The Hornets Shoot Poorly and Still Beat The Nuggets, 93-88

The Denver Nuggets were defeated soundly by the New Orleans Hornets 93-88, and are clearly in danger of becoming a losing team if you were to judge based on the first 3 games. The two teams that the Nuggets have beaten so far this season, the Sonics and the Wolves, are a combined 0-5, and both are in serious rebuilding. The Nuggets are, in effect, 0-1, because a veteran team can’t lose to either the Wolves or the Sonics unless it takes the night off, or is having extreme basketball difficulties.

Earlier in the day in Detroit, the football Broncos were destroyed by the Detroit Lions 44-7, so when the Nuggets came up lame it rounded out a miserable Sunday for sports fans in Denver and vicinity. And folks were already in a foul mood from the Rockies being swept 4-0 in the World Series a week or so ago. The all around foul mood caused the boos at the Pepsi Center to start up early, in the second quarter, and they became gradually louder in the second half. By the end of the game, it was harder to tell who was more depressed, the average fan, or the average Nuggets coach. Players don’t get the blues. If they did, they wouldn’t have the total psychological makeup needed to be pro players. Even J.R. Smith does not get the blues.

The Nuggets posed as a grind it out team and got grinded out by the Hornets, who have more than enough discipline and balance to grind you out if you do not come correct.

Both teams came out as cold as ice, missing everything and putting the fans to sleep quickly. The Nuggets even missed their first three layups. Camby, knowing that in the Minnesota game no one besides himself, A.I., and Melo were hitting much of anything, came out ready to work on his jump shot again. But he missed his midrange jumper and all three of his long range jumpers for the night. So Marcus Camby tried and failed to make up for the lack of a shooting guard, and for the lack of J.R. Smith in particular.

That’s what superstars like Camby do: they try to solve problems on their teams by offsetting the mistakes and problems of others. Then, if they fail, they are severely criticized by fans who don’t keep in mind the overall situation. If Camby just goes to the hoop all night, he vastly increases the risk of an injury, and the Nuggets are a Camby injury away from being burnt toast, until Kenyon Martin is cleared to play 30+ minutes a game, which will not be until at least March, and until Nene is back up to speed, and/or until J.R. Smith finally gets to play. Camby made enough jump shots last year to justify an occasional game where he tries some. And he just made 2/5 jumpers along with 21 rebounds and 5 blocks two nights ago in Minneapolis. Now if Bobby Jones, Von Wafer or, especially, J.R. Smith were playing, Camby could cut way back on his jumpers. But with the GK situation the way it is, it’s not a bad idea that he take some jump shots most games. Oh, and before I leave the subject of Camby, you should know he pulled down 21 boards for the second game in a row.

The Hornets, who achieved an accuracy of almost 54% on their two first games, started 2/19 from the floor, and the Nuggets started 1/8. At one point early in the second quarter, the starting front for the Hornets: SF Peja Stojakovic, C Tyson Chandler, and PF David West, were a combined 0/15. At the end of the dismal 1st quarter, with a three from A.I. being the only highlight, the Nuggets led, but not by as much as they should have, by 21-14.

For the game, Iverson made 2/6 threes, but Melo missed two and the Nuggets overall were only 4/18 (.222). Meanwhile, the Hornets had a decent night from beyond the arc; they finished 8/24 (.333) from long range. Several of those 8 threes were wide open blown coverage types of shots. The Nuggets giving up easy threes is nothing out of ordinary. In the second half, the Hornets took advantage of several instances where the Nuggets were using, primarily, the “stand around defense,” a defense I hear that lottery teams have been successful with for many years now. For the game, the Hornets made 33/86 shots (.384) and the Nuggets made 33/90 (.367). But a defensive struggle this was not; neither team played good or great defense. The game was decided by which team had the least pathetic offensive strategy on a night when only a couple of Hornets, SG Morris Peterson and PG Bobby Jackson, were pretty much the only two players on the court hitting much of anything.

The Nuggets were leading 40-34 with about 4 minutes to play in the half, when the bottom fell out. The Hornets went on a 9-0 run, with the Nugget’s coach failing to call a time out until the Nuggets were losing 43-40 after 4 straight Hornets scores. The Nuggets were turning it over and looking like a team that doesn’t have enough plays to run on offense. But with SF Peja Stojakovic just 0/8, and the Hornets as a whole just 17/46 (.370), the Nuggets were leading by a point at the half, 49-48.

The Nuggets came out with no real plan to win in the 2nd half, and the fans kept themselves awake by increasing the volume on their booing. A PF David West reverse layup made it 60-52 Hornets with 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The Hornets then maintained their 4-10 point lead over the Nuggets for the rest of the quarter, and it was 73-69 Hornets at the end of the 3rd. For the game, the Nuggets had only 18 assists, while the Hornets had 22. Isolation plays only take you so far, and Melo did not get anywhere near enough touches in the second half.

In the 4th quarter, the Nuggets continued to be out-hustled by a team with a very balanced attack, and one that got a lot of help from their reserves in this one, especially PG Bobby Jackson, who scored 13 points on 5/10 shooting, and GF Rasual Butler, who scored 11 points on 4/7 shooting, with 3/5 of that from 3-point land. Altogether, the Hornets second team outscored the Nuggets second team 32-23. Keep in mind that if the only scores that counted were scores by starters, the Nuggets would win at least 65 games and easily make the West Conference final.

