Game 29: Atlanta Hawks (20-7) @ Denver Nuggets (19-9)

[MHZ]

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------------------December 23, 2009 7:00 MT Pepsi Center-------------------






Random Tidbits:

Carmelo Anthony is first in the NBA in scoring, averaging 30.5 points per game.



The Hawks are good.



Blake Lively > the Hawks.




Hot Chick Game Thread Appearances
Blake Lively: 2-0 (1.000)
Adriana Lima 1-0 (1.000)
Megan Fox: 3-1 (.750)
Carrie Underwood 5-3 (.625)
Scarlett Johansson 1-1 (.500)
Federica Ridolfi 1-1 (.500)
Shandi Finnessey 0-1 (.000)

[corona]

any news on billups?

[GuyJones]

I really hope he is back. Don't want him to rush back in with an injury but we really need him.

Lawson can take Teague, but i dont like AC on Bibby.

Go nugz, we need this one.

[el loco]

any news on billups?

According to the preview on bspn he is still listed as day-to-day. Whether he goes or not, the Nuggets owe these guys for the way they destroyed them in Hotlanta.


Look at that picture of Melo (Mayo is draped all over him) but look at Nene, he should be following the play and looking to get the board, but instead he is doing a stick figure impersonation. Maybe there was a whistle on the play and he froze, I hope there was because if there wasn't someone needs to teach him the basics

[MHZ]

any news on billups?

Doubtful according to Covers.

http://www.covers.com/pageloader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nba/matchups/g5_summary_17.html

According to the Denver Post, Billups is likely to miss his third straight game tonight.

"It's better than (it was Sunday), but I couldn't really run like I wanted to. I thought I would feel a little better than this, but we'll see,” Billups told the Denver Post. “We'll just keep seeing how I feel every day. I'm not ruling nothing out, but I definitely can't say I'll be ready to go.

“Hopefully I'll feel better. I did a lot of stuff on it, so hopefully it'll strengthen it up.”

http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=177345

[el loco]

^^^ I usually go there to look at the ref assignments, but it slipped my mind, nice find.

[SnakefromHell]

We better burn the Hawks this time, what they did to us was nasty... get this win and we'll feel better before Portland game on Christmas

[MELOgaManiac]

Why is karl going with that super small line up

[KAVK]

Good to See Ty start,

Smith is got it going, I wanna see Nene to put effort night in night out now.

Gotta keep this cushion throughout the game.

[KAVK]

J.R Explosion! God so nice to see it.

His inconsistency should decrease eventually and become more stable night in night out contributor pretty soon. Ty is awesome!

[el loco]

Still tired of JER Swish MHZ?

[SirHuey]

Great win. JR went off, and everyone else had a good game

[JRMelo15]

Daym JR went off tonight.

Good to see a win without Chauncey over a quality opponent.

[pickaxe]

this was a great all around effort - there were some lapses in the second half defensively and the free throws were scary bad, but the focus and determination were there and they kept coming back to it

[pickaxe]

does blake lively get the win for this since her pic went down?

[SnakefromHell]

This "J.R. explosion" is not good... it only leaves us wanting more and depending more. It's like a glass of cold tropical fruit punch after 2 days in a desert without water... it feels like heaven when you drink it but sweetness makes you thirsty even more... so when you set out for a new desert adventure you're getting even thirstier than the first time.

I'd rather have a good consistent normal water supply that we can save when we're in the desert. Melo is a consistent normal water supply for us. Billups is close to consistent.

Right now J.R. is tropical fruit juice punch.


How many of you are counting on J.R. to have this type of game consistently for the rest of the year and playoffs as well? How often does J.R. register 40 pt/ 10 3pt games? Once a year?


We can't hold onto J.R. thinking and wishing he'll have this type of performance and then count on him to do it in important games... it's too "risky" and I hate that word.

But I like games like this because it increases his trade value.

[el loco]

In JR's last 5 games he is 42-82 from the floor for a 22.6 ppg average. 15-36 from behind the arc (.416%), so hopefully he has his game back on track. The 14-26 from the line is sad.

[corona]

This "J.R. explosion" is not good... it only leaves us wanting more and depending more. It's like a glass of cold tropical fruit punch after 2 days in a desert without water... it feels like heaven when you drink it but sweetness makes you thirsty even more... so when you set out for a new desert adventure you're getting even thirstier than the first time.

I'd rather have a good consistent normal water supply that we can save when we're in the desert. Melo is a consistent normal water supply for us. Billups is close to consistent.

Right now J.R. is tropical fruit juice punch.


How many of you are counting on J.R. to have this type of game consistently for the rest of the year and playoffs as well? How often does J.R. register 40 pt/ 10 3pt games? Once a year?


We can't hold onto J.R. thinking and wishing he'll have this type of performance and then count on him to do it in important games... it's too "risky" and I hate that word.

But I like games like this because it increases his trade value.

snake, always finding something to whine about.

take a look at jr's game logs from last post season.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/383 ... ?year=2008

that's about as consistent/productive as you can get for a 6th man. or even a non-all-star starter. yep...had a couple crappy games in there (and we won the one he was worst in), it happens.

i'll take the fruit punch at 5 million a year. thanks. because i know i'm not gonna get a consistent high-flow water supply if i trade it....since you love analogies like george karl loves anthony carter.

[J Smitty]

He said the same thing about Melo after the first few games, how he was playing too well and how that would somehow hurt us in the end.

Pretty much take whatever snake says, and the exact opposite is usually correct.

[SnakefromHell]

J.R.'s great games like this one are so sexy I know it's too hard to resist... you'll go "imagine if he has games like this we'll be invincible"


My take is if we had Chuck Hayes/ Carl Landry or big men playing like true big men and Shane Battier, we wouldn't need to have "offensive explosion" from someone to "take care of business at home". We'd be dominant every game played at home.


Counting on explosive games from someone to show we're a dominant team when they come once in a blue moon is moronic... no matter how "tempting" it is. It's even showing our weakness and dependence on someone's big game to beat someone at home.

I'm sure Lakers folks saw this, shrugged this off, and laughed... it's nothing to be concerned or scared about... because it's not a weapon when it fires only once in a year.