In a perplexing series of events, George Karl channels his inner 2007 and uses the most perplexing crunch-time lineups that we haven't seen in ages. Also, an old friend comes back to haunt the Nuggets in a very big way. Wish he was still here...
Nuggets fall 109-105 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Things seemed to be going so well.
With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter the Nuggets held a 10 point lead. However, as we were soon to find out, the Nuggets lead and lineup on the floor was fools gold. For the next three minutes, a lineup of Julyan Stone, Corey Brewer, Al Harrington, Rudy Fernandez and Nene Hilario (the most mismatched lineup ever, with Fernandez primarily running point) proceeded to lose that lead in one fell swoop. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck. Granted, you make due when your starting point guard, Ty Lawson, is out of the game. Yet this lineup had an extra special amount of drainage on the flow of this game.
Big Al, who had another poor outing (two in a row) couldn't seem to hit a shot. His layups were off, his three point shot was extremely off, and his decision making was sub par. Rudy (who should NEVER be running the point) erased a very good first half with sloppy turnovers on the drive (two on passes intended for Nene, who finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds). Stone was a complete non factor in this stretch after putting forth a good effort in limited minutes in the first half. Corey Brewer was a complete non factor tonight and a bit out of place.
Compounding this was the reemergence of "Stubborn George". You know, the one who sticks with a lineup even though it's clearly not working. This played itself out in spades the entire fourth quarter. A fatal couple key coaching and lineup blunders compounded the issue very late in the game. It went as follows.
Danilo Gallinari, who finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds, was doing what he does best. Driving the lane and trying to draw fouls. After getting pasted in the face six times through the course of the game, two non-calls on drives took the ball out of his hands for the rest of the game from the three minute mark on. This was unfortunate. Even more unfortunate was the lack of Arron Afflalo (who played a grand total of 20 minutes) in the game down the stretch, leaving poor Gallo to guard Chris Paul on four defensive sets down the stretch. While Gallo guarded Paul well a couple times, it was only a matter of time before Paul's speed would prevail.
Second blunder was, bless his heart, leaving a stone cold Al Harrington out there to take the important shots. Al just didn't have it tonight, and couldn't even get his shot to the rim on a couple drives. On both possessions Gallinari was getting open for a three point shot, and the Nuggets went away from him. Granted, this loss isn't completely on Karl's shoulders as a well-timed flop by Chauncey Billups (who was on fire the whole game and finished with 32 points) on Nene was probably the crushing blow. As well as the Clippers hitting an unbelievable 14-30 from behind the three-point arc.
Another head-scratcher was leaving a very, dare I say, surprising Timofey Mozgov (9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and taking up space in the lane) on the bench for the entire fourth quarter - even when both Blake Griffin (17 points, 13 rebounds) and DeAndre Jordan (8 points, 13 rebounds) came back into the game. Sometimes George Karl will out think himself, and tonight was one of those occasions (plus, the last sequence of plays for Al Harrington were odd to say the least).
I'm not putting this all on Karl by any means. He had a poor night coaching and I think every coach in the NBA will have a couple of those. CB came in and made mince meat out of the Nuggets perimeter defense and obviously baited the refs in to making some ... questionable calls down the stretch. These things will happen during an NBA season. Still, no excuse for Gallinari to not see the ball down the stretch. No excuse for putting a cold Al Harrington in the position to hit the shot. No excuse for getting outcoached by Vinny Del Negro. Seriously
The Nuggets need to win in Memphis on Tuesday to preserve a 13 win month. Hopefully the Nuggets can shake off the disappointment of this loss and concentrate on beating the Grizzlies. Having Ty Lawson back will be essential, and we hope to have him back in time for that game.
One note, Chris Andersen didn't make it on to the floor again. That's his third CD-DNP (Coaches Decision - Did Not Play) of the season. It makes me wonder what's going on between Karl and Birdman. Is Bird being saved for something, or do the Nuggets have that little faith in him right now? Your guess is as good as mine.
Onward and upward.
GO NUGGETS!
Twitter: @jmorton78 https://twitter.com/#!/jmorton78
mortonagency@juno.com
0 recs | 320 comments
Do we want a 13 win month?
Unlucky number win totals FTW!
First btw.
Agaliarept - January 29, 2012
I would rather have 14
but I will take 13 over 12 anytime
NC Gold - January 29, 2012
we got screwed by refs / flopping
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
And bad play...and hot Clipper shooting.
Nutty game. I didn’t think the refs played that big of a role at all. Nuggets had chance to win big and put game away in 4th qtr.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Ya...
I found myself constantly scratching my head wondering who the hell was on the floor and WHY!?!?!
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
The no-call on the Nene and-1 at the end was the most crucial element in the L
If he gets that and-1 on his last dunk and makes the FT, we basically win the game. Not calling that when he was clearly shoved was BS!
stiffy - January 30, 2012
For today
CB is Mr. Big Flop.
jbmmlang - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Funny how Billups is loved, but he’s always been a flopper and does the “fake and rake” to get free throws all the time, plus the pump fake/lean-in play he used to love. Billups learned all the tricks and uses them well. Kinda like Gallo is trying to learn too … ahhhhh!!!!
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Gotta love 'em...
When he’s doing it for “our” team, he’s awesome :)
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Oh ya. I might have to change my tune on Manu as Rudy and Gallo are similar, but not quite as bad.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I missed the game due to my Brother's birthday party
Sounds like some ref BS and Chauncey lighting us up… What’s up with AAA? Are we going to have to trade him? Maybe he should be benched in favor of Rudy?
CombatChuk - January 29, 2012
do we still get a roll call?
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
wait thats cloudburst
Disregard
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Ok, AAA
I’m done with him. I had some verbal battles here over the summer about how AAA couldn’t carry JR’s jock at the shooting slot while people extrapolated AAA’s stats having him averaging 20 points/game and playing great D (TyLawesome?) – I did give credit to AAA for playing good D and having a good attitude, but now, to me, it is becoming glaringly apparent that AAA fed off the attention that Melo and JR received and hit his 12 pts per game as he was wide open – now… I’m just disgusted. I know, he’s lamed up a bit, but he has been an absolute zero this entire season and for those of you who thought AAA was going to step into the 2 slot and kick JR’s butt – I’m claiming “told ya”. I was completely wrong on Al. Also, I defended Andre when that article came out about him not being happy coming off the bench – the guy, as always steps up – Andre’s the consumate pro. And I am the most avid GK “disliker” out here and I’m not going there after tonight… I missed every game of their 5 game road trip, so I may be out of touch with the overall feel for the team….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Nuggets had control of the game
And they let it slip out of their hands.
One thing I didn’t understand was, why did Al keep trying to drive on the last play of the game? You are down 109-105 – shoot a damn 3!
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
ya until rudy ran the same play 2 times in a row... both resulting in turnovers
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
Still doesn't justify driving the ball with 15 seconds left in the game down by four
We can also blame those turnovers on poor execution, flops, the refs, Chauncey’s new found hatred for the Nuggets, but this game was a loss, and I’m fine with that. I don’t mind seeing this team knocked on their ass every now and again – they come back stronger.
And the pundits may chalk this up to us not having a “closer” but we’ve won plenty of close games to put that theory to bed, and any team that only plays for 3 quarters is usually bound to lose (no Tebow).
There’s the only pragmatic post in the thread. I will now allow you guys to post about how we need to trade everyone. LOL
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
GK might have wised up...
They kept running the pick and roll with Al ending up on the guard and a mismatch on Blake, so they put Galo on the guard and Al on Blake so that when the switch came, we had Galo on Blake instead of Rudy, or some guard. It actually slowed down pick and roll, but then other damage started happening….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
not playing moz and not having ty in the forth
Made pulling out a win nearly impossible.
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
I can't understand two things
Why Moz doesn’t get to crack 30 minutes from time to time, and why Faried doesn’t get playing time.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
Understand this:
GK :(
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
This is NOT a game to blame the refs!
But this is a game that a RESPECTED team in he association wins at home! No doubt about it.
Larry Cunningham - January 29, 2012
which team has a 'superstar'?
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
I don't know, but I betcha the league could tell you. lol
Larry Cunningham - January 29, 2012
on the bright side
Nene/Moz/Gallo front court matched the Clippers’ trio great.
