Before the Nuggets face the Grizzlies in Memphis tonight, let's take a look at what else is going on in the NBA. Timofey Mozgov may no longer be featured, this season, in every Blake Griffin highlight and the Colorado Sports Guys answer, "What if Billups was still in Denver?"
Podcast: CSG #26: What if Billups was still in Denver? - Colorado Sports Guys
Ross Martin and I break down the Nuggets six game win streak, what went wrong against the Clippers, and much more. We also talk about my experience at the Raptors game with Russ and Vicki Ray (the Signlady) and we break down the ins-and-outs to the moves made by the Nuggets after they traded Chauncey Billups. Some of the salary numbers will have you raising your eyebrows ... (Nuggets talk at the 58 minute mark).
The Clippers blew out the Oklahoma City Thunder last night 112-100, Billups and Company went 13-25 from deep (52%) ... hot again, and Blake Griffin threw down this dunk over the hated Kendrick Perkins. The dunk reminded me of the Griffin over Mozgov dunk and when searching YouTube I found this incredible mash up of the Mozgov and Perkins dunks, great side-by-side view.
And just for the heck of it ... how about Gary Neal getting posterized a couple times last season from Tyreke Evans right here and of course by J.R. Smith right here!
Dwight Howard open to being a Bull - ESPN Chicago.com
The Magic might be able to get a pretty sweet deal from Chicago for their disgruntled big man. But would Joakim Noah centered return be enticing enough to Otis Smith and the Magic?
Fixing the Knicks - Basketball Prospectus, Writer roundtable
A nice read with a few different prospectives on how to fix David Stern's favorite team.
NBA Western Conference Playoff Chase: Where Every Game Matters - SB Nation.com, Tom Ziller
Ziller takes a look at the fight for the 3-8 playoff seeds out West. He's sort of assuming the Thunder and Nuggets will be occupying the top two spots all season ...
Nate_Timmons on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Nate_Timmons
ntimmons73@yahoo.com
0 recs | 37 comments
the grindhouse is open..
Sit back and enjoy, it is going to be quite a month. A lot of teams have some challenging schedules. Denver needs to put a solid effort into every night. They may not win every game, but I think they can steal quite a few.
Clips were ridiculous the last two nights. The overwhelmed OKC with energy in the 1st half and then hung on. OKC let them shoot open threes.
Nuggets back to the grind tonight. Face a hungry Griz team looking for a win. Another grinder, Ty dip that ankle in some magic healing sauce.
djyoung71 - January 31, 2012
Impressive wins by the Clips
Pusherman - January 31, 2012
What if Billups was still in Denver? Well then we would have won with bad acting instead of basket ball. Acting wins over good ball in this league. My poor nuggets are full of good players and not any actors so……. They are doomed in the play offs in the NBA (NEED BETTER ACTORS).
Chris Misner - January 31, 2012
I disagree
Denver has actors! Gallo and Rudy can flop. So can Nene! I’ve even seen Miller accentuate here and there!
Everyone does it! It still sucks, though.
But I agree, none of the Nuggets actors are as good as CP3 and CB1 on the Clippers.
Le sigh.
Fly Agaric - January 31, 2012
It's games like that that I miss the old thuggets
kmart would never had allowed anyone to push him around.
Japheth:the.other.kind.of.asian. - January 31, 2012
I don't think anyone was pushing the Nuggets around
Blake didn’t get off one big dunk and Big Al hammered him on his way into the basket in a very K-Martesque fashion.
Pusherman - January 31, 2012
Hmm..
This years Nuggets have flaws, but getting pushed around isn’t one of them. Think they are actually a physical team (Birdman excluded).
Don’t worry about the acting. What goes around comes around? Their are plenty of times the Chauncey doesn’t get a call because the refs are tired of him ramming, grunting and falling when he is in trouble. Lost that game cause the Clips were on fire and clicking. The Nuggets had two bad possession at the end of the game. The Clips had none. That is amazing.
djyoung71 - January 31, 2012
Oh.. I still miss Ty.. come back blur..
djyoung71 - January 31, 2012
If kmart comes back I hear that chauncey is trying to get him go to the clippers
georgekarl - January 31, 2012
This is nonsense.
You’ve got blinders on if you don’t think many players in the league play for calls like that. Billups is actually smart for playing it like that, and getting the call. He did it with Denver, too. Our team has done it. Enough of this “acting” BS. We didn’t lose because of that call.
neumdaddy - January 31, 2012
We didn't lose because of flopping, but saying players are smart for flopping.....
….you must be a fan of European and Latin American soccer too. Give me integrity over “smart” any day. But I know many will agree with you, anything goes to win.
bonaire - January 31, 2012
People do what they are rewarded for
As long as the NBA keeps awarding free throws for flopping, people will do it. They changed the way they are calling the Fake and Rake and continuations this season. Hopefully soon they will make flopping a foul.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 31, 2012
karl malone made a career out of it
I would love to have a dollar for every free throw he got for the fade away
georgekarl - January 31, 2012
So much needs to be changed
Flopping for sure. All the charging calls also detract from the game. Obvious offensive player control fouls should be called early and often, but this sliding-in crap needs to go. Seems pretty easy to make the distinction.
