Nuggets Enjoy Unusual Easy Win Over Warriors, 123-111

Instead of scrambling and stressing, the Nugget's starters were enjoying extended bench rest during 4th quarter garbage time at the Pepsi Center as the Nuggets crashed the boards for 22 second chance offensive rebounds, J.R. Smith hit on 6/11 shots from beyond the arc, Melo's jumper remained dependable, and Nene and Camby made a good number of what were for them relatively easy layups and dunks as the Nuggets built up to a 24 point lead early in the 4th quarter and cruised to the win after that. Relatively complicated closing strategies were not needed in this one; for once there was no chance of a an ugly or chaotic 4th quarter collapse.

The Warriors give up more points than any other team in the NBA and they have not yet begun a defense improvement project as the Nuggets have. The Nuggets ended up with an astounding 37 assists, with Steve Blake getting 13 of them and Marcus Camby playing some PG and getting 7 assists. Now that is team play if I ever saw it, the center filling in for the injured guard.

The fans, still not completely sold on these streaky, yo yo Nuggets after having been badly disappointed at least one too many times, at least were able to leave the arena with some amount of confidence that they were not making fools of themselves by rooting for the Denver Imposters. They could go to sleep tonight knowing the Nuggets are not only on paper but in reality capable of being a really good team, although no one has the faintest idea what is going to happen when the Nuggets play teams such as the Mavs, Jazz, Lakers, and Suns in the many late season and playoff matchups still to come. Specifically, no one knows whether the Nuggets will be clumsy, tentative, and relatively lazy on defense during crucial games or whether they will instead be more skilled, aggressive, and energetic. The Nuggets love to rebound, but pressure defense still tastes like broccoli to them.

And no one knows whether the players will continue to choose their shots well and also get enough shot opportunities, so that they do not become a non-factor offensively that the opposing team can pretty much ignore. Only in the last half dozen games or so have the Nuggets more often than not been able to get everyone who is playing to actually contribute to the scoreboard. One example of this is Nene becoming a real functioning, scoring F-C. Another example is Najera taking and making shots. These types of things have reduced the double teaming of Melo. Whether these improvements will continue in the high pressure atmosphere of a game against teams like the Mavs or the Jazz remains to be seen.

The Nuggets had, by dominating the boards and by more often than not controlling the paint, built up a 102-87 lead with 19 seconds left in the third quarter when J.R. Smith hit a three at the buzzer ending the third quarter. After the short break between quarters, he hit another three. SF Matt Barne's pass was intercepted and J.R. got it and buried another 3, so the Warriors were treated to a "J.R. special deluxe," 9 points in less than 1 minute.

Now all of a sudden the score was 111-87 and the game was effectively over. Marcus Camby was out as of the end of the 3rd. J.R. was pulled out with 8 minutes to play in the fourth and Melo was pulled with 7 minutes to play, so the Nuggets had all their primary starters out with half a quarter to play, a luxury that the Nuggets have not enjoyed all season. The Nuggets, at least for now, have completely righted their ship and are sailing on a charted but still hazardous course toward the playoffs in late April.

PG Baron Davis, who is the only Warrior averaging more than 20 points a game at 20.7, did not play and will tomorrow have surgery on his left knee. The Warriors do not know when or even if he will return this season. The Warriors were led by the rookie SG Kelenna Azubuike, out of the University of Kentucky, with 23 points on 8/12 shooting, and by PF-C Al Harrington (of the Pacers until a trade a few weeks ago) who had 24 points on 11/23 shooting along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Allen Iverson, who has missed 7 of the last games with a badly sprained ankle, can rest easy again now that the Nuggets have won 3 straight and have proved or at east strongly hinted that it was mostly bad luck and defensive laziness that cost them those home losses that briefly made them a losing team. For now, A.I. doesn't have to worry about obnoxious television interviewers asking him whether he thinks he ended up in the same old losing situation after he was traded. The Nuggets don't look like they are going to test going under the win-loss waterline at any time the rest of the season, though you can never say never with this squad.

George Karl is coaching more like a wise and kind grandfather than an aggressive taskmaster type coach (like Larry Brown) who challenges individual players but is sometimes rejected by them as an out of touch pain in the neck. (See Iverson for more details.) The way that Karl is coaching involves emphasizing the importance of team play over individual heroics.

The Karl-KMart battle of last season was due to KMart rebelling against Karl taking this approach to it's limits by limiting his playing time since KMart was not, in Karl's view, playing all the minutes he was getting in a way that was best for the team. Later,the total benching of KMart was due to the perceived disrespect of KMart toward his coach; it was not part of the coaching strategy itself. This season, with all the suspensions, trades, and injuries, Karl has struggled with limited success to get starting lineups and rotations correct, and these are very important components if the "grandfather coach" style is to succeed.

The grandfather kind of coaching can succeed spectacularly (better than the demanding type of coaching) if the team buys into the greater goal of winning and understands and implements team concepts. (See Phil Jackson for more details.) But that kind of coaching can fail with a whimper if players ignore their coach and play only for their pay checks, contracts, and careers. So Karl's coaching style is smart if and only if the players are smart and motivated to help the team as much or more than to help only themselves.

G-F Johnson played for 11 minutes and was 2/4 and 1/3 on 3's for 5 points, and he had 3 assists and 2 steals.

Najera played 19 minutes and was 2/5 and 0/1 on 3's for 4 points and he added 2 assists and a block. Evans played 20 minutes and was 3/5 and 0/2 from the line for 6 points and he led the team in rebounding with 11 boards. He also had a block, a steal, and an assist. Kleiza played for 34 minutes and was 2/9, 0/2 on 3's, and 8/8 from the line for 12 points and he had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Steve Blake played 37 minutes and was 4/11 and 0/3 on 3's for 8 points, and he had the 13 assists and 2 steals.

Nene played 28 minutes and was 10/14 and 4/7 from the line for 24 points, and he added 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

Marcus Camby played 27 minutes and was 4/5 and 0/3 from the line for 8 points, and he also had 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and a block.

The explosive J.R. Smith played for 23 minutes and was 10/18, 6/11 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 28 points, and he also had 4 rebounds and an assist. Fans continue to be advised to at all times remain in their seats or in front of their televisions with their seat belts securely fastened when J.R. is in the game; if you go away for even as little as a minute you can miss 9 points and perhaps the game being won.

Carmelo Anthony played 30 minutes and was 12/25, 0/2 on 3's, and 4/5 from the line for 28 points and he had 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and a block.

The next game will be Wednesday, Feb. 14 in Minneapolis to play the Timberwolves at 6 pm mountain time.