Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz - Game 44

[SnakefromHell]

Nene never surpassing 28 pts in his career boggles my mind.

Johan Petro showing some range... maybe Karl will play him more after this game. Is Billups in slump? The past 10 games or so, he's been playing below his standard?

[J Smitty]

His mindset is different with Melo out. He's taking on more of the scoring load....which isn't where he is most effective. He'll be fine.

[pickaxe]

Nene never surpassing 28 pts in his career boggles my mind.

Johan Petro showing some range... maybe Karl will play him more after this game. Is Billups in slump? The past 10 games or so, he's been playing below his standard?

I don't know.....I noticed a lot of energy in Billups, lot of strut tonight. Yeah he missed a few again but his best is definitely still there. Mentally he was very good tonight. When you got Nene, sometimes that's all you need....just get the ball to the most efficient shooter in the league.

[The Answer_CO]

Great win.
Nene was good, Billups was OK with 1 assist, rest of the team was good, too.

[RRFB]

Good game from Jr.
Nene = beast.
Kleiza = chucker.

Good win. 4.5 game lead over Utah now.

[el loco]

Nene never surpassing 28 pts in his career boggles my mind.

Johan Petro showing some range... maybe Karl will play him more after this game. Is Billups in slump? The past 10 games or so, he's been playing below his standard?

I don't know.....I noticed a lot of energy in Billups, lot of strut tonight. Yeah he missed a few again but his best is definitely still there. Mentally he was very good tonight. When you got Nene, sometimes that's all you need....just get the ball to the most efficient shooter in the league.

Sometimes I'd like to see us go to Nene more then we do a lot of the time he gets phazed out of the offense.

You can't argue with 28 points on on only 12 shots. That is an efficient night of work.

[el loco]

I have a question for some of you guys that post on the comparison and general board. Has there been a thread over there ranking the west? I figured that there probably was, even though I didn't see it, and I didn't want to waste the board space with a new thread on something that has already been done/asked.

My question is this: If there is such a thread, where do we rank?

[corona]

I have a question for some of you guys that post on the comparison and general board. Has there been a thread over there ranking the west? I figured that there probably was, even though I didn't see it, and I didn't want to waste the board space with a new thread on something that has already been done/asked.

My question is this: If there is such a thread, where do we rank?

probably like the standings play out.
behind the lakers and san antonio
in same tier as houston/new orleans
better than utah/dallas/phoenix

but everyone else would probably still rank us just ahead of dallas/phoenix, and cry injury foul in regards to houston/new orleans/utah (and that's why their record isn't better...etc)

i haven't seen a thread like that on the general board in awhile. or at least i don't remember clicking on it.

[MHZ]

Nice win. Always fun to beat Utah. More fun to beat Utah handily.

Nene was 12-12, he should have gotten 20 FG attempts tonight. Like Chauncey said, he would never go 12-12, because he'd shoot until he missed. Nene should have gotten the ball every play. They couldn't stop him.

Go team. A couple more without Melo, then hopefully we can keep everybody healthy on forward (knock on wood).

[J Smitty]

The thing with Nenê though, save for a few jumpshots here or there...most of his stuff is right around the basket....also a few of those being offensive rebounds and put backs. It's not always the easiest thing to get a bunch of quality looks underneath the basket. And the reason he does shoot so well is because he takes smart shots.

It's a little bit different for a guard like Chauncey or J.R., who shoot mostly jumpshots. If you're hitting your jumper with that kind of accuracy, of course you keep shooting as much as possible. Although they tend to get a little bit too overzealous about it sometimes, and throw up some terrible shots that you can only justify as a "heat check." Nenê would never do something like that, nor should or could you really, being a post player.

If Nenê is completely dominating his opponent in the post, in single coverage...of course you keep feeding it to him. That didn't necessarily seem like the case here. Most of his stuff didn't come through isolation or set plays. I do agree he definitely needs more touches and needs to shoot more, but most of that starts with him. This is what he had to say about his performance after the game...."After 10 or 12 straight shots, I need to hit the pause button on myself. I'm not selfish. Put somebody else in the game." That right there is Nenê's biggest flaw, IMO. You never want a player to be selfish...but there is also a point where they can be too UNselfish. Nenê needs to work on developing that killer instinct, because he certainly doesn't have it right now, and it would be extremely helpful to us if he did.

[el loco]

I have a question for some of you guys that post on the comparison and general board. Has there been a thread over there ranking the west? I figured that there probably was, even though I didn't see it, and I didn't want to waste the board space with a new thread on something that has already been done/asked.

My question is this: If there is such a thread, where do we rank?

probably like the standings play out.
behind the lakers and san antonio
in same tier as houston/new orleans
better than utah/dallas/phoenix

but everyone else would probably still rank us just ahead of dallas/phoenix, and cry injury foul in regards to houston/new orleans/utah (and that's why their record isn't better...etc)

i haven't seen a thread like that on the general board in awhile. or at least i don't remember clicking on it.

I'd say you are pretty accurate with that post. I was curious to find how fans of other teams are viewing the Nuggets.

