K-Mart is Out, Nuggets will Thrive

Kenyon Martin was suspended by the Nuggets for being a moron. Not just a moron, but a lazy moron who yells at coaches. What was he thinking? I've played basketball my whole life and there are two rules that no one talks about but everyone knows: #1 - Don't slack #2 - Don't talk back.

They are simple rules, instilled in players at the elementary school level. I know they hold true in high school, I'm sure they hold true in college, and even though the NBA has its own version -- follow the rules or you'll get traded unless you're more valuable than the coach in which case we'll fire him -- the rules are still the foundation for a successful team. Proof: Larry Brown won in Detroit with a group of average players who hustled their asses off and did everything he asked; Larry Brown lost in New York with a group of above-average players who meandered and "talked back" in the press. K-Mart broke the two fundamental rules of the game, he hurt the team, and now he's gone.

What a relief! First of all, Martin is not more valuable to the Nuggets than Coach Karl - that role belongs to Melo. After this latest tantrum, and a season of sloth, you can be sure that K-Mart will be packing his bags this summer. (Hint: if we trade him to New York, we'll probably get younger, cheaper, better players who actually want to win and know how to listen. There are 31 NBA franchises that absolutely love Isaiah Thomas. None are in New York.) Martin has been a plague on this team all season. His contributions consist mainly of grandiose verbiage (minus of course 40,000 repititons of "you know what I'm sayin?"), a potential assault of a fan by his posse, and a lot of time on an exercise bike. They should have suspended him earlier.

Second, the Nuggets are better off without K-Mart on the court. Basically they paid him $10 million this season for one good half of defense against Elton Brand. And the Nuggets lost that game. Now it's time to give Reggie Evans a chance. He leaves it all on the court, never bitches, and his intensity is contagious. Sure, Brand will get 20+ points, but he's going to have to earn each and every one of them since Evans will be on the court for 30+ minutes. With Evans on the court and the distraction that is K-Mart gone, I guarantee that the Nuggets will win Thursday's home game.

That's right, the Nuggets will win game 3. For sure. No doubt. Guaranteed. The Nuggets will push the ball, Melo will have a break-out game, and the local fans will go home hoarse from excitement. Final score - 105-97.

A Playoff Heartbreaker

The Nuggets played like crap. They deserved the loss. But, hot-damn, they nearly stole the show there at the end, didn't they?

There were moments of grace. Few and far between, but they were there. The Nuggets looked good when they pushed the pace; the defensive lockdown between the 3rd and 4th quarters, especially against Elton Brand, was impressive; and the final few minutes when the Nuggets tied it and had a shot for the win were amazing for casual fans and aficionados alike. If the Nuggets can string together a few more special stretches then they have a great chance of tying the series.

One thing the Nuggets can take advantage of is the Clippers' predictability. On offense they will undoubtedly give the ball to Brand early and often in Monday's game. Cassell will penetrate and dish like usual. And he'll hit the open jumper if the Nuggets are foolish enough to double off him. Mobley and Radmanovic will patrol the perimeter making 3's when possible. Whoever defends Ross and Kaman will have to make the extra-effort on Brand. That probably means Carmelo and Camby will have to pull double-duty on the defensive end. But I'd rather have Chris Kaman trying to win the game than Brand or Cassell.

On defense, the Clippers are going to send two, three, and sometimes four guys at Melo until someone else on the team steps up and makes a few baskets. You can't ask much more of Miller than what he gave in Game 1. Camby will probably step up, and K-Mart, if he's really such a playoff fiend, will have to put up points for the Nuggets to win. A shooter, a shooter, my kingdom for a shooter. If I were Karl, I'd play DJ more in Game 2 and see if he gets the offense going.

Post Script:
10/10 -- that's how many times I give the ball to Melo in the clutch. I have absolutely no problem with the play-calling at the end of Saturday's game.

