 23 points, and he had 7 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Marcus Camby, who probably has the best hand skills for playing defense in basketball, played 29 minutes and was 6/11 and 5/11 from the line for 17 points. More importantly, he had 17 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists, and 2 steals. His defensive presence in the paint persuaded various Grizzlies on various occassions to settle for a jumper rather than to drive to the hoop.

Whatever you do, if you are at a game when J.R. Smith comes in, don't leave your seat to go to the restroom or to buy a snack, because by the time you get back you may have missed him sinking 4 or 5 shots in 1 or 2 minutes flat. And make sure your kid doesn't take a two minute nap either when J.R. checks in. Everyone should pay attention when he comes in, because he is serious about his game and his game is serious about very quickly changing the score. Smith was given 24 minutes to work with, and he was 7/18, 4/14 on 3's, and 1/1 from the line for 19 points, and he had 5 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, and an assist.

The Grizzlies, being polite southern gentlemen, didn't even think of neck tackling Smith or any of the other Nuggets. In fact, they had very good things to say about their opponents. Said Pau Gasol regarding A.I. and Melo: "They play well together, they had a chemistry from the first moment. They have fun together and help each other out. I'm interested to see how they play together the rest of the year. They will be a very dangerous couple. It's tough to have to guard one of them. It's worse to have to worry about two great players."

Said Grizzlies coach Tony Barone regarding Melo's numerous drives to the hoop: "It shows what an incredible work ethic he has, coming onto the court and what does he do to try to win the game? He tries to go to the offensive glass, he runs the court and finished the break and does not try to be a pig. To me that's the mark of a good player. They will be a very good team as the season progresses with Allen, who was very unselfish tonight."

See what I mean, Southerners can be so polite when they want to be.

It's time for a quick flight to the great Northwest for the Nuggets, who will play the Sonics in Seattle tomorrow (Jan. 23) at 8 pm mountain time.

Nuggets Emerge as Western Power, Defeat Rockets 121-113

The Nuggets would not surrender to the rested and at home Rockets despite being heavily pressured to do so all night long. The Rockets buried a bunch of 1st half threes, but the Nuggets scrapped and scrambled to stay alive in the fight during the first three quarters, so instead of a rout it was 86-77 after 3 quarters.

And then the Nuggets pounced on the Rockets early in the 4th, surprising them with energy that only a team with real determination and spirit can bring to a back to back game on the road. The Nuggets stunned the Rockets fans (and their own watching from far away, including a star forward sitting in front of his television) by clawing their way back from 90-77 with 10 1/2 minutes left to force overtime at 108-108. In overtime, the Nuggets had their prey paralyzed, and won the extra period quickly and decisively, getting 9 of their 13 overtime points with three 3-pointers. The amazing final score was Denver 121, Houston 113, in one overtime.

It was only one game. But was it really just one game? Sometimes one game can reveal something so important that it is like watching a dozen games all at once. And, as in this case, one game can be like the earth trembling hours before a big earthquake, a signal that there is a huge change in the foundations coming. Those who are afraid of changes to the existing order of things had better get out of the way and run for cover. The earth under the Western Conference shook a little tonight, signalling the possibility of a major quake down the road, a quake that would sweep away all the assumptions of the supposed basketball experts who confidently prognosticated that the Nuggets could not possibly compete with the Big 6 (Rockets, Mavericks, Spurs, Suns, Jazz, and Lakers), even with their new expertly designed lineup.

Now that the Nuggets, with no Melo, but with an incredible amount of determination, sweat, and spirit, have gone to Texas with no rest and defeated one of the well rested Big 6 in their building, you have to ask yourself, what more needs to happen before the Nuggets are considered to be at least on the level of the Big 6? The answer: nothing except for Melo returning, which will happen on Monday. So on Monday it is done: Denver has climbed the mountain, and the Nuggets have become one of the powerhouse teams of the Western Conference.

The team, put together by front office geniuses, is a complex mix of highly skilled veteran warriors and talented young players who all seem to, whatever their shortcomings, appreciate the great motivation and happiness that comes from winning. So they tend to selflessly do what they know they can for their team rather than do what they might want to do for their careers. Other than Najera, who is no longer starting, this team does not rely on mid-career role players; it has mostly players at the beginning of their careers who don't have known roles yet, and players near the end of their careers, who have gone way beyond roles.

And then there is Melo, who in his 4th year can already be considered a skilled veteran warrior, but at the same time a talented young player. As such, his great play represents all parts of the Nugget's squad at once. The Nuggets may now be the ultimate unified one for all and all for one team.

Melo's team amazingly proved that the Nuggets are a real threat to the Western Conference Establishment while he was just sitting in his living room watching the game. His teammates, having not just survived the trials and miseries of the suspensions, but also having emerged with more determination and spirit than they had before, have already given Melo a great welcome back, saying to him, in effect, "you can depend on us to fight for every game." The standing ovation in Denver on Monday night for the League scoring leader will now be for both Melo and for the rest of the Nuggets.

The Nuggets started the suspension games in good form, winning the first 3 of 4, but then fell into a huge sink hole during the middle of the 15 game suspension period, losing 5 straight and 7 out of 8. Analysts including myself started to think that the Nuggets would never reach the heights of the West. However, in the final 3 suspension games, the Nuggets climbed out of the deep hole and emerged with a 7-8 suspension record, thus keeping the game toll from Melo's little punch and David Stern's big temper to about 3 games, a very small toll for such a huge suspension. By the time they emerged into the light, they were deep in the territory of the Western Conference elite.

True, it was just one game. But it was a win the experts thought was not possible, so things have changed.

For much of the suspension period, it seemed almost as if the Nuggets were trying to play without a professional front court. All of a sudden, with Camby's finger fracture healed, with Nene's knee problems under control, with Evans starting over Najera, and with Kleiza finally contributing, the front court has become both solid and professional. A good example is Kleiza, who played 23 minutes and was 3/8, 2/5 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 12 points, and he had 2 rebounds.

Nene squeezed alot of sweat and soul into just 18 minutes, finishing 5/10 and 4/8 from the line for 14 points, and he also got 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Diawara, who as a rookie from a low-pressure college career could not prevent the Nuggets from falling into the 1-7 sinkhole when he started, has nonetheless learned a tremendous amount about pro basketball in the past month, most of all how you play to your strengths and skills, not to your wishes and hopes. In 31 minutes he was 4/7 and 2/4 on 3's for 10 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

New starting point guard Steve Blake played 35 minutes and was 4/9, 3/6 on 3's, and 1/1 from the line, for 12 points, and he had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block. Blake had a 4-point play in overtime, because he was fouled by Alston on a sunk 3-pointer.

Marcus Camby, who has become the ultimate defensive presence in the paint, was just working his usual routine of controlling the boards and making numerous textbook blocks, while amazingly remaining as far away from foul trouble as you can be. But all of a sudden, the determination and spirit of the Nuggets to defy the establishment and win in Texas was apparent to everyone including him, and he finally started to go to the hoop. He had only 2 points with 7 minutes to play in regulation, but finished the (overtime) game 4/8, 0/1 on 3's, and 4/6 from the line, for 12 points. Camby's huge defensive skills produced 22 rebounds and 5 blocks.

It was J.R. Smith's skill and determination that was the real key that allowed the Nuggets to win this one against all odds. He's not starting, because he is not a polished, totally dependable veteran, but his skills and potential are way above those of the average shooting guard in the League. The Rockets were leading 90-77 with 10 1/2 minutes left in regulation, seemingly heading to an inevitable victory over the Nuggets who had alot of determination, but seemingly little energy and no known spark at the time.

