Fast Break: Cheapest Win of the Year Nomination

The Nuggets are a cheap team. They kick players to the curb, they have a "playground style" offense that is still playground despite Chauncey Billups because no point guard can totally offset pure chaos, and they play a swarming and fouling defense in the paint while leaving the perimeter largely undefended. I have decided that I really, really dislike teams and franchises like this. I mean, I dislike them even beyond the losses in general and the fooled fans and playoff losses in particular that they generate. There is too much money and too many smart coaches in pro sports to settle for all these cheap approaches to pro basketball.

Tonight I ruined my Boxer Day evening by watching what may be the cheapest victory of the 2008-09 season, when the 76'ers thoroughly outplayed the Nuggets but lost to them in Denver.

How did the 76'ers lose? The cheapest way you can imagine, of course. While the 76'ers were incredibly missing 12 of 30 foul shots, the Nuggets were lucky beyond comprehension as they made 24 of 25 free throws and 15 of 31 threes. Almost no one ever makes those numbers and percentages in combination on either free throws or threes. It is essentially unheard of for a team to make those in both categories in the same game. It's like the 76'ers lost due to a bizarre mathematical fluke.

How many good offensive players did the Nuggets have out there? One, which is what you would expect from a cheap team: J.R. Smith. Two if you count Billups and that is still cheap, sorry.

The Nuggets turned the ball over 22 times versus 16 times for the 76'ers. The 76'ers shot .494 from the field versus .434 for the Nuggets. In at least 97 out of 100 games, those two things alone would guarantee the 76'ers the win. But for some bizarre reason, they could not make free throws. Meanwhile, the Nuggets could not miss free throws.

Honestly, I think this was one of the cheapest wins ever achieved by one of the cheapest franchises of recent years.

Oh well, the harder they come, the harder they fall. Now, I will not be fully satisfied until the Nuggets lose 4-0 in the playoffs next April. The idea that the Nuggets could win a playoff series in this state remains ridiculous and you are wearing huge made in Colorado rose colored glasses if you think the Nuggets are going to get home court advantage or win more than a game in the playoffs. And, as I said, I am really, really rooting for the Nuggets to lose all 4 now.
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Editorial Notes: A "Fast Break" is a short and quick preview of some of the topics that will be explored and proved in more detail in upcoming regular reports. Fast Breaks will often reappear in full reports with only minor reediting, but there will be more important details, more evidence, and more implications and explanations in the full reports. Moreover, there will be topics that never appear in any Fast Break in a full Report.

Fast Breaks are especially useful for the first few days after major news breaks. They are also very useful for people who will seldom or never have enough time to read a full Game/Team/League Report. Fast Breaks are the type of article that more typical web logs feature almost all or all of the time.