Chauncey & Melo were the problem on Monday night in Dallas, but Denver's bench play indicates an upswing for the Nuggets
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
When last I wrote about the Nuggets I said the Boston loss was the type of loss to either invigorate & refocus the Nuggets… or it would send them into a week & a half long tailspin. The Nuggets have gone 1-2 since their undressing in Boston.
The 1-3 road trip thus far has sunk the Nuggets into a hole, and so the game tonight at Dallas has new significance. The Nuggets have three road games remaining and must win all of them to have a winning record on the road. They are, in order of importance, At Dallas tonight, At Oklahoma City on April 7th, At Phoenix to end the season. Conceivably the Nuggets could lose all 3. If the Nuggets are to lock up the number 2 they will have to win at least 2, maybe 3 of those games.
But the real importance in winning tonight’s game is that the winner gets the tiebreaker.
If the Nuggets win, they move up to the 2-spot with a half-game advantage and force a tie in the all-important Loss Column, but it might as well be 1.5 games with the tiebreaker. If the Nuggets lose, they will be 1.5 games behind and also behind in the Loss Column.  That would be 2.5 games back with the tiebreaker.
This is the rare 4-game swing in the NBA we are witnessing tonight. The Nuggets better bring their A game.
1st Quarter
6:23 The Nuggets are placing more attention on Assists this game.
Everyone’s been talking about how few assists there have per game in the slump. It hasn’t translated to points. Mainly the Nuggets are settling for jump shots early and they aren’t falling. On the other end the Mavericks are also settling for jump shots, but they are falling. Dallas is 7-10 from the field to start, mainly off the pick and roll.
0:00 Well, the Nuggets have improved their play but are only maintaining the deficit.
The bench is playing better than the starters. J.R. Smith has hit two in a row and Malik Allen just made a three. (I don’t know how I feel about Allen taking 3s but I like him making them.) On the other end, the Mavs are passing into the low post on every play.
End Quarter Mavs 31-23
The story of the game has been accurate jump-shooting vs a not-so-accurate jump shot. The Nuggets are allowing the Mavs to make easy passes to their bigs down low. Jump shots from there are much higher percentage than the perimeter jump shots the Nuggets are taking.
Denver is trying to set up isolations with Carmelo Anthony on the wing and the Mavs are doubling him. Someone else needs to step up and teach the Mavs not to double Anthony.
2nd Quarter
5:22 The bench is coming up big for the Nuggets.
The lead has been closed to 5 and Denver’s backups are shooting 8 for 10 between Ty Lawson, Smith, and Joey Graham. Allen is also respectable shooting 2-5 with 2-2 three pointers. The Nuggets are scoring all their points either by the dribble-drive or in transition. Meanwhile, Chris Anderson looks like he might be having one of his nights – 3 blocks so far.
1:46 The starters come back in and the lead promptly goes up to nine.
Foul shots coming for Brendan Haywood. A good comparison right now that Adrian Dauntley better see is that the Mavericks are putting a player under the basket on every shot for an Offensive Rebound and blocking out on every Nuggets shot.  The Nuggets are doing neither.
0:00 The Denver starters stop the bleeding.
Once again, only enough to maintain the deficit. The Mavs tried to drop the hammer in the closing seconds and began launching poorly arranged threes. Fortunately for the Nuggets, none fell.
End Quarter 55-46
In retrospect it’s not as bad as it could have been, and that’s usually a sign that a momentum change will alter the entire game. The refs have been even-handed, the bench has outplayed one of the (so-called) best benches in basketball, and the Mavericks have gotten 3 disgusting three pointers to fall (including one by Rodrigue Beaubois in which Chauncey Billups tipped the shot and it went in anyway).
But Dallas is leading in the important stats (Boards 22-18, Dimes 14-6). The Nuggets could be ahead in rebounds if they would just put someone under the basket on every play. And at some point someone is going to have to pass the basketball… this whole doing everything yourself thing ain’t working.