It was J.R. Smith to the rescue time. Smith, who already had a pair of 1st half 3-pointers, buried two quick threes making it 90-83 Rockets. The Nuggets were back in it, and they refused to leave the building until they were completely out of the suspension hole and emerged as an elite team to boot. Smith had another three with 7:35 to go in regulation and added one near the end of overtime, to finish 6/9 from behind the 3-point arc.

The Nuggets as a whole were a staggering 15/29 from behind that arc. This is what you must do if you want to fight in the great battles of the West. You must be able to get your share of 3-point shots. Otherwise, no amount of running and fast breaking will allow you to consistently beat teams like the Lakers and the Spurs. You can be as flashy as you can be, but they will just hang back and beat you with 3-pointers. But if the Nuggets can get their share of 3's, the Lakers and everyone else are in trouble.

So in 31 minutes, J.R. was 9/14, 6/9 on 3's, and 0/2 from the line for 24 points, and he added 3 rebounds, 1 assist, a steal, and a block.

Allen Iverson, the ultimate road warrior, played 50 minutes and finished 12/30, 2/4 from downtown, and 10/13 from the line for 36 points. He also had 10 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds. It was an Iverson kind of game. The other side was heavily favored, and his team was well behind most of the night. But his determination and spirit never faltered. He played well enough to allow the Nuggets to remain in striking distance until he, J.R., and M.C. did indeed strike in the 4th quarter and in overtime. Iverson thrives in exactly this kind of a game. To him, winning when you are supposed to lose is substantially more rewarding than winning when you are supposed to win. That's another reason why A.I. likes playing for the Nuggets: the Nuggets are not "supposed to" win in the playoffs.

In the next game, Carmelo Anthony joins this big 7 squad on Monday night in Denver at 7pm mountain time to play the Grizzlies.

Nuggets Get a Very Solid Win Over Cavs 110-99

The Nuggets, who were playing after a long 4-day vacation, took a 9-8 lead on an Iverson driving layup almost half way through the 1st quarter and led the game the rest of the way. The Nuggets led 88-70 after 3 quarters. In the 4th quarter, otherwise known as the Nugget's bermuda triangle, the Cavs pulled to within 5, 103-98, with about 3 minutes left, on back to back 3's from Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. Fans were in anxiety that their team was about to lose another game at home despite having a big lead late in the game.

The Nuggets did not lose this game in the bermuda triangle though, as they did against the Hawks, the Knicks, and the Grizzlies earlier this season. None other than Nene, the Denver big man whose knee problems have been troubling the Nuggets all season, and who has played just 18 minutes a game on average, was fouled by LeBron James and he made both free throws. At the other end, Nene blocked a Marshall jumper, and Camby got one of his 14 rebounds. Back at the Nugget's end, Camby fed Nene for a slam dunk, and the Nuggets led 107-98 with 2:37 left.

During the 4th quarter collapses earlier this season, Nene and his knee were generally on the bench. This time he sealed the win for the Nuggets, who are now 11-10 at home and 8-7 on the road. The schedule gets tougher now, and this was the first of 3 pair of back to back nights. The Nuggets now make a quick trip to Houston to play the Rockets tomorrow night, and they will then come right back to Denver for the Melo return game on Monday night, against the Grizzlies.

The Cavaliers had a scoring slump that lasted half the game, from about halfway through the 1st until almost halfway through the 3rd. Donyell Marshall hit four 3's in the last 14 minutes of the game, and Damon Jones had two 3's in the 4th. The Cavs overall finished 9/19 from 3-point land, and .443 from the field overall. LeBron James was 9/23 and 12/14 from the line for 30 points, and he also had 10 assists, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals. This was the 10th triple-double of LeBron's career.

With SF Melo out on game 14 of the marathon 15 game suspension, and with none of the other forwards on the roster having outstanding seasons, George Karl logically played the forward positions by committee, dividing the playing time tonight into 4 almost exactly equal pieces, 1 piece each for Najera, Evans, Kleiza, and Nene.

With Najera failing to step up during the suspensions, and having a mediocre season at best overall, George Karl finally started Reggie Evans at forward instead of Najera. Evans played 22 minutes and was 4/7 and 0/1 from the line for 8 points, and he added 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Najera played 19 minutes and was 2/3 and 1/1 from the line for 5 points, and he added 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal , and 1 block.

Linas Kleiza played 21 minutes and was 4/7, 2/3 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line, for 12 points. And Nene played 21 minutes and was 2/6 from the field, and 5/6 from the line, for 9 points, and he added 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 assist.

Steve Blake started his second game at the point and was essentially crowded out of scoring opportunities by the solid shooting games from the rest of the Nuggets. In other words, the Nuggets did not need any miracle scoring from Blake to win this. He played for 35 minutes, and he was 2/7 and 2/4 on 3's for 6 points, and he had 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds.

J.R. Smith's game is a basketball wonderland of dunks, alley oops, fast breaks, and frequent wide-open 3's, and it has returned to the Nuggets arsenal after 10 suspension games and two recharging games. Smith was suffering from the flu and missed the game day shootaround, but ended up playing a strong 26 minutes, and was 5/12, 1/5 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line, for 14 points. He also had 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Marcus Camby, whose defense in general, and rebounding and blocks in particular, have made him critical for the defensively challenged Nuggets, had a breakout superstar style game, shooting 12/19, and 2/2 from the line, for 26 points, and he added the 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists, and a steal. That type of performance is the kind that would be a key component of potential playoff wins against any of the big 6 powerhouses of the Western Conference.

Allen Iverson is playing with the wisdom and consistency of a veteran who has seen it all. Just as importantly, he is playing at the top of his game, holding nothing back from his new and appreciative teammates, coaches, and fans in Denver. You have to forgive the Nuggets fans if they can not conceive of Iverson as a disruptive influence, or as someone who takes too many shots, because there has not been even a hint of either of those traits since he arrived in Denver. Moreover, unless something very odd happens, it looks like the drama that some thought might take place with respect to the distribution of shots between Melo and A.I. is going to be a no show.

A.I. played for 42 minutes, and was 8/17, 0/1 on 3's, and 9/10 from the line, for 25 points, and he also had 9 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

The next game is tomorrow night, Saturday January 20, at 6:30 mountain time, in Houston against the Rockets.

Nuggets Explode Against Blazers 109-93

The Nuggets got a badly needed win against what probably has to be a lottery team, the Portland Trailblazers, who had their talented starting PG, Jarrett Jack, sitting due to the effects of a traffic accident. The second-year point guard is averaging 12.3 points and 5.6 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field.

The Blazers are also short 2 forwards: Travis Outlaw (right ankle strain) and SF Darius Miles, out for the season with knee surgery. PF Zach Randolph has been more or less carrying his team this season with 24 ppg and 10 rpg. So the Nuggets had the luxury of double teaming Randolph all night, which led to Zach having a total disaster of a game. The Trailblazers coach played his second squad for mega minutes, as if he was conducting an experiment to see if his second squad could do as well or better than his first. The second squad was able to hold its own only for the first half.

