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.