On the downside, … the 4th quarter. It’s almost like Karl was thrown for a loop when some other coach trotted out a 4 guard lineup, so he felt like he had to out crazy crazy.
nugz4rollz - January 29, 2012
LOL
Great analogy. I guess George didn’t have 5 guards to put in the game!! :)
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Al was nothing short of horrible
Was at the game and had no idea why Gallo was guarding CP3. Afflalo should’ve been out there for more than one reason. It seemed like the refs decided early on that Chauncey would get the benefit of the doubt. Gallo got hacked repeatedly going to the hoop, but seemed to get the Melo treatment all night.
propheteer - January 29, 2012 via iPhone app
I'm not exaggerating when I say Gallo was hacked in the face 6 different times
It was unbelievable
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
I saw miller get smacked several times too.
No calls!
InboundingLobPass - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Miller might be hated by the officials.
Nene and ‘Dre ride the refs pretty hard … that can’t help them at all. NBA officiating is just terrible.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Ya...
History has no end in the NBA… ‘Dre is too knowledgeable as a player and probably calls the refs on everything they miss… Nene seems to actually be getting a few more calls this year – in past years, I couldn’t believe the hammering he took without the whistle…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Watching Nene complain after every play worries me, but ya he’s getting more whistles … but on his dunk he should have had an And-1 … he almost was shoved off the rim with that dunk.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Yep
And that was a critical time when momentum was having the Nugs pull away again – and then there was an immediate time out and the momentum was gone…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
He's not as much as a whiner as he used to be
Remembering Nene always staring at the refs and taking himself out of the play way too often. I think he has shook some off that crybaby behavior off this year
markph - January 30, 2012
He was hit hard everytime he drove to the basket
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
Inside of a minute to go he drove to the hoop got smacked in the face and got dropped into the first row
NO CALL. Sorry Nate but I agree with JPage on this one. Gallo was repeatedly being smacked, literally, with no call after no call.
The U.N. Fab Five - January 29, 2012 via mobile
I never said Gallo wasn’t getting Stiff’d by the refs.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
My bad it was Larry C.
Mobile site is flipping back and forth right now.
The U.N. Fab Five - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Yep
He was up in arms (literally) on his way back down the court, like what does it take to get a call around here?!
propheteer - January 30, 2012
That stretch where the Nuggets had a chance to go up 10+ and wound up letting the Clips go on a 9-0 run or more lost the game.
Sure, the play down the stretch was not good and not a good sign of things to come in the playoffs, but that game should never have been that close. Fluky shooting by the Clips coupled with the Nuggets 6-18 from deep and just 15-20 from the foul line hurt.
Nuggets were out-rebounded and gave up 13 offensive boards. Denver can’t seem to get much respect on tough calls from the Zeeeebras, but that’s always going to be the case. Nuggs are also going to have to overcome Karl’s sometimes awful rotations. Mozgov should get a shot at some point to help close out a game against a team with a big frontcourt. Watching Corey Brewer guard Griffin and Gallo on Paul is just poor defensive assignments.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Agree completely on the rotation mismatches.
The U.N. Fab Five - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Nate,
I was sitting there thinking the same thing… I thought, the Nuggets are going to cruise into the playoffs, but when it comes to X’s and O’s, players like Rudy and Cory are going to face much, much more intense pressure and it always seems like they are on the edge of their best game in the regular up and down season contests – I was nervous watching thinking how the Nuggets still don’t have that “umph” needed to step it up to playoff mode and toss GK into the mix and it seems grim at this point…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
I was disappointed that Gallo didn’t get the plays drawn up for him tonight. Kid has the balls to take any shot and is looking great this season. He needs some crunch time practice.
Denver needs more games like tonight (close at the end) to practice for when it’s really going to count.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Great point...
Also, I think tonight showed how we miss a KMart or someone to step up and tell the “kids” to not back down. It seemed to me that the Clippers plain won the fight and the Nuggets backed down. No Kenyon or anyone to shove back and let it be known that the fight would be 50-50. We were soft – Galo – yep, kid has stones – took some hefty hits on the way to the hole – that left hand dunk where he was fouled was awesome. Bird even knocks heads when he’s out there – Rudy is soft, Moz is soft, … we just didn’t match the fight….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Moz mixed it up with DeAndre quite a bit tonight … even had a tiny scuffle out there with a little arm war. I don’t think Moz is soft at all. I was looking for a tough player tonight as well though, good point there, Harrington’s hard foul on that Griffin dunk attempt was pretty K-Mart-esque.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Ya -
Altitude caught Blake yelling “Get the F-k away from me” after Al decked him – I cracked up – Al nailed him and then did the proverbial “I’m sorry, let me help you up” LOL
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Was that Blake? I thought maybe that was him, but wasn’t sure. Good stuff.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Ya, Blake was pissed – quiet on the court, but the front row under the basket got an earful – saw this blonde lady in the background with a look that said she doesn’t hang around construction sites much!
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Altitude picked it up real well on the audio
There was no denying that moment.
markph - January 30, 2012
Clippers didn't score a lot in the paint
And made a good amount of contested 3 point/long distance 2 pointers during the game, and took Blake Griffin completely out of the game. The Clippers front-court was a non-factor. They got hot tonight and we got a little cold and like you said Jeffery, the rotations were a bit odd granted Lawson is out. I’d still feel very confident about ourselves because if they played the way they did and we play them in the playoffs, we will eventually prevail. Looking forward to when they play the Clippers on Thursday.
CloudBurst - January 29, 2012
We have to win that game, as well as tuesday at memphis... memphis will be on a b2b
same as the clips thursday
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
"rotations were a bit odd granted Lawson is out"
I had to laugh – the rotations have been odd for the past… what? 6 years?!
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Coming in late to vent a little...
That all just sucked…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
How about trying to bring Chauncey back to back up Ty after this season
Looks like Dre want’s to start? I’d love to have CB back…if only so we get some respect from the officials
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Do the clippers have bird rights because of the trade?
If not, then I could see him coming back.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Billups is shooting 33% from the field and 35% from three this season … those numbers have to go up, but he’s old. I think he’ll want to catch on with a winner to get a last chance to start over being a backup in Denver and risk getting traded for a third time. I’d rather see Lawson get it done and hopefully Stone to back him up with ’Dre still here.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Watching Stone tonight Nate...I have to disagree with you
Chauncey is a good vet backup, which is what Karl wants. Stone needs to seriously work on his court awareness. He’s got the defense down, but the offensive end needs some serious work
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
He was 2-2 shooting (1-1 from deep and 1-2 at the free throw line, rebounded his own miss and put it in) … were you watching the right guy?
He’s timid a bit on offense running the offense, just as Lawson was as a rookie. Point guard is a demanding position where you have to have big time confidence in your abilities and the attitude to run the team and take charge. He doesn’t have that yet, but he has shown flashes. Not sure he’ll ever be the backup, but I see good things in his game.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I didn’t like how he let Rudy take the ball up-court when those Rudy’s turnovers happened … that wasn’t good, but not sure what he’s being told to do out there either. But a point guard should demand the ball, he needs to get more confident and assertive in his game.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Rudy...
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy… This may sound crazy, but I don’t see this guy helping us much… His handle is awful – once the Clippers realized he couldn’t handle the ball, they stripped him, turned him, kept his back to the offense and to me, he looked like a European player getting lost in an NBA game – and that’s when I started thinking of playoff intensity and how Rudy will be WAYYYY down the bench….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
that was a direct result of g.k., calling him out for t.o's rather than complimenting him
in his great game the other night.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
Hated that.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I missed that part… too bad – he had one of those nights that really helped too… Rudy will give us about 7 good games this year – his D and ball handling are HUGE-SUSPECT – just my opinion…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Nate you have to be joking
Not only was he timid, he didn’t even seem to know how to run any plays. He got the ball out of his hand as quick as possible. That’s one reason Rudy was running the point.
He doesn’t seem to have intrinsic court awareness. I’ve never seen a point guard that had his defense down pat, but his ability to run an offense was so sub par. BTW…while Ty had some issues his rookie year, he had guts. Stone seems to be more than a little scared.
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Mod on Mod crime
Is a terrible thing.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
a gentleman's disagreement
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Okay
Who has the pistols?
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
I challenge Nate to a shot contest
and by shot’s I mean Car Bombs. We are both Irish so I think we can handle it.
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Watching xgames
“You are looking at 506 feet of joy”
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
CarBombs Jeff? Really?
I don’t care how Irish you are, no good can come of this…
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Haha!
A good car bomb on St. Patty’s is amazing.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I had one a few years
I couldn’t feel my legs. I thought someone ruffied me.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Does the S in SDcat stand for sally??? hahaha
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
The chances one of us explodes before we get drunk are pretty hight though
that Guinness can be quite filling
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Can I get on on this action?