Amazingly, the stars were aligned just right for a rookie 20 year old guard, Sergio Rodriguez from Spain, to lead the Trailblazers. He finished with 23 points on 11/14 shooting, and he added 10 assists. The Nuggets led after one quarter 31-19, but the Trailblazer's bench took full control of the game in the second quarter, with Rodriguez scoring 3 buckets and 1 three in the last 3 minutes of the half, giving Portland a 56-49 lead at intermission. Nuggets fans were asking "who the heck is Rodriguez and how the heck is he beating us"?

I don't know what was said, if anything, at intermission among the Nuggets, but the Nuggets were transformed during the halftime. The Nuggets must have realized that they had hit rock bottom. They were losing to a lottery team's second stringers by 7 points at the half, which is very disturbing even factoring in the suspension.

The Nuggets were sick of both the suspension and the blues resulting from it, and they realized their pride was on the line. They charged the court in the 3rd quarter and proceeded to dismantle and run all over the Trailblazer's developmental squad, shaking all kinds of crud and cobwebs from their skills and their minds, and firing up the run and gun machine to full power, if only for one glorious quarter. The Nuggets finally took full advantage of the inexperienced defense of the Blazers and lit up the scoreboard for 41 points.

The Blazers were buried by the intensity of three Nuggets guards: Allen Iverson, the superstar, J.R. Smith, the young suspension returnee trying to come back to the reservation, and the Nugget's new acquisition, who was so outstanding that there is probably someone at the Buck's front office who is now wondering whether the Nugget's front office pulled a fast one on the Bucks by getting Blake for Boykins. It is way to early to tell whether this is true, but Blake has already been 14/21 in shooting and 8/12 from 3-point land in 2 games for the Nuggets. George Karl was desperate for a spark and he has gotten a huge bonfire from Blake.

At the end of the 3rd, you could almost see smoke rising up from the court from the Nugget's onslaught. Iverson had 16 points in the quarter on 6/7 shooting. Blake buried 4 3's in the first 5 minutes of the quarter, and he finished the quarter with 12 points on 4/5 shooting. Late in the 3rd quarter, J.R. Smith, in the space of 37 seconds, shook off the remaining suspension rot from his game by sinking two straight 3's. J.R. was back, Blake was a miracle, and Iverson was playing almost as well as he used to in his mind-boggling early years in Philadelphia. The suspension blues were put out to the curb for the garbage men to collect.

Nene's knee backed off enough to allow him to play 23 minutes; he was 3/6 from the field and 6/6 from the line for 12 points, and he added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Kleiza played 23 minutes and was 2/4, 1/3 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 9 points. He assisted Camby on the boards with 7 rebounds. Reggie Evans played 24 minutes and he was 3/6 for 6 points, and he added 5 rebounds.

Rookie swingman Yakhouba Diawara played 13 minutes and he was 2/4, and 1/1 from the line for 5 points.

Marcus Camby, whose style of defense is an almost perfect complement for a team loaded with talented guards and a superstar SF, was 3/9, and 1/2 from the line for 7 points. Much more importantly for the defensively challenged Nuggets, he had 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

Steve Blake, (we hardly knew ya when we got ya but we're very glad we did so far), was 9/13, 5/7 on 3's, and 2/3 from the line for 25 points. He also had 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds. Thanks to Blake, George Karl is going to catch up on some sleep this week during the 4 days off the Nuggets have.

After two warm-up games, J.R. Smith's game has arrived back at the point it left off at when he was neck tackled in New York City on December 16. His game is like one of those horror movie characters who can appear out of nowhere and go on a rampage at any time. J.R.'s rampages, which lead to numbers rapidly changing on the scoreboard, are not horrifying at all to the Nuggets.

You can not fully compete against the powerhouses of the Western Conference without serious 3-point shooting. Nuggets fans tonight not only witnessed the return of J.R.'s 3-point shot for the first time in a month, but they also saw Steve Blake sink them as if it was the easiest thing in basketball. The Nuggets finished 10/20 from 3-point land, thus becoming the 7th Conference powerhouse team at least for this game.

Smith played 29 minutes and was 5/13, and 3/8 on 3's, for 13 points. He added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

In the last 4 games, A.I. has scored 116 points on 45/88 shooting; that is an accuracy of .511, exceeding Melo's season shooting accuracy mark of .503. The notion that Iverson puts up alot of questionable shots and can not reestablish the solid accuracy he often had in his first three years with the Sixers appears to have left the arena. A.I. tonight was 11/21, 1/2 on 3's, and 9/10 from the line for 32 points. It was just another day at the office for the still playing in the here and now basketball legend.

The next game will not be until Friday Jan. 19 in Denver against the Cavaliers at 8:30 mountain time. It is another one of those ESPN games, but, sorry ESPN, there will be no LeBron-Melo matchup for you thanks to David Stern. It is game 14 of the 15 game suspension if I am counting correctly.

Rockets 90, Nuggets 86, but Help is on the Way

With the exceptions of Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby, the Nuggets played poorly and without a decent game plan tonight, losing to the Rockets 90-86, despite the Rockets shooting just .427 from the field. True, the Rockets play tight defense, but when you are playing two players (Blake and Diawara) who take alot more 3-point shots than regular shots, and another player (J.R. Smith) who takes almost as many 3-point shots as regular shots, how good on defense do you have to be?

The Nuggets made 9 of 28 3's, but made just 23 of 64 2's. Not counting A.I., the Nuggets managed just 14 of 45 2-point shots. The Nuggets other then Iverson missed 31 of 45 2-point shots! Not good.

Trades, suspensions, and injuries have made the Nuggets an ever changing team where there are no established patterns of moving and scoring the ball. The extreme lineup turmoil has not only destroyed the fast style of play that the Nuggets wanted to emphasize, but has in fact damaged the team's ability to play any kind of coherent basketball. It is sad to see a team that was averaging close to 110 points a game in mid December now frequently scoring in the 80's. And I have a simple question to the Denver front office: given that you were bent on trading Boykins, couldn't you at least have waited until the Melo suspension was over 10 days from now? That tactical error made the home crowd and Nuggets fans miserable tonight and probably cost the team one win already.

All home games are very important, and good and great teams are supposed to win most of their home games. But the Nuggets have squandered 4th quarter leads in 3 home games, and the suspensions have led to 2 or 3 additional losses, so that the team is now just 10-10 at home, which is the kind of home record that a lottery team might have. Most of the excitement surrounding the Nuggets explosive scoring lineup has left the arena now.

With J.R. "off the reservation" again like he was at the beginning of the season, in the catch 22 of needing alot of playing time to play well but not getting playing time because he is not playing well, the Nuggets have essentially been reduced to 3 superstars (Melo, A.I., & Camby) and a whole lot of roll of the dice players, where the dice are right now clearly loaded against the Nuggets. The current state of the team is clearly not going to be enough to get to the Western Conference Championship this year, let alone the NBA Championship.

When Melo returns, he, A.I., and Camby must help the coaching staff teach and inspire the other Nuggets who are all falling short of what is needed. George Karl has to avoid the mistake of overly restricting J.R.'s playing time, and also that of Reggie Evans. And most importantly, the revamped Nuggets must get on the same page with respect to the overall game plan strategies they will use to win, and with respect to the tactics during games that can be used to win.

Melo thought it would disrupt the team if he appealed the 15 game suspension, to try to get it reduced to 10 or 12 games. I think he sees now that the team is more disrupted by his not playing than it could possibly have been disrupted by anything else.

