Nuggets Reject Mavericks 75-71

The Nuggets won only their second game of the year without scoring 100 or more points, 75-71 over the Dallas Mavericks. In fact, by scoring only 75 points, they won in such a way as to allow even a scrooge to be happy. They played one of their most stingy on turnovers games of the season, with many of the turnovers they did have being offensive fouls called by referees who were fully into the scrooge theme themselves. The Nuggets had just 11 turnovers, which is like the Suns having, say, 75 points. Although the Nuggets may never win this way again in our lifetimes, it nonetheless was a confidence booster for them; they won in such a defensive way and with so little scoring that they have seen and appreciated "the other side," what to an offensive minded basketball fan is the dark side of basketball, the defense wins games side.

With the possible exception of Najera, the Nuggets have no players who think that defense alone can win basketball games. Even Camby with his jump shooting and flashes of point guard style is not a pure defensive player, and Reggie Evans would be concentrating on scoring at least as much as rebounding if he felt he could make some shots. And Nene is aggressive and successful to the hoop over and over in games now and in this one, he typically attempted just one shot from more than about a yard away from the basket. The Nuggets were not meant for the dark side, but by winning there, the big pressure put on them by the idea that they can not win without offensive heroics has been reduced big time.

When Dallas' second-leading scorer, Josh Howard, sprained his right ankle going for a loose ball at midcourt with 4:40 left in the first quarter and didn't return, when Dirk Nowitzki was harassed by Nene, Melo, and J.R. Smith, and had 6 turnovers while being held to 22 points on 9/23 shooting, and when the Maverick's third ace scorer, PG-SG Jason Terry, who has developed into one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, missed 5 of 6 threes and finished with 13 points on 6 of 20 shooting, you know it was a very tough night at the office for the team with the best record in the NBA by 5 games over the 2nd place Suns. Howard will return for the next Mavs game. The Mavericks overall were 30 of 83 from the field for .361, one of the very worst outings of the year for them.

The Nuggets had the same affliction, which is so common on the dark side; they couldn't score either, especially in the first half, and they finished just 27 of 76 from the field for a percentage of .355. Misery loved company in this one. Other than George "Scrooge" Karl, there were very few Nuggets fans at the end of the 1st half who were not thinking that the Nuggets were imploding again offensively and were going to get blown out in the 2nd half when the Mavericks finally started hitting their 3-point shots and when the Nuggets started getting torched by some bench player who has his best game of the season. The first half was the Great Depression for the Nuggets, and every one of them was still in single digits at intermission. Iverson and especially Melo missed just about every jumper they attempted; Melo in particular looked like it would be at least a week before he could hit a few, and he made matters worse by missing everything from the same small area on the right side 2-3 feet farther out from his normal midrange jumper. Fans who have been worried about Melo ever since he returned from one of the longest suspensions in NBA history, or at least since George Karl raised the white flag on all run and gun all the time and signalled that he would like for the Nuggets to play more on the dark side, and Melo can keep some of his shooting to himself, thank you, were thinking that the kid had finally cracked and was going to end up with almost nothing offensively and boos from the stands when the final buzzer sounded.

In the third quarter Melo concentrated on defense and Iverson, who is always aware of such things, was aware that Melo was missing everything and so picked his own scoring up out of the gutter, and he also found Nene and Kleiza, the two Nuggets who have improved the most since the start of the season. Without Nene, the Nuggets could not possibly compete on the dark side. At the end of the third quarter, the Nugget's 37-30 halftime deficit had become a 52-51 lead.

J.R. Smith, who played most of the fourth quarter after playing little before it, was playing defense as if it was his calling card but could not, of course, make things easy on the Nuggets by getting a few 3-pointers. With the Nuggets, win or lose, it's always a struggle; they are, after all, America's Grapes of Wrath team from the poor side of town. So while Smith harassed Mavericks shooters in to some misses and had a steal and a block, he struggled his way offensively to exactly 0 points by missing both 3-pointers and both of the layups he tried. Kleiza made 1 of 3 long rangers, and it was that shot that completed the Nugget's improbable recovery from the Great Depression and gave them a one point lead with 3:43 left in the third. But in a game like this, I'm thinking this was just a lucky shot. Kleiza and J.R., the only two players on the Nuggets who have a current 3-point shot, attempted few of them and made fewer. Iverson attempted two with no success, so the Nuggets as a whole made just 1 of 7 threes, a performance that usually will get you routed against any of the best teams in the West. But the Nugget's defensive intensity limited the Maverick's open looks, and with Howard gone and Terry put off his game by the hounding Nuggets, the Mavericks made just 3 of 17 three pointers and lost the game from that miserable result right there.