Do it at my house so I have the altitude advantage and you will both be under the table.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
haha
I would not be competing in this type of contest. The thought of the hangover would be more than enough to steer me away, like I said … one on St. Patty’s is good though.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Dammit Nate!
Actually…if we do this contest in Vegas, we could drink more and most likely not suffer as much the next day.
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Haha, what happened to your "never again!" hahaha
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
That brain cell was killed
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
car bombs
were originally polish
LaimbeersGuardianAngel - January 30, 2012
Fun fact of the day!
Nate Timmons - January 30, 2012
He’s an undrafted rookie trying to find his groove. He needs more PT to get comfortable on the floor with the guys. He’s not really going to get it this season, obviously. But I still see good things in him. He does get rid of the ball quite quickly though … but when he doesn’t he plays well. The issue: he isn’t assertive right now.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Also, our expectations out of a backup point guard are totally skewed as we’ve been spoiled here recently.
Billups/Lawson
Lawson/Felton
Lawson/Miller
That’s just an awesome problem to have right there!
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I DEMAND PERFECTION!!
SHOTS!!
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
No one would be alive
At the end of a g.k. Drinking game with shots. Anything stronger than 3.2 beer and hello alcohol poisoning.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
I think CB
has a bigger issue coming off the bench than dre
nugz4rollz - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Could be
I’m just throwing it out there.
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Trade AAA
and bring Chauncey at SG next year (So he can start)
CombatChuk - January 29, 2012
You realize Billups is shooting 33% this season? That’s atrocious.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Afflalo has been atrocious this year
CombatChuk - January 29, 2012
Not saying AAA has been Kobe Bryant.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
What's AAA shooting? Can't be much better
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
42% ... for Afflalo this season. And 37% from deep.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Bird -dnp
I think Bird is the new J.R. Karl needs a whipping boy to play mind games with.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
I think Bird will be traded plus cash so his new team can buy him out.
Either that or he will be the amnesty guy in the summer.
The U.N. Fab Five - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Why?
You don’t make moves just to make moves. Got to have a specific target that amnesty allows you to get, otherwise it is pointless.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
It's pretty obvious Karl has lost faith in Bird
Why keep him?
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Plus the kufous signing pretty much is writting on the wall for him
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
I agree with TIDBMTID in regards to you don’t amnesty unless you absolutely need the room. I think Denver will try to move Birdman via trade, but not sure what sort of value he has out there with his issues in the past and deteriorating game. Philly needs a big man though.
Not sure Kroenke will want to pay a guy just to have him off the roster …
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I think he will be moved via trade
The Koufos signing was the writing on the wall for bird.
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Getting something in trade is completely different
Than amnesty. If they can get something, no problem.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Who would take him and what value would he have? 2nd round pick? Just cash? Team would need decent cap room to take his $4M per season over the next three (including this season).
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I think getting a second round pic would probably be the extent of it
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
He better than nothing
If someone gets hurt, he is serviceable. Where would they be if Harrington was playing elsewhere?
I watched the end of the spurs game at half. Popp had all his starters on the bench the whole fourth quarter and overtime. The contrast is stark.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Ya, this pisses me off...
I’ll repeat my previous post, GK can’t just walk up to a guy mano a mano and say “I need you to do ……” – he benches people, doesn’t tell them why, plays head games and I used to marvel how JR could even maintain a shred of confidence under the GK circumstances and Bird is now in the same boat – I HATE THIS – these guys can really contribute and need a coaches confidence even while they still might need a butt kicking too… What was that old 80’s song ; “How long… has this been going on…” ? Well, how long WILL this go on? And Nate’s right, CB is having a very mediocre year and needs to either hang it up soon or just provide a little backup somewhere…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
For some reason this loss hurts more than NOH and UTAH
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
Because they had the game well in hand
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
It brought flash backs to game 5 of the playoffs last year...
5baker5 - January 29, 2012
Yes... your're right - bad flashbacks....
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Maybe a little
But it really shows me the importance of Ty.
If Ty is here, Karl doesn’t screw up the lineups as much.
Our advantage at home is our speed, and without Ty we turned into a half-court team that favored the Clippers.
Ty was essential today (aka why he is getting MVP love). We do need stars to win, the only issue is people dont realize Ty and Gallo are our stars.
JR15 - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Ty
Agree on importance. Coach still screws up the lineups but he helps overcome the sabot tage. G.k. Knows wooden shoes.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Also I don't get the AAA hate
What do people want him to do? His groin will still limit him a bit and i thought he played ok D.
Do people want him to be a 20 point scorer? You guys confuse me.
JR15 - January 29, 2012 via mobile
I don't get it either.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
I don't have AAA hate...
I just got REALLY fed up hearing how AAA would EASILY fill up JR’s shoes and how all the JR haters leaped on AAA as the reason why they could. Never made sense and obviously isn’t panning out. If you weren’t tooting AAA as the next Melo or JR – my apologies, but… we STILL don’t have a 2 guard….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Give him some time
Guys don’t forget how to play overnight. Finding his rhythm.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
straw man
whoever said AAA would fill JR’s shoes? It doesn’t even make sense-AAA is a starter and JR a backup. They were on the team for two seasons together.
Rainbow skyline - January 29, 2012
I’ve been hard on AAA this season because I expected him to have a great season and be one of the leaders (on the court) of this team and somebody who would be knocking down big shots. Harrington has taken that big shot role, in a lot of games.
I still see Afflalo turning it around … I think my expectations of his offensive numbers were probably a little high, not sure what I thought they’d be … maybe I said 17 ppg or something? But with such a deep team and Lawson, Gallo and Nene needing the ball … not too many more shots to go around.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Exactly, AAA simply doesn't touch the ball much at all
Pusherman - January 30, 2012
It's not hate
He is playing badly, and until he finds his groove, I am actually supportive of GK reducing his time.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
Can you expect a guy to get better if you reduce his minutes?
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Absolutely
Shape up or ship out time.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
Explain how he shapes up if there is no playing time.
I’d love to know
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Did I say "no playing time?"
No, I didn’t. Try reading sometime and not inflating your post count.
If he is failing to meet expectations, his playing time should be cut. AAA has been marginal at best this year.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
Wow. You're a pleasant person.
If you reduce his playing time less than what he already has that leaves very little to none.
Your unnecessarily pedantic and unkind reply still doesn’t actually answer the gist of my question. .
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
I'm very pleasent, but you're very well ummm...how do I put this nicely?
Posting on blogs/being a stick in the mud/looking up words in a thesaurus = strong suit
Reading for comprehension…not so much.
AAA’s minutes over the last few games he’s played have been about 20 minutes. Whether this has been his poor level or play, concern for his health, or a combination of both – I’m not sure. What I am sure about is this guy spent more time negotiating a contract than keeping in shape. Until he can dig himself out of his rut with the time he has, I see no reason to reward bad behavior.
Step off me with your homer love; I’m trying to be pragmatic.
And I’m done responding. Before I know it, my post count will equal yours and I have better things to do.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
He is recovering from injury and does need
playing time to get back in shape which should involve actual in game play.
Have a pleasant night.
Don’t worry I won’t be upset if you don’t respond to my posts.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Good point about shots and minutes being available...
Last season, AAA was more integral – now, he’s more support – I’m just not sure he’s going to “get better” – I’ll repeat that he fed well off of having some major scorers around him that needed double teamed and he fed off that with many open shots – this year, he’s having to create his own offense and this was always where I questioned his ability – he’ s a good spot up shooter, but not really a good creator. I’d love to see him return to even the same level that he played at last year – but this season is moving along and “conditioning” and “groove” are wearing thin as excuses… I think my frustration is that we REALLY need him.
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Painful loss
But we were without Ty too. Might have been a much different game otherwise.
I hate it when GK goes small tho. If we believe in Moz play him. At least occasionally down the stretch.
Thought Stone did pretty well considering he’s had little game time. Obviously, a little lost offensively but he is a rookie. Still think he was a great pickup for us.
nugzin2040 - January 29, 2012
Yeah, I liked a little of what Stone did tonight too.
Loss was a tough one.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
SHOTS!
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Wait are you guys starting your drinking game already :(?
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Not yet...I'm just a short man shouting at a tall person at this point
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
This might be the funniest thing you've ever written
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
I am pretty witty
or pretty and witty…
Or just witty
Jeffrey Morton - January 29, 2012
Or all of the above!
And ISWYDT
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
haha - and I'm just an exhausted man who wanted to see a win tonight.
