Denver @ Phoenix (TNT outside!)

[corona]

@
when: Saturday October 11th, 8pm mtn
where: Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Palm Springs, CA
media: TNT

lineups: (potential)

key bench: renaldo balkman, chris andersen


key bench: matt barnes, alando tucker

notes:
carmelo's likely out with a bruised ring finger.
iverson's out with a knee contusion
stoudemire's likely out after being poked in the right eye (will need goggles for at least this season)

things to watch for:
both teams attempting to change defensive philosophy and increase intensity.
jr smith spending time at the point.
nene actually playing.
charles barkley putting his foot in his mouth.

photos:

[DaDragicShow]

I'm soo excited for this outdoor game I got a woody.

[Peanut]

If Carmelo doesn't play, this will be boring as hell

[eathy]

its been a while since JR started.

[JRMelo15]

Sweet...LK gets more playing time, I hope he leads in scoring or at least second behind JR tonite.

[Shady08]

Go Nuggets! hahaha how about Miller drilling 3's in his suit...

[Shady08]

No Melo or AI....

[MHZ]

Nene looks sharp out there. Good deal.

[UNLVNugsFan]

I would like to see Balkman at some point. Maybe its just me.

[SnakefromHell]

^You're not the only one... I also want to see Balk out there...

Oh, I'll take Robin Lopez over Nene now... what a length... he can play D and has great pair of hands, I'l take him over his twin brother too, Brook

[SnakefromHell]

Balkman is a really good defender... because of his athleticism, he's even more of an energy player than Najera. But he lacks shooting... if he can shoot, he'd be every team's dream role player. Right now he's a keeper because if played with regular playing time, he could be a candidate for DPOY one day.

[ambiglight]

They look good. Im shocked by balkmans defense. They actually are getting stops..Hopefully this isnt just preseason fluff.

[SnakefromHell]

Is it me or is Birdman a better defender than Camby?

Camby is a celebrated shot blocker who doesn't hustle and doesn't play defense the right way

Birdman is a shot blocker who hustles and plays defense the right way. He guards pick and rolls, he hustles, he can guard post up players and one on one... Camby strictly hawks the ball from the weakside to get his blocks, Birdman does it on the weakside as well as one-on-one. Great replacement. Offensively, he's also much more active than Camby and has pretty good hands for a big his size.

[corona]

I would like to see Balkman at some point. Maybe its just me.

he looked great in the second half. gets an absurd amount of deflections and just creates havoc. i'm sure gk will love him...and as long as he's not trying to do too much offensively, i'll love him too.

jr looked alright. certainly didn't seem like he went 6/16. but he made some nice plays. forced a couple passes that weren't there. things will get a lot easier with melo/iverson on the court and nene in true form.

its incredible to finally see big men and forwards hedging screens. that alone does wonders for defense. and this year every single one of our bigs is willing to do it. i'm psyched. heck...defense all over was darn good. blah blah blah wind, no amare, preseason....its not everyday you see the nuggets hold a team to 71 points on 32% shooting.

kleiza was *meh* - good night on the boards, but obviously needs guys to create room/shots for him to be an effective offensive player.

Oh, I'll take Robin Lopez over Nene now...

lol. because he put up 8/5 in a preseason game...cleaning up junk around the rim? wow

[SnakefromHell]

No because he caught passes while he was on the move towards the rim, he can actually catch passes, and not fumble, he plays defense and he has unteachable length... he has a pretty nice low post move in his hook shot and with such length, it becomes much harder for defenders to block it as opposed to Nene, e.g. his hook was blocked by... Robin

Nene would move towards the rim and take a 2 step, making his move very easy to predict. If someone is there ready to contest his shot, if Nene doesn't think he can get the shot off, he'd pass it back out. His hook shots are mostly hook runners while he's on the move to avoid his defender that are not exactly high percentage and not exactly precise attempts... and they're so easy to read, especially by above average defenders. The only high percentage field goals from Nene that I can say for sure is his dunk and 10-15 footers. But all that hook runner is garbage, low percentage attempt.

Robin can actually play defense and he has that length. He can finish around the rim and can catch passes while on the move/ stationary... he's imo an offensively better version and right now... slightly defensively worse version of Tyson Chandler.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

Yes, lets make judgements about the two after one preseason game.

[SnakefromHell]

^Maybe Nene needs to play more games to be in shape... but sometimes a game, pre season or season, if you observe how the player plays (not the stats), is enough to gauge how good he's going to be.

J.R. is a disappointment. His game hasn't expanded at all... it's either three ball or attack the rim. He could add mid range game, some post up game, he's mostly camping at the three pt line instead of trying to find spots/ cut. I expected more from him but I guess his game is going to be the same this season as it was last season. Scoring is still easy for him, but he could be more than just a scorer... he could be a star easily.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

LOL.. so you can tell how good a player is going to be from one preseason game? Sorry, but that's funny.

I believe I actually saw JR cutting last night. Its preseason though, and Karl doesn't believe in moving and cutting. Players can't do, what the coach doesn't coach. Hopefully that changes, but again.. it was one preseason game, a bad one.. so silly to make full assessments of the players from it.

[corona]

J.R. is a disappointment. His game hasn't expanded at all... it's either three ball or attack the rim. He could add mid range game, some post up game, he's mostly camping at the three pt line instead of trying to find spots/ cut. I expected more from him but I guess his game is going to be the same this season as it was last season. Scoring is still easy for him, but he could be more than just a scorer... he could be a star easily.

see...that's exactly why you can't gauge a player off one preseason game.
i was there friday to see jr sink multiple midrange jumpers.

No because he caught passes while he was on the move towards the rim, he can actually catch passes, and not fumble, he plays defense and he has unteachable length... he has a pretty nice low post move in his hook shot and with such length, it becomes much harder for defenders to block it as opposed to Nene, e.g. his hook was blocked by... Robin

go watch some youtube videos or something.
nene has a bunch of moves, he can create for himself in the low post (we never saw lopez do that last night....all i saw was one flat hook shot that he nearly airballed), he can finish strong with both hands (very few in the nba can do it...and i doubt lopez has the skill). nene's a proven defender and has had success against the most successful player in this generation...as opposed to picking up a couple blocks on a preseason kmart/andersen.



all that not to mention that we're talking about the second preseason game of the season...on the second of a back to back. with the exception of the one spin move former mvp steve nash didn't look all that great (2 assists, 6 turnovers). shaq had 2 points and fouled out in 15 minutes. and you expect jr to be in midseason form and show us everything he's gained in the summer...in one game?

[24K_Gold]

first off,i loved the defense and hustle i seen from the likes of balkman,anderson,and jones.i thought nene was aggressive in the post even though some of those shots didn't fall(he'll get better and more importantly stronger as he regains his explosion)

jr looked a little wild at times in the first half but he calmed down in the 2nd half and made some really tough contested shots in the paint(some may look at those shots and say that they're bad shots but if you've watched this guy the last 3 yrs you would know that those are the shots he for some reason makes at a high clip)
klezia,like everyone else who played didn't have a good shooting night but games like this (no melo,iverson)i expect for him and jr to be very aggressive on the offensive end.he did however crash the boards and along with kool and birdman kept some balls alive.

outside shooting is still a concern for this team and will haunt us in the playoffs.we're going to rely on jr and lk to come threw for us all yr long and hopefully atkins can show us something from downtown.