Has Carmelo Anthony become a wiser young pro basketball player from this ordeal: the asinine brawl in New York, his punch, his incorrect decision to not pursue an appeal, and now the dismantling of his team's ability to play coherent basketball due to the suspensions, trades, and injuries? Of course, but the cost has been huge to the team and at least a small threat to the young star's game for the remainder of this season. We now know that if Melo does not play at a superstar level, this team is going to be lucky to win half its games. This experience of watching the Nuggets play so badly on his big screen has probably been almost as miserable to Melo as playing hard in but losing a close playoff series 4 games to 3. Melo has psychologically aged 18 months or 2 years in a month.

When bad things like this happen, all great sports players dig in and resolve to try as hard as they can to play even better the next time. The best basketball players, unlike more average ones, don't risk playing worse by trying to play even better. Melo is now being tested and challenged by real basketball adversity, the kind he has never seen before, and it is up to him to coordinate with A.I., Camby, and his coaches to rescue his team from a total disaster for the season as a whole. Because the Nuggets are not going to automatically win in the state they are in even when Melo returns.

Although he grew up in a low income and high crime area of Baltimore, he has largely led a charmed life since getting out of there. He must remain as loyal to his team as he has always been, and he must take all the time necessary to inspire and teach everyone on the Nuggets he can get to. And he must try to expand his own game, such as in 3-point shooting.

The plus side of this season gone haywire is that if Melo will think in this way, and do these things, then he can achieve a real understanding of what it takes for a professional basketball team to win, which will be a priceless thing. He will have arrived several years earlier than most stars do at the powerful connections between playing as a superstar, being an ultimate team player, and knowing how to get his team to play better. There is no way to teach this. Melo either perceives, understands, and acts, or he does not. If he perceives how these three things connect together, and how to use one or two of these things to achieve the other, then and only then can the Nuggets compete with the powerhouses of the League. Then and only then will it actually be possible for the Nuggets to win a Championship.

In tonight's game, of the 9 Nuggets who played, only two picked and made shots well enough to be considered veteran pro players: Iverson and the new acquisition Steve Blake (PG). Camby was once again a rebounding and defensive star, and he was battling an illness, so I don't care that he was a shot or two short. The other 6 Nuggets picked shots poorly and couldn't make enough of the shots they took. pure and simple.

For some unknown reason, Reggie Evans played just 8 minutes, and was 2/2 from the field for 4 points, and he had 2 rebounds. Najera played 21 minutes, and was 1/7 for 2 points, and he had 3 rebounds. Nene played just 17 minutes, due to the threat posed by his knee, and he was 2/8, 0/1 on 3's, and 4/7 from the line for 8 points, and he added 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

Diawara (37 minutes) was 5/14, and 3/12 on 3's, for 13 points, and he had 2 assists and 2 blocks. Kleiza played 25 minutes, and he was 0/5, and 0/1 from beyond the 3-point arc, for 0 points, and he had 5 rebounds.

Marcus Camby, who was slightly sick, held down the paint for 38 minutes and grabbed a massive 24 rebounds. He was 3/10 from the field, and 1/2 from the line, for 7 points. He had just one block in this game.

Blake, the new PG backup, played 28 minutes and was a respectable 5/8, and 3/5 on 3's, for 13 points, and he added 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

George Karl pulled a mini Byron Scott on J.R. Smith and limited him to 19 minutes, during which time, though, Smith did not pick his shots well. Well, maybe Smith knew his minutes were going to be limited and that's why he rushed all those shots. Smith, who was one of the biggest surprises of the season at the time he was neck tackled in the Big Apple, was just 4/17, 2/7 on 3's, and 1/1 from the line for 11 points, and he had 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 block.

Allen Iverson must be wondering whether his basketball career is ever going to change, or whether it is a Law of the Universe that Iverson must play many games where he is the only one on his team playing at the star level offensively. The Nuggets have actually been playing at least slightly worse than the Sixers since the trade and the Nuggets (17-17) are no longer a winning team, which was the main point of his coming to the team. Yet Iverson himself is actually playing more and more solidly with each passing game, an is an island of stability in a sea of turmoil and lousy games by teammates.

A.I. was 10/21, 1/2 on 3's and 7/7 from the line, for 28 points. Hang on Bubba Chuck, help is on the way and will arrive January 22.

The next game is Sunday Jan. 14 in Portland to play the Trailblazers at 7 pm mountain time.

A.I. Huge, J.R. Back, Still No Melo, Spurs 92 Nuggets 83

Allen Iverson did practically everything possible to put the Nuggets in a positon to steal a suspension victory, but the Spurs had other plans. J.R. Smith returned from a whopping 10-game suspension and played a reasonably good game, but he could not hit on any of 4 extremely critical 3-point shots, and the Nuggets, playing with very little scoring potential in the front court, fell to the disciplined, well-coached, and extremely experienced Spurs 92-83.

The Spurs, who have the aged but still great veterans Duncan and Horry at power forward, were at least a little unsettled in the first half by the explosive and talented guards the Nuggets fielded, and the score at the half was 49-48 Nuggets. But all well-coached veteran teams make halftime adjustments. At the half, the Spurs decided to beat the Nuggets inside rather then attempt to bury them with 3-point shots or to start collapsing on Iverson all the time.

Tim Duncan was repeatedly fouled, but at 3/10 from the stripe, made Shaq look like an expert free throw shooter. But as usual, he chose his shots well and finished with 19 points on 8/15 shooting. Tony Parker (PG) had 26 points on expert 12/21 shooting, and he added 7 rebounds. Ginobili (SG) added 16 and Bowen (SF) added 11 on 5/6 expert shooting. No one had a huge night for the Spurs, who simply executed extremely well and ground out a win against a team basically trying to play without fully professional forwards.

The Spurs came in as the anti-Nuggets: healthy, unsuspended, very experienced, and able to play disciplined ball with few mistakes. None of their aged but still reliable veterans had to do anything flashy to win this one. They all but completely shut down the Denver front court, even keeping Camby's scoring to a single digit, and then waited to see if a team depending almost exclusively on guards could beat their veteran, well-managed basketball powerhouse that has BOTH quality guards and quality forwards. The Nugget's guards played outstandingly well (Iverson), very well (Boykins) and all right (Smith), but as the Spurs calculated, it was not enough for the Nuggets to have a chance.

The Spurs nickled and dimed the Nuggets to death with better execution. They led in rebounding 46-41, led in assists 23-15, led in steals 11-5, led in blocks 9-2, and had just 10 turnovers versus 17 for the Nuggets. To say that the Spurs executed the fundamentals of basketball better than the Nuggets would be an understatement.

And the fact that the Nuggets were technically in the game until late in the 4th quarter was due to the outstanding game that Allen Iverson played. Considering the oponent, this was Iverson's best game since becoming a Nugget.

If someone had been living on the moon for the past 6 months and had just returned to Earth to watch this game, he would have said something like "Boy, that team needs a forward something fierce". Well Mr. Man on the Moon, we have a superstar forward but there is this League kingpin who had a temper tantrum over a minor altercation in Manhattan and dictated that our star forward, our only forward who can light up the scoreboard enough so we can compete with the Big 6 of the Western Conference, sit out for 15 games. That's right, Mr. Moon, he can not play for 15 games because of a stupid altercation. (Are there any intelligent altercations?).

