Explain it to me god, 'cause I just don't get it. I wanna root for the Nuggets, I really do. They're the hometown team. They've got great players. I get tickets every now and then and I love knowing enough about the team to sound mad smart to the dudes behind me. But this shit has gotten out of hand.

I know the Raptors are good this year. They've got some great young players, and they play smart ball. But how does any team in the NBA give up 36 points two quarters in a row? I don't care who got hurt - Marcus Camby - or who replaced him - Reggie Evans, who's probably rustier than a nail on the Titanic by now - you cannot give up that many points in consecutive quarters and call yourself a professional basketball team. It's just straight up foul and ugly.

Some people are saying that the Nuggets haven't found their identity. How about finding some defense? Or maybe some brains? Or a coach who isn't a cuddly vegetable in a bad suit? 36 points, people. Twice. In back-to-back quarters. And the road trip doesn't get any easier. At this point, we'll be giving up 150 a game by the time the team gets back to Denver.

I reject you Denver Nuggets. I reject your inadequacies and false promises. I'm rooting for Golden State. At least they have a little heart.

While I am cautious and caustic most of the time, I am beginning to think the Nuggets are getting better. Tonight's loss was a dagger, but the Nuggets were playing tough against an equivalent team. When you win five in a row, a last second loss to a quality team isn't as bad as it seems. They're still more talented than the Bulls, and they're finally figuring out how to use that talent.

So while I was busy reading horrendous book reviews by a bunch of freshman, the Nuggets went out and did something worthwhile. Well, okay, they did one thing worthwhile - against the Suns. The Lakers were so rusty and beat up that the Nuggets should have won. . .which they did. Excitement abounds.

Chaperoning a high school dance is sort of like that scene in A Million Little Pieces where the drug addict gets a root canal without any novacaine. And there I was, not really grinning and hardly bearing it when I pulled out my cell phone to check the time and my messages. And low and behold, I received the best Nuggets news since hearing that Kenyon was out for the season. The Nuggets were beating on the Suns. No, beating implies that the Suns were actually putting up a fight. Apparently the Nuggets were dismantling the Suns piece by piece and building up a lead that was at one time 38 points. Wow! Not only did the news appear ridiculous and absurd, it was completely unbelievable. This is the team that can't beat Golden State, but here they were demolishing the second best team in the league. Wow! Within minutes of hearing the score, I jumped out onto the dance floor and did a happy little Irish jig in honor of St. Patty's day and the impending miracle of the Nuggets beating the Suns in Phoenix. Eat your heart out Bob Fosse.

Perhaps George Karl, the non-coaching coach, hit his head on the bathtub and actually did some coaching. Perhaps the superstar duo figured out a way to do what they do best - score and make their teammates better. Perhaps nothing so strange and magnificent happened, and the Nuggets figured out just how good they have the potential to be. There's some excitement brewing in D-Town, and strangely it has to do with the Nuggets' on-court success. Wow!

wow...a win over the kings...i'm so excited

The Nuggets beat a mediocre team by scoring over 110 points. They also gave up over 100 points. I don't really see why this is such a great thing. This type of shit would never happen in the playoffs. It's nice to Kleiza having an impact, though. Apparently he's the only one who cares.

"Gee, George, I can't see what's so good about the game."

Must Come Down

The Nuggets: It's like going to a really exciting movie that just came out and then finding out the movie you want to see is sold out so you have to see a Sandra Bullock movie instead. Your solace is in her essential cuteness, but you're ultimately disappointed. That was the Nuggets against the Pistons last Friday night. Minus the cuteness of Sandra Bullock.

I'm not sure that George Karl can even be called a coach anymore. He doesn't do anything at practice, and he's nonexistent at games. After timeouts, the Nuggets routinely fail to run anything resembling an NBA-quality inbounds play. These guys are worse than the 8 year olds at the Y. They run around like their boxers are bunched up and then they launch what can only be described as vomit at the rim. And just like a hung-over college student, they don't come anywhere close to getting it in (oh praise the blessed double entrendre, my friend and yours). There are literally thousands of websites for inbounds plays on the internet. Come on George, take five minutes and google that shit. You're obviously not doing anything else with your time.

