The Jazz had a golden opportunity to close out the series tonight but they weren't up to it. The Nuggets were more than ready to go down.
Nuggets = Hawks? Barkley said the Hawks are Denver East, the more I think about it the more I agree. Talented rosters on both teams that underwhelm at times.
They are earily similar. An aging Point Guard: Billups= Bibby A underachieving Superstar: Anthony= Johnson Undersized Center: Nene=Horford 6th Man who is useless if his shot is not falling: Smith=Crawford
ehhh i think the nuggets are a lot better than the hawks though. melo is way better than johnson, and billups at this stage is a lot better than bibby. denver is a team that can hang with the elites in the league when they are focused, ATL can't whether they are focused or not.
I think Barkley meant the energy of the team. But good comparisons of the individual players nonetheless.
No anger at all. Simply reminding some here, who claim to be fans of the Rockets, that they are rooting for a team that sucks. The Jazz have always sucked. The Jazz will suck tomorrow and so far into the future that no person alive today will witness the demise of their complete suckitude. Oh, and that you are a complete poser.
I swear to God, I don't know how many times I need to tell you guys this, BUT READ A_3PO's POSTS! THE MAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH! OK, see, this is the problem with discussing role players on teams that you're not a fan of - you just don't see them often enough. It's like me trying to discuss David Andersen's effect on the Rockets. I saw 10-12 Rockets games this year that didn't involve the Nugs, so I have a basic level, but nowhere near the knowledge that you guys who watched him for 82 games have. And t_mac1, if this comes across as me attacking you I apologize because it's not meant that way. I'm just tired of reading on this board about how LK was a decent player. LK was a horrible piece of **** who should never be allowed in a Denver Nuggets jersey ever again in his life. Without a doubt, my least favorite Nuggets player ever. The problem was that he was developing into a decent role player who would play hard and could swing between the 3 & the 4. Then came the national TV game against the Kings in which he scored 40 points. All of a sudden, LK saw himself as a star. He stopped even trying on defense and became the biggest ball stopper I have ever seen in my life. He would try running iso's and ignroed Billups, Melo, JR and Nene at the same time. As for his "showing up in the playoffs", think again. He was ok in the first round of the playoffs against NO (mainly because we were smacking them around and he found himself out there in a bit of garbage time) but completely disappeared against Dallas. Against NO, he averaged 10 ppg (not counting the DNP-CD he got in game 5). Dallas? 2.75 ppg (once again, not counting his one DNP-CD). The difference? Against NO he was allowed to play garbage minutes and pad his stats. However, it seems like when most people talk about LK "stepping up" in the playoffs, they mention game 2 against the Lakers. In this one case, I will give him props. He was phenomenal and we don't win that game without him. This is standard for him as he would always pull one of those random great games on national TV, so he always had a higher profile than he should have. But the simple fact is that the Nugs were 8.1 points per 100 possessions worse when he was on the court compared to when he was off of it. I hope I never see him in a Nugs jersey ever again. /rant In other news -- speculation is that Nene tore his ACL. So not only was last night painful because it just delayed the inevitable, but now Nene could miss part of next season. Not only that, that effectively killed his trade value this off-season. AWESOME!
Nug4, if Boozer's kick caused Nene to tear his ACL, I officially now don't want the Nuggets to advance because they won't even be token opposition for the Lakers. I want LA to have the toughest road possible and the Jazz would now represent that. Excuse me while I now go and vomit up my lunch after posting that I want the Jazz to advance..
I have good news for you then. From the Nugs twitter feed: MRI reveals no ligament damage in Nene's left knee. Sprain will keep him out of Game 6 Friday.
np nuggets4. i admit i dont follow the nuggets at all. in my defense, kleiza does do well on national television appearances for the most part so maybe that's why my analysis is skewed. but i still think the main reasons they're losing is b/c of the decline in defense/toughness and billups getting destroyed by deron (and billups ain't sucking either) and im kinda disappointed in melo. he's a great scorer, but that's really it. on a team like the nuggets, melo needs to be more of an overall player but he's lacking a ton in the playmaking department still. there's no way a nene should only get 9-10 shots a game... hopefully durant follows a different path and develop some type of playmaking skills.
That's a relief. Still, I must ask myself the question of who is the more difficult matchup for the Lakers: The short-handed, scrappy Jazz or the Nuggets coached by Adrian Dantley? Based off that halftime report, I don't think George Karl should come back. Even if the cancer is in remission, he needs to savor every day with his family and smell the roses.
While I would absolutely love to see Karl back ASAP (there wouldn't be a dry eye in the Pepsi Center if he returned), I honestly think he's coached his last game in the NBA. He looked rough in that interview (obviously) and I'm hoping he decides that dealing with these knuckleheads isn't worth the hassle. I just don't know if George can walk away.
