Nuggets Use Defense & Determination to Beat Nets 94-90

The Nets had beaten the Nuggets every time since the turn of the century, but the Nuggets, with new found confidence coming out of their recent strong homestand, as well as a new and much smarter way of playing, turned the Nets back on their court by holding on to a shrinking but never disappearing lead throughout the 4th quarter and coming away with a well-earned win 94-90. It was the first time this season that the Nuggets won without scoring 100 points, after they lost all 21 previous such games. The coaches and fans of the Nuggets have now gotten some positive results from all their pleadings from their favorite team regarding tougher defense, more offensive balance, and reduction of foolish turnovers.

In an excellent display of team coordination, six Nuggets had 5 or more rebounds, and 5 Nuggets had 3 or more assists. It simply doesn't get much better than that with regard to playing as a unified team. The Nuggets had 47 rebounds versus 40 for the Nets, and 8 steals versus 6 for the Nets. In a game where the other team is shooting .400, you don't need heroes on offense, and there weren't any. Melo was no hero because you can usually take it to the bank these days that Melo will get about 30 points, not much less and not much more. He is not an explosive scorer like Kobe Bryant, A.I. and many other great players, but that fact has some thinking that his game is still developing and he will be even better in the coming years.

So maybe Melo, by not being able to or not wanting to try to explode for 40 or 50 as Kobe Bryant has done recently for the Lakers, telegraphed to his team that everybody had to join in a full team effort to turn things around, meaning more defense, more passing, and fewer turnovers. Along with more wins, the side benefit would be getting that cranky old scrooge, George Karl, off everyone's backs. Right now I don't know who is responsible for this; but if I had to bet, I would say it is due to a combination of A.I., Melo, Camby, and the coach telling the team that it was either all for one and one for all, or else the Nuggets were going nowhere except to the land of underachievement and off season blowup. Either the changes mentioned above had to be made now, or else this year's Nuggets will be transformed into something totally different next year. It was put up or wait to be traded time.

Apparently, most of the Nuggets like this team as it is, because they have truly transformed themselves following the miserable loss to the Detroit Pistons in Denver on March 9. The 5 straight wins the Nuggets have are almost beside the point; the outstanding thing is how the Nuggets got those wins. They no longer even try to win by points alone, but now they bring a much more complete and smart approach to the court.

All of a sudden, it's more like a normal basketball team and less like the swashbuckling, devil-may-care Nuggets of earlier this season. It's not just Nene, Camby, and Najera playing solid defense anymore. Iverson, Melo, and Blake have all upgraded their defense somewhat to reduce the number of open looks that the opposing team is getting. In a game where both teams shot .400, the game was to be won by whoever executed down the stretch better and it was the New Nuggets who executed better, whereas the Old Nuggets would have had no chance. And despite a bunch of offensive fouls tonight, which count as turnovers, the total number of turnovers was 16, which is not that bad for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets were just 5/17 on threes, and 3-point specialists Kleiza and J.R. Smith were a combined 1/5. Iverson, who often seems to know all the keys to how a game will be won or lost while he is playing it, which is almost scary when you think of it, went all out to bury some 3's, but came up almost empty with 1/6. Blake made 1/3, but early in the 3rd quarter, SG Vince Carter, the scoring leader for the Nets, fouled Blake on a three-point shot, and Blake made all three free throws. But Melo was needed to try to get the Nuggets the minimum number of three-pointers needed to win this game, and Melo did get 2/3 of them.

Every three point shot Melo makes should get the other teams in the West a little more worried about the Nuggets, because Melo has seen his three point shooting decline somewhat over his 4 seasons in the NBA. Right now, the Nuggets can be outgunned by heavy three point shooting teams like the Rockets and the Suns, but this becomes much less likely if Melo can hit at least two long shots each game, and Kleiza and J.R. Smith combined get five or more of the big ones per game. Throw in one or two from A.I. and Blake and you have enough to avoid being blown out by teams like the Spurs.

The maturing of the Nuggets as a fully functional, balanced, quality team seems with this game to be more reality and less a dream. The Nuggets were given every opportunity to go back to their sloppy, lazy defense style in the fourth quarter, but for the most part they resisted all the temptations and stayed tough, poised, and focused. They kept their eye on the prize, which was a win to start a tough 5-game road trip, instead of playing according to instinct alone, which they used to do as recently as 10 days ago.

The Nuggets have learned that you need to think a little about how you are playing while you are playing, especially in the 4th quarter. Does the situation require a more intense defense, or do you have hot hands out there so you can just run and gun to a win? Should you go inside and get assistance from the referees calling a tight game, or are the referees letting alot of contact go, in which case you have to look for open jumpers? Should you chew some clock or not? Who is hitting on the other team and so needs extra pressure put on him? These are four of the most important considerations for a team that is trying to close out a game they have a subtantial lead in. A team that has learned how to win is a team that has learned how to answer those questions while they are playing. They think about them, answer them, and execute accordingly.

