The National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Player’s Association certainly were not concerning themselves with the health of their players when they signed off on a condensed 66-game schedule in December.  As the bitter lockout burned through the traditional free agency period, training camp, and then a good chunk of season, it became apparent that the league’s players would pay the price for a failure to negotiate with appropriate urgency.

Now a wave of injuries and exhaustion is robbing the game of its punch.  Chicago’s Derrick Rose (back spasms) and New York’s Carmelo Anthony (groin) both went down on Monday night.  Then it was Danilo Gallinari – the prime piece that NYC traded to Denver for Melo – going down in Denver with a bone chip fracture in his foot.  Finally it was former Nugget/Knick and current LA Clipper Chauncey Billups limping out of a rare Clipper victory in Orlando with an achilles injury.  And this is just one night in the 2012 NBA.

The Nuggets also lost Nene (heel) and Arron Afflalo (ankle/toe) on Saturday and have been without center Timofey Mozgov (ankle) through a brutal stretch of three straight losses.  In fact, Denver has lost 5 of 6 games over a packed 9-day stretch that had them playing in four cities, including a back-to-back-to-back flying to Los Angeles, returning home to Denver, and then departing immediately for Portland.

Even the Nuggets – who began the season with the best depth in the league – are now struggling to put a quality NBA product on the court.  Charles Barkley loudly proclaimed on TNT last week that the league’s product had been diluted, saying he was “embarrassed” about the state of the NBA.  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lashed out at Commissioner David Stern for failing to hire more referees to offset the frantic schedule.

“Some of these guys are having really bad nights, and it’s having an impact,” said Cuban after a tough loss to the West-best Thunder in Dallas last Wednesday that featured some truly atrocious officiating.  “The league’s got to come out and say, ‘OK, look, we understand they’re going through some tough travel or whatever. It’s just the way it is.’”  Cuban was fined $75,000 by the NBA the following day.

Most teams have only played 25 games out of the 66 contests packed into a four-month window.  The wave of injuries has just begun.  As this harsh season wears on, the league will have to face the very real possibility that the “best” team will simply be the one that can stay healthy into early May.  Hopefully the NBA and NBPA hammered out a very lucrative Collective Bargaining Agreement in December 2011, because it may end up costing them the quality of their on-court product in 2012.

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On the day that Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were named to the NBA Western Conference All Star Team, the Denver Nuggets ran the Clippers out of their own building in Los Angeles.  The Nuggets outscored LA in each of the last three quarters, finishing up 112-91.

Paul and Griffin slowed down after a hot first quarter on Thursday night at Staples Center.  LA was playing their third game in as many nights, and the Denver fast break quickly stretched the Clippers thin.  The Nuggets’ deep bench spurred a series of Denver runs through the second and third quarters that saw LA outscored 35-67.  Without any reliable depth past their starting five, the Clippers simply could not keep up.

The Cardiac Nuggets were in need of a win after consecutive losses by a total of 7 points – the last an OT heartbreaker in Memphis that saw Denver give up a sizeable second half lead.  Both teams came out swinging in the first half Thursday night, and the Nuggets made no qualms about roughing up Chris Paul on the perimeter.   Aaron Afflalo and Ty Lawson took turns playing physical defense on the Clippers’ point man, and Paul had trouble creating plays off the drive during a third quarter dominated by Denver.

This win was doubly important for the Nuggets as they begin their own run of three straight games.  Tomorrow night they will play a marquee matchup against the Lakers in Denver before heading right back to the coast for a Saturday night divisional brawl in Portland.  The Lakers – A.K.A “LA’s Second-Best Team” – have played very poorly on the road so far this season, racking up 7 losses in 9 tries away from home.  The Trailblazers have also struggled on the road, but are 11-1 at home.  Portland will get a day to rest up at home after a tough loss in Sacramento on Thursday.

Perhaps the best part of this victory for the Nuggets (15-7) is that it propelled them back in front of the Clippers (13-7) in the Western Conference standings by a full game.  Denver returns to second place in the West just 2.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Denver’s Danilo Gallinari – fresh off a new five year contract – led all scorers with 21 points in just 27 minutes.  Gallo shot 70% from the field and was a game-changing 5 of 5 from three point range.  Afflalo and Lawson put up 15 and 18 points respectively, and the Nuggets also got double digit contributions from Timofey Mozgov and Rudy Fernandez.