Nene was limited to 15 minutes again because of the knee, and he was 1/5 for 2 points, and he added 4 rebounds and a block. Kleiza played 18 minutes and he was just 1/4 and 0/2 on 3/s for 2 points, and he had 3 rebounds. Najera played 24 minutes, and he was 1/4 and 1/2 from the line for 3 points, and he had 1 rebound, 2 assists, and a steal. And finally, Reggie Evans played just 13 minutes, and he was 1/2, and 2/2 from the line, for 4 points, and he had 5 rebounds. Note that Evans outrebounded Najera 5-1 even though he played little more than half the minutes Najera did.

So all of the Nuggets forwards combined played 70 minutes, or 2 full games for a typical PF, and they had 11 points. Ouch!. This team desperately needs a forward! The front office must be filled with idiots. Oh, that's right, they have that guy who leads the whole League in scoring but was thrown out of the League for 1/5 of the season, my bad. The Denver front office is all right after all.

Camby was hounded and stuffed close to and in the paint all night, and he had just 9 points on 3/9 shooting (3/5 from the line). He had to fight hard for his huge 16 rebounds, and he added 2 assists, a steal, and a block.

J.R. Smith got a loud standing ovation when he was put in half way through the 1st. When he was suspended, he was making critical progress with his game, especially strong to the hoop charges and 3-point shots. He tried to take up where he left off, but the long sit-down and harrassment from the Spurs prevented a big night for him. Smith didn't get many calls despite being repeatedly hammered in the lane. J.R.'s return was for 32 minutes, and he was 5/13, 0/4 on 3's, and 2/3 from the line for 12 points. But he added 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

J.R. was benched to some extent last year, his second year, in Oklahoma, so he has successfully been through this process of ramping up to full scale starter before, so he will do it again. I am sure he will be gradually burying more and more 3's and polishing his finishes at the hoop in the weeks ahead

Boykins has been so consistent during the 3 1/2 weeks of the suspensions that I am beginning to wonder if he is actually a machine. Maybe he is Mr. Basketball, from the same mold as the Mr. Data of the starship Enterprise. He was 8/14, and 2/3 from the line, for 18 points, and he had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.

Iverson had a fantastic game, choosing an almost perfect mix of drives to the hoop and mostly shorter jumpers. It was the kind of game that proves Iverson's determination and ability to play both smart and well, and to complement the rest of the team as well as possible by understanding the abilities and roles of the other players. A.I. gave the Nuggets more than enough to beat the powerhouse under normal circumstances, but it was not possible for him to make up for the massive problems with the forwards. A.I. played a huge 44 minutes, and he was 15/25, and 3/3 from the line, for 33 points, and he added 6 assists even though very few Nuggets were hitting.

The next game will be Friday Jan 12 in Denver against the Rockets at 8:30 mountain time.

Camby is Huge in Nuggets Win Over Bucks 104-92

Unlike in real life, where the effects of problems and misfortunes can drag on for months or even years, in sports things can turn around quickly. Every new game is a complete fresh start, and all the mistakes made in all prior games have no bearing on the new game. The Nuggets took full advantage of this fact tonight, and made a kind of fresh start, which was very refreshing to the home crowd and to Nuggets fans everywhere.

The Nuggets calmed their worried sick fans down with a well-managed and intelligent win against the Bucks, 104-92. With J.R. Smith returning next game, the suspensions don't seem as damaging and dangerous as they did before the tip of this one. It's time to breathe one huge sigh of relief, not only because of the win itself, but because almost every Nugget who played had a solid game or better. It seems the Nuggets finally know how to play with A.I. and without J.R.-Melo just when, you guessed it, they're coming back. I can imagine worse problems, though, than bringing J.R. and Melo back into the mix.

The Nugget's attack was the most balanced one since the December 26 home win against the Celtics; the front court defense was much improved from the 5-game losing streak now ended. Kleiza and Reggie Evans backed up the defensive superstar Marcus Camby not only on the boards, but also on the scoreboard as well. Kleiza hit three key 3's, and Evans climbed out of a scoring slump so deep that you have to wonder whether the man was reborn sometime in the last 48 hours. Or maybe George Karl had a one on one drill with Reggie, daring him to miss layups and short jumpers against a bald 55 year old man.

The result of this reawakening of the front court was that Iverson was not double teamed all that much and he and Iverson #2 (Boykins) had alot more space to deliver the goods. And Marcus Camby, who irritated his finger fracture against the Lakers and had to sit out the Jazz game, returned in great form, holding down the paint and reviving his scoring touch just in time before Nuggets fans started to pull their hair out.

The Bucks were without their scoring leader, swingman Michael Redd, who at almost 28 points per game is currently the 5th top scorer in the NBA. Redd is nursing a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and will be sidelined four to six weeks. Milwaukee was also without forward Charlie Villanueva, who missed his third game with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Villanueva is having a decent year, at 13 ppg and 6 rpg. And during this game, starting PG Mo Williams went out when he sprained his left shoulder just before halftime when he collided with Linas Kleiza near midcourt while going for the ball.

Ruben Patterson responded to the injuries and to poor shooting by the other Bucks by doubling his average scoring; he had 29 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. The Bucks needed just one other starter to hit some shots but they could not find one. Even though rebounding was 52-47 Nuggets, and even though the Nuggets lost the turnover contest by a relatively small margin, 16-10, the Bucks took 96 shots versus 79 for the Nuggets. So it is fair to say that there was definitely some real defense being played by players other than Camby.

Kleiza made good use of his 27 minutes and was 4/8, and 3/5 from 3-point land, for 11 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Najera played just 9 minutes and had 3 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal. Najera bruised his left shoulder in the first half and didn't return.

Nene can't play more than about 15 minutes due to the knee, and he was 0/2, and 7/10 from the line for 7 points, and he had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.

Good things can happen when Evans gets more minutes than Najera. In 27 minutes, Reggie Evans was 4/5, and 5/7 from the line for 13 points, and he had 11 rebounds and 2 assists. Now we Nuggets fans can hope and maybe even expect that Evans will for the most part avoid the goose egg games from the field and from the line. If he can just hit 1/3 of his shots, and 60% of his free throws, then he is worth his weight in gold on the boards, and his defense is gradually improving.

Diawara had another poor outing. In 23 minutes, he was 0/5, 0/3 on 3's, and he had 3 rebounds and 1 assist. There is something eating at this guy.

Why have just one Iverson type player when you can have two? Iverson #2, Boykins, kept his perfect string of nice games as a starter alive. He was 8/20, 2/5 on 3's, and a perfect 8/8 from the line for 26 points, and he expertly added 11 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal. Whoever brought Boykins to Denver is a genius.

A.I., who wisely counseled the Nuggets to not start pointing fingers at each other in the wake of the losing streak, and who stressed the need to play as a team to arise out of a slump, made sure his actions matched his philosophy. He was 9/21, 2/4 on 3's, and 3/4 from the line for 23 points, and he had 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Aware of the consistently strong play of Boykins, A.I. wisely picked his shots and avoided unnecessary dramatics.

I've always found it kind of funny that some people think that A.I. is dumb, because of media-hyped "incidents" he has supposedly been responsible for over the years, according to the hype. In actuality, his philosophy is logically tight. Consider A.I. on the slump:



That was tough to lose five in a row, but I kind of learned a lot about this team, just going through some adversity with them early instead of everything being peaches and cream.

"The morale around the team wasn't great but it wasn't negative," Iverson said. "It wasn't to the point where everybody was pointing fingers at each other and blaming each other."

George Karl can check with A.I. regarding the morale and confidence of the team, and he is sure to get an expert report.