[legendarywalton]

That first quarter was so ugly I didn't think the Nuggets had a chance. Then the game went on and the played worse, and worse and worse... but for once we caught a break and the Jazz were just absolutely awful. That was just a terrible game to watch... I honestly don't know how JR doesn't commit 4 offensive fouls a game, he's got great body control, but it's like watching a lanky 12 year old who just barely hangs on.

Nene... all-star center.

[Lava Rock Kid]

Nice win guys, Congrats on the Division Title,
Just when I thought my Jazz could get no lower, they go and lower the bar. Injuries have killed our season.

[blue steel]

That first quarter was so ugly I didn't think the Nuggets had a chance. Then the game went on and the played worse, and worse and worse... but for once we caught a break and the Jazz were just absolutely awful. That was just a terrible game to watch... I honestly don't know how JR doesn't commit 4 offensive fouls a game, he's got great body control, but it's like watching a lanky 12 year old who just barely hangs on.

Nene... all-star center.

Were we watching the same game? We were up 9 after the first and JR played a pretty solid game and a great first quarter minus his 2nd foul on millsap. The nuggets didn't win this game because the jazz let us, we won it because we played better than them. You don't win by 20 points because the other team gives you a break. I don't know if you were serious or not, but you keep searching for and posting negatives things after games, even if its a blowout of a division rival without our best player.

[legendarywalton]

Were we watching the same game? We were up 9 after the first and JR played a pretty solid game and a great first quarter minus his 2nd foul on millsap. The nuggets didn't win this game because the jazz let us, we won it because we played better than them. You don't win by 20 points because the other team gives you a break. I don't know if you were serious or not, but you keep searching for and posting negatives things after games, even if its a blowout of a division rival without our best player.

I like to be the board pessimist. The Jazz were undermanned, and basically had three players contributing. I agree though, it turned to be a great win, even though I cringe at the way they play. Nothing ever seems crisp or easy, and that's all I was trying to point out. I love JR, his game just doesn't translate well on TV. In person he looks a lot smoother. It's similar to how difficult it is to understand AI unless you're there in person.

One thing I am extremely happy about; this team has gotten so much valuable experience without 'Melo that it's getting harder and harder to see them not advancing past the first round this year.

[pickaxe]

I think Nene is the route to making everything crisp and easy. Just penetrate, which every Nugget can actually do....but not every Nugget can finish every time. Penetrate and dish to Nene I think is one of our strongest plays. Along with penetrate and dish to Kenyon.

[el loco]

I think Nene is the route to making everything crisp and easy. Just penetrate, which every Nugget can actually do....but not every Nugget can finish every time. Penetrate and dish to Nene I think is one of our strongest plays. Along with penetrate and dish to Kenyon.

Kleiza has even been getting in on the driving and dish it to Nene act in the last couple of games. He did it on a nice play that turned out bad from the powers that be at the end of the game against Houston, and he did it in this last game (Nene got two free throws out of the deal).

[RRFB]

Nene has been proving a lot of people wrong this year, and a lot of us Nuggets fans right. Most of us stuck up for him when everyone else was saying he was nothing more than an always injured, overpaid bum. I always thought the contract we gave him was fair, we just had to wait for his health to come around, and now it's safe to say he's earning the money hes getting.

They haven't gotten much recognition, but I think Nene and Kmart have to be considered one of the top three or four frontcourts in the West. Obviously you have Gasol/Bynum first, but it gets close after that. There's Amare/Shaq, D-West/Chandler, Yao/Scola, Dirk/Dampier, and Boozer/Okur, but I feel pretty confident when matched up against any one of them. Nene and Kmart have enough size and so much quickness that they're too tough to defend, and too tough to get past on offense. It just comes down to staying out of foul trouble.

[blue steel]

Were we watching the same game? We were up 9 after the first and JR played a pretty solid game and a great first quarter minus his 2nd foul on millsap. The nuggets didn't win this game because the jazz let us, we won it because we played better than them. You don't win by 20 points because the other team gives you a break. I don't know if you were serious or not, but you keep searching for and posting negatives things after games, even if its a blowout of a division rival without our best player.

I like to be the board pessimist. The Jazz were undermanned, and basically had three players contributing. I agree though, it turned to be a great win, even though I cringe at the way they play. Nothing ever seems crisp or easy, and that's all I was trying to point out. I love JR, his game just doesn't translate well on TV. In person he looks a lot smoother. It's similar to how difficult it is to understand AI unless you're there in person.

One thing I am extremely happy about; this team has gotten so much valuable experience without 'Melo that it's getting harder and harder to see them not advancing past the first round this year.

Yeah, its good to be objective but if you always look at games like "they were undermanned" or "we had lucky breaks" then you might go crazy, but its good to see where we need improvements.

I agree with you about the experience this team has gotten with melo out. When he was injured (and we found out it was only for a month) i thought this could be a huge month for our role players to learn to play under pressure. its kind of like our defense improving by trading our 'DPOY' center. instead of guys relying on camby to block shots (or melo to make shots on the offensive end) they now are setting up to play defense (and are now learning to play without melo's offense and melo's double/triple teaming). and an added bonus is melo getting time to heal his elbows and be ready to go.

So after this month, its hard for me to see our role players fading to nonexistence like they have the last few playoff series. if melo can come back smoothly and we can win our division, then we've got to be able to win a damn playoff series.