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Just four days after Danilo Gallinari outplayed Carmelo Anthony in a Nuggets win in New York City, the Italian forward has signed a four-year $42 million dollar extension to stay in Denver.

Gallinari was the key piece in a trade that sent Melo to the Knicks last season.  On Saturday night Gallo showed himself to be the superior player by outscoring, outrebounding, outdefending and generally outplaying Carmelo at Madison Square Gardens.  Apparently, the Nuggets have seen enough of Danilo that they are willing to build their future around his burgeoning talents.

At 23 years old, Gallinari is just hitting his stride in the NBA.  (Learn more about Danilo Gallinari)  He leads the Democratically-oriented Denver offense with 17.4 points per game – one of six Nuggets averaging double-digit points.  But what sets Gallo apart from Melo and most other NBA forwards is his commitment to improving his defensive game.  Danilo has put in more minutes this season than any other Nugget, and the big reason coach George Karl keeps him on the court is his stalwart defense.  Gallinari is +74 in 17 games so far.

Nuggets General Manager Masai Ujiri can count the Gallinari extension as another feather in his cap following the successful trade of Anthony to New York and the re-signing of restricted free agent shooting guard Arron Afflalo in the abbreviated offseason.  Ujiri was also responsible for the Nuggets exercising their option on young point guard Ty Lawson late last season, and for the decision to retain sixth man Al Harrington instead of amnestying his contract per the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The youthful core that Ujiri and young owner Josh Kroenke are building – combined with their willingness to stick with resurgent veterans like Al Harrington and Andre Miller – has made the Nuggets a contender now and into the foreseeable future.

This extension represents a considerable raise for Gallinari, who will make $4,190,182 this season and roughly $10.5 million next season.  Thanks to the trade that got Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups’ sizeable contracts off the books, Denver will still have the cap space to consider signing restricted free agent small forward Wilson Chandler when he returns from playing in China this March.

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Looking healthy and energetic following his second defeat of cancer, Denver Nuggets coach George Karl finally has the team he has always wanted.  On any given night, the Nuggets could dominate with their starting five or cobble together a win with contributions all the way down the bench.

The Nuggets currently lead all NBA teams in points per game at 105.5 – a tick better than the Miami Heat’s 105.4 – and are perched firmly at second place in the Western Conference.  Only the division rival OKC Thunder are better in the West right now, but watching these young Nuggets you get the feeling that they are still a month or two away from playing their best basketball.

George is living in a coaching dreamland in Denver.  He’s got the kind of depth and athleticism that even most big market NBA teams lack.  Karl just has to decide who has the hot hand, who makes the best matchup, and which of his ten floor-worthy players get time each night.

Coming over from the Milwaukee Bucks in 2005, George was heralded as a matchups guru with the ability to challenge the best coaches in the league.  Now that Phil Jackson has retired from Lakerland, Coach Karl may be the best matchups coach in the league.  And with Carmelo Anthony slowing the offense to a crawl in New York, the Nuggets have the cap space and floor time to run the most dynamic, team-oriented style in the league.

In his early years with the Nuggets, Karl had the pitiable task of making sure Melo got his points every game.  Now George can watch five players score double-digits and have a half-dozen guys geared up to make big shots in the final minutes.  Plus, an increased load on the bench means the Nuggets can throw a relentless up-tempo attack at their opponents for 48 minutes.  No wonder Denver leads the league at 24.5 assists per game.

On Wednesday night Karl’s Nuggets will have a chance to close out an undefeated five-game road swing.  Four victories so far include overtime triumphs versus the surprising 76ers and the struggling Knicks.  Now Denver draws the defensively challenged Kings in Sacramento.  With six Nuggets averaging 10+ points per game, Denver looks strong to return home Friday with one of the best records in the NBA.

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The Denver Nuggets committed highway robbery when they sent Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks in return for a full complement of up-and-coming talent last season.  That fact was never more apparent than it was on Saturday night after Danilo Gallinari finished trumping Carmelo Anthony at Madison Square Gardens.

The Nuggets managed to grind out a 119-114 double-overtime win in NYC thanks to Gallinari’s dominant play.  In a game that pitted superstar Carmelo Anthony against two of the guys he was traded for – Gallinari and center Timofey Mozgov – it was the Nuggets’ new stars that won the day.  Even if Denver had not landed Mozgov, Kosta Koufos, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler in the deal that sent Melo and Chauncey Billups to New York, the Nuggets may have gotten their money’s worth with Gallinari.

