SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Denver Stiffs

Nuggets at Thunder: Post game thread

Post your thoughts and complaints about George Karl here. Nuggets lost 124-118 to the Thunder.

How about exhausting the same lineup for one and a half quarters. Seems legit.

0 recs  |  414 comments

Comments

REBOUND THE BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sub in taller/bigger players

and chances are you will get the rebounds. It isn’t exactly rocket science, unless your name is George Karl.

So 7 games of this?

Noooooooo....

Ooooooooooooo! We would prolly get swept or lose in 5.

Nope

We just dropped into the 9th seed.

It’s the west, positioning is shot.

Portland and Utah are going to have easier schedules the rest of this month.

Which they can blow.

No

Please, for the love of God, no. I’d rather play ANY other team.

Fire George Karl.
gross

where was Koufos in the 2nd half? Anderson played great but was dog tired & helpless towards the end… come on GK this one is one you.

Here come the bitter stiffs..

But I am keepin’ the faith. Nuggets seem to be working their way out of the funk. Can’t flip a switch, unless you have Jeremy Lin to save the day.

February has been brutal for the Nuggets. No one could guard Durant tonight. Too long with no Gallo. Did like the driving to the rim. Even with the blocks. Nuggets need to keep playing this way.

It will get better. Losing sucks.. be bitter.. I will read your happy posts when the Nuggets get on the win streak that is coming.

How do you

work Jeremy bloody Ling into a dissapointing Nuggs loss thread???

Cause...

I CHEER for people.. I don’t rage against them.

Tell him, Steve Dave

At least get the name right…..

That lineup was in the game for a solid 35 minute time

That’s the fourth time George has done that this year. They clearly had no gas…and should have rested them earlier if in the quarter if he was going to play them down the stretch. Unbelievable and incredibly short sighted.

He gets too caught up in just watching at the end of games

The guy is just a flat out terrible late/close game coach, he always has been

This was an epic game.

The only thing about it that could have been better was a win.

Highlights:
-Nuggets nearly beat one of the best teams in the NBA.
-Ibaka had a triple double and his career high in blocks.
-Durant had his career high in points.
-And we nearly beat them. Without our starters.

If anyone is looking for a scapegoat its not Harrington, Andersen, Miller or Ty. The main problem was that despite their positive contributions, those guys were pretty dead at the end. It didn’t have to be that way. A coach should know how to better manage his resources and ours did not.

Fire George Karl

I think that 3 close to the end Lawson missed cost us

Should have drove to the hoop

Disagree, Lawson's decision making needs to improve drastically.

Our guards are incredible defensive liabilities. We were torched trying to rotate players helping our guards cover Durant and Westbrook, and we paid the price on the glass.

You know he played 45:53 tonight right?
Where are you going with that?

He’s tired so he can’t get into the lane, draw the shot blockers and find an open man? I actually could buy that.

Yeah. I think he needed some rest.

Just a minute or two.

I just don't trust turning the keys over to him for 5yrs 60m

I’m still feeling he’s a backup, due to his defensive shortcomings. I don’t know if it’s the shortened season, but he has really struggled to find easy buckets for the big men as he hits the lane. That regression really concerns me.

I kind of agree with you.

There is thing Westbrook does that I would like to see Ty do. When he (WB) receives the ball inbound he calls a play to his team on the floor. Interesting concept.

Did you see the last shot... I shook my head for the rest of the game.

Ty literally got a stop sign from Andre, looked at him and said “Should I go now?”

I actually got indigestion from that.
EPIC FAIL! GK

Seriously a 35 yr old Andre Miller for 20 game minutes in a row, with AL Harrington 25 mins in a row with Bird 20 mins til Koufus came in with 2 min to go…Seriously than you are asking Al and Miller to cover Durant. The players worked too hard for Karl to let them down: NO FARIED, NO KOUFUS, NO BREWER in the 4th….IDIOT….4th quarter failures are GK failures…..

STOP THE AL HARRINGTON LOVE AFFAIR….THIS IS DISGUSTING….I AM ABOUT TO BLOW A GASKET….

We should have taken Miller out for rest and put Brewer in then put Miller back in. Harrington should have never come in in the first place and it should have been K2. Bird should have been replaced by Mosgov…..

Then….NO TIMEOUTS…NO PLAY CALLS….THEN YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO IMPLORE THE NUGGETS TO RUN. PUT BREWER IN, (YOUR BEST RUNNER) AND GIVE THE GUYS SOME REST AND PUT SOMEONE FRESH IN AND THEN THEY CAN RUN!!!!!

EPIC FAIL KARL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe this loss puts us 9th in the west

FUCK.. But I do think Denver gave them a hard time and being down 2 starters and Chandler coming back we should get better right?

Only way to go but up.

not with Karl as the coach
They will be tired tomorrow night...
agree

The T-wolves are a pretty decent team as well. Won’t be easy tomorrow

at least it will be a b2b for both of us

I swear this division just became the toughest overnight.

No doubt

Every team has the talent to make the playoffs. When was the last time that happened? 2006 in the Central Division with Indiana, Detroit, and Cleveland making it? But Milwaukee sucked ass that year.

Indy was good in 06?

How about our possession up by 2 late in the 4th?

Why to TO? That desperation 3 by Lawson was awful.

im glad he took the final 2 shots, he will learn...
AAA should have been the one taking all late game jumpers tonight.