Funny how I really only get fired up about Nuggets games anymore. Sometimes I wonder if all my worry about the Nuggets is good for my health. Gray hairs on my head tell me one story, but I just love this damn team.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
You are not alone! Thousands of Nugs fans died a slow death tonight
Rockridge1 - January 29, 2012
Hah, same here
Every other team that I follow… I can get over losses pretty easy. But I live and die with each Nuggets loss apparently. Kinda lame, I suppose.
nugzin2040 - January 29, 2012
Shaun white
-3, 12. Got to change my setup. Then I’ll be just as good.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
i think it is pretty simple that we lost because george stubbornly tried to match the clippers with his beloved small ball,
and they are the ONE team that we should NEVER do that with (paul, c.b., mo, foye, and when healthy bledsoe), not that i am often in favor of a lineup where gallo plays 5 and al plays 5 under any circumstance.
how many times in a row did we get used because al was stuck on the perimeter? when gk FINALLY decided to do something about it, he left a clearly shaken and cold al in the game rather than replacing him with time who was fantastic defensively on the clippers bigs, and forcing them to run the court offensively.
yes that flop by c.b. was a reputation call. other than that the officiating was good/bad in no ones favor, but they had three respected stars politicing “begging/whining” to the refs all game and i do believe that tilted it in the end.
the fault that the game was even close enough to be left up to officiating however is squarely g.k.‘s shoulders however. he was outcoached without actually being outcoached, meaning it wasn’t anything vinny did, it was all about the things g.k. did/didn’t do. he is to stubborn to EVER and i mean EVER be reactionary when something isn’t working, instead insisting on the other teams make the second move on the lineup HE puts out there, and that is not something popovich, jackson, sloan or even doc rivers are too proud to do.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
small ball didn't work against NO either, if I remember correctly.
NC Gold - January 29, 2012
and they bhardly have the amount of solid p.g.'s that l.a. does.
i predicted this would happen.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
Good comments, I agree
Conversation of Rudy and GK, near end of third:
GK – Hey Rudy, if you make a crazy shot at the end o the 4th, your in for the whoel game because we’re going two PGs.
Rudy – Cool, BUT I’m not a PG. Besides Moz is looking fresh on the bench. Perhaps we should try to defend the pick and roll and rebound.
GK – No man, you can do it. Make that crazy shot and your in for the duration. TWO PGs is the answer, even if they have 3 and we only have 1 healthy one.
Rudy – Coach, but remember the Utah game. Their bigs crushed us in the 4th.
GK – Don’t worry Rudy, we will match their mismatch with a mismatch. I’m pretty sure Gallo can handle one of the quickest guards in the league and Brewer can take care of one of the strnogest PFs…
scene.
Pusherman - January 30, 2012
"you're"..excuse the typos.
Pusherman - January 30, 2012
I think a really big problem with this team...
Is the fact that we’ve somehow schemed our defense to aggressively trap and create turnovers, but in the process of doing so give up a ridiculous amount of wide open 3’s. To compound matters – when you’re giving up wide open 3s you better be defending the paint well – and we’re not doing that.
Let’s take a look at some #’s:
Nuggets give up 20.8 3 pointers per game. That’s second only to the Miami Heat. If you’re giving up that many 3 pointers it means that you’re leaving guys wide open everywhere and that’s why teams are attempting so many against you.
Miami gives up a lot of 3’s because they aggressively defend the paint – their eFG% in the paint leads the league. The Nuggets have horrible paint defense – ours is 67.7%, yet we also give up that many 3’s. We’re basically predicating our defense on creating turnovers – which we do a good job of, at the expense of horrible team defense. The smart teams defend the paint and the 3 point line.
chantech - January 29, 2012
If you look at tonight...
Chauncey hit a few great shots with good defense but the amount of wide open 3 pointers we gave up to CP3 and Chauncey was just stupid. Additionally, we left Mo Williams and Caron Butler wide open from 3 all night – both of whom are above average 3 point shooters, in Mo Williams’ case, an elite 3 point shooter.
To further compound the problem, we left the corner 3, the most efficient shot in basketball wide open all night.
chantech - January 29, 2012
Is the system running yet?
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Yup, it's running
Spent the weekend making sure all the shot location data in our PBP database was right.
chantech - January 29, 2012
Looking forward to your posts.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
How about that 3 he hit on Rudy fading into the stands!!! I thought “oh no….”
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
The open three point shots just make me want to slam my hand in a car door.
Brewer was at the free throw line late in the game with Billups standing alone at the three point line. Why is Brewer so far inside? Why not stick to a guy who can only beat you at the arc? Just makes me nutty. I said before the game on Clips Nation that the three could hurt as Denver never covers shooters … driving me batty.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Done that
Not all it is cracked up to be. Especially when you fingernail falls off.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
That's the same distance 'Dre was playing off of him early
I didn’t understand it then either.
NC Gold - January 29, 2012
Also meant to say that Billups was in the corner ...
Free throw line to the corner … not going to affect any type of shot. Denver’s defense needs some re-tooling for sure. Karl loves the high risk and high reward defense though.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
problem is, that gallo, brewer and aflallo are our three best perimeter defenders
and today aaa was a no show, while g.k. had galo and brew stuck in the post most of the day.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
brewer on griffin? come on.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
It's not individual defense on the perimeter
It’s how our defense is schemed and what Karl has them trying to do. Almost all the 3s against us are of the we doubled somewhere and left shooters wide open variety – not the a guy left his defender in the dust or our perimeter defenders failed to contest Chauncey Billups throwing one up from the corner variety.
chantech - January 29, 2012
It’s funny b/c Karl either wants his team to shoot the 3 or drive to the rim. So he knows the three can win games … why leave the other team open for the shots that you want your team to have????
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
It's almost as if Karl is creating defensive mismatches
For opponents to exploit and having to then play unsound defense to fix those leaks.
chantech - January 29, 2012
agreed
he outcoached himself today and has often times this season
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
Fgk.com
You can decide on the f
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
I would like to see:
Lawson
Miller or Afflalo or Rudy
Gallo
Nene
Mozgov
to close out some games. Play whichever SG is hot. Mix in Harrington at times if need be.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
I think Karl put the starting 5 back in with about 3 minutes left in the game – where were they after the first quarter when they were kicking it well?
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
agreed. harrington at the 4 ONLY on nights he's hot (which is many)
and otherwise timo. certainly would have won tonight.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
he's probabl
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
he's probably afraid Moz will pick up stupid fouls
and put the other team at the ft line when the game is close
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
but when you have the wrong personel on the floor,
you end up having al at 5, that forces brewer and galo into the post and rudy and stone for example or andre onto the perimeter. catch my drift?
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
This
Personnel is huge. I saw Harrington defending Bynum a bunch of times against LA which forced our wing defenders to double, which in turn left wide open 3’s everywhere.
chantech - January 29, 2012
And the doubles happen
Because guys are playing out of position.
At least Sloan will play properly next year.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
re. "It's not individual defense on the perimeter"
Glad to hear a good analysis on this, I was starting to think I was going crazy, seeing all these teams light it up behind the 3-point-line. Even the Nets went to town. We’ve been saying “Oh, they just got lucky and/or hot tonight, freak occurrence, no big deal,” but it makes more sense that something is wrong with the whole scheme on defense. This shouldn’t be happening so much.
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
If you watched the Supersonics back in the day...
That’s the same type of defense Karl is trying to play. It’s aggressive forward trapping and the guards are expected to double down. The problem is Karl’s Seattle teams were super, super athletic and he had Gary Payton.
It actually worked last year after the trade – mostly because we had Kmart and Ill Will. It doesn’t work with Mozzy being a stiff in the middle and Gallo playing good individual defense but lacking the lateral quickness to make that kind of defense effective.
chantech - January 30, 2012
It was like that ALL night
I thought “these guys think they are guarding the point guard” – NO, YOU’RE GUARDING CHRIS PAUL – AT LEAST CHEAT A LITTLE SO YOU CAN GET BACK TO HIM IF YOU’RE ON THE WEAK SIDE!! Or – Oh gee, CB has just hit 4 three’s in a row, maybe I’d better worry more about him than completely sagging – I kept thinking that the Nuggets needed to attach some NAMES to the positions they were defending…. It was a strange night – watching Rudy and Al get burned on that pick and roll – what was it – 4-5 times before GK made a change – and where was the weak side help – the one time Nene came over they got a turnover…. just a strange night…
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
I think the traps
to accumulate steals works against teams that do not have a good point guard to set up plays because it causes a lot of “free-style, random offense” which in turn accumilates to more turnovers. That is why we feast off of turnovers against teams like the Raptors but against teams like the Clippers with experienced point guards, it is a lot tougher. A lot of the 3 pointers tonight were contested though and they weren’t all open looks. Heck, Rudy defended Billups perfectly up close, and dared him to drive on him and he still put up a swish with Rudy breathing all over him. I don’t think the Clippers will win a playoff series playing like that, no matter how good of a shooter Billups is.