Slapstick? Farce? Just another Nuggets loss

Attending last night's ridiculous loss to the Houston Rockets was like volunteering to get kicked in the groin. Step 1 - space feet should width apart and squat; Step 2 - receive blow to groin; Step 3 - crumple over in pain. That's how it felt to watch the 16 point lead evaporate against a bunch of mediocre players. That's how it feels to watch the slow degeneration of a promising young team. There's no way the Nuggets, from top to bottom, can be this bad. Houston's late-season lineup is basically a modified development-league roster featuring Juwan Howard. And the Nuggets played their starters, the guys they hope to win with in the playoffs, for close to 30 minutes each, e.g. Carmelo had 22 points in 28 minutes.

The lads with whom I frequently attend games - a.k.a. the Prozac crew - quietly bemoaned the current state of affairs: "the Nuggets probably can't win one against either the Clippers or the Griz - looks like an opening round sweep"; "the best thing for the team is to hope K-Mart explodes in the playoffs, which will be over in a flash, so we can trade him and get some quality players around 'Melo next season." Paraphrases of course, but you get the idea: the season's already a wash.

Coach Karl seems to believe that the Nuggets have a magic switch somewhere which they can flip on when the playoffs start. The thing about playoff switches is that only winners have them. You don't get a switch until you get a trophy. Examples: Jordan, Bird, and Magic all had a magic switch. . . .and multiple titles. Hakeem Olajuwan was strong in the regular season, but when the playoffs started he turned into some sort of ballet-master robotic demon demi-god who was unstoppable. Oh yeah, he won a couple of titles as well. Shaq has a magic switch but it's grown rusty in the humid Miami climate. (Tim Duncan, in case you're wondering, is an emotionless android that operates under completely different principles.) When it comes to magic switches, the Nuggets aren't even in the same sport, much less the same ballpark.

Melo's magic switch was flipped in early February when he began a second-half crusade for MVP, but it will be hard to carry over into the playoffs when defenders will gameplan around stopping him and letting other guys score. Ruben Patterson's energy switch is always on, but his talent switch was omitted by the manufacturer. K-Mart seems to have a magical whining switch but nothing for talent or energy; maybe he lost them in New Jersey, along with his knees. The mystery of Andre Miller is trying to find his switch in the first place, which has eluded all his coaches so far. Camby, who nearly won a title in '99, may have been given an honorary magic switch but he can't flip it on until the Nuggets advance past the first round. And bench player's magic switches don't work unless the starter's are already activated. Unless you're Robert Horry, who has a deluxe prototype switch unavailable to everyone else in the league.

Maybe Karl knows something we don't, but I doubt it. I secretly think Kiki has hidden whatever switches there are and won't pull them out until he gets a new contract. And Kroenke won't budge. Either way, it's bad news for the playoffs.

The Titanic went down slower than this

Ron Artest proved that good defense against Carmelo Anthony is an easy way to beat the Nuggets. He dominated Melo in the midst of a King-ly thrashing of the Nuggets. Afterwards Artest offered up a critique of Melo: "He's got to move a little more, pass to his teammates a little more, do more without the ball." Artest is right - not only about Melo but the whole team. The Nuggets are horrific in the half-court. They're even worse than a bunch of geriatric people at a community dance: slow, painful, virtually no chance of scoring, and someone's gonna blow out a knee. At least the old folks are having fun. Unfortunately, with an emphasis on defense the playoffs are about 85% half-court offense. Ummm....go Nuggets...I guess.

I'm also concerned with the team's apparent lack of conviction. They're playing like the guy who finishes the first mile of a marathon and then hits the bars claiming a moral victory. Home-court advantage was clearly in reach, yet the Nuggets turned in one of the most dismal stretches of the season. Despite their #3 position, the Nuggets might enter the postseason with the 8th best record. Talk about a confidence booster. You know your team's in trouble when the Clippers enter the playoffs with a better record. And at the rate they're going, the Nuggets will probably lose the first two in L.A., drop the next two at home, and play Madden all summer on their giant-screen TV's. Right now, I don't think the Nuggets could take two of three against the Knicks, Bobcats, and Raptors even if all the games were at the Pepsi Center.


There's no excitement in D-Town. The Nuggets might as well be playing for a lottery pick cause the playoffs are gonna be like a midget on crack: short, ugly, exciting at first but then mostly just depressing. And that's being generous. . . .to the Nuggets. It's not looking good folks. We might as well pack it in until next season when we just might hear - "At guard, a 6-4 rookie from Duke Univeristy, J.J. Redick!!!" I for one plan to hit the bowling alley with copious amounts of booze. I'll see you on lane 14.