Although the biggest reason for the deficit is Melo’s stat line (1-8 FG, 0 dimes, 3 points). In most cases I’d say if the shots aren’t falling then pass the ball to somebody else, but this is Melo. He can’t be shut down for the entire game right?  But Carmelo has only driven off the isolation once and it resulted in his three points.  Every other time Melo gets the ball in isolation he’s been double teamed or took a quick jumper.
Carmelo Anthony needs to go to the rim.
3rd Quarter
8:55 Nuggets open the quarter by falling into the same bad habits that got them the deficit in the first place.
Jump-shooting way to early in the possession, and letting Dallas get the ball to the low post way too easy. The lead is now 16.
5:53 Apparently I spoke too soon in praising the refs for their even-handedness.
6 fouls in the quarter, all of them on the Nuggets. No less than 2 have been bona-fide phantom fouls, and at least one foul on the Mavericks has been missed.
0:00 The bench comes in and battles back to 10.
The highlight was in the Nuggets last possession J.R. Smith after draining the clock drives down the right side of the key, Jason Kidd puts his hand out and knocks the ball away, Smith recovers beyond the three point arch at about the right side 40 degrees mark. With the shot clock about to expire he’s forced to put up a prayer, he jumps backward out of bounds. 3 points. 3diculous shot.
End Quarter Mavs 79-69
The Nuggets are just kinda hanging around. With as bad as the starters have played and as well as the Mavericks have played (particularly Heywood) the game certainly feels very much in question for a 10-point game.
4th Quarter
10:02 Nuggets open the quarter with points on their first 4 possessions.
Denver closes the lead to 7 and Dallas wants a time out. Mostly due to poor transition defense by the Mavs results in two fouls on Nene and a particularly bad defensive setup that left Smith open at the top of the key with no one between him and the basket.
10:02-9:56 Time that elapsed between Dallas’ four and fifth timeouts.
Good defense by the Nuggets on the inbound.
8:55 Credit where credit is due, the refs open the 4th by calling fouls in the Nuggets’ favor 5-1.
7:58 The Nuggets were playing with all the momentum in the world.
Denver had cut the lead to 8 and then fumbled the basketball away, the Mavs went the other way and scored two. The following possession goes the same way. 4-6 point swing.
6:44 The Mavs make the most of the momentum swing.
Dirk Nowitzki buries a three from the top of the arch to put the Mavs up by 16. This game feels over.
0:00 The game ends without further incident or contest.
End Game Mavs 109-93
This entire game was still on the line even with the Nuggets down by 8 in the fourth.  And then 1 moment’s lack of focus by J.R. Smith and Jason Kidd steps in with a steal and Dallas takes an 8-point lead to 16 in 2 minutes.  One play in the middle of the fourth quarter and a possible win becomes a 20ish point loss. That’s how close this was.
In spite of the mistake that cost the Nuggets the game, Smith was clearly the best player on the floor.
Further, the mistake notwithstanding, the reason for the loss is the fault of the stars, Carmelo & Chauncey. They combined for 6-30 shooting and a tepid 21 points. If two guys are going to take 40% of your shots they can’t miss 80% of those.
The good news is that I think the losing streak is over.
Not just because the road trip is over, and 5 of the remaining 7 are at home, but because of the type of loss this was. This was about as close to a must-win you will get in the regular season and the team played well while the stars played poorly. That one almost fixes itself.
Before, when the Nuggets lost to Boston, everyone played badly except Melo and Chauncey.
That’s a harder fix.  That takes players taking a step back, getting back in line, playing for the teams. When your stars play poorly, it takes everyone doing exactly what they did and the stars need to step up, which they are doing anyway. I expect the next game against the Portland Trailblazers on Thursday to be a rout of 15-25 points and Portland won’t challenge in the 4th.
And expect Melo and Chauncey to pile it on.
In other news, everyone raise your glasses to the New Jersey Nets.  With a 90-84 win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Nets have recorded their 10th win of the season and successfully become NOT the worst team ever. Congrats.