Dude was on point tonight.

It wasn't that he took the shots

It was that we gave ourselves no chance at a foul or an offensive rebound. I liked Ty’s shot at the end of the 4th, but the previous one was terrible. It’s not even that. Why didn’t Karl call a timeout and setup the offense rather than Ty just trying to improvise while everyone basically stood around and watched.

I was thinking

maybe there was no play drawn in the last possession.

Yeah, that was awful.

Hopefully he remembers that and learns from it.

Masai

He needs to have a news conference tomorrow and anoounce Karl is no longer the coach

Serious question...

If Karl is so bad, as so many of us state he is, why don’t management let his ass go?

Management knows more about basketball than bloggers

including me

because i guess karl didnt block out late in the game and lost it for us
He benched the guys who could/would have
re: Enough of GK; get him out of here!

Because management hasn’t bothered to start looking for a replacement. I hate to say it but due to his goodwill that he does in the Denver area and having beat cancer twice as a feel-good story is why he’s still with us. Professional sports is a cut-throat business; time to look for a replacement. I bet Phil Jackson could win a championship with this group. GK is over-the-hill.

needs to sit down with karl and say Dont you kno i went out and got all big and the 2,3,4,5 for a reason and that reason is

…… TO PLAY THEY KARL

karl does need to be fired. problem is, there is no one better than him to take over.

he has ran out of creativity the same way shanahan, but if the bronco’s taught us anything, you had better have a solid, proven replacement waiting in the wings.i don’t see one. do you?

sooo im gonna use this time to vent if you guys dont mind.. and if you do i dont really care :D

Karl should be fired this team is to good to be losing these games not take Ty out bird al and miller to put in some defense on the court is just stupid

again and again i will say TY is not a starter and you can Flame me all you want ty should be coming of the bench Miller isnt that great either we need to go out and get some real PG’s

i dont kno what the nuggets are doing with your time off or when they practice but they need to work on Defense shooting and shooting FT and for the love of god boxing out!!

ps. Fuck small ball

Ty isn't a starter?

nope hes not a starter to timid no Defense hes a good change up the pace coming off the bench
...and stupid it is!
you really dont kno basketball do you but thats ok i cant hold it agaist you

ignorance is bliss

You're the one that described Ty Lawson as timid

Dude may be the least timid player in the NBA

Calling people stupid is no bueno

no more

Pueblo es no bueno, Pueblo es muy mal
Game was so good to watch.

If one rebound at the end of regulation went to the Nugs they could’ve won it.

yeah

could also say that about the last game as well

And I suspect this problem is never going to go away until something happens with Handsinface
And it was a rebound that was had before Ty was mauled from behind.

Oh well, the Nuggets still should have pulled their panties up and gotten the win.

Can anyone one the team fake?

You’d think with Bird around that they would know how to attack a shot blocker, but they just kept driving into Ibaka

The best comments Karl made in his post game interview

“I thought about putting Kufos back in but I decided to play this one like a playoff game.”

and we all know his playoff game record now don’t we.

haha. amazing, amazing

Karl taking any blame? No? Surprise

He wanted this game to be just like Game 5 last year.

Well, he got his fucking wish. Down to a tee.

This really did remind me of game 5

talk about Deja vu

ya i had flashbacks... but that game i threw the remote
I called it when we went up 5. Shit just smelled funky.
Fucking idiot

Fire his ass already

lol time for Masai to Moneyball Karl's ass

and get rid of his crutches…

Yeah just like when he wouldn't play Gallo in the 4th quarter of the playoffs last year!!
I would rather be ninth

Than get swept by OKC or the Spurs in the first. Pop and Brooks coach circles around Karl, they’ve already shown they can in the playoffs.

Pretty Simple

You can live with two players beating you, but you cannot live with second chance points. Koufos, Mozgov, Brewer, Afflalo, and Ty should have been on the court to end the game. We might have a few offensive black holes out there, but I have no doubt the offensive production would have looked similiar in the last 4 minutes.

They need to beat Minny, finish the last 3 games of the month with at least one win

split in Texas, then take bloody advantage of a long and easy home stand. Should be 19-13 right now, gotta dig out of this rather large hole.

Very clear cut.

i honestly dont know when their next win will be

Might be looking square at another multigame slide. Lost already to the likes of the Hornets, Rockets, Jazz at home, we aren’t the same home team this year. Would not be surprised at all to start March below .500

Not this month.

Probably Sacramento.

When Karl gets head out of ass!!!

Doesn’t any of the other coaches speak up!!!

Makes no sense Faried was spectacular and gets early yank…..Doesn’t matter how bad Harrington plays he still will play the entire 4th quarter.

I think we can agree

it’s not about the loss as much as it is how we lost in this one.

firegeorgekarl.com get it going, this community was built on its foundations!

george karl missed a rebound?
quit sticking up for Karl baker

he should have had brewer or K2 out there instead of Al. No excuses

hey gbaker you know the nuggets best rebounders were on the bench right?
a clearly exhausted team did
boxing out is something you learn when your 7, havve to do it in the nba tired or not
still not answering my question baker
yep, and the best players to box out and rebound WERE ON THE BENCH

how many times does it need to be said before you understand that

so our 6-9 power forward cant block out? EVERYONE CAN BOX OUT
It's not that he can't

It’s that he doesn’t, and his coach should know that and bench his ass

You clearly don't play sports.
Yet they got them a 5 point lead with 40 secs left

why ignore this? Those players clearly showed they had the ability to win the game. OK critique GK for not going with more size, fair point, but credit him when things work too. This never happens of course, it’s easy and convenient to blame one person for everything, requires less thought about all the reasons a TEAM loses.

