Nuggets take the opener of a crucial road trip
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
So here we are, at the outset of the gauntlet. The Nuggets are venturing forth to play 4 games in 4 cities in 5 days. This could be the kill stroke for the LA Lakers to clinch the conference or it could be the Nuggets’ chance to show the conference is still up for grabs. In the next five days, they must play in New Orleans, Memphis, Houston, and then return home for Washington. Do not be deceived by the quality of the teams… four cities in five days is tough for everyone no matter what cities they are. The only way they pull off the top seed is if they win 3 out of 4.
Also, let’s not forget that The Hornets hate the Nugget for last year’s playoffs. They will leave everything on the court tonight. The Nuggets had better be prepared to deal with a high energy team, and that pick and roll will be everywhere.
1st Quarter
9:32 Nuggets open the game with a quartet of quick passes to mid range jumpers by Carmelo Anthony, Nene and Chauncey Billups; and some bad defense to play to an even first three minutes. If this accurate jump shooting keeps up, the Nuggets will win by double digits.
7:56 Johan Petro has some nice defense on a David West drive to the right side of the hoop. He might just play himself into a starting role with another team with what he’s done in the last three games.
6:01 Anthony looks pretty unstoppable in the first 6 minutes. He has scored easily on the drive and has his range with his jumper.
2:23 Apparently nobody want to play defense right now. Neither team is rotating back to the play side on dribble drives, and thus we get a lot of paint points. Nene and Julian Wright love it.
1:56 It’s clear the refs want to be in control of the game. There have been at least two phantom fouls by both teams.
End Quarter Tied 29-29
The refs are unwilling to let anything go. This favors the Nuggets. The Hornets seem commited to tack away the Nuggets jump shots and turn this game in to a paint game. This favors the Nuggets. Melo has been able to do whatever he wants. Obviously, this favors the Nuggets and yet the game is tied. The Nugget defense has left something to be desired (especially the transition defense).
Also, despite a large number of fouls called, no Nugget has taken a free throw.
2nd Quarter
10:30 The Nuggets appear to have an answer for the transition defense and it’s transition offense. 2 breakaways and 4 quick points separated by 22 seconds. J.R. Smith’s hustle was key in both breaks.
9:17 After two New Orleans three pointers, Anothny Carter steals the ball on a fast break with an opportunity to break back. He holds up to slow the game down. Wise move. Carter is a smart basketball player.
6:58 The Hornets have decided to pack the middle and leave Malik Allen open. The Nuggets are doing what they should; driving and dishing out to Allen. Too bad the Hornets are right, Allen can’t hit anything (2 midrange misses from the left side).
4:59 The Hornets are certainly showing the effort I expected, thought the pick and roll has been absent. They are dominating the transition once again and playing tenacious (though suspect) defense.
3:16 You dance with one who brought ya. Nugget have gone back to Melo and Billups isolations. New Orleans is still packing the paint leaving some wide open midrange shots for the second option on the play.
2:12 Somebody has got to knock Marcus Thornton off his game (I’m looking at you Aaron Afflalo). He is single handedly keeping the Hornets in the game (4-5 3-pt, 16 points)
End Half Hornets 52-51
I didn’t think I would ever say this about this Nuggets teams, but if they want to win they had better slow this game down and make it a half court game. The Hornets are passing the ball much better off the rebound and are leading the TO and Steal categories.
The Nuggets for their part are playing well (especially for a team that isn’t in control of the game). They need to take care ball better and they need to play smarter defense. To tell the truth, it kind of feels like the Nuggets are toying with them. Now as cool as torturing a lesser team with hope might sound, the Nuggets should just put this thing away quickly and then rest their starters for the remainder of the 4 cities in 5 days trip.
Point of interest: No runs. The most amount points in a row either team has scored has been 6 (New Orleans on 2 shots) For it to be a run in my book a run requires two things 1) at least 7 points more than your opponent must be scored and 2) at least 5 possessions combined must have elapsed. Now both these teams have been to grind out wins when they haven’t had their A game, but you would think sooner or later one of these teams has to put together 4 solid minutes, right?
3rd Quarter
8:05 The Nuggets opened the quarter strong with some nice ball movement to get the ball down to the hoop. But then they started launching shots from the perimeter for no good reason (and Smith isn’t even in the game!). Defense has improved.