The Nuggets, other than A.I., seemed to know almost nothing about these basketball strategies and tactics until relatively recently. Now all of a sudden, you have a team that seems to know what it is doing out there, and is not just running around trying to show how good they look running around out there. The old Nuggets could be entertaining, and the kids sure got a kick out of them, but I, for one, will be glad if that team comes back as little as possible in the future. If I want to see pirates, I'll go to a movie.

Aside from closing out the game well, there were other signs that the Nuggets finally are playing as a team and playing smart. They started the game well, avoiding falling behind big in the 1st quarter as many road teams do. When the Nets went on a run in the 2nd quarter, the Nuggets did not collapse completely, so that the Net's lead at the half was just 7, 49-42. The biggest Nets lead of the game was just 8 points, at 44-36, with 2 minutes left in the half.

The 3rd quarter was a work of basketball art, and a big sign that a quality team has suddenly appeared in place of the old, out of control Nuggets. The scoring came from every man on the floor, while the defense was energetic and pressing. 13 of the 31 points were from free throws, as the aggressive Nuggets drew 7 fouls in the quarter, including three committed by Vince Carter, who the Nets were depending on to pull out this game, but who had to sit with 3:38 left in the third with 4 fouls. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were getting mostly offensive fouls; Nene, Najera, and Melo were called for these, but the Nets got almost no payoff from them. The Nene offensive foul was followed by Iverson stealing the ball from Kidd and the Najera offensive foul was followed by Kleiza stealing from Nachbar. When the offensive fouls were called, the Nuggets did not try to blame the refs and they did not start losing confidence and their composure. Rather, they continued to play at a high level and were able to steal the ball right back two out of three times. That is called not letting pressure get to you.

After three quarters it was 73-65 Nuggets. In the fourth, the Nuggets were going inside to draw fouls and dishing back out for open threes. They were wisely avoiding shooting alot of midrange jumpers, and they kept the tempo slow in accordance with the fact that no one on either team had a hot scoring hand. The Nets closed to 76-73 Nuggets, only to see Melo bury a three with 8:30 to go. Then the Nets closed to 79-78 Nuggets, only to see Melo feed Najera for a layup +1. A little bit later, with 4:56 to go, the Nuggets lead was back up to 8, at 88-80, on another Melo three. The old Nuggets then reappeared briefly, with Camby and Melo turning it over, and the Nets pulled within 2, to 88-86 Nuggets with 3:15 to go. Then Iverson made a driving layup, Carter got a dunk, Camby missed a jumper, and then Kidd missed a three. Then Nene fed Melo for a drive to the hoop and he layed it in and converted a foul so it was 93-88 Nuggets with 1:38 to go. Nene fouled out by fouling Jefferson, who made both free throws, so it was 93-90 Nuggets with 1:11 to play. In the final minute, Melo missed a jumper and Iverson missed a three, but Carter walked and then, with 9 seconds left, the Nuggets won their hard-earned victory when Carter missed a wide open three. You see, when you work hard, things, including the refs, frequently go your way, even when you are not perfect and have a blown coverage or two late.

Although Carter had 9 rebounds and 7 assists to go with his 29 points on 10/24 shooting from the field, he was affected enough by the game long pesky defense, that he missed a wide open three-pointer with 9 seconds left that most likely would have sent the game into overtime. So the Nuggets worked their tails off all night and affected Carter just enough so that he would miss that wide open three, and that's how they earned their 5th straight win. They remained equal with the Lakers for the 6th spot in the West.

In summary, this game is real evidence that the Nuggets may have finally thought things through enough, worked on weaknesses in practice enough, and pumped themselves up enough before a game to be able to perform what they have learned and worked on. I'm not saying the Nuggets are ever going to be a finely tuned engine like the Spurs or the Mavericks, but I am saying that they don't seem to be an engine that often cuts out and needs to be hauled to the garage these days.

Najera played 22 minutes and was 3/7 and 3/3 from the line for 9 points, and he had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Kleiza played 28 minutes and was 3/8 and 1/4 on 3's for 7 points, and he had 5 rebounds and a steal.

J.R. Smith played 10 minutes and was 0/2 and 0/1 on 3's for 0 points.

Steve Blake played 35 minutes and was 3/9, 1/3 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line for 10 points, and he had 6 assists and 6 rebounds.

Nene played 31 minutes and was 4/6 for 8 points, and he had 11 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, and an assist.

Marcus Camby played 36 minutes and was 1/5 and 8/8 from the line for 10 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 assists, and a steal. Camby's NBA lead in blocks remains very secure, but Bryant's 115 points in two games have put him slightly ahead of Melo now in the race for top scorer.

A.I. played virtually the entire game and was 8/23, 1/6 on 3's, and 3/6 from the line for 20 points, and he added 5 assists, 4 steals, and 5 rebounds.

Melo played 29 minutes and was 10/20, 2/3 on 3's, and 8/12 from the line for 30 points, and he also had 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The next game will be Thursday, March 22 in Chicago to play the Bulls at 6:30 pm mountain time.