Denver Stiffs

Overall a pretty solid game

But I’m concerned that a team which has been decidedly not good on the glass was able to push us around and get all those offensive rebounds early. Even though it was a blowout, it could have been a complete massacre without those boards in the first half.

It's almost like we didn't have our starting frontline!

(kidding aside I agree, but the 2nd half seemed better)

Phil H. - February 14, 2012 reply

hehe.

yeah, we can hope that it will resolve itself when we are more healthy.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

It's a win, so I'm going to stay positive

but I agree this game could have been a massacre. Instead of focusing on the problems after a win, I’ll simply reserve the right to bring them up in the future, without having to deal with anyone saying “where were you when they were winning”.

They won! Woohoo! Only good thoughts from me today! Loved all the energy from all of the players.

So

Gallo, Nene and Moz are hurt but we fully expected to beat a better(than WSH) Phoenix team at home.

Phil H. - February 14, 2012 reply

yeah, right Phil?

Gee we’re so heartbroken that a competitor’s player is hurt. Gosh we dont have any idea how that feels.

Whatever works in this stage of the hunt.

Wizards, or more specifically Young, is on fire

and Aldridge rolled his ankle in the first quarter

Haven't seen Bird play like that all season.

margabelle - February 14, 2012 reply

Haven’t seen Bird play like that since ’87.

Great to see him perform well.

Hopefully he can consistently start to string together solid performances, if continued to be given the opportunity to.

NuggetsFan99 - February 14, 2012 reply

+1

AAA seems to be back

Which I am very happy about. He had me worried there for a while but I think he’ll continue to step up while Gallo is out.

coloradojones - February 14, 2012 reply

He said in his radio interview

I put some personal stuff behind me and let my game speak for itself.

georgekarl - February 14, 2012 reply

Washington shooting 60% into the fourth quarter

wow

AAA kept this game out of reach for the Suns

1st time in his career he’s scored 20 3X in a row, we’ll take it!

lets make it 4 in a row tomorrow

5baker5 - February 14, 2012 reply

i'm glad he's back to his old self.

Just because Bird has been Doghoused doesn't mean he can't still play

Yeah he’s looked bad at times (not tonite). But he really hasn’t had much opportunity. Before this game his PER was 18.6, say what you want but that ain’t bad.

Nuggburg - February 14, 2012 via mobile reply

wouldn't that be "birdhoused"?

…anyway, liked Kouf’s game tonight as well, looked a lot more comfortable defending in the paint

I've been defending Bird all year

And there’s been major Bird hate round here. But we need a Decent backup Center and that’s the Illustrated Man at the end of the Bench

while Moz and Nene out no problem

but there is not enough minutes to play him effectively when all the bigs are healthy, including Gallo.

If all the Bigs get healthy

Yeah I see your point. But bigs especially get injured all the freakin time.

true, problem is with Coach Karl

he’d rather play 3 guards than put Bird in before tonight, even when we were down bigs and were getting killed on the boards. Bird was looking lost on defense before he started getting DNP-CD’s multiple times and wasn’t appearing to give max effort, also his teammates appeared to be on him about his defensive rotations…of course they haven’t been much better in that regard the past week or so either.

Bird had a solid line tonite though

22 minutes, 16 pts, 7 reb, 6 Blocks, +17

6 blocks! birdman of 2 years ago? or was it three?

Not true..

Simple. Sit Harrington, Play Bird at the backup 4. Sick of the small ball. You can see the high percentage shots Bird gets, not to mention cleaning the glass and defending. He if right is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to shot blocking and protecting the rim. The increased lack of athleticism is a blessing in disguise because he can’t pogo stick like he used to. He is to intelligent time his jump and seems to be smarter about this now. I say play him at the backup 4 (will never happen though) If buckets isnt shooting well we dont really need him on the court.

not that simple...maybe play Harrington less

but to leave points on th bench like that is not a good idea. Al has had to play a lot of minutes and is looking tired, especially on his long shots, but they do need him on the second unit. Sitting him entirely is not the answer, especially for an older guy who needs to get into shooting rhythm, but if Bird continues to play like he did last night he should get more minutes more often. However he’s probably pretty sore after last night and I don’t expect anything close to that from him on a b2b, but he could prove me wrong, even half of that scoring and most of that defense. Remember, Coach Karl said he would be happy with a .500 effort from the team the next 10 games…grrr

nested?

