A.I. Leads the Nuggets & They Get a Lucky Win over Clippers 96-93

Using Coach George Karl's strategy lock, stock, and barrel, the Nuggets played good defense at times and defeated the Clipper's attempt to take the 7th slot in the West and leave the 8th and last spot to the Nuggets, 96-93. Instead, the Nuggets earned the tie breaker with respect to the Clippers, and they even tied the Lakers for the 6th slot, as both the Nuggets and the Lakers found themselves with records of 40-36. The bipolar Nuggets have continued to take their fans on a big, season long rollercoaster ride. They have now won 5 straight after losing 5 of 6, after winning 5 straight, after losing 6 of 8, all since the all-star break. And the rollercoaster was just as dizzying before the all-star break. So almost every Nuggets fan is dizzy and has been fooled over and over into being too negative after the big losing streaks and too positive after the big winning streaks.

Make no mistake, it was Allen Iverson making the most of George Karl's strategy and not the strategy itself that won this game. The Clippers had the Nuggets beat at several points, but by obsessively double and even triple covering Melo, thus disrespecting the most intelligent and the 1st or 2nd best scoring guard in the NBA, the Clippers handed the keys to A.I., who took them and their 7th slot hopes for a ride. The Clippers apparently did not get the memo informing everybody that Melo has agreed to George Karl's shot limitation strategy, so that Melo is not available anymore to totally dominate the Nuggets scoring with his midrange jumpers, dunks, and free throws, as he did so often before when he lifted the Nuggets out of the NBA cellar. The Clippers were caught living in the past. Iverson, who to Karl's credit is considered untouchable by Karl, and not subject to any limitations in advance, took full advantage of his total freedom from Karl and from the mistaken Clipper defense, and exploded in the fourth quarter and stole the game from the Clippers, who were caught like a deer blinded by the headlights of a car and unable to move from the middle of the road.

The Clippers led 31-26 at the end of the 1st quarter and 52-46 with 10 seconds left in the 2nd but Steve Blake, who is normally a scrooge's best friend offensively, because you can't miss if you don't shoot, did take some shots in this game for a change and made 4 of 8 for 10 points. And he made a 23-foot 3-pointer from the left corner baseline near the halftime buzzer, so it was 52-49 Clippers at the half.

It was 64-64 with 4:26 to go in the 3rd, but PF Elton Brand took control and almost single handedly produced a 10-0 Clipper run, so it was 74-64 with 1:35 left in the 3rd. The Nuggets were turning it over and missing jump shots at the time. Had the Clippers cancelled their obsession on stopping Anthony at that point, and worried more about Iverson, they would have won, but they didn't, and so they paid the price that you have to pay when you are made a total fool by underestimating the Answer. With the Clippers leading 80-72 with 8 1/2 minutes to play, the Nuggets had a possession that combined the Karl approach and the genius of Iverson all in one sequence. After Center Chris Kamen blocked Melo at the Hoop, Kleiza, the only man who has lived in George Karl's doghouse and lived to tell about it, hustled for the rebound, knew enough to not try an out of position shot, and got the ball to Blake, who found the relatively open Iverson out on the center-right perimeter, and A.I. buried the 25-footer for three. Kamen was on a blocking outburst, and finished with 5 blocks, the same number as Camby, who leads the NBA in blocking. And Kamen blocked Kleiza's layup attempt the next time down.

A Blake steal and another A.I. jumper made it 80-77 Clippers with 7:32 to play. Then Camby had a key block on Brand, but Melo, who had 15 in the 1st half but only 8 points in the 2nd as the Clippers persisted in alot of double coverage on him, had an offensive foul and then a missed jumper, whereupon Iverson made a driving layup for 83-80 Clippers with 5:13 to go. After each team missed two jump shots, Iverson buried another three to tie the game with 4 minutes to go. Then PG Jason Hart made a jumper and Melo answered with a driving dunk.

With starting veteran PG Sam Cassell out with back spasms, the Clippers were even more heavily dependent on the heart and soul of their team, the SF Corey Maggette and the PF Elton Brand, then they usually are, and it was Brand who finally attempted to thwart Iverson and take the 7th seed in the West away from the Nuggets. After center Chris Kamen was blocked by Camby, Brand tipped the ball in to make it 87-85 Clippers with 2:29 to go. Then Brand went after the real problem for the Clippers, and got a steal off of Iverson, after which he fed Maggette for the slam dunk and 89-85 Clippers with 2:13 to go. Then George Karl called a timeout to try to ice the Clipper run and maybe talk some strategy, something which he does substantially less often than every opposing coach in every game I can recall.

