Sonics Shoot Past Nuggets 100-97

If your team shoots .409 and the other team shoots .548, it is extremely difficult to come out a winner. The Sonics, despite having 20 turnovers to just 10 for the Nuggets (Melo and A.I. had 5 each and no other Nugget had a turnover) and despite playing without one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, Ray Allen, who is gone for the rest of the season due to left ankle surgery, sharp shooted their way to a close victory over the Nuggets, 100-97. Over the last two weeks, the Nuggets were connecting on a high percentage of shots themselves, and came up with actual or virtual wins over the Lakers, the Suns, the Bulls, the Cavaliers, and the Pistons. But when it came time to play a team that could have been beaten with almost any old shooting, the Nuggets, with the exception of Melo, could not deliver anything other than really bad shooting.

Kleiza missed all four 3-pointers he attempted, and was 1-8 on jumpers overall. In total, he was 4/11, after you add in his 2 layups and 1 dunk. Camby made 4/10 of his jumpers, which is ok, but he did not get a single layup or dunk to go with those, which is not very ok for a center. Iverson was only 3/12 on jumpers and 4/13 overall.

Although J.R. Smith made 2 of 6 3-pointers, which is ok, he missed 3 other shots, which is not very ok. Melo missed all three of the 3-pointers he attempted. Overall, the Nuggets were 4/18 on 3-pointers, whereas the Sonics, a good 3-point shooting team that was great from long range in this game, were a deadly 8/16. The PG Earl Watson was 3/4 and the SF Rashard Lewis was 3/8 from beyond the arc.

Adding insult to the injury of this new Denver loss to a losing team at home was the fact that, while the Nuggets were rested, the Sonics had just played a road game the night before in Minnesota where, led by 35 points from Lewis, they came back from a 25 point deficit to win 114-106. Then the very same Lewis, less than 24 hours later, could be observed by the Nuggets fans running all over the defense of Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets and scoring every which way except with desperation heaves from his own end, none of which were needed. Aside from hitting the 3/8 threes, he hit on a long two-pointer, 3/4 midrange jumpers, and did additional damage at the hoop and from the free throw line. When the buzzer sounded on another Nuggets loss to a lottery team at home, Lewis overall had scored 33 points on 11/21 shooting, and he had 10 rebounds. So Lewis had 68 points total in two road wins played on two straight nights.

The small forward of the Nuggets, which is Melo, was 12/22 for 28 points. Melo's three-point shot has all but disappeared now, which is a mystery considering his midrange and short range jump shooting has been very good this year. This was the kind of game custom made for Melo to win it for his team either by burying some threes or by taking a few more shots than usual, but he missed all the threes and was unable or unwilling to get the extra shots that might have won this game. Indeed, when the game was on the line, Melo did as he was instructed to do by his coach and not what he would have done as recently as six weeks ago. With a few seconds left and Seattle leading 99-97, Melo passed out to Kleiza for him to attempt a relatively open 3-pointer, rather than attempting to tie it by driving to the hoop or by shooting a short jumper. Like in the great majority of cases this season, the theory of George Karl failed in real life, as Kleiza missed and Melo was left with 5 fewer points than the opposing small forward.

Melo has had just two games where he scored 35 or more points out of the 33games he has played since returning from the suspension on January 22, and none at all since February 23. Prior to the suspension, Melo had 35 or more points in 7 of those 22 games. So in accordance with instructions from the Coach, Melo has downshifted his attempts and scoring. Aside from some superficial changes in the Nuggets play, such as some additional passing and the resulting longer possessions, the main result of the cut back in Melo's shooting has been more losses. Prior to the suspensions, when Melo was shooting according to his instincts, the Nuggets were 13-9. Since the suspensions were over, and since Melo has been instructed to keep his shots down by Karl, the Nuggets are 15-18. It looks to me that a winning team has been turned into a losing team with the "get Melo to reduce his scoring so that he can do other stuff" strategy.

And certainly, Melo is under no pressure at all anymore to win a game at the end; as long as there is an open player around, he can pass to him in accordance with the coach's instructions and not worry about whether he could have won the game, or at least sent it into overtime, himself. My view is that unless Melo is double covered or badly positioned, he should take the shot himself. Moreover, I don't think Melo should automatically follow to the last detail everything George Karl or any other coach says. It is the mark of a superstar to take charge of a game on the line situation and win it one way or the other, not to be a slave to instructions from the coach.