+1

sick of everyone complaining about GK

I'm sick of the Nuggets losing games they should win.
The team went from tied to up 5 in 20 seconds

so what happened from that point on which suddenly made them so much more tired?

they will always blame karl...
For me, I saw Lawson and maybe Al scramble for the ball

It was just unfortunate that it eventually bounced to OKC. I can’t fault anybody for that.

except KD for burying that three.

F YOU DURANT!

so why even have a great bench, if you not going keep players fresh.

Maybe we should just trade all of your good players and just have 5 solid players so Karl can play them the entire game

Harrington

I think we should rest him for a couple game. he just looks out of gas

Trade him.

Trade Dre

Totally agree!

That's what I said

but I got attacked for it

By guess who.

yeah you

I still say trade him. No matter what you have to say

See, where we both tend to go here. But seriously, nobody would take his contract, realistically speaking.

Plus he has been pretty damn good for us in spurts

The guy just needs to be rotated out defensively to end games, it isn’t that complicated.

It's complicated

if your name is george Karl

That's why these last two losses are completely on the coach

You can say, Faried/Harrington just need to box out, but there are better guys to do that at the end of games that Karl has left seated on the bench, it is his fault for not putting his players in the best position to succeed.

I just don't get it

K2 and brewer were ballin. Why did Karl go away from them

“Played like a playoff game.”

yeah and how did that work out for us

Don’t shoot the messenger.

just asking a question
Because he doesn't trust them to close games

Especially KK, the guy has been under utilized horribly all season

I thought moz played great at the start

then karl pulled him for the rest of the half

Playing him safe until he’s 100%

lame ass excuse

looked close to 100% to me

Said the same thing about Afflalo last year in the Playoffs.

Timofey carried our offense through the 1st quarter lull

The “he wasn’t healthy enough” argument is bulldoody.

We have to be careful

Since they’re supposedly made of glass.

right on

I just think this Kevin guy likes to argue with me

Maaaayyyybe…

it's a fact

Because, I know we can be friends!!

Except Karl did the right thing putting Faried (rebounder) against memphis. But he didn’t box out.

No one is putting that loss on Karl Kevin L.

But now, when Koufus AND Mozgov are playing great., you sit their ass on the bench and let Al soil himself trying to guard Durant AND rebound. Inexcusable.

A ton of people are putting the entire loss on Karl

as usual

The last 2 are pretty clearly his fault

Unless you think Miller/Harrington/AAA/Ty and Bird are the best options to close out a game defensively, and if you do think that then I don’t know how to help you.

Couldn't have said it better myself
What if the Nuggets had been down 10 had he gone with a different lineup in the 4th?

what if he puts in bigs and they miss a bunch of fts? What if Durant doesn’t make miracle 3s? You see arguing with what ifs is always an easy thing to do. So you can say Karl blew the final 40 seconds but his rotations had nothing to do with the team being up by 5 with that much left? Against the best home team in the league without two starters?

I'm not arguing his rotations

This is a very simple case of needing a stop/rebound to close a game, sub in your best defensive players to do so. I’m saying his refusal to sub guys out at the end of game for better defenders cost us the last two games.

I find that critique fair

my point is that to put the entire game on him is flawed, this is my opinion. Because that team could have won, Faried should easily have boxed out a stiff who got the tip. That was on Faried, tonight Durant was amazing, Ty made some poor decisions etc. It’s not always just one person although it’s convenient to say so. More people deserve blame and Durant/Westbrook also deserve some credit. The team could have been down 15 with different rotations too, so then you could say Karl kept them in it until late. Again it’s hypothetical but so is the critique. Putting in Kouf or Moz does not guarantee a win either.

I understand

Just know that I’m not on GK for the entire game, only the last minute. No excuse to not play your best defenders to close out a tight game, rotate offense for defense like every other coach in the NBA and we have a much better chance of closing these last two out.

Yeah I understand you

why it’s good to have a friendly debate. Some have their minds set and can’t even be talked to about Karl. But that’s OK, you can think what you want, in the end our opinions don’t matter anyway

The issue is that there are 4 times in the game where the coach matters.

1. Get the kids fired up to play good ball. Tonight George did great. Friday it was pitiful.
2. Manage rotations to get the most bang for your buck. George leaves guys in (and out) for too long, getting them gassed or cold. This isn’t something new with GK.
3. Get your team fired up at half-time. How many times have the Nuggets come out dead to start the 2nd half?
4. Manage time-outs. Stop a run, make your rotations. Tonight I thought GK called good timeouts and the Nuggs usually came out and “won” the timeout. His rotations were still terrible.
5. End of game management. There were sufficient time-outs and sufficient time-outs called to play offense/defense. All you needed was a stop and a rebound to win the game after Al made his free throws. Why don’t you put in guys who a. aren’t tired and b. rebound?
The Nuggets didn’t always execute their parts, but neither did GK.