Gallo outplayed Melo in virtually every aspect of the game on Saturday night in Manhattan.  Danilo scored more points – 37 to 25 – pulled down more rebounds – 11 to 10 – and played better defense than his New York counterpart.  While defensive prowess is sometimes difficult to demonstrate with statistics, it was wicked simple in this case.  Carmelo finished with a plus/minus of -9 over 45 minutes.  Gallinari finished with a +5… the exact margin of victory for the Nuggets.

Meanwhile, center Timofey Mozgov – who was the final piece in the trade that sent Melo to the Knicks – managed a +5 rating as well.  Mozgov paired that with 16 points and 3 big blocks in a tight game that saw 14 lead changes and 15 ties.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Nuggets – all on the road – who now stand firmly in second place in the Western Conference behind the division-rival Oklahoma City Thunder.  While the season is still in its early stages, Denver has weathered a tough opening schedule and come out on top.  They will enjoy a rare three day break before heading to Sacramento on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Knicks drop to 6-10 and have lost six consecutive games.  They are one of two teams with losing records in the top-heavy Eastern Conference that would make the playoffs if the season ended today.

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By knocking off the 76ers in Philly on Wednesday night the Denver Nuggets grabbed their 10^th win in 15 games played and handed Philadelphia its first home loss.  The improved 76ers were 6-0 at home this season, and have played as well as any team in the NBA to this point.  The final score in overtime read 108-104 in favor of the Nuggets thanks to a breakout 28-point effort by backup point guard Andre Miller.

Denver’s 10-5 record locks them into a four-way tie for the third best winning percentage in the Western Conference.  That group includes the LA Lakers and Clippers plus the San Antonio Spurs, with Denver legend Chauncey Billups keeping the Clippers afloat while Chris Paul recuperates from an injury.

In a topsy, turvy NBA season the Nuggets are still getting their footing like most other clubs.  On Wednesday it was great to see the guard duo of Lawson and Miller pick up where Lawson and the departed Raymond Felton left off last year.  Against the 76ers Lawson and Miller combined for 84 minutes of floor time, 41 points and 17 assists.  Nene chipped in 14 rebounds and 20 points, including 4 of the Nuggets’ 12 points in overtime.

Denver still sits behind the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder in both the Conference and Northwest Division standings.  But the Jazz are playing over their heads thanks to a favorable opening schedule where 14 of their first 20 games will be played at home.  Brutal February and March road trips will bring Utah back down to earth.

The Thunder are another story entirely.  OKC stands at the top of the NBA with a 12-3 record following their first bad loss last night in Washington.  The young, athletic Thunder are primed for this fast-paced season, and it will take some incredible consistency from the Nuggets to keep pace.  Oklahoma City is bound to have its share of off nights – like losing to the 12 loss Wizards – but stand to be the NBA’s best club barring major setbacks or a surprise run by another young team like the Clippers.

Luckily Denver has a pretty smooth schedule through the rest of January.  If the Nuggets can keep ahead of both Los Angeles-es and the Spurs, they can put pressure on these depth-challenged squads as the unusual 2011-2012 NBA Season wears on.  Just as younger teams have a chance to jump ahead in the standings, older clubs like the Lakers and Spurs will be dropping winnable games come March and April.

For the Nuggets – who have a nice blend of veteran presence and ample young talent – it will simply be a matter of building offensive chemistry and playing the brand of aggressive defense that made Denver a tough out in last season’s NBA Playoffs.  With a healthy and energized George Karl at the helm, the Nuggets may not be far off from realizing their potential as an elite Western Conference contender.

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The NBA is back after a marathon negotiating session in New York City on Friday night.  Both labor and the league will have to sign-off on this tentative deal, but it looks like we will have NBA basketball on Christmas Day.

For the Denver Nuggets the shortened season will be both a boon and a challenge.  The Nuggets have an established coach and system, but many of their players are scattered across world leagues or likely lost to free agency.  Pulling together core players as quickly as possible will be key.

Fortunately, point guard Ty Lawson included an exit clause in his contract with Lithuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas where he has been playing since early October.  That gives Denver their most important offensive cog as soon as a deal is signed.