Bowling is Better

I watched the Nuggets-Jazz game in a bowling alley. It was horrible...the basketball that is. The bowling was great. In fact, it was much more exciting to watch a bunch of 7 year olds trying to bowl than it was to watch a bunch of 20 year olds to trying to make a basket.

The Nuggets didn't even look like they belong in the postseason. The defense was atrocious, the offense was mediocre, and Coach Karl didn't seem to like he could motivate a cat to chase a mouse. This is a disturbing trend. Despite various injuries, the Nuggets ought to be able to compete with a young team like the Jazz. The Nuggets haven't even been able to put together two consecutive strong outings. Of course, part of this is due to injuries but the rest and time-off hasn't seemed to help either Marcus Camby or Kenyon Martin. Injuries can derail even the strongest team. Just ask Shaq. His inconsistent play the last two years has affected the Heat in the playoffs. Even if Camby and K-Mart come back for the playoffs there is no guarantee that they'll be able to play at a high level. Their return may even hurt the big-play ability of Carmelo Anthony. The Nuggets are heading into the playoffs on a very, very bad note.

The Nuggets just haven't played well recently. I go out of my way to watch their games. But lately, I'd rather go bowling.

Division Crown? Check

By beating Portland on Monday, the Denver Nuggets clinched the division for the first time since the league switched to long shorts. The win guarantees them the #3 seed in the playoffs but not home-court advantage. But who cares? They won the division. The road from bottom-feeder to playoff contender has come to an end. Now the Nuggets get to merge onto the Finals highway where traffic is dense and accidents abound.

It's a road the Nuggets haven't been on in nearly two decades, and it will take them a while to get their bearings. Carmelo has made a name for himself in the regular season, but that doesn't mean anything if the team doesn't succeed in the playoffs. The Nuggets need Anthony to play even better than he has been if they hope to advance beyond the first round. He says that he likes to take the big shot and put the game on his shoulders. He'll have that chance this year in the playoffs. Every play is big and every shot counts. This is the stage both Melo and the team have been waiting for the last three years. And expectations are high. No matter the opponent, the fans expect more than a first-round exit. Melo can do it. Viva la Nuggets!!!

PS: Check out the brilliant 'Ode to Melo' on the FreeDarko.com website. It's one of the links to the right of the column.

ugly win #2 - playoff roster

Another ugly win against the woefully undermanned Golden State Warriors puts the Nuggets one game away from clinching the division for the first time in 18 years. Clinching the division guarantees the Nuggets the #3 seed in the playoffs, but not home-court advantage. Unless something goes horribly wrong, the Nuggets will face either the LA Clippers or the Memphis Grizzlies. They match up well against both teams, which bodes well for the playoffs. Plus, they have a slim chance of ending with a better record than both teams which would give them home-court advantage.

You take what you can get in the NBA. The Nuggets played horribly in the second half, but managed to pull out another victory. The fact that it was against the Jason Terry-less and Baron Davis-less Warriors shouldn't bother fans. What should be problematic is the injuries. Kenyon Martin will be the starter when the playoffs begin, but he's missed so much time recently that team chemistry may be affected. Based on hustle and late-season health, here's my playoff starting line-up:
pg - Andre Miller
sg - Ruben Patterson
sf - Carmelo Anthony
pf - Reggie Evans
c - Marcus Camby

This is obviously a defensive line-up which may work well once the playoffs start. Setting a defensive tone early should be the Nugget's strategy, since they don't have the kind of players who can shoot other teams out of the gym. Greg Buckner would be one of the first subs; as a sub, he can enter the game without the team losing any defensive momentum, plus his recent 3-point shooting can open up the floor for Carmelo in the half-court. This line-up also allows K-Mart to come off the bench for significant minutes if he's healthy (or fewer minutes if he's not), which is where he should be at this point in the season.

George Karl will probably put K-Mart in Reggie Evans place, and I think it will be disastrous for the team. But if he goes a little radical and plays K-Mart off the bench the Nuggets just might thrive in the first round.

