The Denver Nuggets appear to be a sinking ship. In two consecutive games they’ve failed to play with a sense of urgency, resulting in a pair of blowout losses to teams with whom they’re fighting for their playoff lives. Friday night’s loss to division-rival Utah was particularly costly because it made their season series 1-2, and there’s no fourth game this season due to the lockout. The season series with Minnesota is still up in the air with one game remaining. Currently sitting in 9th place (tied for 7th, but 9th due to an 0-1 record against Houston), the Nuggs will head out on the road to play six of their next seven. The only home game in the mix is a match up with Phoenix, and that’s not gonna be any cake walk. Denver’s season may very well come down to a home-and-home with Houston on the 15th and 16th of April. If the Nuggets want to take the series/tie breaker they need to win both games. They’re gonna need all the tie breakers they can get, too, ’cause they play 11 of their last 17 on the road, and against teams like Oklahoma City, Chicago, LA (Lakers), and Orlando. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they miss the playoffs. Even taking injuries into consideration, that’s rather disappointing in the short term considering where they were in January.
Remember when Boston traded Kendrick Perkins? Everyone was all up in arms due to Perkins’ popularity with his teammates and the supposed intangibles that he brought to both the floor and the locker room. While I’m sure this effected chemistry to an extent, I don’t think it destroyed the Boston Celtics… I think father time was most responsible for that. However, I’m surprised people aren’t bringing up the same type of theory when it comes to the Nene trade. This is a guy who had played his entire 10-year career with the Nuggets, making him one of the longest-tenured players in the league. He was there to catch the end of the pre-Carmelo era, he was there for the Conference Finals run, and he had just been brought back to anchor the rebuilding process. He and long-time coach George Karl had a strong bond due in part to their struggles with cancer, and he seemed to be a high-character guy who was popular with his teammates. He was never the emotional kind of player that Perkins is, but he’s far better and had been with his team for a lot longer. Nene was something of a cornerstone for a whole bunch of Nuggets teams, and although he may never have been considered the soul of the team, maybe he was more that guy than we give him credit for being. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
I must admit, Javale McGee has played well for the Nuggets. I’ve watched two of his three games and have yet to see him force a stupid shot or try to dunk from the three-point line. He’s already got a game-winner under his belt which forced him to show restraint (remember, that tip dunk could’ve very easily been offensive interference had he not held up for a moment), and he’s averaging 13/8 with 2 blocks a night. Over the past two games he’s been one of the few Nuggets who has shown up with his hard hat and his lunch pail. While his teammates lagged, McGee hustled his way to 13 points and 11 boards yesterday. He had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a standout third quarter. Unfortunately, it was he and Kenneth Faried vs the world. Everyone else was awful.
One observation on the Timberwolves: Wayne Ellington. Why does he not play more? I watch the T-Wolves on a regular basis, and I’ve always gotten the feeling that when Ellington gets opportunities he never fails to take advantage of them. I took a look back at his game log to see if this feeling has any basis, and it turns out that it certainly does. Check this out… Wayne Ellington has played in 38 games this season, averaging 17 minutes per. He averages about 5 PPG on 36% from downtown. Nothing to write home about. However, when Ellington plays more than 20 minutes (14 games) his scoring average becomes 12.2 PPG and his three-point percentage goes up to 43% (22-51). Aside from Kevin Love, Ellington is probably the best outside shooter on the team. The Wolves attempt the 6th most threes in the league, but only shoot the 18th-best percentage. Martell Webster hasn’t proven to be a very effective player… so maybe more of Ellington and his reliable stroke could help the team improve from the outside. He had a season-high 17 points in yesterday’s victory–the third straight game in which he’s played 20+ minutes. Maybe Rick Adelman’s already caught on.
The entire Western Conference playoff field should send gift baskets to the Atlanta Hawks. On the third night of a back-to-back-to-back, Joe Johnson and the Birds outlasted the Jazz in a quadruple-overtime marathon that occupied the entirety of my Sunday evening. It was the first NBA game to go into four OTs since 1997, making it the first that I’d ever seen. I’m thrilled to have missed not a single moment of the battle. Anyway, the gift baskets… see, the Jazz had won seven in a row and appear to be hitting their stride at the right time. Had they successfully come back from a 15-point halftime deficit and won this game they’d be within a half game of the Clippers for home-court advantage in the first round. Let me assure you that teams absolutely DO NOT want to see Utah in Salt Lake City. Their fourth-place hopes took a big blow last night, but if they manage to pull it out I’d put all my money on the five seed going down.
Before I move on, let me talk a little more about that 4OT game. The Jazz, although on the road, had a huge advantage here. While the Hawks were playing their third game in as many nights, Paul Millsap and friends had just had a rare day off. Surprisingly, it was Utah that came out of the gate looking extremely sluggish. They had just 4 assists in the first half and clunked 18 of 21 shots from outside the paint. Give them credit for fighting back from 15 down and taking the game to four OTs, but they could’ve picked up a huge victory here had they not dug the hole so deep. Aside from Joe Johnson (37 PTS), the game’s biggest offensive performers had been Al Jefferson (28 PTS, 17 REB) and Paul Millsap (25 PTS, 13 REB). Both of them fouled out, and Utah’s attack lacked direction from there. Also, as many big plays as Al Jefferson made… he was visibly fatigued by the end of regulation, and when he fouled out after 52 minutes I imagine they had to provide him oxygen on the sideline. He airballed a pair of shots that could’ve brought the game to an end much earlier, and one had to wonder what the hell he was doing on Saturday night.
