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.