Last night, Denver ran away from L.A. in the Staples Center because they dominated at points in the second and late in the third quarter. George Karl trusts his bench, almost too much in fact. His goal this year might be to coach this team like its intramurals. That’s just speculation, but with the way he hands out minutes, 11 guys all average double figures, we wouldn’t be surprised. Having a decent bench is always important, but it’s never been stressed like this. Five games in six nights will leave your team playing more up and down than a seesaw if the second unit can’t hoop. Read More »
Back again for the third time, NBA TV is presenting another season of The Association, starting this Wednesday. The cast and characters this year: one of the league’s most consistently successful organizations, the Denver Nuggets. Whereas in past seasons with Boston and the Lakers, we knew what we were getting, which was a story about a team trying to win a championship. But with the Nuggets, the show should take on a different feel, not because they aren’t trying to win it all but because episode one (trailer after the jump) goes behind-the-scenes with a team that had only seven players at the start of training camp. Read More »
Yeah, that guy we all saw last year wearing No. 6 for Miami in the NBA Finals? That guy wasn’t LeBron James. He was someone else, an impostor, a fake, a poser. LeBron says the real LeBron is back. Should we believe him? James says for the first time since he got to Miami, he’s back to the real him. More alive and ready to go. That’s good to know; We aren’t sure how anyone could deal with the amount of venom he had to take in last year. But still, the whispers about clutch failures, disappointments and lack of heart will only grow louder with each misstep. It’s a full-on disease for him now, and the only way to cure it is to win a championship and do it in a fashion that’ll have people forget about James’ past playoff struggles. Read More »
During Game 3 of the Thunder/Nuggets series in the Mile High earlier this week, something interesting caught my eye. It was something that I’ve seen in various NBA arenas over the past few years and it was sitting directly behind press row near center court.
So you think you’re going to end up in a new city with a new team next year? So what? That happens all the time with dozens of players and it happens all over the country. But if you’re a Nuggets fan, you have to ask yourself, why J.R.?
Why now and why like this? Of course, if J.R. Smith wasn’t J.R. Smith, people probably wouldn’t care. Look at his numbers: in the playoffs, he’s getting a dozen minutes a game and contributing 5.5 points on 29 percent from the field. If this wasn’t the mercurial Smith we were talking about, no one would care. No one should care with those numbers. Now with starting two guard Arron Afflalo set to return in Game 3, Smith may not see the floor at all. Read More »
All morning, people have been talking about Kendrick Perkins‘ basket with 1:05 remaining in Oklahoma City’s four-point win over Denver last night. As Nuggets head coach George Karl put it bluntly after the game, “Obviously it was goaltending.” This afternoon, the NBA agreed: Read More »
Two minutes one night, 22 minutes the next. Denver Nuggets rookie Gary Forbes has literally been battling for playing time all year long. Despite not logging the most consistent minutes, the UMass grad has made the most of what time Coach George Karl has given him. Averaging 4.9 points in 12 minutes per game, including eight outbursts of 10 or more points and a career-high 19-point outing against New York earlier this season, Forbes is ready. After a recent practice, we got the chance to hop on the phone with Forbes to talk about life in the Mile-High City after ’Melo, his journey to the NBA and more. Read More »
The Denver Nuggets (18-13) are in sixth place in a competitive Western Conference. The top seven players in their rotation are averaging between 24.0 points (Carmelo Anthony) and 11.5 points (Ty Lawson) per game. They just got their toughest interior presence (Kenyon Martin) back in the lineup. At the two traditional leadership positions, point guard (Chauncey Billups) and head coach (George Karl), the Nuggets have two of the NBA’s most accomplished and respected veterans, and on the court they have one of the League’s deadliest clutch performers (‘Melo). Read More »
Talented as they are, the Denver Nuggets (14-9) just seem to have too much “stuff” going on around the team to realistically contend for an NBA championship in 2011.
Carmelo Anthony is posting close to a career-low shooting percentage from the field (42.8%, 23.1 ppg) as trade rumors and behind-the-scenes issues with the organization swirl around him. Injuries to Kenyon Martin and Birdman Andersen have decimated the frontcourt. Read More »
At the moment, no one is sure whether Carmelo Anthony wants to play for the Chicago Bulls more or less than the Bulls want ‘Melo on their roster.
When ‘Melo and his 24.7 points-per-game career average unexpectedly became available to interested trade partners this summer, the Bulls were one of the most realistic options — they had the salaries and young talent to put together an attractive pitch for Denver, and offered the big-city appeal and contender-ready roster to earn Carmelo’s long-term loyalty. Read More »
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