Marcus Camby put together a brilliant game and clearly should be given the most valuable player award for this game, though Boykins and A.I. would get alot of votes as well. Camby was 8/15, and 3/5 from the line, for 19 points. Camby also had 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and 7 blocks. There is only one player (Jermaine O'Neill) who gets more blocks per game than Marcus Camby.

If Camby consistently plays like this, then the Nuggets are definitely going to be competitive with the big 6 teams of the Conference this year.

The next game is the J.R. Smith return game, on Wed. Jan 12 at 7 pm mountain time, in Denver against the Spurs.

Nuggets Sink in Suspension Muck, Lose to Utah 96-84

Just when Nuggets fans and coaches thought that the miseries of the marathon suspensions couldn't get any worse, they did. The Nuggets failed to play a fully professional basketball game at home against their divisional archrival, the Utah Jazz. The Nuggets, confused by yet another new cast of starters, and playing with several players who had very little playing time until recently, had 5 turnovers in the first 3 1/2 minutes. George Karl had to call a very early timeout with the score 9-0 Jazz, and it was 12-0 before the Nuggets scored. The Nuggets ended up with 9 1st quarter turnovers, though they kept the total turnover count for the game to 18.

The Jazz first attempted to follow the Laker's storm the paint and go back out for undefended threes approach, seeking to bury the Nuggets with 3's and dunks. The Jazz led 27-16 at the end of the first quarter. However, Jazz accuracy from 3-point land was never up to last night's Laker rampage from downtown.

And then it got worse for the Jazz, as the second and third quarters progressed, and as they departed from their starting strategy and started to shoot mid-range jumpers. Utah's offense became less fluid, and there were lots of turnovers. The Jazz shooting percentage kept going down like the temperature on a winter night, until for a brief few seconds late in the 3rd quarter it dropped below .400 and also below the sorry accuracy the Nuggets were at. Harpring in the second quarter missed a bunch of shots, and Okur in the third quarter missed makeable shots and had several turnovers.

I was beginning to think that Utah might be humiliated by the crippled Nuggets. After A.I. sunk a 3 with 10 1/2 minutes to play, and Jamal Sampson dunked with 9 1/2 minutes to play, the Jazz lead was reduced to just 68-67. I could not believe what was happening.

But the Jazz finally did come up with a way to put the dagger in the back of the hapless Nuggets. Jerry Sloan's temper and blood pressure started to go through the roof with just the idea that the Jazz might lose to the pathetic Nuggets, who played more like a ragtag group of neighborhood misfits than a professional basketball team in the 1st half. Sloan told his top guy, CF Carlos Boozer, to put him, the Jazz, the Nuggets, and the fans out of their misery and finally end the poor excuse for a basketball game. Boozer proceeded to repeatedly drive to the hoop for easy layups, scoring 14 points in the quarter on 6/7 shooting, with two free throws as bonuses. Sloan's health was preserved, and the Utah lead over the Nuggets in the Northwest divison grew to a huge 6.5 games.

There are 6 teams in the League right now reporting no injuries, and Utah is one of them. That, and the fact that Utah picked up Carlos Boozer from Cleveland for next to nothing, are the top two reasons for the Jazz' surprising start this season. If you combine suspensions to J.R. Smith and Melo, with the injuries to Camby and Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets have to be the most devastated team taking the floor these days. With Camby and Melo out, the Nuggets are left with both very little scoring and very little defense in the front court. On paper, there are very few teams that the current Nuggets can beat; the loss of Camby is the last straw.

I have been thinking that Iverson might "take over" a few of the suspension games, and put up 30+ shots, but now I am understanding that, first, the Nugget's second teamers are not thinking enough of dishing to A.I., and second, opponents are simply smothering A.I. with double and even triple teams.

Among the forwards, it was Kleiza's turn to hit a few shots. Kleiza in 34 minutes was 5/9, 1/3 on 3's, and 6/8 from the line fir 17 points. Najera in 30 minutes was 4/7, 0/1 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 9 rebounds.

Nene started, but was yanked after playing just 18 minutes, probably due to the knee acting up again. He was 2/9, for 4 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Reggie Evans, whose inability to score has been almost as much a pain in the neck problem as Nene's knee or Camby's metacarpal, played 27 minutes and was 1/1, and 0/4 from the line for 2 points, but he did have 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Jamal Sampson, who had virtually no playing time until the suspensions and the Camby injury, played 15 minutes. He was 2/2, and 1/2 from the line, for 5 points, and he had 4 rebounds and 1 block.

Diawara has confounded George Karl's hopes by his totally inconsistent play, and has forced him to give alot more playing time to unknowns such as Sampson and Hodge. In his 23 minutes, Diawara was only 1/9, and 1/7 on 3's for 3 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

Iverson was able to get his 8 assists on a squad that shot just .387. Smothered most of the night by double and even triple teams, he was 3 or 4 made shots short of his career average. Iverson was just 5/19, 1/7 on 3's, and 11/12 from the line for 22 points, and he had 5 rebounds and 2 steals to go with the 8 assists.

Boykins was essentially the only Nugget who had any scoring consistency. He is certainly playing well enough to be a starter on a team that needs a veteran point guard. He was 9/19, 2/8 on threes, and 2/3 from the line for 22 points, and he had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Once again, he prevented the score from becoming a 25-35 point rout.

With six more Melo suspension games still to come, and with Camby's metacarpal injury causing more huge problems, and with the Wolves, the Warriors, and the Kings now caught up with the Nuggets, it is becoming more and more likely that the Nuggets will be in an all out dogfight with those three teams for at least several weeks after Melo and J.R. return. Playoff berths are available for only two of the four.

After reaching 16-10 overall and 3-1 in suspension games two weeks ago, the Nuggets have lost 5 straight, and are now 16-15, and 3-6 in suspension games. Their most probable record had there been no suspensions is 6-3, so they have now probably lost a net 3 games due to the suspensions.

The next game is Monday Jan. 8 in Denver against the Bucks at 7 pm mountain time. The Bucks are healthy and unsuspended, so look out, though I think we've reached the point where things can't possibly get any worse.

Lakers Bury Nuggets With 3's and Dunks, 123-104

The current big 6 powerhouses of the Western Conference seldom lose at home. The Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets, Lakers, Suns, and Jazz are a combined 80-21 at home. The Lakers are 15-4 at home, and like the other powerhouse teams of the Conference, they don't lose at home unless at least a couple of starters are having bad nights.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets have blown several 4th quarter leads at home, mostly to losing teams, and are just 9-7 at home. The Nuggets, before the suspensions, lost at home to teams that the big 6 wouldn't be caught dead losing to at home, such as the Grizzlies, the Hawks, and the Knicks. When Melo and J.R. return, the Nuggets must become dominant at home in order to show they are competitive with the top teams in the Conference. They can hardly afford any more losses to losing teams at home.

Fortunately for the Nuggets, in the playoffs, the home court advantage is somewhat less than it is in the regular season, giving them a chance to advance in the playoffs despite their opponents having the home court advantage.

Tonight the Lakers used a lethal combination of long-range three-pointers and close-in dunks and layups to dominate and rout the Nuggets, who seem to sink deeper into confusion and inconsistency as the marathon suspensions continue on. The Lakers stormed the hoop at will, especially in the first half, and when the Nuggets tried to defend in the paint, they just sunk a large number of lightly defended threes. They made 13/28 threes, but they missed several during the huge garbage time, so it was really more amazing than that ratio makes it look. Had Boykins not been 4/6 from downtown, with the Nuggets overall being a very decent 7/16, the score would have been more ugly than it was.