I suppose ^^that helps to explain the sluggish start. The entire starting lineup was probably hungover.
What a tale of two halves that 4OT game was for the erratic Josh Smith. He finished the first two quarters with five assists, driving Atlanta’s offense in transition. He’d also scored 15 points on 5-12 and came up with 5 rebounds. I’d say he was ATL’s best player in a convincing first-half effort. By the end of the game he was fouled out with just 22 points on 9-26, though. He missed all 7 shots he launched from outside the lane in the second half, and he didn’t really do anything of note beyond the second quarter. After the game, I visited the InsideHoops forums. The discussion taking place? Josh Smith should make first-team All-NBA. To quote a young Jay-Z, “do you fools listen to music watch basketball or do you just skim through it?”
Not surprisingly, the Grizzlies were hungrier than the LA Lakers on Sunday night. I say it’s not surprising because, well, you remember the last meeting between these two teams… it was only a week or so ago, and there’s a legitimate argument to be made that one or more of the officials had his life savings on the game. Anyway, Tony Allen led the charge in the 102-96 triumph with his constant hustle. He chipped in 12 points on 5-8, but his defense on Kobe Bryant was the game’s primary contribution. Bryant went for just 18 points on 15 shots while dishing only 3 assists to 3 turnovers. Allen definitely had Kobe frustrated… enough to punch a chair and get himself benched for a short stretch of the latter part of the fourth quarter. Thank you Mike Brown for keeping the game interesting after the Grizzlies pretty much had it in hand. The Lakers actually performed better with Bryant off the floor (+7) than they did with him on the floor (-13) in that melodramatic fourth period. As they appeared to be making a bit of a run immediately after Kobe left the floor, ESPN would pan to a shot of Bryant after every Laker basket. It was f@cking gold, because he didn’t look pleased at all. Call me a hater, but I’m saying Kobe didn’t even want the Lakers to win the game at that point. Seriously. He angrily slouched at the end of the bench and failed to find enough team spirit in his heart to clap his hands even one damn time. Meanwhile, Andrew Bynum had another 30-point night on just 16 shots. Just reporting the facts.
Mike Conley deserves more credit. People seem to have noticed that Memphis’s offense gets pretty rough when he leaves the floor, as evidenced by their prayer of a signing that is the Gilbert Arenas experiment. I never hear anything about how he leads the league in steals (2.4), though. While Tony Allen is obviously the best man defender on the squad, Conley’s thievery helps to initiate the Grizzlies’ transition offense, which ranks 4th in the NBA. At 7.3 assists per game, Conley is also the engine that drives the fast break. I recall being a little skeptical after Memphis signed Conley to a five-year, $45 million deal in 2010, and one well-known blogger by the name of Matt Moore went as far as to call it “the worst contract of 2010″ and claimed that the Grizzlies had just committed “franchise suicide.” He also called the deal “worse than drafting Hasheem Thabeet,” and “worse than trading Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown.” Man… hindsight is 20-20, and harsh criticism of Mike Conley (and the Grizzlies) was completely accepted in 2010… but I imagine this Matt Moore fellow wishes that little article could be wiped clean off of the internet. You really should read it before he finds a way to make that happen. The irony of the “worse than trading Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown” part cracks me up. You’re right, Matt, it probably was worse than that… but only because that trade turned out to be one of the better moves the Grizzlies have ever made. As one of the few who defended that deal from the jump I very much enjoy pointing that out.
Rajon Rondo may have scored just 4 points and committed 6 turnovers as the Celtics pounded the Wizards, but he made a successful entry pass to the right post from the left wing and once elected to use his forehead to initiate his dribble. I’m not a fan of Rajon Rondo, and I think he’s way overrated, but I appreciate the nuances he brings to the game. It’s funny… he can’t do some of the sh!t that normal basketball players can do in their sleep (mostly shoot), but he can dribble the ball with his head and complete passes that don’t even make sense. Note: Rondo’s backup, Avery Bradley, had a career-high 23 points.
Box Score Observations: Luke Walton scored 7 points off the bench as the Cavaliers lost to the Suns. Walton made jump shots on consecutive possessions in the early going. Last time a Walton contributed in an NBA game was when Bill played in the 1980s. Kevin Durant gave LeBron James the business as the Thunder cruised past the Heat. Kendrick Perkins had a lifetime high of 16 points (I’m kidding, you square) and kicked Dwyane Wade in the face. Warriors rookie point guard Charles Jenkins, who looks an awful lot like the Golden Gate bridge, scored a career-high 27 as the Dubs lost to the Blazers by three. That’s correct, the Portland Trail Blazers won a basketball game. The Spurs took care of business at home, beating the Sixers 93-76. Tim Duncan didn’t play because he’s old.
Highlight Recap: Shannon Brown sighting. Lakers get Juiced. Had Dwyane hit a few more of these the Heat may have been in business. Even Kobe’s passes have begun to look like shots. Swaggerless Serge Ibaka throws it down. Kevin Durant kills an alley-oop. Jeff Teague locates Josh Smith, who dunks the ball. Sam Young is not Thad Young, but he probably wishes he was. Felton lobs to Aldridge.