CloudBurst - January 30, 2012
agreed.
I’m a little worried that Denver didn’t make adjustments defensively late in the game. Nene/Mos/Harrington were doing decent handling Blake in the paint, plus there’s always fouling. I didn’t see any reason for Brewer etc leaving Chauncey to go for the steal when Blake’s efficiency on that shot is less than Chauncey/Mo/Paul’s on a wide open 3.
rxmart2 - January 30, 2012
Chauncey worked us
Blame this on the guys that included him in the Melo trade. Probably cause Nugs didn’t want to pay Chauncey $10M this year. Best yet, now Chauncey gets to work us several times every year. Very shortsighted to include Billups in the Melo trade.
Rockridge1 - January 29, 2012
Around mid-March you'll see Chauncey resemble the player he was at the end of last year
It won’t be pretty and the Nuggets made the right decision.
chantech - January 29, 2012
Chauncey was our coach. Now he coaches the Clips.
Trust me. He will work us again Thursday! Very bad to include him in that trade just to get Felton so he turned into Dre, Halilton, whoever.
Rockridge1 - January 29, 2012
Man that is funny!
chantech is right, now that the king of punk hill has retaliated for the year of raging about getting traded from Denver he will go back to his 14ppg avg.
So he can hit a few 3’s on a hot night and he can make his ft’s. I wouldn’t want him back for free. The new Nuggets is about assists and passing the rock around and Chauncey doesn’t have it in him. If he wasn’t making his shots tonight he would have still had the same number of attempts.
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
Is this really George Carl?
I love you man. Win us an NBA title! Just stay away from the Clips in the playoffs. I was sitting behind you when you coached the Montana Golden Nuggets in GF, MT.
Go George bring a title to Denver in 12/13!
Rockridge1 - January 30, 2012
+1234
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
I love Billups’ game and greatly appreciated what he did during the WCFs and what he did for the young guys on the team, but his time as a player in Denver are over.
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
Definitely done when they traded him.
You got the company line down. Management screwed this one up and now Chauncey gets to remind them several times a year (granted, it will only be a few years as a played – but later as an NBA coach)! Too bad for us true Nugget fans. I’m happy for Chauncey but fear for Nuggets nation for anytime he touches us he will want revenge!
Time will tell
Rockridge1 - January 29, 2012
Same thing for Gallo facing the Knicks ... Mozzy too!
Nate Timmons - January 29, 2012
That is fair but they are in the other conference.
Chauncey will be angry for a long time. I’m sure he is smiling tonight.
Rockridge1 - January 29, 2012
Billups won't be a great fit for this new nuggets team
We want passers and not chuckers. Billups was a chucker tonight and just got really streaky today. Not good to do that all the time.
Also we had good looks in the clutch, I dont know how Al had a bad game. He normally would make that layup, I don’t know what happened to him these past two games.
Maybe he needs to be back on the road.
JR15 - January 29, 2012 via mobile
He's already shooting 35%.
Rainbow skyline - January 29, 2012
not at all worried about that
he is far too streaky for that
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
wasn't it gonna be $14M?
And if Chauncey hadn’t been included in the trade, the Nugs wouldn’t have been able to get all those good pieces back. Chauncey will forever be my favorite Nugget, my screen name is because of him (I grew up in Park Hill too), but yeah, hard as it is to say, it was the right decision and the team is better as a result.
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
completely agree
it took a looooong time for me to get over the Chauncey trade, but w/ our new team, I’m accepting of the fact that it would not run the same way if CB were in the line up. I think we’re better of for the future investing the in young team now. Additionally, Ty will play second fiddle to CB even if we call CB a “shooting guard,” and that’s no good for Ty.
nugz4rollz - January 30, 2012
yeah, that too
CB was definitely inhibiting Ty’s growth last season.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
Even though Billups killed us
I’m glad he is on a good team now and not playing for the New York Trainwrecks.
CloudBurst - January 29, 2012
Agreed
It was aggravating, but I felt for the guy.
KevinAwesome - January 29, 2012
ok im gonna go cause my valium is wearing off, and i don't want to go back to thinking about how easily we should have won tonight
take care. we’ll get the memphis… grizzlies? name change guys?
later.
Patrick KB. Nugget - January 29, 2012
I feel confident that tonight
was an anomaly. Maybe there was more going with the players than meets the eye and GK made some peculiar moves to deal with that. Gallo got the snot beat out of him, or at least had his nose bloodied. Chauncey got his revenge of the Can, AAA is still working out his issues, Al had a bad game.
And yet we could have won this game had the Clippers managed to just miss one or two stupid shots.
Not gonna panic….yet
Peace out Stiffs
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
yep cat
thats the point I was typing as you posted
Anomaly, thats the right word
sgiustra - January 29, 2012
What exactly are AAA’s issues? I’m baffled that the guy wasn’t working out on his own and I’m really baffled at his performance – and as I said, I’m afraid we just paid $20 million for what we are seeing which is upsetting….
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
What I mean
I say issues is recovering from injuries and dealing with whatever has given him the yips. That’s the only way I can describe it. He seems hesitant, unconfident. Definitely different than last season.
I don’t think anyone here thinks he’s lazy, or a bad player or anything, but something is off. Considering how much he showed last season (i.e. leadership, clutch guy etc) I, for one, am willing to be a bit more patient regardless of his contract considering the good parts of his game I’ve seen in the past.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Ahhhhhhh..... "yips"
Now I get it! LOL That makes the most sense – because I don’t get it at all.
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
I'm serious.
Being a baseball fan, I see players go through the weirdest slumps. And having played sports myself, I’ve fallen prey to the yips. It’s a terrible place to be in your own head.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Kickball s tough.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
It was tennis and softball
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
and basketball
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Just read a long account of the Australian Open final
Wow, wish I’d watched it, though don’t know if I could’ve made it through 5 hours and 53 minutes.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
I stayed up and watched it
but I kept falling asleep and would wake up to the crowd going crazy. I did see the last two sets. It was amazing. But I don’t want to get to OT here
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
OT here?
You mean overtime? Gotta head for bed? I do pretty soon.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Off topic
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
This topic isn't as much fun as I'd hoped
But we’ll bounce back.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Indeed.
Also, check ESPN3.com. You’ll be able to see a replay of the Aussie Open final
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
OT, just for a second
Weird thing for me: I root for Federer when he plays Nadal, and feel bad for Fed when he loses. Then I root for Nadal when he plays Djokovic, and feel bad for Rafa when he loses.
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
LOL.
I root for Rafa, but Nole has earned his accolades. I felt bad for either one losing today. It was truly epic.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
How could those guys not engender those feelings?
Stunning tennis, great rivalry. The pinnacle. You gotta love them both.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
I think Nole and Rafa are going to
be the biggest rivals over the next 4 years.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Agreed
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
agree with SDCat & KFH
except I’m not sure if it’s really gonna be a rivalry — almost seems like Rafa can’t beat him anymore. Well, but I suppose he’ll fare better on clay still.
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
Rafa was one
net court from winning today. Seriously.
SDcat09 - January 30, 2012
And one break.
I almost wanted to cry for him. Considering how many times he had to break serve to get back
SDcat09 - January 30, 2012
yeah, I am probably overstating
but it seems like Rafa played his best today and it wasn’t enough. I think Novak’s best is usually gonna be enough against anyone, at this point.
Still betting on Rafa to take the French this year.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
I think he's just physically off.
didn’t take care of himself during the lockout, which is really disappointing. He has no quickness and can’t get to the paint at all, which he was getting pretty good at last year.
Rainbow skyline - January 29, 2012
Yeah, where's that solid, methodical, tough two guard
who can get into a rhythm—and take opposing players out of theirs? I haven’t lost hope, but it’s not lost on me that he’s not on the court at the end of games right now. Tonight Rudy took his slot.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
hope you're right sdcat
Overall, think you probably are. Hopefully Ty’s ready to go next game…
nugzin2040 - January 29, 2012
I wish I was sure tonight was an anomaly
Instead I find myself thinking the new version of our Nuggets got tested against a team with a lot of talent and the proverbial savvy veterans—and came out on the losing end. They lost another game they should have won, one in which they had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. As I wrote below, we’ll learn more as this team goes up against more teams with winning records over the next month. Tonight they failed the test, yet I’m still thrilled with their future.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Dre is our veteran savvy player
I think our young guys got very frustrated with some of the officiating and let it cloud their thinking.
