Nuggets Begin Season Rescue, Defeat Pacers 102-95

The Nuggets slinked out of Denver for their flight to Indiana knowing that many of their fans have abandoned them and that their season is now in danger of total ruin. The rescue of their season is going to require a dozen or more road wins. So they did what any snakebit but talented team does in that situation: they defied the predictors yet again by getting a win just when most were sure that they would lose.

There are alot of sports bettors who have lost alot of money betting on Nuggets games this year. (If you do wager, and you should not because the house almost always wins, at least never bet on a complicated team.)

The Pacers shot poorly at .427 versus .484 for the Nuggets. The Pacers shot themselves in the foot enough times in this one that the Nuggets could win it without the injured Iverson and the injured Camby, provided at least a couple of Nuggets stepped up. They did: it was Najera and Kleiza. It was the long lost Najera who was the primary spark to back up Melo. Najera had by far his best game of the season for the Nuggets; he had 18 points on 8/9 shooting. Linas Kleiza also excelled, scoring 15 on 3/6 shooting.

Although the Nuggets tempted fate yet again with 20 turnovers, the Pacers were hammered with 32 fouls, whereas the Nuggets got away with 23. Each team had only 36 points in the paint, so it was to be won or lost on jumpers. Although the Pacers outshot the Nuggets 8-4 on 3 point shots, the Nuggets were suddenly seeing jumpers fall that they couldn't bribe to go in during the last few weeks. Melo's lost midrange jumper was discovered dazed and ragged but alive nevertheless. Melo was 9/20 on jumpers, Kleiza was 3-6, Blake was 3-5, and Najera was 2/3. It has been about two months since the Nuggets shot jumpers that well.

And when the Nuggets did go to the hoop, they got alot of calls. The Nuggets were 32/43 from the line whereas the Pacers were 11/13. The Pacers undoubtedly felt they were robbed by the refs in their own building. Nuggets fans would rather think that the Nuggets are getting so tired of losing from missed jumpers that they were going to go to the hoop over and over, even at the risk of charge calls, which they largely escaped, a fact which enraged the Indiana coach.

The Pacers, who lost by missing practically half a dozen layups and tip-ins at the buzzer against the Sonics at home the other night, and who were also rattled by Jermaine O'Neill trade rumors and by being unable to gain any traction against the struggling Cavaliers and the imperfect Pistons, were in a bad mood and it cost them. There were 5 technical fouls called against Indiana, resulting in the ejection of Coach Rick Carlisle early in the 4th quarter for arguing a no-call against a Nene advance to the hoop, and PG Darrell Armstrong half way through the 4th quarter for arguing a loose ball foul against Jeff Foster (who also got a technical) too much.

Aside from being hampered by the injuries and the ongoing project of learning how to play together, the Nuggets seem to get a little stage fright in front of their own fans, because so much is expected of them by "Nuggets mania". So they may actually find it a little easier to win on the road than in Denver. And that is great news considering the Nuggets are now destined to play more on the road than at home in the playoffs. We can now say that the Nuggets will enjoy the road court advantage in the playoffs.

I, for one, am no longer going to attempt to predict whether the Nuggets will win or lose a game, because they are almost impossible to predict. Players who haven't played well in a month suddenly have a great game, or else players who have had 6 straight good games finish with 2 points and 5 turnovers or something. Only a fool would predict with that kind of extreme inconsistency.

The Nuggets, who have blown so many 4th quarter leads (most of them at home) tormented their fans through this 4th quarter but in the end got by the Indiana Pacers 102-95. The Nuggets led 76-63 after 3 quarters, but naturally the Pacers scored 11 straight points to begin the 4th and Nuggets fans were saying "we've seen this show before" and were already pencilling in a loss.

But it didn't go down that way this time. The Pacers tempted the Nuggets to break down and lose again but a new strategy was finally revealed for the Nuggets to close out games with: the "put up a lame jumper and you are benched" strategy. Or, in other words, the Nuggets were to do the exact opposite of what they have been doing in all those 4th quarter collapses.

The Nuggets were to aggressively go to the hoop over and over, unless every single lane was blocked. They were to get foul calls against tired defenders trying to close the gap in the score and then make their free throws. They were to crash the boards and fight for position and rebounds. Offensive rebounds chew clock and are especially great when you have the lead and time is running out. And the Nuggets were supposed to man to man cover closer than usual and not worry if a foul or two was called. Logically, the strategy had to work because it was the exact opposite of what the Nuggets have been doing in 4th quarters with leads, and so it did work.

So the new strategy was launched and, in a minute and a half, the Nuggets made 4 free throws, 3 technical free throws, and had Kleiza sink a three, versus 2 free throws for O'Neill, so that it was 86-76 Nuggets with 6:28 to play. However, successive 3-pointers by F-C Troy Murphy and F Danny Granger made it 89-87 Nuggets with 4:23 to go and once again everyone was assuming the Nuggets would lose.

Out came the new strategy again. Instead of settling for contested jumpers, the Nuggets went to the hoop over and over and actually made their free throws when tired defenders trying to close a gap were called by the closely watching refs. Hopefully the Nuggets learned a very valuable basketball lesson: the refs can be your best friends late in the game when you have a lead.

Evans played 28 minutes and was 1/5 and 0/2 from the line for 2 points, but he had 10 rebounds, 2 assists, a block, and a steal. Nene played 34 minutes and was 3/8 and 8/14 from the line for 14 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

Linas Kleiza played 30 minutes and was 4/8, 3/6 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 15 points, and he added 5 rebounds and a steal to all this scoring. Eduardo Najera played for 29 minutes and was 8/9 and 2/4 from the line for 18 points, and he added 9 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, and an assist.

With Melo getting 6 rebounds, every single Nugget forward had 5 or more rebounds, which went a long way to covering for the missing Camby.

Steve Blake played for 43 minutes and was 3/5, 1/2 on 3's, and 4/4 from the line for 11 points and he had 8 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal.

With the forwards all playing well for the first time this season, the coach limited J.R. Smith to 19 minutes and he was only 1/6, 0/1 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 4 points. On the night the other Nuggets were making jumpers, J.R. decided to not try too many. He was still smarting from his bad shooting in the loss at the buzzer to his prior team, the Hornets, from two nights ago.

All-star Carmelo Anthony played 45 minutes and was 11/24, 0/2 on 3's, and 12/13 from the line for 34 points, and he had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Now if only his midrange jumper doesn't go into hiding again the Nuggets will be able to win some more on the road.

The next game will be tomorrow night, Saturday, Feb. 10, in Milwaukee to play the Bucks at 6:30 pm mountain time.