Hammers: bobcats Vs nuggets

[BigSlam]

Just setting up for tonight. Fats or I will unlock tonight after the game so you can post your hammers.

[BigSlam]

3 - Crash
2- EO50
1 - Felts


It sort of feels weird to not type JRich!!

[fluffernutter]

Gold: GWall
Silver: Okafor
Bronze: Felton/Carroll, take yer pick

[spectre_]

3 - Crash
2- EO50
1 - Felts


It sort of feels weird to not type JRich!!

Yeah it does, but I still maintain what we said in the gamethread...Vincent cost JSwish his hammer. Even so, he hit a couple of big 3 ptrs to help the run that got us back in it.

Felton shot like crap but he ran the team VERY well all game.

Mek...man I'm loving your agression. Tonight was a real test and you did very well.

Crash is THE MAN. He did it all throughout the game. We're damn lucky to have him.

Gotta give a shout out to Hammer. We did great penetrating and pullin his guy in as well as setting screens the 1st half and he delivered...and very well could have turned his game around.

[Ballings7]

1 - Gerald - simply fantastic
2- Emeka - in strong form again, impressive on both sides of the court, especially with some high-level defensive plays
3 - Carroll - stepped up well for J-Rich, and hit those two FTs, key in the win. His game is simple, but so enjoyable.

HM: J-Rich - wasn't able to get into a rhythm for most of the game, because of foul trouble, but hit with some big shots in the 2nd half. Might of got some boards as well.

HM2: Felton. Wasn't paying attention to him too much (should have a bit more), but from what I gathered did seem to have an impact on the game. Just quietly.

[Bowens]

3 - Crash - Amazing

2 - Felton - Steady Ray

1 - Emeka - Aggressive


Another great game which makes FIVE in a row!!! All not wins but awesome and inspiring team basketball and stepped up defense when it counts.

Crash - Not much more you can say other than Amazing. He's taken his game to another level and has played like an ALL STAR since the game against Jersey. Wow.

Felton - I gave Ray the second hammer because I'm of the belief that when you have a point guard who plays like a point guard, is unselfish, is a leader, makes smart decisions and can get into the paint at will, then you have yourself something to build around. Ray getting into the paint tonight and making great passes to the right spots, made for a nice offensive flow pretty much all game long. Impressive and it's what we want to see from Ray every game. Be aggressive!!! I don't know why he stopped doing that in December. Hopefully he's back.



Okafor - Definitely deserves a gold or silver hammer. You came out really aggressive on both ends of the floor and actually looked good on offense most of the time. Not all the time, but you did enough to make you a decent option on that end. Also made a couple of nice passes too.


Carroll - Hit some nice shots and made his free throws!!!! YAY!

Nazr - Looked very slow out there for most of the night. I don't know why Sam had you on the bench for 8 minutes to start the game and then 8 minutes in the 3rd. Kills your flow. But then in the fourth SV plays you and Mek together and finally were able to stop Camby from getting easy baskets and making it hard on the rest of the Nuggs to score.

All in all great game, a win is a win even though Sam Vincent did his best to screw this one up by not starting Mek and Nazr together. That is unreal because it took JRich out of the game when he had to guard Melo!!! WTF?!!?!??! What are you thinking SAM??????????????? Then in the 4th Sammy FINALLY wakes up and puts Nazr and Mek in the lineup which leaves JRich to roam around and not have to worry about guarding that terror. JRich comes alive and hits a couple of big shots down the stretch.

Also our big lineup in the 4th shut down Camby who was killing us in the 2nd and 3rd quarters when the Nuggs started gaining steam. And it prevented easy hoops around the rim because the Nuggs started to settle for long jumpers.

Oh and defensively I don't understand what kind of defense we were playing through 3 quarters. IDIOT SV has JRich guarding Melo which had to be the dumbest coaching decision I have ever seen in my life. McMinus was a NO SHOW except for maybe like 2 nice plays.

And SV if you're not going to play Nazr and Mek together in this game, at least you could have realized that Nazr was getting his ass beat by Camby while Mek was doing a MUCH MUCH MUCH better job on him. Why did you play Nazr by himself out there for so long?????? Unbelievable.


Aside from SV, this was a great win by the players.


McMinus

[DaBassSource]

3 - Crash ...He is really becoming a star...
2- Mek played with alot fo energy but still needs to work on those hands of stone...
1- Ray... some of the passes were a thing of beauty plus he had to guard AI most of the game...Still needs to get his shot to fall...so that teams will repect him and not lay off of him.

Bowens, I think you can build off of low post play with your big guys that is why I think Nazr and a rejuvanated Mek has changed how we play. I think Ray has the ability just now he seems to be more comfortable with his post players...especially Nazr. Plus Crash is doing his thing. If this keeps up we could become a very good team.

[Bowens]

Bowens, I think you can build off of low post play with your big guys that is why I think Nazr and a rejuvanated Mek has changed how we play. I think Ray has the ability just now he seems to be more comfortable with his post players...especially Nazr. Plus Crash is doing his thing. If this keeps up we could become a very good team.