Ooops, that's 5 times.
it was a perfect combination of karl sucking in his second half rotations

and the officiiating being the worst i have seen bar none all season.

At this point, I just ignor all the Karl stuff altogether.

then don't argue with us when we say fire karl

But it’s fun….

then don't say you ignore the Karl stuff

I also said I waffle, remember?

I am

Faried is still too small/young to be put in that situation

I disagree, Faried is a good hustle rebounder

but on a contested box out type situation Moz and KK are better at this stage of their careers, that probably will be different when Faried grows up a bit more.

There’s a reason he leads the modern era. You know how to rebound, you can rebound no matter what.

If you think Faried is a better rebounder then KK or Moz at the end of a game

then thats fine, I just don’t think he is quite there yet.

I’m just saying you can’t go wrong with any of the three.

And the likelihood of Faried forgetting to box out two games in a row?

I’d rather buy a lottery ticket.

and hes been really bad for us also no middle ground imo
I have said this to kingdom come.

The sign that we have arrived will be when Al doesn’t play after 8 minutes to go in the 4th.

He was put into the worse possible situation:

guarding a hot Kevin Durant. What does anyone expect to happen?

Yeah

Making defense substitutions at the end of a close game is a completely foreign concept to some. There were better players to close out that game left sitting on the bench because Karl thinks that Harrington is as good of an option to play D/rebound as Moz or that Miller can stick with people better then Brewer. I just flat out don’t get it.

rest him for the rest of the year.

A really good team is a team that doesn’t play Harrington in the 4th quarter….Too many misses, bad D , turnovers.

I mean i love this team, i really do, healthy we are one of the best

But when you are continually losing games you should win, its on the coaching, period.

Btw Jeff.

You may wanna avoid going to Vegas for a while.

I know

although I don’t be on games. I just do slots….because I’m 85

This must not be good to your heart then.

I have my nitroglicerine tablets
Might need them right now Jeff.

Already did, and now he’s like emperor palpatine.

Out of Gas

You go with the players you think can win. No one on the floor or on the bench could guard either Durant or Westbrook. Once the Nugs blew a five point lead with 43 seconds to go, they were toast. Anyone who advocates firing Karl knows nothing about basketball. 15-7: a genius; 17-15: an imbecile? Wake up! The next thing will be a groundswell to fire Masai and Kroenke (oops, Kroenke CAN’T be fired —-his Papa owns the team) for not getting the Nugs more talent. Calm down, take a deep breath and realize that if you can’t stop two players from lighting you up for 80+ points by themselves, you don’t deserve to win.

obviously you haven't been watching Nuggets basketball the last 8 years Martin

Karl needs to be fired

And where is he now?

We won those games DESPITE Karl.

There were no injuries, so playing despite him was easier. Now, with a depleted lineup, coaching is necessary. Now look at the shit sandwich that has been created. Bon appetite homeboy.

i love this defense of karl, i really do

Nobody was calling him a genius at 15-7. The Nuggets were riding a not-garbage Harrington and getting good run from Nene and Gallinari. Injuries happen.

Karl then goes on to let the team lose AT LEAST three winnable games (Rockets at home, at Memphis, at OKC) even with these players out. We win in spite of Karl, we lose because of him.

Did you watch the game?

The reason while we were winning and in the game was because we were running, taking good shots and rebounding. GK threw the running out the window when he continued to play a tired Miller, took the good shots out when he inserted AL, took the rebounding out when he left Al in for 25 MINUTES IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Also, no timeouts!?

That’s great coaching…standing on the sideline, with no play calling and substitutions just asking a gassed team to run??? That’s your coaching. “I know you have played a whole half of intense basketball in a row but you must run and play fast”

Wrong. Up 5 with 50 seconds left

there is no excuse for not switching to a lineup with better defenders (Brewer) and rebounders (Mosgov, Koufos, Faried). This is not a nuanced decision or one that is open to a lot of debate.Try and defend it.

Or just foul them for 2 and make it a FT game.

THIS THIS THIS

Kevin L, become our next coach. If we wanted to keep that lineup in the game, fouling them would have been the smartest thing to do. Cuz we sure as hell weren’t stopping them with man to man defense.

Can't

Rebounding for Minny.

No. The Nuggets suck at free throws.
3-10

And I honestly don’t see another win happening before the ASB

Time for GK to retire...

GK is getting out coached, he should do us a favor RETIRE before you get FIRED!!!

Good point, if he had any sense left that would be the RIGHT thing to do

How many of his ex-assistants and players does he have to get out coached by before figuring it out? Plus with nothing but Yes men on the coaching bench with him no other voice to question his bad or lack of decision making.

Defense

Brewer played 29:51. He was guarding either Durant or Westbrook most of that time. How did that work out for you?

Check when Durant got hot.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

he was hot the entire game BREWER didnt do much better k
But brewer provided more offense than Al
not really, brewer can only score in the fast break
hey baker

what does Al do? He just stands at the three point line and chucks. At least Brewer drives it to the rack

he has averaged 14 points a game

You hate him when hes back but love him when hes good… brewer doesn’t have near the offensive talent al does…

I don't love al
look your the same guy who has said

trade andre, trade nene, trade afflalo, trade al harrington, fire george karl… im starting to think you dont know anything

and you're the guy giving Karl a complete pass for tonight's game

you don’t know anything

Can we all agree

That All of us don’t know anything? Pretty please?