I don't think he was doghoused.

George said ‘Bird hasn’t given me any protest about the lineups because he realizes the young guys have a lot of talent’.

georgekarl - February 14, 2012 reply

Just Doghoused in the DNP-coach decision sense

Yes Bird has been very professional and stayed positive but you know all players hate getting DNP’d including Bird.

Bird is done

The guy works in very, very small doses, and I’ll actually applaud Karl for using him when he is well rested and at home where he thrives.

KevinAwesome - February 15, 2012 reply

This

Which is sad. I’m not a crazy big Birdman fan on account of not being a 10-year-old boy, but the way the crowd claps for him, it is always nice to see him get some minutes at home. And nice that he was productive last night.

I know it isn’t likely, but I hope Andersen retires as a Nugget.

Boo.

love4nuggets - February 15, 2012 reply

So any one up for Streaking till the OKC game?

ME ME ME!!

SDcat09 - February 14, 2012 reply

So any one up for Streaking ~~till~~ on past the OKC game?

FYP

that's more likely

they will be their extremely cocky selves when we get there, too bad no Gallo for that one, but hope Nene is available and remembers how Perk and Ibaka abused him in the playoffs…what am I talking about, he will likely do nothing about it :(

It could be interesting... brewer is long and lanky and can stick with durant

5baker5 - February 14, 2012 reply

Maybe they'll get tangled up and have to be sent to a hair salon for de-tangling.

georgekarl - February 14, 2012 reply

......

……

maybe durantula will get shot in the knee with an arrow

5baker5 - February 14, 2012 reply

What a strangely specific...

Oh, I get it.

EmersonCR - February 14, 2012 reply

First of all, too much. Second, at least say the Skyrim joke right.

LongWindedHank - February 15, 2012 reply

Haha

I used to be the NBA’s leading scorer… until I took an arrow to the knee.

neonato1806 - February 15, 2012 reply

I was considering streaking at the OKC game

but I can’t spend time in jail right now.

Rec

love4nuggets - February 15, 2012 reply

sounds cold

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

btw, episode 2 of "The Association" on tomorrow on NBA TV

perfect pre-game before Nuggets vs Mavs

I’ve been looking for those. I figured my DVR hasn’t been recording them. No wonder, there hasn’t been a new one

waterboy31321 - February 15, 2012 reply

fortunately, SDcat cleared that up for me some time ago.

Washington 124, Portland 109

Yay!

Nick Young went off

JBnuggs - February 14, 2012 reply

yes he did.

whole team went off. Ended up shooting 60% from the field and 52% from 3. They just steamrolled the Blazers

Go Generals!

TheMozgovCocktail - February 14, 2012 reply

ah poor Felton... lol

InboundingLobPass - February 14, 2012 via mobile reply

Finally

The injury bug hit another team in the Northwest division besides us

I think Portland was hit waaaaay longer than us.

why does it seem the elite teams never get injured

could it be that is one of the qualities that allow them to be elite. Sans the Spurs

What?

Miami-Wade missed a chunk this year
Boston- rondo keeps getting hurt
Lakers- Bynum
Orlando- Nelson is always hurt and Turk is getting that way too
Chicago- Rose has missed a good chunk this year
Spurs- Manu out since the first week it seems

Army of Nugs - February 15, 2012 reply

Hmm,,

Miami, Boston, Orlando, Chicago.. play in the East. So overcoming injuries is easier…

Lakers have the same record as the Nuggets…

Spurs have been solid and are on a win streak.. Think they will come back down to earth at little. They remind me of the Houston team (sans Yao that won 20 straight) a few years back. They play there game no matter what. You have to be solid to beat them.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

You are supposed to use REALLY???

true

but those teams didn’t have four 3 or 4 guys out a time like we have

TheMozgovCocktail - February 15, 2012 reply

True

but do any of those teams have nearly as much depth as we do? When Wade and James were out for Miami, they had Bosh, Cole and scrubs. Does Chicago have a decent backup for D Rose? Orlando has Chris Duhon to fill in for Jameer Nelson. Injuries are a part of the game, just some COACHES have been better at handling what they have.

Army of Nugs - February 15, 2012 reply

Greg Oden, Brandon Roy! (BILL WALTON!!!)