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
I loved how Dre matched Chauncey in the first quarter
It was clear to me they were competing. I mean more than just to win this game.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Chauncey had a lot to say and I think he said it all. :(
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Oh yeah
That’s a big part of why this loss leaves such a bad taste. We got beaten by his smarts and his new buddies. It stings.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Ohhhh, so much to take in. This loss hurt but was Ok because an unlikely set of occurances conspired all at once
1)Clips desperation shots were ungoldly effective
2)Gallo was taken out of game repeatedly by calls he always gets
3)Ty was missing
On the plus side, Moz looked great, we were more than a match physically with a very physically talented team. We are big, strong, athletic – thats real good and gives me more hope for being able to deal with OKC.
But, Karl’s subbing is strange to be kind.
sgiustra - January 29, 2012
Mozzie was indeed impressive
Haven’t looked at the box, but he had at least a couple of tremendous blocks. And he can make shots over DeAndre Jordan, which is nothing to sneeze at. The Clippers are a talented bunch—now with some serious veteran leadership—and we coulda-shoulda won the game. Bet we win Thursday.
If, that is, Karl figures out a thing or two…
LongWindedHank - January 30, 2012
yeah, I think Moz was more impressive than stats showed
Clippers seemed to be aware of his presence, exactly what you want from your big Center. And Moz has incredible shooting fluidity for a 7 footer, a tough feat, just ask Dwight.
I think key to next Clip game is presence of Ty. having Gallo on Paul, while OK in certain instances, was bound to hurt us.
BTW, next 2 games on the road are tough. We’re good but dont be surprised if we dont win either. More importantly, lets not panic.
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
gonna say it,
Moz is better than Jordan (DeAndre, of course). Moz is stronger than Jordan who often seemed overmatched when they were face to face.
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
Lob City my a$$...more like Flop City
That wasn’t the reason we lost, but I hate flopping.
bonaire - January 29, 2012
Rudy tweets
Don’t worry Stiffs. All will be well. :)
SDcat09 - January 29, 2012
Normally, I'd say "yep!"
But all will be well until we get into the playoffs – then we get GK’d and all go apesh!t again for the summer :)
mtnmagic22 - January 29, 2012
Prob true
But we did do well with GK when we had a high seed.
This year we should have a high seed, so I don’t know what will happen.
It just doesn’t feel like the same GK of old (I mean winning 4 games in 5 nights on the road just isn’t GK… This is definitely a new GK).
JR15 - January 29, 2012 via mobile
don't count on it
look how tight this western conference race is this year. one mini slump in feb and we’re lookin up at the 8th seed.
skithebert - January 30, 2012
We are in a mni slump already?
I think one thing Karl can do is coach the regular season. We won’t be slumping in Feb, he will surprise us.
doesn’t mean he is a good playoff coach, but the high seed is definitely ours to lose
JR15 - January 30, 2012
just saying
being 1.5 or 2 games up from the rest of the field means nothing at this point. especially with the brutal upcoming schedule in Feb
skithebert - January 30, 2012
16 of 18 against winning teams
Going to be tough. Everyone on the team will have to be better.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
Tough loss, but a stupendous place to read about it
After reading through Jeff’s recap and 130 or so substantive comments and replies here, I have to tell you folks again how much it benefits me, along with countless others, I have little doubt, to read your informed, careful analysis about the Nuggets and the game of professional basketball. I thought I had a fairly decent read on tonight’s loss to the Clippers—until I read some of yours. Much appreciated!
While I’m at it, I wasn’t terribly discouraged by this game, though I am once again left scratching my head that we can’t put teams away after opening up decent leads (though I’m scratching my head a lot less after reading this thread). I still see great potential for this team to improve at both ends of the court as the season develops. I even think George Karl’s rotations and endgame lineups make some sense—to him, though not to me or many others here. Here’s hoping his scheme works out.
We’ll sure know more about this roster and Karl’s management of it after this week, and then again at the end of February. I wouldn’t bet a dime on which way things will go (though chantech will). There are just too many known unknowns!
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
I will bet
That sloan is the coach of this team next year. Karl isn’t capable.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Not sure if I want that or not
But I can say without a doubt that I do not think you’re correct. Karl has the support of the organization, and tons of league observers think he’s one of the greats. If we flame out early in the playoffs—hell, if we bomb the rest of the way—maybe the FO will reconsider Karl. But I doubt it.
I no longer think Of George as a great coach, fwiw.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
Anything less than wcf
Sloan is the coach. Stan focused on baseball. Masai needs to win
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 29, 2012
Ujiri has been off the charts thus far
I trust him to do the right thing. As for WCF, right now I just hope we still have a horse in the race come playoff time.
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
what's GK's contract like?
Would he have to be bought out or something before someone else could be brought in? Doesn’t he have 2 years guaranteed after this one?
ParkHillNative - January 29, 2012
I hate to blame losses on injuries
because they are so common, but it was clear to me that not having Lawson was a huge problem. Stone was effective in the first half, but he didn’t bring anything in the second whereas the Clips guards just kept hitting shots and making plays. Had to fight fire with fire there, and Ty is the best man for that job. Hard to know how Karl would have rotated differently with Ty, but he’s one of the 3 best players on the team and in a game like this it matters.
That said, still could have found a way to win there. I agree that the rotations were odd, but overall the rotations should have killed us on the block and they didn’t. We just couldn’t find the hoop on some crucial possessions when the Clips did so. Hat’s off to Chauncey, who has not been playing well this year but was brilliant tonight. Chris Paul is a star for a reason, and man Mo WIlliams can shoot it. That is an elite guard rotation when Chauncey is firing, and they showed us the impact tonight.
I’ll be there on Thurs, hoping for a better result…get well Ty.
Teekalong - January 29, 2012
We're counting on you and CloudBurst to get us over the hump Thursday
LongWindedHank - January 29, 2012
I feel we are repeating ourselves in this thread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFtyh-5LPxw&feature=related
Jeffrey Morton - January 30, 2012
So what's your point, Dr?
SDcat09 - January 30, 2012
Doctor
Jeffrey Morton - January 30, 2012
Doctor
InboundingLobPass - January 30, 2012
coaching...
The last nuggets game i got to watch was the last playoff game and i have to say i was extreamly bitter and Still to do this day have no fate in the nuggets winning the title with GK as a coach no matter how great of a team you provide him. He always manages to screw us with his lineups. I live in Europe now and i just rely on this site to follow the nuggs… and i have to note that almost every game we’ve lost i’ve seen that GK has been a major problem with his rotations…< I am not hating on GK and as one poster pointed out last week “Hating” is a BS label… it’s a way to dismiss someone elses point of view without giving an argument> I want to see the nuggets loose 25 games this season and 90% of them being solely based on the other team WAS BETTER or refs screwed us … not because oh GK experimented with 5 guards or randomly puts Al on CP3… I’ve always felt that we have won games inspite of GK holding us back .. i really want to see it turn that hey we won because our coach how makes millions played all the right cards and properly motivated his people rookies (JR>>.<<<JR). Moz gets 30 min K2 gets the rest nene plays under 30 min … Moz plays in CRUNCH time … ok enough rant… I really hope GK would learn but we know it won’t happen as we’ve seen the same shit for 6 years… i still shake with anger when i recall the boykins and AI back court… what dumb.*&^& puts that out there….
EviBina - January 30, 2012
If I haven't figured it out by now...
Do you think I ever will?
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
x
InboundingLobPass - January 30, 2012
awesome moment
spoiled by the loss.
nugz4rollz - January 30, 2012
FIFY
spoiled by the
loss.coach.ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
The Flop
Chauncey’s flop on Nene was the key play of the game. For the refs to reward a grab and flop at the end of the game is a travesty.. I also think AAA should have been guarding Paul down the stretch and Chauncey was Chauncey. I did like the fact that Griffin and Jordan didn’t dominate inside. I though Nene and Moz held their own against their bigs. We really missed Ty tonight, but it was a fun game.
ACEIII - January 30, 2012 via mobile
Chauncey has another flop
…or two on the previous offensive plays in order to get to the line. He is a master at it.
Pusherman - January 30, 2012
I thought big Al's missed three was the key play
Nene had the ball in the key with the option to go to rack and passes to wing for a WIDE open Harrington spot up for the dagger three and . . clank.
Billups killed us, but if Al hits that three, we win.
