Nuggets Play at Very High Level in Win Over Jazz 115-106

The Nuggets took a 31-30 lead with 8 1/2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter when Yakhouba Diawara assisted Linas Kleiza on a three pointer, and led the whole rest of the way, although as usual they could not resist giving their fans a little scare at the end. In the end they soundly defeated the Jazz 115-106, and are in the playoffs with at least the seventh and more likely the sixth seed. The Nuggets had 24 points off fast breaks while the slumping Jazz managed to get only 10.

Since the horrible blowout in Phoenix on March 30 when most had thought that the inconsistent play, the huge roster changes, and the general craziness of the season had caused George Karl to lose his mind, the Nuggets have won 7 straight games. That should teach anyone to avoid making any predictions about this fundamentally unpredictable team. Since the all-star break, the Nuggets have crashed and burned, then flown high and steady, over and over again, in 6-7 game blocks. It appears that this winning streak has more substance behind it, because of the unprecedented offensive balance and attention to detail on defense but do not, if you are a Nuggets fan, make the mistake of making any generalizations or predictions. There is time for one more crash and burn, one that would get them routed out of the playoffs quickly. On the other hand, they might beat the Spurs 4 games to 2 if everything goes right. Just don't make a fool of yourself by making predictions, unless you are a very lucky guesser.

Trust me, I have been riding the Nuggets rollercoaster for months now, and you have to avoid predictions with this team at all costs. There are large negative forces with this team that can overwhelm the skills and basketball intelligence of this team at any time, making anyone who has claimed the Nuggets are on a par with the top teams in the League look like a fool. All you can say by way of a prediction is that watching this team is like watching a science fiction movie such as Star Wars. While their great skills are always with them, the forces of basketball evil, such as soft defense and too many turnovers, are very strong as well. And this is real life basketball and not a movie, and the forces of good do not always win in real life. I guess all teams have basketball good and basketball evil on them, but the Nuggets probably have more good and more evil than anyone, even more so than the Lakers.

The huge skills and new defensive hustle of these Nuggets have now resulted in their clinching at least 7th position in the West, so the Nuggets are going to have at least one playoff series despite all the upheaval, inconsistency in offensive quality, and generally poor defense of this season. Even given the great skills of the Nuggets starters, it took Iverson to put all the pieces together, and he was able to do so just in time, just before the season blew apart. Iverson was like the hero of an action movie with respect to the Nuggets season this year, working and scheming hard while the villains were getting ready to blow things up, and then overcoming the evil just in time before the explosion. Now everyone waits to see if Iverson can engineer something at least as impressive, a first round upset or at least a 7th game against the Spurs or the Suns, with the Spurs being more likely.

The Sixers came to take Allen Iverson for granted, while, after 2001, never being able to include on their team enough weapons to make them a serious contender. The Nuggets have weapons, so you might say that Iverson is now both dangerous and armed. Armed with Marcus Camby who blocks shots as if he was a hockey goalie on defense while avoiding the fouls that almost anyone else would get if they tried to do what he does. Armed with Nene, who with his post surgery knee pains under control, has become more and more of a defensive force inside, while becoming one of the more dependable layup, dunk, and tip-in forwards in the League right now. Even his hook shot and midrange jumper are improving. Armed with Kleiza, who started to see his long range jumpers fall about a month ago and is now often dangerous from that distance. Armed with Blake, who made a series of three-pointers in this game, who is 8 of 19 from long range in April, and whose huge minutes from George Karl, conservative shot selection, and shooting results during March and April have made him a more substantial problem for opponents to deal with. And armed with the Melo machine, whose jump shot has become phenominal this year and who has a virtual lock on 26-32 points a game. And finally there is the secret weapon of J.R. Smith, who George Karl has irrationally turned against and mostly refuses to play very much, but who is the best three point shooter and the best fast break generator on the team, and whose defense has markedly improved in the last six weeks.

These are alot of weapons for A.I., and the fact that he has a blunderbuss coach who does not manage games very well and whose decisions were turning wins into losses until recently is a surprisingly minor problem lately, since that coach loves smart guards who can make decisions on the court which cover up most coaching shortcomings and mistakes. Iverson covers up the mistake of playing Blake for too many minutes by playing the point himself so well, even when Blake is out there, and he partly makes up for the not playing J.R. Smith mistake by finding Kleiza and Blake for open threes, by slashing and crossing over in classic A.I. style to punch holes in defenses and scoring in ways that are kind of like fast breaks even though they are not officially fast breaks, and by making a few three-pointers himself. In fact, with the weapons at his disposal, and with much experience in the task, having to make up for coaching errors might bring out a better Iverson than you would get if the coach was making all the right moves. Iverson is nothing if not someone who responds to adversity well, and he aggressively tries to fill any gap and make up for any shortcoming that exists on the court at any time.