ILB, I'm laughing too

and Ray F is having a horibad year, making me laugh longer and harder

Couldnt happen to a more mopey, self centered, childish player than Ray

I went from liking and respecting Ray on the Knicks to gradually questioning Ray as trade rumors swirled and Ray went from “ya know, we just gotta be mature, deal with it” but when his name surfaced as part of trade, Ray cried, moped, sulked, then on Denver he did nothing but cry, complain and did the most to lose that series vs OKC

Efficiency rating this year = <11

That's like music to Nugget ears

TheMozgovCocktail - February 14, 2012 reply

Great Win

The second and start of the third quarter were pretty sloppy but the Nuggets overcame that and put up a solid effort. A week ago we would have lost this game. Great win

Not sure...

I would categorize beating a tired Phoenix team without its best player a great win. But the Nuggets were without the frontline, so it is a nice win. Phoenix is terrible without Nash.

Pusherman - February 15, 2012 reply

As Barkley would say about one of his old teams....TURRIBLE!

Japheth:the.other.kind.of.asian. - February 14, 2012 reply

so how about faried eh?

pretty good. I think he’s already probably the best rebounder on the squad. If he works real hard we may have another rodman. I just hope he goes crazy good instead of crazy.. and good.

but should he cut his hair?

InboundingLobPass - February 14, 2012 via mobile reply

nunca jamas.

4 offensive boards for Faried

And 4 for Kouf. Nothing wins games like Oboards.

Nuggburg - February 14, 2012 via mobile reply

he stlll has no clue about positioning.

He will only improve once he understands where he needs to be and box out more. He has to adjust his game which only comes via minutes.

reminds me of a puppy

so active, so willing but so raw. He’ll get it and then he’ll be very good.

as long as he doesn't crap on the carpet...

he can bring energy and he just seems intense and is starting to stake his claim in the team. Soon he will stake his claim to the rim.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Ben Wallace 2.0

It's still a team game

Even if you have a star(s) or if we get Nene, Slew Foot and Gallo back, it takes overall defensive effort on the part of the entire team, bench included, to make an impact on the league. I don’t think it is accurate analysis to focus on one or two players. They are important glue and closers and all that but they can’t do it alone. The trend early in the season was defensive intensity and running and passing. The past few weeks have seen a lack of overall team defense, so we started losing. And I don’t want to hear about the tough schedule. As in golf, everyone has to play it. I heard on the radio that Dolph Schayes once played 8 games in 8 nights and scored 32 points on game 8. Don’t know if that’s true but c’mon athletes, suck it up. You’re not even playing 40 minutes like they used to 5 or 6 years ago. Focus on the dirty work: defense, boxing out, moving on offense.

Game takes: A ho-hum win with PHX without Nash. A glance at the plus-minus column shows our bench dominant over theirs; the way it is supposed to be. Faried is fun to watch but 4 TOs and is wild and was a minus on the night. He’s a rookie. That’s why GK doesn’t play them. He needs to play to develop, however.

Harrington: Of late he has been the chucker that most of us Stiffs hate. The last two games Harrington has gone back to the floor game that got him his success this year and he was the best player on the court at plus-24 last night. One could argue that the schedule affected him during his chucker games. I think laziness.

Ty Awesome: Seems to be coming back to normal as well.
Koufos: Developing. Stay aggressive, big man.
Mavs: Sitting in D-town waiting for us. The odds are against the Nugs, playing the 2nd of a back to back. Mavs favored by 7. Can we beat the spread or win the game? Nuggets are 21-6 ATS in the last 27 road games and 9-1 ATS last 10 road games at Dallas. Hmm.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

I'm not saying faried is a finished product at all

If you look at my prior posts, I’ve said it took Ben Wallace several seasons to be ready, and I think the same for Faried. When I say Wallace 2.0, I mean he’ll be ready in two or three years.

He gets to the line a lot

If he could finish a little (a lot) better and hit FTs at 75%, that would be huge offensively.

Pusherman - February 15, 2012 reply

For sure, he's just a rook

I’m not sure who Kenneth reminds me of. He’s just so “bouncy.” I think of Ben as an enforcer, thick bodied type who will leg wrestle you and beat you 9 x out of 10, kinda like Calvin Natt, tho Natt could score as well. Natt’s on my all time favorite player list, btw.

Natt was a BAAAADD man....

until his knees gave ways…

Ok, you asked for it: Calvin Natt - A Natt for Toughness (Small Vid)

And while I hate to give Throw it Down fuel for his fire, check out the Evil George face in this one

Nuggets shock Seattle. George goes apoplectic on the bench.