End Game

Putting away an opponent is often the hardest part of chess. Young players quickly learn the best openings and middle strategy that fit their style of play. But the end game is always the most difficult. Novice players often lose the advantage and the mental edge just when it seems they are about to checkmate.

The Nuggets are in a similar situation. They opened magnificently and dominated the Clippers but they failed miserably in the end game. The Clippers, not a better team but perhaps a more experienced one, found a way to overcome their early disadvantage and give the Nuggets a loss. A similar problem occured against the Lakers.

Thursday's game against the Lakers was never as lopsided as the one against the Clippers. The Nuggets never led by 22 points. However they maintained a solid 8-10 point advantage throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters. But again, in their youthful naivete, they couldn't put Kobe and the Lakers away in the end game. They managed to get the win on the shoulders of Carmelo, who in his third year may be the best clutch shooter ever. But they should have won easily. This talented young team needs to learn how to put away opponents. They need to master end game strategy.

The problem is that end game ability comes from one thing - experience. And right now, the Nuggets just don't have much experience. They are a young team just learning how to win. Their inexperience will come back to haunt them in the playoffs, where it's absolutely necessary to put teams away once you have the lead. Howard Eisley has the most playoff experience of anyone on the team, minus Coach Karl, but it's highly unlikely that he'll be able to impart end game mastery to a young player like Carmelo. (One might think that K-Mart, having played in two finals, might offer some wisdom to his younger teammates, but most of the time he seems like a blank chalkboard, you know what I'm sayin'?) The Nuggets have six more games to learn end game strategy and the ability to checkmate their playoff opponents.

Double Whammy

First the Dallas Mavericks pummeled the struggling Nuggets. Then the Nuggets blow a 20-point lead against the LA Clippers, potential first-round foe. The loss to the Mavs is excusable. Simply put Dallas is a better team. But the Clippers...?

If the Nuggets fancy themselves playoff contenders then they have to figure out a way to get past teams like the Clippers. More importantly, the Nuggets cannot give up 20-point leads and expect to beat anybody in the league much less a playoff bound team like LAC. This is a crucial time in the season. The Nuggets are fighting for home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Based on the last four games, though, it's not looking good. The Nuggets dropped a fecal-bomb against Utah, managed an ugly win over Minnesota, and then played horrifically against the Mavs and Clips.

Folks, this just in: Momentum is the key. If the Nuggets start the playoffs with low confidence and bad skills then they'll exit the playoffs real quick. If they can turn this thing around and finish the season strong, then there's a good chance they'll make it into the second round. This team has the talent to be one of the top-four teams in the West. But they have to earn it.

No white guy in the NBA has ever looked good with long hair.

The only player who managed to pull it off was Bill Walton, and

that was only because he knew he didn't look good and revelled in it.

I will say this for Chris Kaman: He looks like he could take on Arnold in

a Conan movie

Camby - Nuggets MVP

Marcus Camby was back in the line-up Friday night, the Nuggets played tolerable defense, and the result was a victory. The Nuggets played down to the competition for three quarters and then turned it on in the 4th for a solid win. Carmelo had another great game, but it is Camby who makes the Nuggets a contender. Without the dominating center, the Nuggets are no better than say the Utah Jazz. With him, they are one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the West.

Camby does so much on the floor that it's hard to imagine the Nuggets even making the playoffs without him. He is the centerpiece of the defense. The Jazz made layup after layup while Camby was in street clothes earlier in the week. Kevin Garnett, arguably one of the better 4's in the league, was forced to take 10 and 15 foot jumpers with Camby patrolling the paint. Plus the Nuggets clearly dominated on the defensive glass with Camby in the game.

He's no slouch at the other end either. He opens up the court on offense with his consistent ability to hit 15-20 foot mini-jumpers (I guess you don't really need a jump-shot when you're 6'11"). If he couldn't hit the mini-J on a regular basis then Melo couldn't post-up as often and as effectively as he does. And, playing away from the basket allows him to crash the offensive boards too. Melo may be the best player on the team, but Camby is the guy who makes it work. Heck, he even makes K-Mart look good which is pretty damn amazing considering it's, well, K-Mart.