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.