When Mavericks scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter and took a 57-52 lead with 10:17 left, George "Scrooge" Karl, who by this time was grooving on the miserly scoring, was alive enough to call a time out early in the Mavs run, and thereby prevented Dallas from running away with the game right then and there. After the timeout, A.I. missed a jumper but then settled for a layup after J.R. intercepted a Nowitzki pass. But with Melo missing two more jumpers, and fans thinking he should have been benched awhile back, and the Dallas center Erick Dampier getting a slam and G-F Jerry Stackhouse a three, the Mavericks were up 62-54 with 7:44 to play, and that seemed like a huge lead in a game like this. But Nene, who was enjoying the novelty of an extremely low scoring game where his scoring and rebounding could easily be the difference, was not deterred, and drew a foul from Dirk while he was slamming it home, and then converted the +1 to reduce the Dallas lead to five. After several misses from both squads, Dampier hacked Melo, who made two free throws, and then Nowitzki was called for travelling of all things by the scrooge referees, whereupon Nene sprung into action again and on a finger roll once again drew a foul from Dirk, who was as rattled as he ever gets, which was not very rattled but just enough rattled for the Nuggets to get the win. Once again Nene made the shot despite the foul and converted the free throw, so now it was tied at 62.

When Jason Terry got his only 3-pointer with 4 minutes to play, it offset Melo finally hitting a jumper and Iverson making a couple of free throws, so it was now tied at 67. Melo, now climbing out of his scoring hole, made another turnaround, but this was answered immediately by Nowitzki's jump shot. After A.I. made a fadeaway jumper, Nene was called for fouling Nowitzki, who of course made both free throws, so now it was tied at 69 with 1:51 to go. After Iverson and Camby on the follow could not get it in from point blank range, Nowitzki missed a 15 foot jumper from the left side. That was the miss that broke the Mavericks, and if Nowitzki had gone inside or even out to the perimeter for a second Terry three that I have a hunch would have dropped, this would have been an overtime game or one of those common 1 or 2-point Dallas road wins. But Nowitzki failed to take advantage of the scrooge referees, and took too many midrange and long range jumpers for a game of this type. Nowitzki should attend the A.I. summer camp so that he can learn how to adjust his game on the fly better. So the Mavericks were left with only 8 of 11 free throws, while the Nuggets were referee sponsored for 21 of 27.

After an in your face Camby to Melo alley oop dunk, to make it 73-71 with 1:11 to go, Stackhouse repeated the Nowitzki mistake and was blocked by Camby on a shot he probably should not have been taking anyway, from almost exactly the same spot from which Dirk had just missed. But Dampier was there for the rebound and, of course, Avery Johnson called for time with 45 seconds left. Then Melo completed his recovery from his 3 quarter depression by thinking like a football corner and, correctly realizing that Nowitzki was still thinking jump shot and that the play was not going to go inside to his man, Dampier. Melo also was aware that Stackhouse was open behind him in the left corner. So he ran off of Dampier and intercepted the Nowitzki to Stackhouse pass, which qualifies him to play corner for the Broncos if basketball ever goes out of business.

Then the Nuggets wisely chewed some clock and then settled for an 18-foot Camby jumper, which of course was a miss, because nothing is ever easy for the Nuggets. But Nene, who knew this was a game he could put his stamp on, as described earlier, was there for the rebound that iced the win for the Nuggets. Melo made both free throws after Terry's intentional foul with 9 seconds left. The struggle was over, and the Nuggets had defeated the Mavericks while playing almost like the Spurs.

So the Nuggets got their confidence boosting win on the dark side, George "Scrooge" Karl was as happy as a scrooge can be with the ugly and miserly win, and the fans finally got to see their team win a close game at home versus one of the best teams in the West. Nene came up huge as he intended, and A.I. ran things to the extent it was possible. And Melo finally realized his dream of playing cornerback.

Kleiza played 19 minutes and was 1/3 for 3 points, and he had 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and an assist. Blake played 33 minutes and was 2/5 and 1/2 from the line for 5 points, and he had 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

J.R. Smith played 23 minutes and was 0/4 and 0/2 on 3's for 0 points, and he had 1 steal, 1 block, 1 assist, and 1 rebound.

Nene played for virtually the whole game and was 7/12 and 2/2 from the line for 16 points, and he had 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal.

Camby played 38 minutes and was 1/8 and 3/4 from the line for 5 points, and he had 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 1 steal.

A.I. played for 39 minutes and was 9/23, 0/2 on 3's, and 4/6 from the line for 22 points, and he had 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Melo played for virtually the whole game and was 7/21 and 9/11 from the line for 23 points, and he had 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.

The next game will be tomorrow night, Saturday April 7, in Los Angeles to play the Clippers at 8:30 pm mountain time.