I can!
I also agree

though I don’t know if I should.

It's part of the peace keeping mission

and to keep Jeff from scratching his itchy trigger finger.

He really should get that checked.

I agree

as a fan i have a right to be irrational. I don’t know much but I do provide some good knowledge from time to time

This is why sports is good

it provides us a time to rationally be irrational

cartharsis, mother-f'ers

do you have it?

Oh sorry for defending him when

he played a line up that got him a 9 point lead, and 5 point lead with 43 seconds elft… your blaming the entire loss on him… it wasn’t his fault al harrington cant box out to win the game. Ya lets trade nene,dre,al and afflalo and see where this team is..

it's his fault

for not realizing that lineup was exhausted at the end of the game

boxing out cant be that hard to do

remember the new york game? he played the same line up the entire 4th quarter till the end… why didn’t you blame him for that?if you cant box out, get off the court

Because the Knicks suck, that’s a pretty good reason.

Uh I believe Gallo was in that lineup

He played the same line up the entire 4th quarter and overtimes… i didnt mean the one he played tonight

That's because

everyone on the bench was truly playing ass. They let the Knicks get a 15 point lead in the 2nd quarter in that game. It was going to be a sure loss had he not played the starters so much. So don’t give him credit for doing the obvious. He still doesn’t do it enough.

Al had significant contributions tonight

Before he was completely exhausted. He needed a rest and he can’t do that himself. He needs someone (a coach) rest him a bit. The dude isn’t getting any younger.

Al's significant contributions

hitting two 3’s in the fourth

and without them that would have been 112-124
Al was +3, Brewer -10

+/- doesn’t say everything but it shows that the Thunder did fine with him in too

Not in the 2nd quarter, when, surprise surprise, Brewer was on him.

PLUS, Brewer made Durant work on defense. He is ALWAYS active. Al parked his ass on the 3 point line and did not move. Much easier to defend.

What worked is Brewer blazing down the court for layups

what did Al do? and what does a tired 35 year old give you. Are you Kobe Karl?

just got home from the game ugh

but optimistic we almost beat arguably one of the best teams without 3 of our starters

You just said the O word….

A couple things folks...pay attention

1. I’m not advocating George Karl be fired. However, I do thing healthy criticism of his coaching is good for the team. Call for whatever firing you want but that’s not my position.

2. If you vent, vent NICELY. I have an itchy trigger finger tonight and I’m not going to be reading a threat full of bitching at each other and trolling. Make your point and be nice!

Now….My POINT in all this is George SHOULD have rested that lineup earlier in the quarter if he was going to play them that long down the stretch. They had no gas in overtime and it showed. Toward the end of regulation rotations werent crisp and people werent getting to Durant in time. They were clearly dead legged. That is a valid criticism

thread...not threat

Really hard to type while scratching that finger huh?

That's what I said earlier.

should have rested those guys. bad coach, bad.

Agree. Karl is still an okay coach, but not a great coach.

Strengths: Offensive design
Weaknesses: Terrible subbing, no play calling, defensive stubborness, at times a total lack of feel for the game.

He is what he is, but since this is the team he loves and wants, his leash will be short if we don’t succeed this year.

You like the half court offense?
The offensive system is good, the offense as a whole could use something novel...

Called plays!…Combine that with putting the right players in at the right times I am not concerned with the offense. D…that can use some work.

Maybe Melo was right?

Don’t just sit there, do something!

I remember that clear as day....
That was quite possibly the darkest time in modern Nugget history

Oh man.

One of the best things Melo ever said.
is anyone else also sick of karls Defense

when Did switching everything and not fighting over picks be come a good thing and to do it on KD really?

That really has been the norm…..

well i hate it grr..... -.-
Actually, I thought it worked out well, in this specific situation.

There were 3 guards of fairly equal stature, and Al Harrington. It doesn’t matter which of those 4 was to guard Durant, he was going to burn them. So at least by switching there wasn’t any pick-and-roll. :)

been barking this for a while....This is the key to the season....

We must learn how to defend the pick and roll? and maybe do some coaching….Ah!

This.

“one thing i’ll say about the thunder fans is that they’re loud every game… i wish nuggets fans were like that at the PC”

Kinda have to since it’s probably their only professional team..

Denver is a Broncos town...
Denver is a Tebow town
Tebow is a Denver town

….wait….

I could really care less for the broncos

I blame Skip Clueless for tebow mania

they are only like that cuz they dont have any other pro sports teams
tough loss but great for team to learn

Nuggs need to form dependable closers. AAA looks possible, Lawson needs more experience and when Gallo gets back he’ll need to get some shots to close as well. This will payoff huge in postseason. This team played the 2nd best team in NBA tough.

Nuggs W tomorrow night for sure. Mozgov back is great.

The Nuggets need to figure out how to defend and rebound.

Ty hit what should have been the game winning basket.
Unfortunately, they let the Thunder score 7 points in 56 seconds.

or figure out how to put defenders and rebounders on the court...

which classification of defense and rebounding does Al and a tired Andre fit into?

What a game.