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
But what about 11 seconds left when Nene had the ball
and instead of throwing it down its like he didn’t know what to do with it. He couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
I knew we were going to lose this game in the third quarter
Just seemed like the Clippers were leading a charmed life last night with the long jumpers they were making.
Really missed Lawson last night, and it’s going to be like the OKC series soon if Lawson’s ankle doesn’t get better. His injury is a killer to this team and will really drag us down against high quality teams.
margabelle - January 30, 2012
Strange Sunday nights
I have noticed over the years to watch out for Friday and Sunday nights. Most teams seem to play to form during the week but you can throw your theories out the window on Upset Friday and Who Cares Enough to Play Sundays. To wit:
Squeaker wins by home favorites Miami and Dallas. Outright upsets by road dogs Toronto, Cleveland over Boston, LAL (yes they were slight dogs), Indy over Orl, and finally Clippers, the leagues shallowest team, over Denver. The only one who took care of business like they were supposed to was, gasp, Atlanta. So the Nuggets aren’t the only ones scratching their heads today. If Ty plays, I still think we get that one.
What the heck is going on in Orl? Schitzo team of the year obviously affected by the big guy’s free agency. But still, players not showing up at all. Crushed by Indy on their home court.
Plea for Intelligence - January 30, 2012
Orlando is going through Dwightdrama
Worse than we went through Melodrama.
I feel for Orlando fans. I think Ujiri is the only GM who can fleece a team the way he did in that situation, but Otis Smith should consider all options and not just the Laker’s one.
Btw if we win in LA, does it negate this loss for all the stiffs who are pissed?
What about if we win in POR which IMO may be near impossible.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
For what its worth
Over the last few years Orlando has had some of the best players, best matchups against other teams and yes, even best coaching. They just can’t get it done in that incarnation and they need to blow it up. It is best for everyone to end it now and get some money for Howard.
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
No
Winning those other games would do nothing to negate the wooden shoes thrown by Karl last night. When this team wins, it is in spite of their coach, and this is not a good thing.
On Howard, I am starting to believe that the Magic will keep him for the rest of the season.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
I have never heard the term throw wooden shoes
What does it mean? I know it is not a good thing, but never heard it before.
JR15 - January 30, 2012 via mobile
Got to watch your Star Trek, my friend
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
Thanks for the explanation
Kinda interesting! I am not a Karl fan as you know TIDBM. The only way I can say Karl sabotaged the game was if he explicitly told Stone to not run the point and said defer to Rudy.
Going big would not help trap CP3 who feasts on bigs who switch out on him. What did you want Karl to do that game?
I still agree Karl sabotaged us in the playoffs last year, but I didn’t see it in the game last night.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
Did you watch the fourth quarter?
Watch it again. Lineups were terrible. Karl is actively working to prevent the team from winning. How about AAA on Paul instead of Gallo.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
Karl being "creative"
Look, I like the idea of putting Gallo on even a big, shooting guard because I think that Gallo could stick there. But having Gallo on CP3 (almost typed ‘CPR’) for a long stretch was, is, preposterous. Notice that gallo did a decent job 1st few instances and then Paul figured it out.
Too bad Karl didnt.
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
here is a thought, related to my reply
How about Gallo on Billups for a little while?
Unlike Paul, Billups is not that quick, Gallo’s height would harass Billups, Billups will not have the ball in his hands when Paul is on the court – that would have made sense – but on Paul, makes no sense at all.
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
Gallo was techincally playing the PF spot
In crunch time, but I agree with you. If Gallo can make Melo and Kobe have bad shooting nights, he should do the same to Billups.
Oh well, lets get Lawson back vs. the Grizzlies and discuss what should be better things the rest of this week.
Btw I think Bird will play later this week, and it is one of Karl’s tinkering strategies, but I always cringe when I see him play and prefer not to see him play.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
I think Gallo did a great job on CP3 until that drive where he was fouled
I thought Karl adjusted well because the CP3 pick and roll made us switch Al Harrington on CP3 and Brewer on Griffin.
With Gallo switching on CP3, you don’t really lose a beat cuz Gallo can generally stay in front of faster guards.
To be real honest with you, I think Stone did the best job of defending Paul last night and I do wish he was playing in crunchtime on him cuz Stone would fight over screens and really bother Paul with his length. But alas Karl does not trust rookies, and probably with good reason, still would have liked to see Stone on CP3 with 33 seconds left with our 1 point lead.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
good points JR
Stone has the physical ability to play on Paul, but I dont trust him in crunch situations. Impressed by what I saw though.
But, lour biggest problem was chauncey. Wouldnt it have made sense to put Gallo on him to see if gallo’s height could have bothered him?
BTW, I could see Karl doing offense-defense switch late in games, and I could see Stone and AAA in when we are on defense
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
I was 450 feet away in the upper deck, . .
But I was shocked and pleased on how well Gallo did on CP3. Also I only remember a single LOB dunk which I thought was pretty good.
If Billups / Williams / and CP3 only make a couple of the crazy end of clocks heaves, the defenses ends up looking good, no?
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
I loved "The Undiscovered Country"
One of the most underrated Star Trek movies…
/Trekker
CombatChuk - January 30, 2012
Here's the vid of Al fouling Blake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XWgVIU2jctM
CombatChuk - January 30, 2012
CB
has always seemed to play well vs the Nuggs
If it was anyone besides him I’d be pissed
Karl call a TO B4 losing the lead please, oh an use your depth!
NewEraNugg - January 30, 2012
Thanks for stopping short of an Elway comparison
because Elway got it done for Denver and Billups did not.
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
Billups
got this team farther then I’d ever seen them go, I’ll never have ill will towards him
Loss wasn’t very fun, but it was CB & I’ve seen him do this to the Nuggs before
NewEraNugg - January 30, 2012
Not far enough.
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
Farther
than any of those other knuckleheads got em, I consider it a minor miracle to get a team w/ JR, Melo & Kmart that far
NewEraNugg - January 30, 2012
I checked the play by play
and in all fairness, the group that lost the lead scored the first four pts of the period to extend it to 10 . . then in 2 quick minutes, LAC got 10 straight – including two 3s. Karl immediately put Miller and Nene back in. It not like he let that group go for half a period getting killed.
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
He just did what he always does
sits on his hands doing nothing while the lead evaporates. Call a timeout! And gallo was attempting to guard CP3 later than that.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
You can't call a timeout eveytime a team scores 2 baskets in a row
If you did, you be complaining about Karl running out timeout at the end of games. My pt is that run wans’t very long . . if Harrington makes a layup and Paul misses his 25 footer the Nugs are up 7 at the nine minutes mark with the ball instead of tied at 8.41 mark. And there was a timeout at 8.41.
BTW, it seemed unthinkable, but Gallo seemed solid on CP3 – how many lob dunks did you see in the fourth?
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
You get ready to call a timeout after the second basket
You automatically call timeout any time any team gets 6 or more points in a row. Stopping runs is a key thing in the NBA and Karl is terrible at it.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
So are Phil Jackson and Greg Poppovich . .
I don’t think any coach in the league has a rule to call a timeout under those conditions.
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
Please
don’t put Karl in the same sentence as Jackson and Poppovich. If they are Division 1, Karl is Division 3. Lots of coaches call timeouts before giving up a 10 point run. Opponents do it routinely with the nuggets.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
But they don't call timeouts - your specific criticism
I think it is eay in retrospect to say he should’ve, but, consider the Clippers used their last timeout right after Nene made his second slam dunk. If Al manages to make a lay-up instead of throwing the ball off the bottom the basket, LA has no timeout and maybe the Clipper fans are complaining about how poorly they managed their timeouts.
I watch the Nugs, and I see young players who have consistently improved – Lawson, Melo, JR, Affalo, Dantay Jones, Forbes, – top to bottom year after year. With ’Melo and Iverson – top level offense numbers in the L, with Billups and Melo – top level offense numbers, with Gallo and Lawson – top level offensive numbers. The team shares the ball, ball movement is excellent, everyone plays hard. Moz looks better day by day, Rudy looks the best since he been in the L as does Brewer. Gallo, Nene, and Lawson all seem to be more comfortable and better position to succeed. This looks like good coaching to me. Am I missing something?
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
This isn't retrospect
I was calling for the timeout on my couch as I watched the game. It is a chronic problem with Karl. I think Karl does a good job, mostly, coaching before the game. His in game coaching and adjustments are often terrible. His scheme is poorly designed in that every team that relies on running loses in the playoffs, usually early.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
I read you frontrange
You make very good points and yeah, i guess is doing something right.
But the stats you choose are all offensive numbers. But defense counts too, no?