The Lakers ran an offensive clinic against the "pick-up team" Nuggets, and had a staggering 39 assists, versus just 24 for the Nuggets. Kobe Bryant had 10 assists (but only 8 points on 2/9 shooting) and Luke Walton (SF) had 9 assists. The Laker offense was so tightly and efficiently run, that the number two blocker in the League, (behind only Jermaine O'Neill), Marcus Camby, failed to get a single block. By contrast, the Laker's 7' center, Andrew Bynum, the second team, second year Center, had 6 blocks alone, and he had 19 points on 8/9 shooting.

It was the kind of aggressive and well-coached game that the Lakers seem to play at home without fail, season in and season out. The Nuggets almost certainly would have lost this one even if J.R. and Melo had started, unless there is some miracle Melo-A.I. combination effect which confuses defenses and produces a whole heap of easy scoring. (Of course, whether this spark happens is exactly what many basketball fans are waiting eagerly to find out.)

In a sure sign of how disoriented the Nuggets are from the constant lineup changes, the 24 assists the Nuggets had were distributed throughout almost the whole lineup. The assist leader (6 assists) was guard Julius Hodge, who played all of 1 minute the whole season until tonight, when he played 19 minutes. Neither Iverson nor Boykins could lead the strange lineups which came and went.

For the third game in a row since his return from a 4th metacarpal fracture on his right hand, which is probably still bothering him, Marcus Camby failed to reestablish his scoring touch. He finished 5/16, and 4/4 from the line, for 14 points, but he had 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

It's sad to say, but Najera was even less of a factor than usual. In 19 minutes, he was 1/6, and 0/1 on 3's for 2 points, and he failed to get any rebounds or assists. Reggie Evans, who has been to hell and back trying to find his shots, decided not to take any tonight, but he was an expert rebounder as usual, getting 13 boards in 19 minutes. Another forward, Linus Kleiza, played 23 minutes and was 4/7, and 2/2 from the line for 10 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Nene, questionable knee and all, played 16 minutes, and was 7/12 for 14 points, and he had 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Because the forwards other than Nene can not score enough, Nuggets fans have to hope that Nene's knee allows him to play at least much of the rest of the season.

Diawara (GF) played 31 minutes, and was 4/13, but 3/7 on 3's, and 2/4 from the stripe for 13 points, and he had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals.

Julius Hodge (G) was called up from the NBA Development League to play some PG tonight. He played 1 minute against Philadelphia in early November, marking his first appearance in an NBA game since being shot four times in the legs and hip while driving on Interstate 76 on April 8. Tonight, Hodge played 19 minutes, but he was only 1/3, and 2/2 from the line, for 4 points, and he had 6 assists and 2 steals.

There were too many Nuggets trying to make up for too much bench time for A.I. to be able to "take over the game" tonight. Iverson must be thinking to himself about now "at least with the Sixers, I lost games without all these confusing lineup changes and complications". Then he will remember that even David Stern's suspensions eventually will end, and Melo and J.R. will eventually return. Any thought that Iverson had of taking 25-35 shots ended when his new friend Earl Boykins went on a scoring rampage in the 2nd quarter. A.I. finished a disappointing 5/17, 0/1 on 3's, and 6/8 from the line for 16 points. He had 5 assists and 1 steal. His turnovers were limited to 3; the Nuggets as a whole had 14 turnovers, which was good under the circumstances.

The Nuggets would have been badly routed were it not for one Earl Boykins, the shortest player in the NBA, at 5'5", who lit up the scoreboard against the mighty Lakers in L.A.. At this point, Boykins has probably proved that the only reason he is not a starter is that he is 5'5" tall, because he has played as a real starter during the entire suspension period. I hope his play talks the Nuggets out of trading him, though I realize the team badly needs help at PF. Boykins was the highest scoring player on the court, with 24, beating Laker Smush Parker by a point because, though both of them were 9/14 from the field and 2/2 from the line, Boykins was 4/6 from downtown and Parker was 3/4 from there. Boykins also had 3 assists, a steal, and played the best error-free defense you can play when you are 5'5".

This was the eighth suspension game for what was the League's top scoring tandem, and there are still 2 more games left in the double suspension and a staggering 7 games left in the Melo suspension. George Karl, despite being in over his head during the suspensions, will earn the "Bravery in the Face of David Stern's Temper Tantrum Medal" if he can get the Nuggets into the playoffs after all this turmoil. The Nuggets may fall out of the top 8 in the West before Melo gets back.

The Nuggets next game is tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 6 in Denver against the division leading Utah Jazz, at 7 pm mountain time. Nuggets fans are as upset about the Jazz position at the top of the Northwest Division as they are about anything else, save the suspensions, so they are really going to be on the lookout for some combination of Nene's knee, Camby's shot, Iverson's heart, and Boykin's soul to give them an upset win against the Jazz, who will also be playing without rest.

Suspensions Cost Nuggets a 2nd Game, to 76'ers 108-97

The Nuggets are the NBA's most confused team right now. The lineup has changed so many times over the past three weeks due to multiple injuries, the two huge suspensions, and the Iverson for Miller trade, that it has been impossible to establish dependable plays for the offense, plays where everyone is on the same page. The guy with the ball is supposed to be familiar with where everyone usually is on the court, and to know where everyone on the court likes to run a play from.

More generally, no one knows what their role is. How does a running team succeed when who runs where and when is not worked out? It doesn't.

Tonight's 22 turnovers shows how confused the Nuggets are right now. The coaching staff can only reduce the confusion; there is going to be alot of confusion on this team until about the end of February. Nuggets fans can be happy, though, that the season is long, so that the confusion should be over weeks before the playoffs start.

The Nuggets are now like a pick-up neighborhood team having to play professional teams whose roster has not changed much. The continuing Nene knee saga and the Camby injury has been adding alot to the confusing mess that has been the Nugget's roster, as has Iverson's complicated calculation as to what role to play during the suspensions.

Iverson is clearly trying to avoid taking too many shots, because he has decided that his reasonable role on the full roster is as a more traditional point guard, not as someone who has to take 30 shots as the only chance to win games. Trouble is, some of these games during the suspensions may be winnable ONLY if Iverson in fact does take 30 shots. Iverson had two technical fouls in tonight's miserable loss, the last one when the game was all but over with less than two minutes to play. I'm thinking his frustration was partly that he realized, at about that time, when it was too late, that his putting 30 shots up might have changed the outcome.

The suspensions to Melo and J.R. Smith are now threatening to take a much larger toll than many thought when Iverson arrived on the team, because of the large scale confusion on the court regarding who is doing what when.

There are some second team players who are trying to make up a starting role for themselves as they go along, almost always unsuccessfully. George Karl is very stingy with playing time for unproven second teamers, so a player like DerMarr Johnson(GF) does not have the recent playing time experience to be able to produce reliably in these suspension games. He was 3/7, and 0/4 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 8 points in 30 minutes.

Diawara(GF) has been on an extreme rollercoaster as George Karl has no alternative but to play the rookie major minutes. One game he can't hit the side of the barn, and the next game he is almost at a starter level. Tonight he was 8/16, and a huge 5/10 from 3 point land, and 2/2 from the line, for 23 points. He did his best on defense and had 6 rebounds and 5 personal fouls. All this after he had 1 point in 40 minutes on Sunday night. Diawara's yo-yo performances clearly show the turmoil the Nuggets are in.