5:53 The game has slowed down to the a half court like I wanted but the Nuggets aren’t winning in the half court like they were in the first. They are trying mini dribble drive-pass out to the perimeter and launching 3s from low percentage spots.
3:46 Petro is having a hell of game in Kenyon Martin’s stead (10 point, 9 boards). I tell you the truth, he’s beginning to reenter a lot of people’s minds as a starting center with quality minutes like he was in Seattle.
1:51 The Nuggets take 4 smart jump shots in row, and miss all of them (2 by Smith, 2 by Chauncey) Fortunately, it isn’t costing them anything since they’re playing great defense but at some point if you want to win you have to make a shot you should make.
0:42 Lo and Behold, the Nuggets go to the paint and score easily. Chauncey drives, pass to Melo right side baseline, dunk.
0:01 The refs just made an awful call. The Hornet inbound to Morris Peterson for the final shot, J.R. steps into his path and clearly establishes position, Peterson runs into him accepting the pass, foul on Smith. One of the worst calls I’ve seen this month. J.R. had the right to space and wasn’t moving. Peterson further clarified the bad call by missing two out of three FT (THE BALL NEVER LIES!).
End Quarter Hornet 75-73
This game began with a load of whistles and now the refs are swallowing them (except to blow calls that would be obvious to a fourth grader). Bad time considering the Nuggets can’t make a shot. The game is still in question though and one good quarter is all it takes.
4th Quarter
10:34Three quick fouls on the Hornet have the Nuggets poised to take control. It’s time to isolate Melo.
9:42 Nuggets follow up the three fouls on New Orleans with 6 quick points to take back the lead (2 on a Melo isolation at the top of the arch). I personally smell blood, and New Orleans is reeling; they call timeout before things get out of hand.
6:14 Both teams are getting good chances to score but neither team can put it in; New Orleans on the transition Nuggets on the drive. The only points being tallied are by FT.
5:07 The Nuggets have looked like the better team all quarter, but every time they look to pull away with the game, the Hornets reel them back in. The Nuggets have to figure out a way to stop the Hornets transition game. I don’t know if they need to rotate the free attacker up or fight harder for offensive rebounds or what, but the Hornets are flying down the floor on every possession.
3:29 There we go, 4 points in transition, are hard fought defensive set that yield no shots, and Chauncey stills the following inbound to earn a foul. Dare I say……
4:20-2:36 Nuggets go on a 8-0 run due to what I wrote in the previous comment and a nice little drive and ditch in the paint from Chauncey to Nene. Nuggets can now play solid the rest of the way and win fairly comfortably. The run ends with a Hornets time out.
1:26 The Nuggets make a valiant attempt to give the give back with a TO and some lousy rebounding, but the Hornets can’t capitalize. And now the Nuggets are into clock burning mode.
0:26 Another turnover draws the Hornet to within five; too little too late because now the Nuggets are in foul shots.
End Game Nuggets 102-95
Tough game, all the way around. Tough game to play on both sides, tough game to lose. Tough game in every way except to diagram down to a single series, because that late game 8-0 run was easily the deciding factor in the game. Chauncey Billups steal of the inbound half way through the run was the key play. The Hornets were already reeling from a Nuggets breakaway, followed by a brutal (literally, very physical) Nuggets defensive stand, followed by another Nuggets breakaway. Easy to feel frustrated and toss the ball back in with a little emotion and Chauncey just jumped in the way and earned his way to the line a few seconds later. Shame to lose a game that way but hey, basketball is just like Miss America. Poise Counts.
Defensively a pretty good game, but the passes out for the transition were slow for most of the game. The Nuggets might have won much more comfortably if they ran the way New Orleans did. Speaking of…
The Nuggets transition defense was terrible and it’s tough to put my finger on what went wrong. Maybe the Nuggets weren’t fighting hard enough for the rebounds, maybe the ball was just bouncing the Hornets way off the rim, but ever single play the Hornet were pressing the issue and the Nuggets struggled to come up with an answer.
As far as individual performances go, it was a pretty ho hum night for everybody except Johan Petro. Petro got a double-double (10 points, 10 boards) and kept us in the game during the stretches when the Nuggets couldn’t make a basket with his defense on West. The man is gonna play himself into a starters spot on another team before long.
Oh and credit where credit is due: Nuggets were 25-28 FT shooting. Do this every night and they will win 60 games every season.