A Nene assisted Iverson three with 4:18 left in the game reduced the Hornets lead to 6 points, but then Butler hit one of his threes for 89-80 New Orleans with 3:20 left. The Nuggets did close to 90-88 Hornets with 46 seconds left, but then an inexperienced referee called a foul on Nene, which was incidental minor contact by Nene on David West, and that was all she wrote. It was somehow fitting that a lame call ended the lame excuse of an offensive game for the Nuggets. Maybe you deserve a lame referee if you have a lame offense.

The Nuggets now have 3 injured point guards, Chucky Atkins, Anthony Carter, and now Mike Wilks, who went to the locker room midway through the 2nd quarter with a severe groin strain. Carter is due back in a week or two, but the starter Atkins is not due back until about mid December. We don’t know about Wilks yet, but don’t be surprised if you see Melo playing the point a little in New York on Tuesday night.

The Nuggets also have Nene, who decided to use the last 3 months of the year to get into condition, apparently using a Brazilian calendar which had the NBA season starting in January rather than December. They have Camby at 33 years old and Iverson at almost 32 ½ and Najera at almost 31 ½ and none of them are getting any younger. Chucky Atkins, at 33 years old, and Anthony Carter, at 32, are relatively slow point guards anyway, so don’t expect the Nuggets to become lightning fast when they return.

George Karl continues to contend the Nuggets are a running team, but the Nuggets are short several runners to be only that now. And it was George Karl himself who yanked J.R. Smith, a true runner if there ever was one, out of the rotation completely from time to time last March and April, and then benched him in the playoffs, which led to one of the most pathetic game fives that a “running team” living off of possessions and points ever had in a playoff series, with the Nuggets scoring just 78 points and getting worn out just with that small output. The last time I was that upset about a basketball disaster was 7 years earlier, in 2000, when the Portland Trailblazers blew a 15 point 4th quarter lead in game 7 of the West finals and lost to the Lakers. I had to stop myself from taking a hammer to my television set. Knowing that I would end up with a ruined television if I covered game 5 of the Nuggets-Spurs series earlier this year, I boycotted it. I knew the Nuggets were going to be pathetic. I wasn’t going to sacrifice a television simply because the Nuggets can’t come up with a winning strategy or two.

At this point, it seems that somebody is secretly conspiring to turn the Nuggets into much more of a set play team, knowing that if he admits this in public the Denver sports press will eat him alive. Or else somebody can’t decide what the hell he wants to do on offense. Everyone at this point knows who that somebody is; the initials are GK. He and his assistants need to get up off their rear ends and get the team to run some set half court plays, including some post plays with Camby, Melo and Nene now, and with Kenyon Martin later on, if they want to avoid getting out-maneuvered time and time again this season by middle of the pack teams such as New Orleans, and utterly dismantled by high quality and well coached teams such as Houston, San Antonio, and Utah.

It’s not an either or. All “half court” teams run to one extent or another, and all “running teams,” (except for the Nuggets!) run at least a few set plays in what is known as a “half court offense.” GK is trying to have it both ways when he keeps J.R. Smith out of the rotation, gives trivial minutes to Bobby Jones, and no minutes at all to Von Wafer, yet still insists that the Nuggets are a running team. You have to have at least 4 or 5 runners to be a running team, George. You have them, but you won’t use them. So you do not have a running team. And it’s no surprise that the Hornets, who are by no means the fastest team themselves, outscored the Nuggets on fast breaks 22-11 on their own home court. Running team? I don’t think so.

If you are afraid to play the runners, GK, then you and your coaches need to admit the truth and develop some set plays as soon as possible. Leave your running team fantasy behind and do something, damn it. Fans in Denver don’t want to be left with just that funny game with the ice and the penalty boxes. You know, that game where they have two guys dressed up like Jason from the horror movie standing in front of those funny looking nets? That game.

We need to revamp the offense? With what's his name at the helm? Lord have mercy on us.

Diawara played 20 minutes and was 2/5 and 1/2 on 3’s for 5 points, and he had 4 rebounds. Najera played 20 minutes and was 1/4 and 0/2 on 3’s for 2 points, and he had 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist. Kleiza played 24 minutes and was 3/7, 1/5 on 3’s, and 2/2 from the line for 9 points, and he had 3 rebounds.

Nene played 21 minutes and was 4/6, 0/1 on 3’s, and 4/6 from the line for 12 points, and he had 6 rebounds, 2 assists, a block, and a steal.

Martin played 22 minutes and was 3/7 and 3/4 from the line for 9 points, and he had 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, and a steal.

Camby played 34 minutes and was 4/11 for 8 points. He also had 21 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

Melo played 41 minutes and was 8/24, 0/2 on 3’s, and 4/6 from the line for 20 points, and he had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

A.I. played for virtually the whole game and was 8/25, 2/6 on 3’s, and 5/6 from the line for 23 points, and he had 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal.

The next game will be Tuesday, November 6 in New York to play the Knicks at 5:30 pm mountain time. Neither team will be playing on back to back nights, so both teams should be well rested.