Denver leads series 2-0
- I know a lot of people thought the Nuggets had the potential to run away with this series fairly quickly, but did anyone see things opening with 2 blowout wins? I definitely didn't.
- As happy as I am with the performances so far, I'm still a little nervous about how the team will respond when Chauncey cools off. If Chauncey cools off that is.
- Due to the strange hours that I work and the spotty radio reception in the small mountain town where I reside, I was forced to take in Game 2 by the friendly interface of ESPN's GameCast. While it clearly cannot provide the emotion of watching the event live, I was treated to a few emotionally uplifting and deflating entries like this: "JR Smith enters the game, JR Smith misses 20 ft. jumper, JR Smith called for foul."
- Fortunately, JR redeemed himself in the 4th Quarter by logging this entry after hitting several 3-pointers in a row: David West Offensive Foul (JR Smith Draws the Foul). Just as I was about to make a note of JR seeming to be one of the few Nuggets who have yet to show a huge jump in maturity during this first round series, he managed to make a notch in the other column.
- One other GameCast Nugget that helps underline the maturity Melo has shown so far was this: "Carmelo Anthony blocks Hilton Armstrong's Layup." It happened right at the end of the quarter no less. I think it's clear that Melo is very focused and will not be satisfied with an early playoff exit this year.
- Weird stat-line for Melo tonight as well. His shooting was great, and he replaced his lack of rebounds with a plethora of assists, but I find it hard to believe that he wasn't fouled a single time during the course of this game. I wish GameCast had Game Log entries for things like: "Missed call by Violet Palmer," and "Bad call by Violet Palmer."
- A quick glance through his Game Log for the season shows that Melo only played in 3 games without attempting a free throw. One of those games was the one he left with an injury after 14 minutes and the other two were against Boston and Cleveland.
- Could have gone without the 3-point shooting contest between Chauncey and JR late in the 4th quarter. Fortunately for the Nuggets, the Hornets decided to participate in the contest as well, so it didn't really help or hurt either team all that much.
- We have yet to see a big-scoring game from Nene, we have yet to see JR loosen up to the point he was at to end the regulary season and we have yet to see Johan Petro fill up the fouls column on the stat sheet, so there's still a lot of potential hiding on this Nuggets roster.
- Favorite stat of the series so far:
The Nuggets have outscored New Orleans in all 8 quarters of the series, and have only allowed the Hornets to score more than 25 in a quarter once so far.
- Most disappointing stat of the night:
Renaldo Balkman - DNP - Coach's Decision
Ryan Bowen - DNP - Coach's Decision
- It's going to be exciting to see how the Nuggets respond to being fully in control of a playoff series for the first time in a long time as they head into New Orleans. They didn't quite come out of the gate defending as well as I had hoped (The Hornets were shooting about 50% after the 1st quarter), but they threw the shackles back on David West and were a couple of Peja hot streaks away from a 30+ point victory in this game. I think this team is focused and will see the road game as something to rally around and challenge themselves with in Game 3. I'm not 100% sold yet, but if Chauncey keeps shooting like he has been, maybe I won't every have to find out how the Nuggets will respond otherwise.
P.P.S. - Thanks for the memories Dikembe, maybe the Nugs will finally have a playoff image to replace yours when all is said and done this season.
Well done, sir. The Violet Palmer section was particularly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSo, what was your initial take on the Iverson trade?
ReplyDeleteWell I was a pretty big fan of AI from back in his Georgetown days and even spent a pretty hefty portion of a paycheck for a good seat to see Melo's first game playing with AI, so the news was a little disappointing. Fortunately, I soon learned that the trade was for one of my favorite non-Nugget NBA players. I grew up in Boulder, so I had fond memories of Chauncey's CU days and always wished they would have kept him in Denver the first time around. I was especially pumped that Dice was originally included in the deal too, alas, that reunion was not meant to be. So I guess my short answer is this: I felt pretty good about the trade at first, now I feel great about it.
ReplyDelete