Lewis and the Sonic's Center Nick Collison out rebounded Camby and Nene 23-20, and the Sonics overall out rebounded the Nuggets 43-37. The Nuggets would have lost by more were it not for the fact that the Sonics had 23 fouls called against them versus just 17 called against the Nuggets. However, the Nuggets made only 21/29 free throws, or .724 of them, missing just enough of those to cost them the win. The top teams in the NBA make about 80% of their free throws, whereas the Nuggets make about 75% of theirs. It could be worse, though. The worst free throw shooters, which are the Cavaliers, the Magic, and the Heat (due to O'Neal) make 70% or even fewer of their free throws.

It has come to my attention that George Karl's son is having a problem with cancer and that this may partly explain Karl's struggles in coaching the complicated Nuggets this season. Not knowing any details about the situation other than that, I can't say whether Karl has been preoccupied or not. The correct course of action for any important professional who has a contract, though, is to take a leave of absence when personal issues interfere with the performance of his or her duties.

So what you had in this game is the Nuggets revealed for what they really are right now: a team that can win only when things go right for several individual players at once. The Nuggets are unable to win by will and determination. When you are in danger of not even making the playoffs, and you lose to a lottery team in one of your last home games of the season, there is something fundamentally wrong. I must conclude that the recent win streak was more the result of the sum of some good individual player games rather than the result of good coaching, intelligent basketball, will to win, and coordinated team play.

The Nuggets have Iverson as their leader, but he is still too new on the team to inspire anyone else to explode in a game. Either that or there are hardly any Nuggets who really and truly want to make a run in the playoffs this year. If a Nugget, such as Kleiza, does explode in a game, it seems to be more or less an accident, and not something that was caused either by his being extra motivated by the coaching staff or by any of the players. More broadly, what this means is that the Nuggets, with the exception of A.I. and Melo, are still functioning as a bunch of individual players with their own individual game plans, rather than as a highly coordinated team. Not only has the extra passing ordered by George Karl not produced in itself much extra scoring, it seems to be only covering up a little the real Nuggets who, other than A.I. and Melo, are playing more for themselves than for the team. Virtually no team like that has ever advanced beyond the 1st round of the playoffs, and the only reason teams like this even get into the playoffs is because more than half the teams in the NBA make it into the playoffs.

On the other hand, it is possible that the Nuggets may be more of a team than was shown in this game. If so, the only other possible explanation as to why the Nuggets lost this game is that the Nuggets took after their coach and played afraid to lose rather than wanting to win. When you play to avoid losing, you are more likely to lose than if you play to win.

Whichever explanation of how the Nuggets could possibly have lost to the Sonics in Denver is correct, there is this blues, jazz, and rock and roll song from 1973 by Dr. John of New Orleans that summarizes the Nuggets this year. Here are the lyrics and you will see what I mean:

Dr. John Lyrics - Right Place Wrong Time Lyrics:

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd of said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place
And I'm wondering what it's good for

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a bad place
But I'm having such a good time
I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a little talking to this time

Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure this insecurity
I been in the wrong place
But it must have been the right time
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong song
I been in the right vein
But it seems like the wrong arm
I been in the right world
But it seems wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong

Slipping, dodging ,sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd have said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I'd a took the right road
But I must have took a wrong turn
Would have made the right move
But I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place
And I wonder what it's bad for

Dr. John, 1973

Reggie Evans played 20 minutes and was 2/4 and 1/2 from the line for 5 points, and he had 7 rebounds. Blake played 28 minutes and was 3/8 and 1/2 on 3's for 7 points, and he had 5 assists, a steal, and a rebound. Linas Kleiza played for 25 minutes and was 4/11, 0/4 on 3's, and 3/3 from the line for 11 points, and he had 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

J.R. Smith played 20 minutes and was 2/9 and 2/6 on 3's for 6 points, and he had 3 rebounds and an assist.

Nene played 35 minutes and was 5/9 and 7/8 from the line for 17 points, and he also had 13 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist.

Camby played 32 minutes and was 4/12 and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 7 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist.

A.I. played 37 minutes and was 4/13, 1/3 on 3's, and 5/8 from the line for 14 points, and he added 8 assists, a steal, and a rebound.

Melo played 38 minutes and was 12/22, 0/3 on 3's, and 4/6 from the line for 28 points, and he also had 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds.

The next game will be Friday, March 30 in Phoenix to play the Suns at 8 pm mountain time.

This report was delayed 36 hours due to an emergency forcing me to go out of town.