If the story of the last game was Brewer's play the story this game is

AAA.

Love the guy and have always felt that he’s not our best player but should be our leader.

But his game is so subtle, so complete that he may make February not nearly as painful as it could have been. Fingers crossed.

agree! AA leads with energy, heart and an all around game that can infuse us whenever and wherever needed

when on his game. Right now he looks like he’s back…what excites me is that Ty the last couple of games decided to take scoring into his own hands. Between Ty and Gallo or maybe both the quest for a star may have been found. Add the array of solid players we have and bam! boom! the chemistry lab can explode….right in face of the naysayers and the star$%&%*ckers.

I was among those that counseled patience about AAA

and I am glad to see he’s playing well again. It don’t want him to have to score 20ppg every night, but it sure comes in handy with all our injuries. As I said in another thread, AAA and Ty have to bring it every game while Gallo is out. Corey, Rudy, Dre, Al can take turns stepping up as long as one or two of them do each outing.

slader - February 15, 2012 reply

AAA

…and I am one of those that professed disdain about his “bad” contract… but if he keeps this up, he will be a steal at $7.5 per… I love being wrong about some things!

I've been counseling patience with Trip

Glad to see he’s showing signs of returning and hopefully continuing his development. I think he and Ty and Gallo and possibly Harrington are our “closers” or last shot guys, btw.

Why do our BIG guys set wack ass screens and picks...

It troubling to me that the Nuggets big love to slip the screen and make it difficult for the PG to get space to pass them screener the ball. Watching tonights game I continued watching Faried refusing to set solid screens for Ty and leaving way too early. Not good since he’s so young. Why doesn’t the coaching staff work on it these guys. Its been an issue for ever since Karl has been coaching. I like Karls philosophy but he should emphasize more on the basic things like setting good solid screens. I seen Ty pick up his dribble to early and unable to feed the big man. If the Nuggets are looking to be contenders versus the Thunder the needs to clean that up. Possibly it will change when the starting front line is back. But it needs to be emphasized more.

Viruth Cheng - February 15, 2012 reply

Karl actually coaches his bigs to slip most screens

I don’t like it either, and would rather we set some solid screens at least before they started slipping them, but – as you said – it’s been this way since Karl started coaching here, and I don’t expect it to change anytime soon.

aggreed except for..

when it’s bird and ’dre running the p&r… then slip screen is a-ok!

This is what happens when you play guys at their natural positions

No strange lineups. No one played over 30 min except Brewer with 32. Went nine deep and emptied the bench with 5 min left and a 20 point lead. Dare I say good job Karl?

gonugs - February 15, 2012 reply

+1

Gasus - February 15, 2012 reply

And right on cue..

When Im about to give Karl praise, he comes out with a quote like this…¨If we go 5 – 5 in our next 10 games Ill be really happy.¨ already making excuses for possible future failure. Facepalm.

gonugs - February 15, 2012 reply

Excuses..

GK may do many things, but excuses ain’t one of them. He is being a realist. And what is wrong with setting your team up for success?

Can’t make every game life or death, or you would have a team of scared players…. We already have a buncha scared Stiffs cry foul after every loss.

+1

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Really? How long have you watched this team?

Trying to stay positive after the win. Really trying. But I can’t let this one pass. Karl is the master of excuses, and one of his favorite tactics is to lower expectations with statements like the one above. Please find me one, just one, quote where Karl accepts blame for a loss without diverting blame onto others. Because I can find you hundreds and hundreds where he dumps blame on everyone but himself.

question:

Answer me this…. looking at the schedule, will you be upset if we go 5-5 over our next 10… be honest. Because that’s all I think GK was doing.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Two things

saying 5-5 out loud tells your players it is okay to lose half of their games. That is like the manager at Fedex saying that it’s okay if only half the packages get delivered on time.

Second, if you expect to be a playoff team 5-5 is never acceptable over any stretch of 10 games. A .500 record won’t get you into the playoffs, and this team needs to be making up for losing 7 out of 8.

He's always said what he thinks is an acceptable number of losses

during a giving month. I don’t think it’s the worst thing and he’s basically saying this is his opinion. Is it an expectation? If one wants to interpret it that way then I posit that the expectation isn’t so low that it tells the team he thinks they suck and stand no chance. If they meet that expectation they still are on the right track. If they exceed it, even better.

