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.
Three Nuggets scored 20+ points, led by Lawson (23) and followed closely by Felton (22) and Chandler (21). This new Democratic scoring approach has replaced the former ‘All Melo All the Time’ Denver offense.
The Nuggets won in Phoenix for the first time in seven years on Thursday behind a breakout performance by Ty Lawson.
The exit of Bearup will continue a complete restructuring of the Nuggets’ front office that began last season when Denver declined to offer new contracts to executive Rex Champan and General Manager Mark Warkentien.
Six Nuggets (Anthony, Afflalo, Billups, Nene, Harrington & Lawson) scored double-digit points in this 110-88 rote dismantling of the Jazz.
The cost of this whole thing is that now the Nuggets must win in Utah. It’s among the toughest places to play in the league. It’s tiny and steep and loud. It feels like the crowd is right on top of you. Literally, I think they sell seats in harnesses that hang from the roof of the arena. I think the Nuggets will still win the series though. The injuries for the Jazz are a little too much, and it’s doubtful they can consistently produce the best half in their franchise history every game to win by 3.
The Nuggets’ 98-94 edging of the driven Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday displayed the offensive dynamism and (occasional) sharp defensive rotation that Denver has been lacking for most the last two weeks.
The rout was in question for a while, but the Nuggets pulled it out. Melo deserves the vast majority of the credit for stopping the bleeding. He owned the second half of the 4th quarter when the outcome of game was beginning to come back into question.
The Nuggets have the third best overall record in the NBA behind only Cleveland and the L.A. Lakers; both of whom Denver has defeated.
