Hey guys… last week I wrote an article reminding readers of the importance of Derek Fisher to the Lakers. This week I’ll ramble about a certain team which has caught my eye.
I spent my Sunday watching basketball on the couch, with ABC’s weekly NBA doubleheader being the highlight of my afternoon. Yes, my Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets. After the game, I found myself looking for rationalizations as to why my team lost…
Hmmmm… we turned the ball over an uncharacteristic amount of times (18), we didn’t shoot the ball well (42.9%), we clanked a bunch of threes (16, to be exact).
…but then, I came to the following conclusion: maybe the Nuggets straight up out-played us!
When Denver traded Carmelo Anthony, conventional wisdom suggested that the Nuggets would fall to the cellar of the NBA and that the Knicks would begin their climb towards title contention. Well, screw conventional wisdom! The Nuggets are on a roll, winning 15 of their 20 games without Anthony. They have done so by locking down on defense and playing a pretty inspiring brand of team-oriented basketball. Take Sunday’s contest with the Lakers, for example: four dudes scored more than 15 points. There were multiple times that a Nugget player would pass up a good shot for a great shot, as my coach would say.
I particularly like the way Danilo Gallinari has been playing. He has a broad range of talents, showing his ability to put the ball down and go to the hole, step back and hit jumpshots, rebound, and distribute the rock (Ehem… admin here, gotta interrupt for a second: Danilo is a scorer, not just a shooter. Thanks for pointing that out, Adam. I think some people are under the impression that he’s strictly a shooter, which is false. Carry on). In my opinion, he was the most valuable asset in the Melo trade (besides Melo, ofcourse).
If the playoffs started today, the Nuggets would face Oklahoma City in the first round. Denver is very capable of winning that series, and even if they don’t, they have done plenty to convince me that they are legitimate. George Karl deserves some votes for Coach of the Year, thats for sure. Until then, we’ll see how things shake out in the Western Conference. It should be one helluva finish!
-Adam Gray