It’s not like they aren’t going to try and win every game. And I don’t see this is as pre-emptive blame shifting maneuver either.

As much as Throw and I disagree on GK

I’m with him on this one. One of my pet peeves is the use of the term “winnable game.” It should be outlawed, just like the latest cliche, “Really?” Well hell yeah, really really. I think the players should go out with the attitude of winning every game. I think it does allow some of them to lower their expectations. Do you think Bird or Magic or MJ ever used the term winnable game? They didn’t give a damn what anyone or especially what you thought, they were going to beat your ass and you couldn’t do anything about it.

Another golf analogy: They are using the same lame term, “makeable putt” on golfcasts. So Phil Mickleson’s 40 yard bomb was unmakeable? Hell no. He made it. Every putt is makeable. I became a steady single digit handicap when worked as hard as I could and adopted the attitude, I’m going to try as hard as I can to make the best putt or swing I can and if I do that, I can accept the outcome.

Screw these “makeable” or “winnable” attitudes. Rick Barry’s Golden State Warriors were the ultimate scrappy, Small Ball team of all time. None of their playoff games was deemed “winnable.” They proved differently and I don’t think they would be satisfied with a 5-5 record over the next 10 games.

Oh, I’ll beat you to it, the next guy who comments, “Really? The Mavs game is winnable.”

Hah...

I think there is a much deeper issue here for you then GK answering a reporter’s question.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

i'll have to confess

to using Really.

I just think he's bluntly honest.

So how do you feel about 5-5 over the next 10? I’m good with it, and I think we are a playoff team, 3-5 seed even.

Diverting blame??

So he answers a question honestly and he is always throwing someone under the bus? I ain’t gonna argue with you. The statement above can be taken negatively or positively, because it is an opinion.

If you think the Nuggets should be favored to win the NBA title, then a 5-5 expectation is unacceptable….

If you think the Nuggets are bound for the lottery, then a 5-5 expectation is wildly overachieving….

So it is just how you want to view it. We know your view on GK… you have expressed it very well.

maybe you're right..

I guess when a guy destroys cancer twice, the team goes into a tailspin while he’s out the 2nd time and he comes back stronger than before, takes the team on that crazy post Melo-trade run to finish the season… maybe you’re right, maybe I do have some respect for what he’s been able to accomplish. I’m not blind to his deficiencies, I just tend to believe the positives outweigh the negatives with the guy, the coach. I root for GK… I’m a Nuggets fan, brah.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Are you a Karl fan or Nuggets fan first?

LEEDS - February 15, 2012 reply

There are ways to answer that question

You still haven’t found me a quote where karl says “That loss is on me. I lost the game. No one else, me.” You know why? Because it doesn’t exist. But there are plenty where “Ty really fucked up tonight” or “Our guys read too much of their own press tonight”, or “I told the guys to play defense tonight and they just wouldn’t do it” quotes all over the place.

Watch a Bill Belichick press conference some time. That is how a coach is supposed to act.

Actually..

I think that he told Andrew in a Stiffs interview that he makes mistakes in game all the time. And that is part of figuring a game out.

Really.. pull the Belichick card. I thought you were going to go with Phil Jackson, cause he has more hardware..

Belichick?

Ugh… I would be lying if I told you I had the patience to make it through a Belichick presser…

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Exactly

A good interview from a coach should tell you exactly nothing. The other team is very good. Going to be very difficult to win. blah blah blah

John Fox style

He handled it well amongst Tebowmania all year.

Throws players under the bus?

I would think that players wouldn’t play (give effort) for a coach like that.

I don't really like it when coaches or managers

publicly chastise players in the media. But he does praise them publicly too.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

exactly my point

saying going 5-5

is like saying its okay to be average…but I know exactly what Karl is doing…he is trying to make himself look good if the Nuggets end up going 6-4 or 7-3…

if you want to be a CHAMPIONSHIP team, you want to set goals that you win every game you can and not setting up a goal of 5-5…

LEEDS - February 15, 2012 reply

Not scared stiffs

not fed up with Karl and his “reasons” for losing. hy would you ever come out and say we would love to 5-5…you know what that tells the players, its okay to go 5-5…WTF

LEEDS - February 15, 2012 reply

sorry, that was a dumb quote by Karl to leave out there

he could have said " This will be a tough stretch of 10 games and will do our best to get as many wins as we can" or something to that affect. What if they were to rattle off 5 more wins in a row, but then lose another 5 in a row, that’s not going to make anyone feel good. Karl needs to talk less and use more coachspeak, and focus on preparing his team and make better decisions in game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-5z-jATbg

