The Starting Lineup: Nuggets Get Predictable Win In Unpredictable Way

Arron Afflalo scored a career-high 32 points as the Nuggets beat the Kings.  A foreseeable one-line recap indeed… but how it came to be?  Complete madness.  With just 15 seconds to go in regulation, Denver trailed by three and Sacramento had the ball.  The Nuggets were forced to foul, obviously, and even though Isiah Thomas made just one of two, he made it a two-possession game… and Denver had but one timeout left.  They used it, and Arron Afflalo buried an open three after a well-executed play.  Thomas to the line again.  He made both this time, and Denver was faced with going the length of the court and scoring three points in just seven seconds.  Ty Lawson brought the ball up the floor, but instead of pulling up himself he handed off to Afflalo… who probably should’ve given it back, or passed it on to Corey Brewer.  Instead, he dribbled in a little circle and hoisted a fading 30-footer that was going to fall short whether Marcus Thornton fouled him or not.  Fortunately for the Nuggets, Thornton whacked him on the arm anyway.  Seeing as I told you the Nuggets won I think it’s pretty clear what happened at the stripe.  Early in overtime, Denver did the exact same things that allowed the Kings to compete in regulation: they gave up offensive boards and easy buckets.  Not surprisingly, they found themselves down four once again, although there were a few more minutes left to catch up this time around.  After Kenneth Faried (20/12, beast)  grabbed an offensive board of his own and nailed a pair of FTs to make it 116-114 with about a minute to go, Denver got a much-needed stop followed by an Andre Miller and-one layup… except Monty McCutchen called a charge (thanks to Scott Hastings, I will never forget the name Monty McCutchen).  Tyreke Evans followed up the bad call with a score, of course, forcing Denver to come up with one more miracle.

Can anyone tell me who–other than Ty Lawson–is the last person to make the game-winning basket on consecutive nights?  That’s an actual question… I don’t know the answer.

Lost in all of the Nuggets/Kings craziness was George Karl’s awesomely-accurate pregame comment on Isiah Thomas.  Supposedly, Karl told a reporter that Isiah has brought some “common sense” to the game.  I love it, ’cause common sense isn’t so common, especially not on basketball courts in Sacramento.

I think the Mavericks need to watch a little film of their Championship run. I seem to recall some big German dude named Dirk being fairly reliable in the clutch.  I don’t remember seeing a short guy in tall socks taking all the shots in game-deciding situations.  For some reason… that’s what happened last night.  Down one with 25 seconds left, Jason Terry dribbled the air out of the ball before getting stuffed by Kendrick Perkins.  Down two with 10 seconds left, Terry got himself caught in the corner, passed to Jason Kidd (who wasn’t even looking at the basket, or positioned in front of the backboard), got the ball back, and missed.  I can’t really even describe how discombobulated it all looked… just watch the last 30 seconds.  Terry kind of drew Dirk’s man on both occasions and never even considered passing him the ball.  I suppose some defensive credit does have to be given to–it pains me to finish this sentence–Kendrick Perkins.  Maybe Terry was thinking he could score on the big oaf.  Turns out he couldn’t.

I was gonna watch Indiana play Chicago. I knew it was on at the same time as the Clippers and the T-Wolves, but I was gonna watch it anyway.  Pekovic wasn’t playing, and the Clippers have been disappointing me left and right.  Despite my intentions, I got sucked into Wolves/Clippers ’cause Kevin Love and Blake Griffin were beasting.  Turns out that I didn’t miss much of anything in Chicago (92-71, Bulls), but Chris Paul missed a little something in Minnesota–the freethrow that would’ve sent the game to overtime, to be specific.  Although the Clipps did manage to deliver this gem, they put out yet another lackluster effort in both the style and substance departments.  Once again, single-digit points on the break and way too many threes (f@cking 5-23).  Anyway, f@ck the Clippers…

…Kevin Love had 39 points and 17 rebounds. He began the game nailing tres like he was still in Portland, then he dismantled LA in the paint throughout the fourth quarter.  Considering when and where he’s put in his work this season (so many huge crunch-time performances in important games against good teams)… I’ve got Kevin Love pretty high on my list of candidates if I’m an MVP voter.  I mean, as long as this team is in the playoff race, I don’t see how Love isn’t in the MVP race.  It’s not just the numbers… although the man is a walking 20/10, he’s so much more than that.  His last two games have got to be two of the finest consecutive performances of the entire season by any player.  Think about it.  To go on the road and hang 42 on one of the teams that’s gonna have to miss the postseason in order for Wolves to make it… that’s f@cking huge.  Then he comes home two nights later and pours in 39 more against a top team in the Conference, even dominating in late-game iso situations against an elite defender in Kenyon Martin.  That’s not even touching on the fact that he just outplayed LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, the two young power forwards who, along with Love, have set the standard.  It’s not touching on the fact that he scored 39 without Nikola Pekovic’s presence, either (Pekovic draws a lot of attention in the paint, but the Clippers weren’t forced to pay any attention to Darko Milicic).  Oh, and how about how he’s had these two games during Rubio’s slump of all slumps?  Everyone knows who’s doing it for the T-Wolves right now, yet they can’t do a damn thing about Kevin f@cking Love.  This Minnesota team is going to be pure excellence, people… they just need experience and a shooting guard.

Brandon Jennings is averaging over 31 PPG in his last three. He was good for 33 last night, including a lot of key baskets as the Bucks came back from 10 down to beat the Sixers 97-93.  Ideally, you’d like to see Jennings shoot better than 40.7% from the floor.  However, considering the 2+ additional shots he’s taking this season, a near 2% increase from the floor is pretty significant.  Jennings has definitely made strides in ’11/12, and if you haven’t taken notice, please do so.

Dwight Howard put 36 points on the Craptors in a 92-88 Magic victory.  He made 16 of his 20 shots, but only 4 of 14 freethrows.  Yeah, the 4-14 mark would even make Ben Wallace cringe, but you’ve got to love the involvement of the big man.  I scanned the play-by-play and couldn’t find any extended stretch where Dwight got lost amidst a barrage of three-point bombs.  Why doesn’t Orlando play (offense) like this every night?

The NBA will soon discuss the possibility of putting ads on jerseys. If you’ve ever watched a Euroleague game you know exactly the kind of thing they will be considering here.  While I understand that slapping some brand’s logo on a team’s jersey would bring the league large sums of money, I really hope we don’t have to see it happen.  Imagine the front of Paul Pierce’s jersey reading something other than “Boston” or “Celtics.”  I don’t think there’s anything I like about that picture.

Box Score Observations: The Warriors beat the Wizards 41-24 in the first quarter, and 120-100 in the game.  Washington was able to win the second quarter by three.  Marcus Camby, who turns 38 this month, grabbed 16 rebounds as the Blazers exterminated the Hornets.  The Utah Jazz won a road game!  They beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland despite 22/4/4 from Kyrie Irving.  Gordon Hayward responded well to being benched… he scored 23 points.