LongWindedHank - January 31, 2012
basketballreference.com now has box scores from every professional game ever played
including Wilt’s 100 point game. They were collected all over the country over decades by an obsessed man in Michigan.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/15575/how-basketball-reference-got-every-box-score
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 31, 2012
In that 100 point game
Philly won 169 to 147. 5 other players on the 76’ers scored the other 69 points. Wilt was 28-32 from the free throw line and made 36 field goals.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 31, 2012
And they didn't have the three point shot back then.
Thursty - January 31, 2012
THNX for this link TIDBMTID
fascinating
sgiustra - January 31, 2012
Ty giving it a go tonight....
Hochman tweeted that Ty says he will play tonight.. The magic juice worked. No we just have to see how good!
djyoung71 - January 31, 2012
Does Ny
ACEIII - January 31, 2012 via mobile
Does Anyone Doubt...
That if we had a healthy Ty we would have beaten the Clips? Ty does a nice job on Paul and would helped us keep a faster pace. Clips are tough, but we can beat them if we are at full strength.
ACEIII - January 31, 2012 via mobile
i thought we would have won fairly easily with ty
especially with them playing small ball against us. with ty in there, a completely different ball game
swmrkev - January 31, 2012
gott agree
A big problem was Clips steaming hot outside shooting. Ty is a very good perimeter defender because of his smarts and especially that speed. Gotta have speed to be able to cover all that territory. Also would have been a good match for CP3
sgiustra - January 31, 2012
there's about 5 reasons we definitely should have won that game
and that’s certainly one of them.
Rainbow skyline - January 31, 2012
NIce interview with Ty
http://www.truthaboutit.net/2012/01/from-the-other-side-conversation-with-denver-nuggets-guard-ty-lawson-aka-chico.html
Hope he’s healthy
adub - January 31, 2012
feel a little better losing to Clips since they beat OKC too
Just they get back on track tonight and get healthy as well.
jd80229 - January 31, 2012 via mobile
Tangential to the Nuggets
sad piece about Allen Iverson :(. I actually started really watching the Nuggets again when they signed Iverson. Even more so than when they drafted Melo. I hope he can turn his life around.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2012/1/31/2761217/the-tragedy-of-allen-iverson
SDcat09 - January 31, 2012
Sad stuff. Thanks for the share.
love4nuggets - January 31, 2012
I have always like AI
I didn’t realize he was going through so many troubles. Too bad. I wonder if any of the folks he supported for years are still around?
Pusherman - January 31, 2012
I'm from the area where Iverson grew up
There is an interesting dynamic there among a lot of the working class people in that area. And working class isn’t code for black, I saw it from every race. There is no focus on the future, everything is about today. Whoever has money today buys for those who don’t. Tomorrow, whoever has money that day buys. If you hold money in your pocket while someone else doesn’t have money for lunch, you are an asshole. Even if buying that lunch today means you won’t have money for lunch tomorrow. I knew a guy who was making about $30,000 a year. He completed a big project for his company so they gave him a $10,000 bonus. He got the money on a friday, and it was gone by Monday, with nothing tangible to show for it. He gave most of it to his friends.
ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - January 31, 2012
In a way, that is commendable...
…but it is also crazy. You will always have people dragging you down if you succeed.
It is completely the opposite of how I was brought up. To earn, keep it (or most of it), and save for tomorrow.
Pusherman - January 31, 2012
It is kind an interesting juxtaposition
SDcat09 - January 31, 2012
What about community?
I was brought up that way, too, but I rejected it. I spend money on us, not just me. I may regret not saving more of my money, but I doubt it. I know very well that I won’t be repaid for all my generosity, but that’s not why I do it.
This subject deserves much more thoughtful treatment at some length, but this is probably not the place for it.
LongWindedHank - January 31, 2012
I sort of understand where Pusherman is coming from
I don’t think he’s saying don’t ever give anything to someone else. But I think Big Tiddy is saying it’s more like some people from those backgrounds feel like they want to or are made to feel like they should take care of everyone around them, because they’ve made good.
SDcat09 - January 31, 2012
Community is very important
I enjoy helping others, especially those who are inclined to help themselves and pay it forward.
Pusherman - January 31, 2012
Looking forward
No, Lawson defines the team…Miller is experience and a great co-point, but doesn’t demand the speed we need. Neither did Chauncy, nor the Portland guy (forgot his name). We could have and should have beat Clippers (we’re the better team—possibly) and the whipped Oklahoma!.. our nemesis! That’s good! Karl leaves match ups on the floor at the end, not favorites of the fans. #1 in points, #1 in assists, #1 in %… don’t worry about the offence… it’s defence that makes the offense. This week will tell quite a tail… we beat Phily there, and Miami here, so the depth may keep us close to the top till the end… then, at the end of games, I would double screen Miller with the 2nd option to Nene, 3rd to Gallo…. we’ll see….
Charles R. Murray - January 31, 2012
I think we need a speedy backup PG next year.....
….I don’t want the pace to change from the 1st minute to the 48th minute. Also, if/when Lawson goes down with an injury, we still play the same style of game. That seemed to be an issue against the Clips.
bonaire - January 31, 2012
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