Karl is the king of excuses

If you can´t see this pattern fine.
Realistic? For this team, no matter what, the stated goal has always been 500 on road, win all your home games. Does that mean we are going to win all our home games? No. But if we can hammer the Heat at home, then we can beat anyone at home so it is a realistic goal and should be the attitude every time we take the court. Win your home games. If you lose a few, which you will, its not the end of the world but the attitude prior to the game should be to EXPECT to win. Then, on the road, try and be at least 500 or better. Do you want to be 500 on the road? No.. you want to be better. The attitude should always be that going on the road is an opportunity to steal a game and get ahead of the goal.
Goin 500 on the road and winning all the home games or losing one in the next 10 games puts us at 7 and 3 or 6 and 4. THAT should be the goal. Not that goin 5 – 5 would ¨make me very happy¨. Its a ridiculous thing to say and very typical of Karl. I will give the guy credit when he deserves it, but to me he is simply trying to manipulate expectations. Sorry, but I dont buy it. The next 10 games are difficult. I get that. We are short handed. I get that too. The goal should still be to have a winning record. Period.

gonugs - February 16, 2012 reply

Wilson Chandler won`t play playoffs in China even through his team has locked the 8th seed.

I just watched the game and the commentator said so.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 reply

and in his final game in CBA, he got 25pts and 10 reb in the first quarter, that`s amazing.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 reply

Why wouldn't he?

Won’t be released from his contract until the team is eliminated anyways… haven’t heard anything that would indicate he won’t play in the postseason.

nugzin2040 - February 15, 2012 reply

Some Chinese media has reported that, even though it isn’t official now, it seems when he finishes CBA all-star game he can return to US. I cannot say he won’t play playoffs for 100%, but I do think so.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

won't play?

when you say “won’t play” do you mean he’ll not give effort, or he literally won’t play? He’s stuck there, why would he want to anger a whole nation by sitting the games out? He can easily light up the stat sheet and simply not play any defense. Plus I don’t think he’ll have to “try” to get waxed in the first round.. they will be playing the top seed most likely, the waxing will come naturally.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Is Chinese waxing anything like Brazillian?

hmmm...

That’s a Linteresting question you pose (pardon the overplayed pun, but I’ve caught the fever)

Second seed

But still will be a tough series for them I imagine.

nugzin2040 - February 15, 2012 reply

No, I mean according to some resources, it seems that he had reached an agreement with the team. Everything is legal.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

I didn’t make it clear at first, my apologies.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

Can you provide a link?

Army of Nugs - February 15, 2012 reply

Wilson's Chinese agent just confirmed no allstar no playoffs, he will go back to US, and Guangsha agrees.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

If this is true, I will be a happy man

I mean I’m happy our bench is getting some burn now and Karl is forced to play them but having WC back for the mean time would reallyyy help us. Pls pls ps

Caseyboo - February 15, 2012 reply

uhh. reference please. I don't think this is true.

I found this tweet

seems to be a legit reporter for a Chinese station, but I am very skeptical. Seeing nothing else

http://twitter.com/#!/LiShuangfu/status/169807270560018433

Phil H. - February 15, 2012 reply

Gah, I'm hating myself right now for missing all these nuggets games,

I’m glad we’re back on the winning track. Also, looking at the stats, it looks like faried has been getting some playing time.

moondoggie12 - February 15, 2012 reply

I don't think you should hate yourself.

Good win last night, glad to see that home losing streak busted, however

Al Harrington is starting to become a problem. These are his game stats in the month of February:

@ MEM – 8-16
@ LAC – 3-9
LAL – 8-16
@ POR 3-6
HOU – 5-16
DAL – 6-10
GSW – 4-11
@ IND 4-18
PHO – 5-12

In the month of February he’s posted only 4 games where he’s shot better than 50%, and he’s gone 12/45 from 3, an appalling 26%. He’s also fouling a ton more. Harrington is coming back to Earth (and we all knew he would), and I think Karl would be wise to start limiting his minutes a la Bird in favor of Faried and Mozgov, when he’s back.

Technically the Memphis game was on 1/31, but still

Yes..

Big All looks like his running in mud again.. I give him credit for still driving to the bucket hard.. but his shot is YIKES…

Dre is having a tough go too.. He running in mud also..