You guys got robbed.

a little by the refs

but our own coach robbed us of a W

Or maybe not boxing out
dude give it a rest

Karl apologist

dont blame the whole loss on him lol
srsIy go away, you Iike karI, idk why unIess you are compIacent in makin the pIayoffs then bein bIown out. any reasonabIe coach wouId have put in defensive pIayers to repIace miIIer and aI.

karI sucks, team is not goin anywhere with him, k he doesnt aII of the bIame no one does, but he dropped the baII Iike he usuaIIy does in cIose games.

Agree Rys

That baker dude makes no sense at all

So you expect a tired Harrington and a gassed Bird

to box out a fresher Ibaka and Perkins. We were outrebounding them with a fresh Koufus and Moz

Guys and gals.

We went toe to toe with the beasts that are Westbrick and Durant without our best player Gallo, our ChiaBeast, and no Rudy Fernandez.

Losing sucks but it could have been MUCH worse, IMO

don't mention rudy

I don’t think he would have amde much of a difference

He's a pesky defender

and might have been able to bother Durant and Westbrook

Rudy has been known to bother Durant and Westbrook from time to time.
Our bench was stellar today save for Al.

Don’t think Rudy would have done much to make it better.

No argument about the bench play

Just saying it’s another weapon to go to and give Al and others some rest during the game.

Haha

George Karl would just make his bench rotation one shorter to compensate! :)

I wasn't making a joke.
I know, I made it for you!
Okay just making it clear that I think having more weapons is better in this case.
No arguments there

Just gotta shore up these rotations, GK hasn’t been the best at utilizing all the depth on that bench. Hopefully he will get his act together when Nene and Gallo are back in.

true
Plus he does get on rolls hitting 3's sometimes

but when he’s off it’s not pretty.

AKA, Euroflopper.

Yes it was a great effort by our team,

I think it bodes well that KD and Wussel had great games, we were shorthanded and still would have won if Karl didn’t handicap us. Can’t wait to see these guys in the conference finals. Hopefully Karl has a lobotomy by then.

Who knows mozgov? he didnt play

I’m sure he would’ve put him in the 4th instead of Bird.

Yea. We might not have gotten a rebound AGAIN to win the game.

Oh, wait.

Not following....?
I think Rudy's absence was a positive.
This game doesn't prove Nuggets aren't a playoff team and I don't want to hear that

it shows the opposite. No it’s not a moral victory b/c it should have been a real victory but you see what they can do. Really huge end of the month here, we need to play great at home.

agree we need to pull out a W tomorrow at home though
Who will be guarding Love?

Probably Harrington for 40 minutes.

It looks like we need to worry about another post player now...

This Pek monster has come out of nowhere…

Yup

He is part of the reason MN has won 3 in a row. I’m kind of worried about them.

I know you'll disagree but I bet Moz/Koufas play much more

even if Love goes off though they should beat Minny. An improved team but still in Denver that needs to be a win

I'm afraid of them to be honest with you...
I'm afraid because we need a win desperately and it seems the most obvious

get a W and I think the team will relax a bit. Maybe Chandler can sign earlier in the day and give the team some momentum

He won't be able to play of course but it would be uplifting news
is there any timetable on when he might be back for us?
Depends on when he is cleared by FIBA

seems his Chinese team is OK with him leaving so maybe it’ll be a quick process.

Keeping Rubio and JJB out of the paint will be key.

Love can get his, but limiting those guys is key. Also, I can’t believe I’m saying this,but Pekovic is the wild card. Wow.

I've now seen three games with Pek and he does look like a baby Shaq...

He could have a monster game against our bigs.

That weird nik in his head makes me afraid.

I think he got it from fighting a wolf.

I think we should give al the rest of the week off

I think it will extremely benefit him

Agreed

Bird’s DNP-CDs seemed to do him wonders.

Yeah

I liked Bird tonight.

Me too

we give Al this week off to rest. Plus he gets the weekend off thanks to all Star weekend. It would do wonders for him

Plus, I don't wanna see Al get creampied trying to guard Love, or Pekovic for that matter.
Dude...we didn't have our team in the game...

yes team that is playing now is 9th, 10th team, add Nene, Gallo, healthy Moz, Chandler and non-idiotic substitutions and we are a contender. The tide will turn sans Karl’s brain spasms…

I wonder what the team is going to play like tomorrow?

Sluggish and feeling sorry our pissed and energetic?

They responded to the Memphis heartbreaker with tonight

so I’d say they’ll be fine, just will have no confidence if it is close late. So blow em out

if it comes down to a final rebound... we probably will lose
If it comes down to the final 2 minutes in general, we lose.

Love has shown to be crazy clutch so far this season.

If it comes down to coaching we lose

Trifecta

rose colored glasses...
Confidence in my team
If I could have had only one call the refs missed made right,

I’d have to go with the CLEAR goaltending they missed and called a block. Those 2 points were ours and would have been nice.

True that
A missed goaltending call in the last minute against OKC....

why is that so fuckin familiar?

Can't remember...
Seriously?
I really don't :(
Blazers lost to OKC a couple weeks ago from the same thing
I was talking about Game 1 of the playoffs last year.

Remember, Perkins AND Ibaka put their hands through the rim on a layup by Ty that would’ve given us a 3 point lead with like 10 seconds left?

Oh I think I tried to block that out. Too painful
I just can't.

I think I need professional help for all of the bad things that have happened to the Nugs. The only team that can rival it are the Blazers in sheer whatthefuckhowdoesthathappenness.