Kamen fouled Melo, who made both free throws, and then made a turnaround hook shot for 91-87 Clippers with 1:43 to go. Overall though, Kamen, who likes to jump shoot like Camby, finished with just 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting. Next, Iverson made another finger roll on a drive, and then the Clippers used 15 seconds of their shot clock being hounded by the hounds of Denver, before calling a 20-second. But after the timeout it was just more hounding for the Clippers, and the SG Cuttino Mobley jumper with the shot clock expiring was an air ball. Then Iverson made a 16-foot jumper from the outer right corner of the paint, and the Clipper's lead was gone with 57 seconds to go; it was tied at 91 each.

Then Brand cleaned up a Maggette layup by laying it in himself for 93-91 Clippers with 43 seconds left. Then with 25 seconds left, Kleiza missed an ill-advised 16-foot midrange jump shot from the right side about 6 feet from the baseline, and he was now 0 of 8 from the field, and Karl's strategy was up in flames and the Clippers had survived their Melo obsession. But wait, hold the phones. The Kleiza rim clanger ball was touched by a Clipper before it went out of bounds, and the Nuggets had one more chance. Kleiza retired to the deep right corner 4 feet off the baseline and Melo, following that old-time Karl religion, passed to the 0 of 8 Kleiza rather than attempting to drive to the hoop, and in one of the least likely shots of the entire season, Kleiza hit the 24-foot 3-pointer for 94-93 Nuggets with 15 seconds to go. Then with 6 seconds left, in a play right out of George Karl's dreams, Melo stripped Maggette and Camby scooped it up and kicked it out to A.I., who was intentionally fouled and made both free throws. Everyone was now living in a George Karl dream.

So the Clippers, who finished with 18 turnovers while the Nuggets had 17, choked late, were torched by Iverson who they foolishly underestimated, and were the victims of plain old bad luck on the out of bounds off the Kleiza rim clanger. Had they made one fewer mistake, or had they gained possession off the Klieza miss with 25 seconds left and leading by two, they most likely would have won. So this win makes up for one of the many Nuggets wins that officially went down as losses.

Just when you thought things could not get more tricky and confusing with regard to the Nuggets, things have gotten more tricky and even more confusing, as the Nuggets, pushed by their coach and their inconsistent offense, heavy turnovers and 4th quarter collapses, are now starting to think of themselves as a more defensive oriented team. The stronger and stronger play of Nene, the continued skilled defense of Camby, and the decisions of Melo and J.R. to commit defensively, have also pulled the Nuggets in the direction of defending more, defending better, and thinking about defense almost as much as thinking about scoring in a game.

But there is some danger here that the Nuggets will go too far, and sacrifice too many fast breaks and too much scoring in their new found pursuit of the Ben Wallace award. There is no way the basic character of an NBA team can be transformed on the fly during the season. If the Nuggets were to go off the deep end and actually try to win games only with defense, it would almost certainly result in big losses to the top teams of the West. The 75-71 win over Dallas the other night was a big defensive effort, but it was made possible by extra bad shooting on the part of the Mavs, by Avery Johnson having his game strategy blown to pieces by the never seen before style of the Nuggets, and by Nowitzki's failure to adjust on the fly by driving to the hoop more.

As soon as Johnson and the other coaches of the top teams are aware that the Nuggets might try to win on defense, which has probably already happened as we speak, they will have a plan B strategy ready as soon as they see the Nuggets hounding on defense, which will involve more passing to find the open man, more drawing of fouls to get Nene and maybe Melo into foul trouble, and more changes of pace resulting in more fast breaks. If you force Nene, Melo, or Camby to sit with foul trouble, something which has hardly happened at all this season, you will have the Nuggets on the ropes.

But Nuggets fans should enjoy this lucky win that was produced by A.I., but came right out of the dreams of George Karl.

Kleiza played 21 minutes and was 1/8 and 1/3 on 3's for 3 points, and he had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Najera played 21 minutes and was 4/6 and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 3 rebounds and a steal.

Steve Blake played 35 minutes and was 4/10 and 2/5 on 3's for 10 points, and he had 9 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

J.R. Smith played 11 minutes and was 1/3 and 0/2 on 3's for 2 points, and he had 2 rebounds.

Nene played 28 minutes and was 4/4 and 3/4 from the line for 11 points, and he had 7 rebounds, a block, and an assist.

Camby played 37 minutes and was 2/7 for 4 points, and he had 9 rebounds, 5 blocks, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Melo played for virtually the whole game and was 9/18, 1/1 on 3's, and 4/7 from the line for 23 points, and he had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block.

A.I. played for virtually the whole game and was 12/19, 3/4 on 3's, and 7/10 from the line for 34 points, and he also had 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal. A.I. is in the classic scoring A.I. mode these days, meaning that his jump shots are falling seemingly like magic; aside from making 3 of 4 from long range, he made 7 of 12 midrange jumpers.

The next game will be Monday, April 9 in Denver to play the Lakers at 7 pm mountain time.