Dre's GmScore in Feb:

Game Score; the formula is PTS + 0.4 * FG – 0.7 * FGA – 0.4*(FTA – FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK – 0.4 * PF – TOV. Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game. The scale is similar to that of points scored, i.e., 40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance, etc.

@ LAC – 12.5
LAL – 14.1
@ POR – -0.3
HOU – 6.6
DAL – 12.6
GSW – 6.8
@ IND – 4.0
PHO – 1.6

So uh, yeah, the assertion that he’s “running in mud” is really not off base. He’s been very bad in February

good maybe he will play less!

Have to expect some reversion to the mean

It is good that Al is a servicable player in NBA but we really didn’t think he was an all-star did we?

I think he will have some good games again.

Nah

But better than 26% from behind the arc. He was deadly in the early season because he was demolishing people in the post. He could bull down there, then when Nene and Mozgov were in, he would sit behind the arc and drill the three or re-post the ball inside. Now he’s far too content to just sit back and jack bad threes. He needs to get back to his inside and post game where he is very good.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Indications of tired legs

playing too many minutes with games too close together for a guy who isn’t a spring chicken.

agreedo

Faried needs his and Bird’s time.

If you check his season stats . .

Even with the run of bad games he is still better than he has ever been:

TS% 56% (all-time high)
Rebounding Rate 12.8% (highest since he was 18)
Steal rate (all time high)
PER of 17 (all time high)

I loved it when he looked dominant, but I think that something between the two is more likely (or a bit of both).

good post

I was observing the same thing about Big Al losing his floor game but these stats illustrate it. Return of the Hamburglar?

Hamburgler?

CombatChuk - February 15, 2012 reply

Kenneth Faried isn't raw

his inside paint moves look top notch to me…

so that's what i think... and you're stickin to it!

if not raw, he's very medium rare...

even some sushi has been put through the microwave i guess

Personally he looks raw to me.

Like others said, his positioning needs some work. I also thought he was setting some lazy screens and his basketball IQ was a little lacking in that he wasn’t really where he should’ve been on some pick and rolls which led to some careless turnovers and sloppy play, but that could also be a product of not enough practices with the starting unit he’s playing with.

Manimal..

Just needs to catch Rodman in a sober moment and get some advice about body position on rebounding and studying how the ball bounces off the rim..

Wait.. Rodman sober.. i see a problem…

LOL.

I don’t think his rebounding was too lacking though. He’s not perfect but he looks good for a rookie. A large amount of that is his athleticism but I think he’ll learn and get better with time.

new question!

how are these teams that had JR Smith and Chandler not the top ranked teams in their divisions??

the rest o the team sponsored by dumplings?

To tell the truth, wil didn’t play hard and jr’s teammates are too weak.

Albafica - February 15, 2012 via mobile reply

I also think last night firmly cemented J-Ham's end of bench seat. He looked awful.

0-2, 2 TO, 1 reb, 1 ast in 6:30. Yeesh. Stone wasn’t much better, to be fair.

Idk if you can really go off the stats too much though.

From watching those last 6 or 7 minutes the entire lineup looked awful. It looked like they had very little practice together as a group. Looked like they had no real plays to run and their half-court offense was non-existent. They basically just tried to run as much as possible and use some half-assed PnRs and isos in the half court.

ParkHillNative - February 15, 2012 reply

That gameplan sounds eerily familiar

to our starting 5…

RoxWS2014 - February 15, 2012 reply

exactly!

it's one game...

Not just that but you can't take much good or bad from garbage time minutes

KevinAwesome - February 15, 2012 reply

Lastly, be glad we don't have Robin Lopez:

0-7, 2 points, ONE board, three fouls and a turnover for a 7’0" center who played 13 minutes. And we thought Mozgov was a project.

But he did have the best +/- of anyone on the Suns team last night

How'd he look on defense though?

same as the rest of his game, hair, and name- WNBA

Don't be hatin on the WNBA.

this

For some reason

I think some of the WNBA players are better than Rubio……

At least they're blonde...

CombatChuk - February 15, 2012 reply

Most amazing part of Robin's game . .

Was after head faking Bird, Bird jumped twice more and still managed to block his shots.