That or the foul by Cook.

I watched it on replay. It wasn't even close.

Cook elbowed Ty in the head to get that rebound.

The call that really hurt was Daequan Cook fouling Ty on the rebound that

led to KD’s 3pt’er

I'm Not For Firing GK, But...

I too was frustrated with many of the decisions down the stretch, including:

1) Big Al on Durant? Really? Our worst defender wih the slowest lateral speed on the games best scorer? I would have gone with Brewer on KD down the stretch.

2) No Koufus in the Second Half? Really? KK dominated inside in the first half, and doesn’t see a sniff of time until overtime? Inexcusable.

3) No Moz in the 4th? With Ibaka dominating, didn’t we need his size and pick and roll ability? KK and Moz played great together in the 2nd Quarter.

4) No timeouts down the stretch. The team was dead tired and Karl refused to call a time out to try to get a decent play/shot. The Nuggets looked lost in their last 4-5 possessions in the half court.

5) Hamilton – actually think Hamilton should get some run. He can shoot outside and the Nuggs need someone to open things up from the outside. His stint was too short tonight.

6) Effort – loved the effort, but Nuggs need to start winning some of these tight ones. Better coaching down the stretch would help.

Well...Should be fun tomorrow

Goodnight everyone. Shake this one off and let’s get ready for Minnesota!

For some reason, that exclamation point you put at the end is bothering me.
talking about TrentEdwards.
LOL why?
I don't know.

It could be the Colt 45s and the Kit Kats.

Two options for the Nuggets

1) Better be a top 4 seed if they make their run and they better start now.
2) If 1 can’t be achieved tank, tank, and tank like never before to get a draft pick. Rest our injured vets like Nene and Harrington.
Play Faried, Hamilton, and Stone. Also purge the team of its weak links…which means letting Fernandez go, and letting Miller leave as well.
Get young and talented, and I know Ujiri can do that.
The only issue is getting a coach who adjusts the gameplan to fit the player strengths instead of just telling them to run and not really installing any defensive system outside of trap design and actually using help defense schemes.

Missing out on Rick Adelman is REALLY hurting right now.

You can’t tell me Lawson is a better player than Rubio.

We could.

But that would be admitting that Khan’s a Genius.

The planet Kahn is on hasn't even been discovered yet.
are you serious?
At the time of the draft Rubio hadn't even finished his Euro-contract.

Plus, I don’t even think the Nuggets were in position to draft Rubio…

Guys, as long as Karl coaches this way...his way

we will NOT win a championship…if you are happy with a few great regular season wins and another one and done, keep drinking the Karl kool-aid…because he is NOT a great playoff coach…and if his crazy lineups and stubborness has caused us so many games just this year. Remember this is the team he wanted/ He doesnt think we need a go-to guy. He thinks small ball can win, and he is so stubborn about who he trusts…

I for am and really tired of his coaching.
We should be much better than what we are even with the injuries.
We gave the NO, Utah games away at home. Should have beaten Memphis the first time, should have beaten the Lakers at home in early Feb. The Home losses to Houston and GS this month are unexcusable. You have to take care of your home court against lesser teams. The Clips at home should have been a win, but since we beat them on the road, I’ll let that one go.

so we should have 6 more wins. and if he had the right lineup at the end of this game, we could have 7 more wins…17-15 versus 23 or 24 wins right now if Karl was a good coach

No Kool-Aid.

More like cope.

sorry for the grammars.. typing on an iphone
That's very impressive, actually

I would have given up at one or two sentences.

Disagree

The injuries have been a killer, not Karl. You lose your entire front line for a lot games, you are going to struggle. I get frustrated with Karl’s eccentric coaching, but the players still have to make plays, including getting stops, down the stretch. We got no stops. Now, having our worst defender (Big Al) on the League’s best scorer makes no sense, I do think the guys were quite competitive tonight. Karl had them them ready to play.

Yep.

Because according to George, he decided to approach it like a “playoff game”. Needless to say, I was waiting for the one of our inbounds passes to fall in Russell Westbrook’s lap.

so approaching as a playoff game means not using our greatest strength which is depth?

Karl’s greatest strength is not his brain….This statement really scares me, if he really is not going to play these other guys in the playoffs then we need to start swinging some trade deals.

so wouldn't you say coaching makes a difference?

what is it you are trying to say, its not Karl’s fault, ever?
because my statement is that he coached better or we had a better coach, we would ahve 6-7 more wins…you disagree with that?

I will always support my team but Geore Karl has got to go

He is the Josh McDaniels of the NBA. Yeah, I said it.

You just stepped on a land mine

Speaking of McD.

i have said that before.
I fail to see the correlation
Nor me.
correllation is we want the Nugs to win but hate the coach

so if we lose, will the FO fire the coach! Probably not unless Karl starts videotaping his opponents’ practices

Now there is a Kevin that I can agree with
how is he the mc'd of NBA explain to me please
I was agreeing with the Karl needs to go part baker.

If you want a Karl comparsion. He is the Marty Schottenheimer of the NBA

I find this a much more apt comparison.
now there is a comparison that makes sense

So technically you didn’t agree with him being McD.

wow Kevin always nitpicking

I agreed with the first part that Karl needs to go

Karl is

A supposed offensive guru that drives the talent away from teams. Both coaches try so desperately to be innovative and break the norm and both fail miserably.

