Damaged Goods
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Tumbling into a new decade with 3 straight losses, Denver finds itself face to face with the notorious injury plague. With Chauncey battling to recover from a groin pull, Nuggets players seem to be falling from the sky as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Anderson, Nene and Ty Lawson have all been touched with the injury bug. Now fans will get a glance at the coaching prowess George Karl must display to keep his team atop the Northwest, as he and the Nuggets are in quite a predicament to maintain their dwindling division lead.
Saturday, January 2nd, Denver opened the 2010 year in Utah without team stars Melo and Billups. However, the remaining Nuggets seemed to approach game time ignorant of the fact they were outmanned by Utah. Denver played the bully by stealing away the juice at EnergySolutions Arena. And not offensively, but by grinding out a defensive performance seen few and far between in recent Nuggets games. The Bench Brigade forced an incredible 26 turnovers by the Jazz. Denver led the Jazz in each of the four quarters thanks to a career-best night from the rookie Lawson, who had 23 points and 9 assists, and Kenyon Martin‘s 12 points and 12 boards. Nene also seems to be finding his touch, as he worked the lane for 22 points. Denver shook the slopes of Utah and stalled their 3 game losing streak with a 105-95 victory.
Sunday, Denver would play host to returning teammate Allen Iverson and the 76ers. Again, without the offensive firepower of Billups and Anthony, the Nuggets came out of the gates strong, leading Philly into the 2nd quarter. From there the Nuggets’ lack of offensive tempo caught up with them as the 76ers began to dig themselves out of an early hole. The 3rd quarter proved to be the point of derailment for Denver, as they were outscored 25-16 and entered the 4th quarter down by 8 points. Iverson once again made himself at home in Denver, scoring 17 points and 7 assists, and he nabbed his 2nd victory at the Pepsi Center since being traded by Denver. Nene kept his hot hand riding with 24 points, but the Nuggets fell short in the end, getting thumped by Philly 108-105.
Last night, January 5th, the Nuggets would have a chance to redeem themselves after a disappointing loss at home just 2 days earlier. The Golden State Warriors were coming off 2 straight losses to the Lakers and Blazers and hoping to break the losers code in Denver. The injury-riddled Nuggets would make an effort to defend the home fort without Chauncey, Melo and now Chris Anderson (injured against Philadelphia), and in the process made this one of the most exciting back-and-forth games of the season.
After a rollercoaster ride through 3 quarters, Denver entered the 4th with a 2 point lead, but the Warriors found the Nos tanks to fire past the Nuggets going on an 11-0 run. With 15 seconds left in the game, Warriors star Monta Ellis dropped a huge turnaround jump shot to give Golden State its final taste of the lead.
From there the night and the game would come to rest in the hands of long-range sniper J.R. Smith. From 40 feet away, Smith took a contested last-second shot that missed the mark. As J.R. turned to leave the court, he noticed that the referee had blown the whistle, hitting Golden State’s Ellis with a foul on the shot. With 0.4 seconds left and down by 1 point, J.R. was awarded 3 free throws; he dropped 2 in the basket to lift Denver to an amazing 123-122 win in a game gone berserk. Kenyon Martin led the night with a season high 27 points and 13 rebounds. Ty Lawson and J.R. Smith teamed up with 21 point apiece on the night.
With a great win and confidence boost for the bench, Denver took 2 more shots in the leg as Center Nene went down with an aggravated sprained ankle, and rookie Lawson fell hard on his ankle after a late-game layup. Both are questionable for Friday’s game against the Cleveland Cavalry led by “King” James.
I guess I would prefer the injury bug hit in the early part of the season instead of later on. This is going to get our bench players some major starting time too. Lawson is the biggest loss, as he was finally coming into his own as a starting PG.