Iverson has learned rapidly and now knows what his new teammates can do and what they can not do, and what they like to do most and want space for, and what they want to do only in rough situations. When you have A.I. running things, it is like having your guitar tuned up by a professional; the music you can make afterwords is sweet indeed.

And the Nuggets were sweet against the Jazz, that is for sure. Melo had 32 points, Camby had 7 blocks and 12 rebounds, and Iverson had 12 assists, all in the same game. All of the Nugget's starters had 13 or more points, and the overall shooting was 38 of 71 made shots for a percentage of .535. With Steve Blake almost unable to miss any threes, making 4 of 5, and with Carmelo Anthony making 2 three pointers for only the sixth time this season, the Nuggets almost shot the lights out from long range despite the absence of J.R. Smith, and were 10 of 21 overall from that distance. Making three pointers against the Nuggets is usually like a walk in the park, and the Jazz made half of theirs, 7 of 14, but if Melo is going to start making some, if Blake is going to maintain his April level, if Kleiza is going to be a threat while having the sense to ramp it down when he is off, and if Iverson is going to be heard from as well, the Nuggets are going to have a walk in the park themselves sometimes against any team which concentrates only on Melo and Nene inside and underestimates the new perimeter shooting potential of the Nuggets.

I can just hear Popovich and the Spurs now: "The Nuggets?, we'll just shut down everything inside and be done with it." That could be a big whopper of a mistake, made even worse whenever the Nuggets get referees who have enough respect for the game to call most of the fouls instead of just some of them. For the second game in a row, the Nuggets drew a huge number of shooting fouls, and backed up their pinpoint shooting with a drubbing of their opponent from the free throw line. With Melo making a perfect dozen of them, the Nuggets made 29 of 33 free throws, while the Jazz made 9 of 13. Melo had 3 offensive fouls called against him and 5 fouls altogether, and Nene had 4 fouls, but the Nuggets as a whole had only 18 fouls, whereas the Jazz had 25. The fifth Melo foul was very late, and the foul trouble cost Melo only about 2 or 3 minutes of playing time.

The Nuggets led 55-48 at the half and then really went to town in the third, with every player on the court hitting shots. The Nuggets were 12 of 19 from the field in the quarter, and 5 of 7 on 3's. By the time Nene dunked it and drew a +1 foul from Matt Harpring with 1:47 left in the 3rd quarter, the Nuggets had built an 86-72 lead. After the Jazz closed the period with a 6-0 run, the Nuggets led 86-78 after 3 quarters.

In the fourth, the Nuggets answered a mini Jazz run that made the score 92-87 with a timeout, with some nice inside defending, and with two long jumpers from Melo, a 20-footer and a 24-foot three. With 3 minutes to play, and the Nuggets leading 107-99, Center Mehmet Okur sunk a three. Nene cleaned up a Blake shot that was blocked by PG Deron Williams, but then Carlos Boozer layed it in, so it was 109-104 Nuggets with 2:16 left. Then Iverson, who attempted six threes when he realized that Kleiza was not on fire and that J.R. Smith was not even present, missed a three, which was followed by a little jumper by Boozer, so now it was 109-106 with 1:40 to play. Then Melo was called for an offensive foul on Harpring, and long suffering Nuggets fans thought they were going to witness another 4th quarter collapse loss, with this one being especially outrageous. But Harpring missed an 18-foot jumper and Camby snagged his 12th rebound off that miss. Then Blake went to Nene, also known as the Bank of Brazil, who was cutting inside, for a layup, so it was 111-106 Nuggets with 50 seconds to go. Matt Harpring then turned it over with 40 seconds left and the Jazz, who most Nuggets fans think of as the Darth Vaders of basketball, were defeated.

Najera played 19 minutes and was 1/4 and 2/2 from the line for 4 points, and he had 3 rebounds and a block. Kleiza played 19 minutes and was 3/8, 2/6 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 2 assists. Blake played 35 minutes and was 5/8, 4/5 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 16 points, and he had 4 assists and 2 steals.

Nene played 36 minutes and was 7/8 and 5/6 from the line for 19 points, and he had 8 rebounds and a steal.

Camby played 38 minutes and was 6/8 and 1/1 from the line for 13 points, and he had 13 rebounds, 7 blocks, 2 steals, and an assist.

A.I. played for virtually the whole game and was 7/16, 2/6 on 3's, and 6/8 from the line for 22 points, and he had 12 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal. His scoring was in the classic A.I. mode, with the two threes and two other long twos sunk.

Melo played for 38 minutes and was 9/19, 2/4 on 3's, and 12/12 from the line for 32 points, and he added 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Melo attempted alot of midrange jumpers in this one with good results.

The next game will be Friday, April 13 in Oklahoma City to play the Hornets at 6 pm mountain time.