Unfortunately, forward Wilson Chandler along with pending free agents JR Smith and Kenyon Martin are all locked into contracts with China’s top basketball league.  While most Chinese teams have indicated a willingness to let their American players return to the NBA, the Chinese league itself was careful to point out to incoming western talent that their contracts would be binding through the conclusion of the season.

Most likely the Nuggets will consider Smith and K-Mart lost to free agency anyway.  Rookie power forward Kenneth Faried will hopefully be a long-term replacement for Kenyon, and fellow draftee Jordan Hamilton is being touted as a dynamic scoring forward/guard in the mold of JR.

Replacing Nene, who the Nuggets cut ties with in the offseason, will be a taller order.  The best free agent option at center is Tyson Chandler – an athletic big man who would fit Denver’s up-tempo attack.  Denver has dumped considerable salary between the Anthony/Billups trade and the loss of formerly burdensome Nene/Martin contracts.  They should have their pick of willing free agents.

The Nuggets’ ability to get immediately into a groove (as they did after the big Melo trade late last season) should give them a boost over NBA competition once play starts in late December.  Denver’s youth and above-average conditioning will be a major plus as teams play 66 games – not far from the typical 82 – in just over half a regular season.  This will be especially true for Ty Lawson and other Nuggets who will come to Denver in mid-season form after playing in foreign leagues.

In the end, it will be up to head coach George Karl and his staff to get the Nuggets ready for this condensed NBA Season in less than a month.  And it will be up to Denver’s relatively new front office to get prepared for what will be a brief and intense free agency period starting December 9th.

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The Nuggets face the Northwest Division rival Thunder in an NBA Playoffs battle.  Two of the most athletic teams in the league will go toe-to-toe starting this Sunday, April 17th.  Dan Olson and Ian Cerveny take you inside this thrilling first round matchup with a series preview.  Also previewed are the other first round playoff series across the NBA.

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A 101-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Denver on Tuesday night probably ended the Nuggets’ pursuit of the Northwest Division Title.  Denver shot poorly but came from behind repeatedly through the game.  OKC finally turned back the Nuggets for good in the closing minutes.  It was an important lesson for these new Nuggets, and maybe even a blessing in disguise.

Barring an uncharacteristic slip by a suddenly stout Thunder squad and the Nuggets winning out, Denver seems destined for the 5^th seed in the NBA Playoffs.

That seeding would pit Denver against whichever top West team ends up 4^th, with OKC currently sitting in that spot.  The rapidly rising Thunder would be a tough first round playoff matchup for the Nuggets, as Oklahoma City is actually playing better than either the top-seeded Spurs or the #3 Dallas Mavericks.  With the trade-deadline addition of center Kendrick Perkins, the Thunder join the Lakers as the teams to beat going forward.

Something that the media has predominantly missed in declaring this divisional rivalry a sure-thing playoff matchup is that those slipping Mavericks sit just two games ahead of the Thunder.  Denver will trek to Dallas on Wednesday for the second half of a back-to-back, but the Mavs have been weakened by two key injuries in the last week.  A win for the Nuggets coupled with OKC finishing strong could lift the Thunder into the 3^rd playoff slot.

That would be a dream-come-true for the Nuggets, who have dominated the Mavericks in playoffs past.  Dallas is a jump-shooting team with a nearly nonexistent paint presence, and the Nuggets’ athletic defense could give the Mavs fits.  Plus Denver has twin paint threats in Nene and Kenyon Martin along the starting front backed by Birdman and Mozgov off the bench.

Not only is Denver v Dallas a better matchup for the Nuggets, but it would leave the Thunder to fend off a tough #6 Portland Trailblazers team in their first round test.  The Blazers are another Northwest Division rival, and would wear down Perkins to expose the soft underbelly of Oklahoma City.  Aside from having a chance to win the series, Portland would do Denver the favor of taking the Thunder’s best shot.

The Nuggets play at Oklahoma City on Friday night before returning home for a couple of soft matchups that should guarantee Denver stays ahead of Portland and the rest of the Western Conference pack.  Counting tomorrow at Dallas, the Nuggets, Mavericks and Thunder all play five more games apiece.  With the Mavs on a 3-game losing streak and losing steam, OKC could pleasantly postpone what will surely be a brawling series against the Nuggets until the Western Conference Finals.

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The Denver Nuggets powered past the Lakers on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, just their latest feat of strength since trading Carmelo Anthony.  Turns out it’s a good time to be a die-hard Nuggets fan.