Al and Andre's less productive February

One thing that people here ought to take into consideration is that both Al and Andre have played at least 3 more games than anyone else on the team. Considering the tight and tough schedule lately those three more games make a huge difference.

silverraven - February 15, 2012 reply

Good point

Miller seems to still have flashes of dominance sprinkled in with the bad performances. Al, on the other hand, seems to be in the midst of a steady and slow decline.

When the roster gets healthy again next month, I think Al should sit some games to be rested. I’d love to have Al ready and raring to go for the playoffs, know what I mean?

"Big" Al

Has Al put on weight since the beginning of the season? Maybe just because he has slowed down he seems bigger.

jbmmlang - February 15, 2012 reply

He appears injured again.

His shooting hand is wrapped up like mad. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he has more issues.

Btbuff67 - February 15, 2012 reply

Chucker Alert

Don’t have the time but I believe that Rudy, Big Al and Corey Brewer are shooting miserably from beyond the arc. Why doesn’t someone tell them to take better shots? Brewer and Big Al came from terrible teams that got beat consistently because of all the clankers and they are doing it again to the Nuggets. Too bad about Rudy. This guy can really shoot and I wish he could pull out of it.

who on this team HAS been shooting good from 3?

Agree on Al

I wish he would cut occassionally. He get almost all of his offense either off spot up threes or kick out to him and drives.

Corey is the best cutter on the team of the primerter players (Nene probably best overall) so I don’t have a problem with his three and at the rim shots . . his hands aren’t great, but I am pretty happy with him overall.

Rudy is what he is . . a less crazy JR. Don’t expect it to change a ton this year.

I thought

Brewer was shooting the best 3pt% on the team?

JBnuggs - February 15, 2012 reply

yea he is

JBnuggs - February 15, 2012 reply

excellent point

Jordan Hamilton is technically the best .500 on 3 of 6 from downtown. Brewer is second with 39.4% on 13 of 33 from downtown.

Gallo, Ty and Al

all need to hit better %

JBnuggs - February 15, 2012 reply

Part of it is that Karl's system is predicated

on two types of shots – shots at the rim and three point shots. I agree that sometimes we appear to be taking bad shots from deep, but a lot of the time, those shots are open and we’re just not making them. I would hazard that some of it is fatigue from the grueling schedule in February, but part of it also is that the entire team has been in a shooting slump. Rudy shot well last night, and has shown flashes here and there of becoming more reliable from deep (aside: I love him curling off a down screen and popping from the ft line area). Al is regressing to the mean, but I think that he is showing the fatigue of the schedule more than anyone except perhaps ‘Dre. He just doesn’t have the lift or explosion he showed earlier in the year. As far as Brewer, he is definitely a streak shooter. When he makes a couple, his confidence soars and he’s liable to go off. When he misses early, he is likely to have a chucker night.

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

I saw one for SDcat today

LSHMSFOAIDMT

Lincoln should have made some federal oversight allowing individual demands mediated today?

I got nuthin

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Hint

the last T is involved when the nuggets score 110 points.

tacos.

When is this guy coming back?

GIFSoup

DTownNuggs - February 15, 2012 reply

remind me what this is from again?

I just want to know why he's looking at his fists

They aren't fists

They are naked hand puppets telling him things.

good answer!

That look like fists?

What would you expect

A hand puppet without clothes to look like?

Rosie O'Donnel?

a naked president of the USA

zing on politicians!

because they're sooooooooo sexy

Well he is looking at them in a certain way

that is mildly uncomfortable

Of course he is looking at them like that

They are naked!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/colbert-talking-vagina_n_909727.html

He's clearly been watching Colbert

ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown - February 15, 2012 reply

Because he is Italian

any further questions are no longer required

Phil H. - February 15, 2012 reply

after watching that

you only want to know why he’s looking at his fists? There are so many other questions that must be answered.

But that stood out for me as more odd than the rest

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/

PLAY INDEX + IS THE BEST THING

Oh my god if you are in any way a stats geek like me you have to check this out:

I made a fanpost about it, but it is BEYOND awesome. What an amazing tool.

future signs of nuggets success. The sign of the hamburger...on the bench.

If Buckets is playing less than 20 minutes and not playing during “closing” time you will know that we have arrived. This means that are offense is strong enough with Ty, Nene,Gallo and Chandler to not need his scoring and that Mosgov/Koufus have arrived to the point of Karl being confident in their play. Also Karl would have finally blasted through his stubbornness to sit him down. We can’t have this guy playing PF and Nene at C to be a serious contender.