This team is eerily similar to the 2009 Broncos
Also I'm glad AAA's has alternating good and bad games

At least he showed up, count yer blessings.

He was the best player for the Nugs on the court a lot of times.

He finally seems to be working out of his funk.

I still think he would’ve hit big shots if they gave him the ball down the stretch.

Yea. No doubt.

That “possession” where Lawson had to throw up the 3 while up 2 may have turned out different had AAA even gotten the ball once on the play.

yea he did pretty much aII he couId this game, stiII not a go to guy, but a vaIuabIe defensive pIayer who can make some shots.

his pIay seems to improve when he’s p1ssed.

Good thing is

minnesota also played tonight

yeah and they beat the 76ers
They're on a spiral to hell like us too.
Difference.

They play in the East. Where OKC really is geographically.

I don't see OKC as an eastern conference team
Yeah, there are even teams further east than them

Let me have this technicality please…

no
Like how in hell is Memphis in the Western Conference?
Because they were in Vancouver before?
oh yeah that's right

but Toronto is in the east

That actually makes sense.

They are directly North of Detroit, which is rightfully in the Eastern Conference as well. Vancouver is above Washington.

yeah I don't get that either
And why isn't Phoenix in our division and Portland not in the Pacific?
That one I cannot explain LOL
Had never really thought of that.

Good point jd80229.

I agree

you would think that the NBA would like to have the blazers and Lakers in the same division

Ty

He frustrates me. It’s like he’s afraid to shoot at times.

wasnt afraid late tonight... he will learn
he had a few moments out there where he was afraid
I think he has trouble deciding if he should shoot or pass.
That's fair

He just needs to be more assertive. I don’t blame him for not driving the lane more tonight because he was getting mugged by Ibaka

Jot it down as experience.

I was not too upset with Ty today.

He did what he could do with Miller being Miller for almost the whole second half. And those “blocks” by Ibaka really seemed to get to his head.

He actually kept driving after those.

Considering he got hit in the head on a few of them

that’s understandable. ;)

Hence blocks being in quotes.
you mean those fouls by Ibaka

that were called blocks

Ty did fine tonight, our offense up until everyone got tired wasn't the problem.
We had this game

Started well, lost leads but were still up at half, lost and got back leads in the 2nd, but this was totally mismanaged the last 4 minutes as certain guys were tired and couldn’t do the job on defense or on the boards. No excuse for Kouf not playing again until OT, and lack of using TO’s or having a play to run when the game was tied at the end of regulation hurt badly.

The end of the first half really hurt us

we had them down by 14 but let them creep back into the game with help by some sketchy officiating

Bizarre substitutions, tentative play, lack of half-court game cost Nuggets a sure win

We somehow had them on the run. We even came back to lead the game after another shit start to the third quarter. The players played with heart and determination, but they finally couldn’t beat both one of the best teams in the league AND their own bizarre coach.

Cannot figure out George Karl to save my life. How can Koufos play as well as he did in the first half and not see the court again until it’s way too late? And Moz needs minutes to get back into game shape and game head.

One more time: Lawson looks like a little kid playing with his dad when Miller is on the court. Without Miller this game would’ve been lost early on, but there’s got to be a way to get this awful dynamic between those two figured out. Can’t the coaches see the problem?

How is it that OKC could get the shots they wanted in crunch time, but we could not? Weren’t all of you cringing at our half-court “execution” late in the game? The Nuggets need some offensive coaching. WHERE IS IT?! And WTF with all the turnovers at critical moments? Again, that’s not just caused by careless play, it’s a problem of not having an offensive scheme to rely on.

So sad.

I know you guys don't want to hear this...

But this was a great game. It was back and forth and both teams looked really good. If you don’t believe me, think about this:

Three of the OKC players had their career-best game and they still only beat the Nuggets by 5 in overtime.

It’s tough because of the poor play of the Nuggets down the stretch and the inexcusable lack of defensive substitutions in the final minute of regulation, but it was still a great game.

It was a great game but

we lost in heartbreaking fashion again

yes bodes well for a playoff matchup but frustrating to lose a game because of idiot coaching.

Coaches are supposed to help players win, not find ways to help the team lose!

Well I'm done ranting for the night guys

gotta get up early and go to my lame ass geography class tomorrow. Then I’m off to denver tomorrow to check out what crazy lineup Karl has in mind for tomorrow’s game

why am i reading this garbage?
im wondering that myself
re: George Karl and his 0 championships must go!

I can’t stand it anymore! Come on Nuggets management, please get your heads out of your as*ses and fire George Karl and trade pass-happy power forward/center oft-injured Nene! GK doesn’t know when not to tinker w/a lineup that works and refuses to put his better players on the court especially when they’re rookies. Witness Kosta Koufas last night, completely outplaying Mosgov but the idiot with 0 championships goes with Mosgov for the remainder of the game. They also have a 5 point lead with under 44 seconds to play and still figure out a way to lose. My 93 year old Grandma who I watched the game with me called it when the Nuggets were up by 14 in the first-half, “You just wait, they’ll figure out a way to lose.” Enough is enough! Can anyone not see that GK and Nene are both our weakest links??

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Denver Stiffs to post a comment.