Kleiza played 15 minutes, and was 2/7, and 0/2 on 3's and 2/2 from the line for 6 points, and he had 1 rebound. Evans had just 12 minutes, and he was 0/5, and 2/6 from the line for 2 points, but he had 9 rebounds.

Najera continued to confound Nuggets fans with his overly cautious approach to the suspension games. After being more assertive on Sunday night, he fell right back into near invisibility tonight. He was just 2/4 and 3/6 from the line for 7 points, and he had 6 rebounds.

The Nuggets have a weakness at power forward. Najera is too cautious about both scoring and rebounding. Evans is a rebounding machine, and he wants to score more than anything but, not only does he have trouble from time to time even from short range, but even his free throw shooting is in need of serious work. If you are George Karl, you have a dilemma at power forward. I guess his strategy is the best one, you just split the playing time almost down the middle and keep your fingers crossed. Tonight shows what happens when you get the weaknesses of both players on the same night: a disaster at power forward.

Boykins was 5/14, and 3/7 on 3's for 13 points, and he had 6 assists and 3 rebounds.

Camby started his second game after being out from the finger injury, but he has not yet reestablished the shooting touch that he had worked hard to get before the injury. Either he is still bothered by the finger, or he has yet to reestablish that part of his game, or else he has been preoccuped as the only defensive specialist on the Nuggets over the last two games. Due to some combination of those 3 factors, he was unable to score more than 8 points against the 76'ers. But with the deck on fire and everyone heading for the life boats, Camby was the only stable force on the Nuggets left, as he produced another all-star quality game on defense, with 16 rebounds, 2 steals, and a massive 7 blocks.

Iverson was under all kinds of pressure tonight. Aside from his dilemma about how many trips to the hoop and how many shots in general to take himself, as discussed earlier, he also had to play his recent teammates for the first time tonight, still being frustrated that the Sixers refused him any opportunity to give his input regarding how the Sixers should play and proceed as a franchise. Unlike, say, Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan, Iverson had nobody in the Sixers organization who would listen to his advice. So when the Sixers coaches appeared on his new home court, it was kind of like the relatives you hate the most coming for the holiday and staying too long.

A.I, with some of his rocket boosters still left unfired, was 10/24, 2/6 from downtown, and 8/10 from the line for 30 points, and he had 9 assists and 5 rebounds. But he also had 7 of the Nugget's turnovers.

It is scary to think that the wins against the Celtics and the Sonics were at least partly due to luck: both of those squads were depleted and the games were played in Denver. That has held the suspension toll to two games so far, whereas it could have easily been 3 or 4 with more to come.

SUSPENSION GAMES
Wizards WIN
Kings LOSS
Celtics WIN
Sonics WIN
AT Hornets LOSS
Mavericks LOSS
76'ers LOSS
SUSPENSION GAMES STILL TO COME
AT Clippers
Jazz
Bucks
Spurs
Rockets
AT Trailblazers
Cavaliers
AT Rockets

MOST PROBABLE RESULTS WITH NO SUSPENSIONS & NO IVERSON
Wizards loss
Kings win
Celtics win
Sonics win
AT Hornets win
Mavericks loss
76'ers win

So the Nuggets are 3-4 in suspension games but most likely would have been 5-2 had there been no suspensions and no Iverson. So the suspensions have probably cost the Nuggets two games so far.

In order to avoid serious suspension damage, Iverson, Camby and the roll of the dice second teamers need to produce a win this Friday night against the Lakers in Los Angeles. Iverson may feel the need to "take over the game" this Friday now that the full extent of the suspension nightmare is apparent, and we can only hope that he has the touch and avoids the high turnover count he had tonight.

So the next game is Friday, Jan 5 at 8:30 pm mountain time in L.A. versus the Lakers.

Last Game of 2006: Mavs 89, Nuggets 85

The Nuggets, continuing to play without the League's top scoring tandem, blew a substantial 4th quarter lead for the sixth time in 28 games this season and lost to the League leading Mavericks at home 89-85. The Mavericks were without their top scorer, PF Dirk Nowitzki, who was out with a sinus infection. PF Josh Howard stepped up and had 17 rebounds and 28 points on expert 10/16 shooting. Coach Avery Johnson is one of the best coaches in the League and is one of the best at directing 4th quarter surges on the road.

Dallas got off to a quick start and led it 20-11 in the 1st, but Boykins and Iverson led a furious rally to give Denver a 24-20 lead at the end of the 1st. Denver led 50-44 at the half and 69-63 after three quarters.

With less than 8 minutes to play a reverse layup from Najera gave the Nuggets a 76-69 lead, but it was all downhill from there. Erick Dampier rejected two point blank shots from Najera, and a 3-pointer from Jason Terry made it 79-77 Nuggets. With 2 1/2 minutes to play, the Nuggets led 82-81. A Devin Harris layup and free throws from Dampier and Howard due to successive Najera fouls made it 87-82 Dallas with 1:16 to play. Iverson made a couple of free throws but Josh Howard responded with a jumper for 89-84 with 54 seconds to play.

Diawara missed the key jump shot and Najera missed the tip in. Najera hit one of two free throws on a loose ball foul making it 89-85 Dallas with 43 seconds left. Kleiza took and missed the last shot for the Nuggets. I would have tried a few intentional fouls but George Karl elected to not do so.

Najera, in 33 minutes, was 5/10 and 4/5 from the line for 14 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Kleiza, in 25 minutes, was 2/7, 0/2 on 3's and 2/2 from the line for 6 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 0 assists. Reggie Evans, in 15 minutes, was 0/1 and 3/5 from the line for 3 points, and he had 3 rebounds and a nice 3 of the Nugget's 12 steals.

Diawara, in 40 minutes, was a nightmare 0/11, 0/4 on 3's, and 1/4 from the line for 1 point. He tried alot more close-in shots, but got no reward for it.

With some of the Nugget's top rebounders (K-Mart and Nene) out on injury and Reggie Evans playing just 15 minutes, Camby was the only major defensive presence on the court for the Nuggets, who were outrebounded 49-37. Camby had 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. His 4-game long finger injury disrupted his shooting touch to where he was only 5/15, and 3/5 from the stripe for 13 points.

Iverson and Boykins combined for 48 points, matching the Melo-J.R. tandem, but it wasn't enough mostly due to the Diawara scoring drought. Boykins was 8/17, 1/3 on 3's and 3/3 from the line for 20 points. Boykins had 2 rebounds, but only 1 assist.

A.I., played the role of "the answer" at point guard instead of the role of "the only hope of winning" that he played for the Sixers for many years. But the Nuggets may need him to take 25-35 shots to win many of these suspension games, because Najera and Evans are falling short and Diawara is not dependable yet. The expert point guard was 10/17 and 8/8 from the line for 28 points, and he had a nice 8 assists. Iverson is one of the all-time greatest ball thieves and in some games, like this one, he goes on a rampage. He had 7 steals.

Iverson's performance was just about as good as it gets for a point guard. Trouble is, the Nuggets are lacking at 3 of the other 4 positions due to the suspensions and the injuries. Before the marathon suspensions are over, George Karl is probably going to have to ask A.I. to put up 30+ shots if A.I. doesn't decide to do so on his own. A.I. can resume his star point guard only role when Melo returns.