Even better, any criticism of karl is not with any particular facet of the team but rather what he’s done with regard to wins/losses and playoff success. He’s certainly not at the top of the heap there.
Also, the team with melo achieved playoffs, granted but Melo was poorly coached because he wasnt coached at all.
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
Karl coaching
1) He won at least one championship – just with the Albany Patroons – ironically, the same team Phil Jackson won a championship with in the CBA.
2) Karl’s team’s almost never had a top five player on them . . the exception being Seattle with Kemp and Payton who did go to the NBA finals. Losing to MJ is not an indication of being a poor coach, IMO.
3) You could argue that Buck team built around Baker, Allen, and Robinson over achieved in the playoffs.
4) I hear, and agree with the complaint that Nugs half court sets are not that good. Watching Utah screen when Sloan was coaching was a thing of beauty. ‘Course, Sloan never won the big one either.
5) I actually thought given the personalities of the ’Melo era Nugs – ’Melo, Martin, JR, Billups, Iverson, a lot of strong willed people to mold, that Karl did okay, but not great.
6) This iteration of the Nugs – a clear reflection of Karl’s coaching philosophy – should be a good test of how we should evaulate him.
7) Nugs have consistently been on the top half of the league in Def Rtg and finished in the top 10 three times.
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
yep, Karl may be a good coach, not great
But his moves are more erratic than I’ve seen in the many coaches that I’ve observed.
Just the idea of playing numerous small line ups, then putting a tall small forward on Paul are strange enough but the worst thing he’s done was his constant reliance on R Felton against OKC in the playoffs.
Felton was an unmitigated disaster for us. Karl never adjusted to that looming reality. That’s on Karl
For good measure, in the clinching game against us, Karl decided to sit Gallo for most of the 4th quarter, and until the final buzzer.
Unbelievable! All the while, I’m sure with Felton on the floor.
Those last couple of examples arent just bad coaching but strike me as inebriated coaching
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
To be honest I am glad the Nuggets lost
For selfish reasons so I can be productive today and not argue over why Stein will drop us a bit.
I thought we were going to win this game before tipoff until I heard Lawson was out.
I went to the Toronto game, and even though we won I could see why we really need Lawson on the team. I think we could do alright if Nene is hurt, or Gallo is hurt (especially if Wilson re-signs), but Ty is our most irreplaceable player. That speed he brings is unreal, and in all honesty would have wore down CP3/ Billups and they won’t have as big offensive games cuz they are trying to defend him.
We can get away without Lawson vs bad teams, but not the good ones. The weird thig is if Harrigton had a decent game we could have won. I didn’t think we would be close to winning at all without Lawson before the game, so I was kinda impressed by the team’s performance though you guys clearly are not which says a lot about how good this team is.
If we played Miami without Lawson that would have been a definite loss
JR15 - January 30, 2012 via mobile
I do have one caveat to the whole Lawson is irreplaceable thing
Stone can ball, and he will be a good back-up PG especially when Miller leaves town.
If Stone wasn’t a tentative rookie and actually played like the PG and Fernandez played like an SG we would have won the game too.
Remember at the beginning of the 4th when he stole the ball from CP3. I just wish Rudy gave him the ball instead to run the offense instead of turning it over and giving up our lead.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
Agreed.
Lawson’s speed is two-fold because it not only gets you a few easy buckets here and there, but it wears the Clips back court out. It’s weird because Ty and Andre are both effective on the break for different reasons. Andre is great at finding the open guy down court, and Ty is great at becoming the open man.
rxmart2 - January 30, 2012
unfortunately,
I think Ty is going to get injured pretty often, because of the way he fearlessly throws himself into traffic all the time.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
Agree with Parkhill on that
And that is why what all I said could be moot. I am researching ways to quickly heal cartilage and tendons. This is one of the reasons I do that work, so athletes can get back on the court quickly. If I do make a breakthrough, I will give Nuggets players the first chances to get the implant…muahahaaa.
Btw, the thing the German doctor did on Kobe is kind of the principle of my work, except it will last longer and actually have science to back it up.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
good points
Gallo is our best player, borderline all star, but Ty is our most valuable player, fallen off the all star map recently but irreplaceable.
And frankly, I’ve said this for a long time, and frequently, in many ways, if we are aiming for a title, Mozgov may be our 2nd most valuable player because he is less replaceable than even much better players like Gallo & Nene
sgiustra - January 30, 2012
very interesting re. your research
I totally understand if you don’t want to say, but I’m curious about where you work.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
I work in Boulder at the university
More on cartilage regeneration than tendon regeneration, but it involves polymers and adult stem cells (not the kind everyone is scared about).
JR15 - January 30, 2012
wow, awesome
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
The politicization of stem cells in this country is criminal
Who knows how many people will die early because of it.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
rec'd
JBnuggs - January 30, 2012
Interesting numbers, JR vs. Afflalo:
Career ORTG/DRTG:
AAA: 114/110
JR Smith: 106/108
So…JR is, by advanced metrics, about 8 points worse than Afflalo offensively, while about 2 points better on defense. Most of this comes from the efficiency with which Afflalo scores – he’s definitely not a volume shooter – but the defense was surprising. JR also has two seasons on Afflalo, so keep that in mind.
Colin Neilson - January 30, 2012
It's pretty simple.
Afflalo has historically been a great 4/5th option and will never hurt a lineup when there are other guys on the court who can create. If he’s the #2 option, our offense will sputter. JR does a decent job as the #1/2 option, but can be a negative when placed with other scorers because he has a tendency to take bad, offensive flow killing shots.
This is historically and not so much this season as AAA has not played as well. I’m not worried because he was showing signs prior to the injury.
rxmart2 - January 30, 2012
Any system
that rates JR as a better defender than Afflalo needs to be reconsidered.
Teekalong - January 30, 2012
Thought I was working at a Nuggets game and not a porno shoot
but after seeing all of that STAR FUCKING I’m not sure…
Phil H. - January 30, 2012
LOL
Do you like beer and coke?
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
I like beer and beer
and maybe some beer, oh and bears
Phil H. - January 30, 2012
Something my wife picked up in Germany
She claims lots of people there drink beer mixed with coke.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 30, 2012
Beer and lemonade(or similar)
It’s called Radler and it’s quite good. Beer and coke? Notsomuch
Phil H. - January 30, 2012
What happened to the famous Nuggets home court advantage?
I’d have to look it up, but I bet the Nuggets have a better point differential on the road this year. All year they’ve allowed crappy teams to stay in games at home (or win) and they’ve allowed the likes of the Clips and Jazz to pull away in the 4th quarter. WTF?
Alaskan4Fat - January 30, 2012
it's loses like these
that have me concerned about how we’ll play in the playoffs. I’m still worried that Karl is going to keep the trend going of being a great coach in the regular season then flaming out in the first round. I just don’t know if his “system” will ever be successful in the playoffs.
JBnuggs - January 30, 2012
*not meant to be a reply
JBnuggs - January 30, 2012
never thought I'd see the day
Nugs are 7-3 at home, 7-3 on the road.
If you’d told me before the season started they’d be 14-6 after 20 games, I’d have guessed maybe 9-1 at home, 5-5 on the road.
Weird to suddenly be worrying about whether they’ll play their best at the Can. After the first few home wins, I thought they’d win at least 25 home games this season, maybe even 28 or 29. Not so sure now.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
Very Un-GK like to have a better road record than home record
I would say we should look at the road wins as a positive. According to Doug Moe we are 4 in that system (s for road wins and -s for home loses).
I will say the NOH and Utah games were inexcusable head scratchers, but you can’t discount that CB1 was ballin’ today and if he played like his average chuckin’ self we would have won this game easily.
Most of his 3s were very and I mean very bad shots (contested and early in the shot clock) which would have allowed us to leak out and score.
Thats what you get with Chauncey. Sometimes he wins you some games and other times he will lost it for you.
JR15 - January 30, 2012
yup, re. Chauncey
He’s at that age now where every once in a while, he’s going to have a great game, followed by a string of bad ones. Probably had this one circled on his calendar way back at the start of the season.
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
and in large letters he wrote
LACES OUT!
georgekarl - January 30, 2012
hopefully
he keeps it going tonight vs OKC, can’t believe how hard it is for those guys to lose!
JBnuggs - January 30, 2012
True, true,
But he is still the best cooler in the L. I have never seen another player I would more like to shoot 2 ft within 3 pts in the last minutes.
Frontrange - January 30, 2012
yup
miss his ft shooting the most, pretty much
ParkHillNative - January 30, 2012
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