I saw a stat recently which showed the Nuggets' winning percentage with Andre Miller running the team versus A.I. Andre had the Nuggets over .500 (and Philly too for that matter), while A.I. seems to be doing his best to keep the team out of the playoffs. And Philly is in the midst of a 7 game win streak. The Nuggets can't even get a 3 game win streak going. Go figure. I'm not saying that getting A.I. was a bad deal, but you gotta start wondering at the wisdom of the thing when the team sucks night in and night out.

This is ridiculous. How can a team with A.I. and Melo play so poorly? The Nuggets crapped one out in the third against Golden State, and they dropped another stinker against the Pistons. I can understand the Pistons - they're a top-level team. But the Warriors? Don Nelson doesn't teach defense, none, not a lick. He doesn't know how. The man is the true heir to Doug Moe. Yet the Nuggets found a way to score less than 20 against Golden State, and pulled a repeat perfomance at home against the Pistons.

George Karl, go home. Wait, maybe I'm being too harsh. Fix it. Or go home. You have a talent-laden roster, even without JR Smith, and you're content to watch mediocrity on a nightly basis. Fix it or go home, Crap Karl.

A Game to Build a Dream On

The Nuggets looked good against the Hornets. They didn't look great. They didn't play up to their potential. But they looked good.

Marcus Camby and the rest of the Nuggets brought some defense. It wasn't all the defense. It wasn't even playoff defense, but it was enough to keep a second tier team from scoring more than 100 points. And that is more than the Nuggets have done in a long time.

Melo played with a bit of passion. Okay, maybe it wasn't passion. Maybe it was anticipation. Whatever it was, Melo played one of the most complete games he's played in a long time. The Nuggets should check out the stat line on this game. Neither Melo nor A.I. had to score 30 points for the team to win. They didn't even break 50 between them. But they played well, and they included their teammates. And to their credit, the other guys stepped up. Nene is starting to show why the Nuggets gave him $60 million in guaranteed money. Camby played great defense in the paint, which he'll need to continue to do if the Nuggets want to even make the playoffs.

For once, the team looked good. They didn't sneak past a lower echelon team. They outplayed a lower echelon team. Perhaps this is a step in the right direction.

And I for one would like to thank Mark Kiszla. Thanks for lighting the fire.

Wanted: Defense and a Coach Who Cares

Recent add spotted on the Kroenke Sports Enterprises website:

Wanted - Professional Basketball Coach with Experience in Team and Individual Defense.

-Professional sports franchise is seeking qualified candidates to coach an incredibly talented but underachieving professional basketball team. Dedication to success and a committment to winning a must. Qualified applicants must have a concept of defense and its role in creating winning basketball teams. Offensive experts and those with zero committment to teaching and preaching the necessity of defense need not apply. Experience dealing with two superstars simultaneously a plus.

After attending Friday's horrific debacle against the Rockets, I am convinced that George Karl is the wrong man for the job. In fact, I think he may be the worst possible coach for the Nuggets. The man has lost it. He doesn't seem to care about coaching, and he clearly has no idea what it takes to win. Jeff Van Gundy's team is not more talented than the Nuggets. Very simply, the Rockets are expertly coached. The Rockets have one legitimate offensive threat and a bunch of role players. But they make things work because they play defense, as individuals and as a team. Until the Nuggets figure that out, they will continue to lose to less talented teams.

Poor fools.

Oh yeah, you should go to this website and read the article on Chad Ford's interview with Nuggets "mastermind" (yeah right) Mark Warkentien The article is entitled "Expensive...But The Shit Look Good, Don't It?" It's hilarious.

Crikey...check out the rarely seen "defense"

I saw it. I really did. It wasn't an apparition. I was at the game, so it couldn't have been some sort of strange network editing. This was legitimate.

For about 5 minutes somwhere in the middle of the 3rd quarter against Orlando, the Denver Nuggets played defense.

I've been checking with my sources, and according to statsinc.com this is the first time that the Nuggets have played defense in the 2007 calendar year. It was rumored that Allen Iverson tried to play some defense right after being traded to the Nuggets, but he was quickly corralled by Coach Karl and told to "Cut that s%*t out!" Doug Moe looked on approvingly.

The Nuggets beat the Magic, and I can only conclude that their 5 minute defensive stretch contributed significantly to their victory. Given the current members of the coaching staff, and their inability to actually coach any defensive techniques or strategies, this was an incredibly rare occurence. I suspect that their 5 minutes of defense was a spontaneous, unplanned phenomenon. Unfortunately for all of us, it is unlikely to occur again before the 2007 playoffs, which the Nuggets may or may not participate in.