The blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of head coach Adrian Dantley, who was overmatched all series in the presence of Jerry Sloan’s masterful in-game coaching. The Denver Nuggets went out with a whimper in 2010, and the team will have a long offseason to consider what changes need to be made to improve in 2011.
Down three games to one in the opening round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs, Denver needed a big victory on Wednesday night. More than that, they needed a big outing from absent star Chauncey Billups. The Nuggets got both in Game 5 at Pepsi Center, part of their 116-102 win.
This was just what the doctor ordered for the Nuggets’ hopes to win the Northwest Division. Three starters played less than 29:00 minutes (Nene, Billups, Martin), so everyone should have plenty of energy to run with the Suns tomorrow. A win Tuesday night in Phoenix clenches the 3 seed.
Bad game all the way around for the Nuggets and now the Mavericks have the 2-spot. This is the type of game that can only have one of two long-term consequences…
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 and Rockets each shot a solid 80% from the free-throw line, but it was the vast disparity in attempts that did the Nuggets in on Monday night in Houston.
The game stayed close all night, until the Nuggets finally outlasted and wore down the Hornets on their home court.
Coach Karl has made his impression on each one of these players and it shows. When the Nuggets play in accordance with his principles, they don’t necessarily need him courtside to be successful.
The Nuggets will be offering a contract to free agent power forward Brian Cook, according to Travis Heath at Hoopsworld.
The groove is contagious, and that’s why we saw Aaron Afflalo, Johan Petro and even Anthony Carter making plays throughout a 3rd Quarter where Portland fought tooth & nail to scrape their way back into the game.