That 95-90 win before a spoiled Staples Center crowed locked the Nuggets in for a playoff spot with 6 games remaining in the regular season.  A game that began with LA fans heckling during the National Anthem ended with those same fans hitting the exits early as Denver pulled away late.

Ray Felton had another fourth quarter explosion to propel Denver past a Lakers squad that had lost just once since the All Star Break.  Before Felton’s closing heroics it was Danilo Gallinari’s offense and a total team defensive effort that kept the Nuggets and Lakers locked in a tight duel that saw neither team lead by more than 7 points.

Now ESPN’s Marc Stein has dragged the Nuggets from 7^th in his weekly Power Rankings all the way up to 3^rd behind LA and Chicago.  John Hollinger’s stat-driven daily Power Rankings have had the Nuggets ranked at 3^rd for weeks, so it was good to see Stein belatedly catch on.  Perhaps the nationally-televised stifling of the World Champion Lakers on Sunday was the first Nuggets game that Stein bothered to watch post-Melo.  If so, welcome to the waking world Marc.

Clueless East Coast sportswriters aside, plenty of basketball aficionados have been singing the Nuggets’ praises for weeks.  Bill Simmons, the thinking man’s sportswriter, for one.  There are others though…

Denver Post staff writer Woody Paige lauds the Nuggets’ newfound defensive pressure and scoring depth every chance he gets as a regular contributor to ESPN’s sports talk game show ‘Around the Horn’.  TNT’s Charles Barkley jumped on the Denver Bandwagon early, claiming that the Nuggets were the deepest team in the NBA following a defensively sound 89-75 thumping of the (then) East-best Boston Celtics way back on February 24^th.  In his post-game remarks on the Nuggets, Barkley became the first national sports figure to state what many others in sports media are just now coming to understand – the Denver Nuggets are a better basketball team without Carmelo Anthony.

Of course, it helped that the Melo (plus Chauncey) Trade netted a trio of worthy starters in Gallinari, Felton and Wilson Chandler.  It was Chandler defending Lakers star Kobe Bryant on Sunday, holding the perennial MVP candidate to 37% shooting from the floor.  That was Bryant’s worst shooting game in two weeks, and Kobe missed all four of his three-point attempts trying to shoot over a combination of Chandler and JR Smith.

Even Timofey Mozgov, another ex-Knick who landed in Denver, got considerable playing time with Chris “Birdman” Andersen sidelined by an ankle injury.  The Mozgov was absolutely dominant in the defensive paint during his 15 minutes off the bench.

The All Star Lakers, winners of the last two NBA Championships, were at a loss all game trying to solve Denver’s defensive tenacity and bench-deep offensive pressure.  The Lakers are the runners-up (behind the Yankees) for title of All-Time Haves in the perennial Sports World battle between Haves and Have-Nots.  That luxury has made them soft in many ways, lazy in others, and Denver has the kind of deep, driven team to exploit those weaknesses.

Even the Lakers’ fans appear to have caught a case of the fit ‘n quits watching LA win so consistently for so long.  In crunch time Kobe Bryant threw fits when his wild, off-kilter shots didn’t drop and his Star Power failed to elicit auto-calls from the referees.  A particularly spirited floor-slapping fit elicited a technical foul instead.  Bryant responded by giving up on team basketball and trying to win the game solo.

Kobe’s Lakers are a perfect reflection of the fan-base, which threw fits early and quit on its team late.

A microphone malfunction quieted the pre-game singing of the National Anthem, with Lakers fans jeering and yelling to drown out the acoustic rendition.  It was a fitting display of classless bravado on the part of the LA faithful.  Later on, when Lakers jerseys were streaming out the exits in droves with just under a minute left in a still winnable game, it was appropriate to remember that pre-game hostility.

Los Angeles fans are the spoiled children too used to getting what they want who throw tantrums when things didn’t go just right.

Back in Denver I watched with family and friends as Staples Center emptied out.  I thought back to half-empty McNichols Arena during the Jester Nuggets Era and half-effort games during the Melo Era.  Remembered how Carmelo almost went to Detroit and how Kobe almost came to Denver.  Watched as Kenyon Martin pounded his chest and screamed after that fleeing LA crowd, “What!?”

It’s a good time to be a die-hard Nuggets fan.  Who’da thunk it?

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