Well Mek has played well in 3 of the 5 games, awful in the other 2. The 4th quarter benchings in Cleveland and Boston hopefully motivated and made him realize he needs to bring the energy and effort EVERY night. We cannot afford to have him take nights off, even plays off because he IS one of our main pieces. Also, even though Mek played much better defensively last season, he still took many games off. I notice these things and I think in Boston it finally came to a head and thats why he was benched in the 4th there and in Cleveland. Mek needs to bring it next game too. I understand he's not going to be great every night, but at least bring the effort. Thats all I'm asking.

We play so much more in control when Ray is aggressive. When he's not, it all falls onto Crash and thats when it gets a little helter skelter. And when Ray drives and feeds Mek, it helps build a bond between the two which was lacking for the most of this season. I seriously think they did not enjoy being on the court at the same time. Hopefully now they realize in order to win many games, they need each other.

[DaBassSource]

-= original quote snipped =-



Well Mek has played well in 3 of the 5 games, awful in the other 2. The 4th quarter benchings in Cleveland and Boston hopefully motivated and made him realize he needs to bring the energy and effort EVERY night. We cannot afford to have him take nights off, even plays off because he IS one of our main pieces. Also, even though Mek played much better defensively last season, he still took many games off. I notice these things and I think in Boston it finally came to a head and thats why he was benched in the 4th there and in Cleveland. Mek needs to bring it next game too. I understand he's not going to be great every night, but at least bring the effort. Thats all I'm asking.

We play so much more in control when Ray is aggressive. When he's not, it all falls onto Crash and thats when it gets a little helter skelter. And when Ray drives and feeds Mek, it helps build a bond between the two which was lacking for the most of this season. I seriously think they did not enjoy being on the court at the same time. Hopefully now they realize in order to win many games, they need each other.

I hope so....but there were times tonight that you could see Ray not feel comfortable going back to Mek in the post...

[Bowens]

-= original quote snipped =-

I hope so....but there were times tonight that you could see Ray not feel comfortable going back to Mek in the post...

Yeah, but seeing Marcus Camby's intimidating presence guarding him probably had something to do with it. Mek also has to fight to get better position and knock some of these guys on their asses. I thought Nazr was doing a great job of that in the previous 4 games with his physical play. Wasn't happening for Nazr tonight.

Baby steps and hopefully the win and the subsequent viewing of the tape will show they can all work together and most importantly, win together.

We're seeing some fun basketball though. Another tough one on Wednesday against the Magic who seem to have our number. Good test for Mek. Looking forward to it.

[fatlever]

FINALLY!!!!

what a fantastic game if you love watching two teams who dont play any defense outside of trying to block shots. fine by me... lots of dunks, lots of running, lots of scoring.... just the way i like it. i am still waiting to see highlights. i want to see some of those dunks and blocks on sportscenter cause sometimes its hard to get a good look from the nosebleeds.

gold - wallace
silver - okafor - but really, this was the kind of game where okafor should have had 35 points no problem. the lane was wide open all night. yeah, camby had 6 blocks... but we all know that doesnt exactly mean he was playing great defense. both teams were letting the other team do whatever they wanted in the paint.
bronze - felton - made some amazing passes

LOL of the night - watching mcminus trying to guard iverson. that had to be the biggest mismatch i have ever seen.

[Bowens]

FINALLY!!!!

what a fantastic game if you love watching two teams who dont play any defense outside of trying to block shots. fine by me... lots of dunks, lots of running, lots of scoring.... just the way i like it. i am still waiting to see highlights. i want to see some of those dunks and blocks on sportscenter cause sometimes its hard to get a good look from the nosebleeds.

gold - wallace
silver - okafor - but really, this was the kind of game where okafor should have had 35 points no problem. the lane was wide open all night. yeah, camby had 6 blocks... but we all know that doesnt exactly mean he was playing great defense. both teams were letting the other team do whatever they wanted in the paint.
bronze - felton - made some amazing passes

LOL of the night - watching mcminus trying to guard iverson. that had to be the biggest mismatch i have ever seen.

ha ha I bet you thought for one night you were watching Alex English, Fat Lever, Calvin Natt, Dan Issel, and Kiki Vandeweghe.

[vexco]

1. someone

2. someone else

[SteveMorrison15]

I guess there is No "D" in Denver

[nolimit16]

3: Crash
2: Felton
1: Okafor

[BigSlam]

Yeah it does, but I still maintain what we said in the gamethread...Vincent cost JSwish his hammer. Even so, he hit a couple of big 3 ptrs to help the run that got us back in it.

It's funny - if he had been on the court a little longer he might have been a consideration for the bronze hammer. I mean, even though he had a quite night, he still had a sneaky 15pts on 6-14, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block!! He also got us out of the poop a few times in that 3rd adn 4th qtr.

The other interesting thing is the cheap fouls he picked up. One of the knocks on JSwish is his lack of D - and rightfully so. The good thing is though it's not because there is a lack of trying. It's not like he "Ammo's" on D, just sits back and watches the workd go by. He really does try.

The only bad thing with that is that the harder he try's the sloppier he gets and then he picks up silly little fouls.

Same with Crash. Most times I can tell 10 secs before Crash commits a silly foul that he is about to commit a silly foul!! He gets it in his head that he's going after it and there is no stopping him.

[spectre_]

From Bonnell's "observations":

Bobcats coach Sam Vincent said he's now comfortable with Emeka Okafor and Nazr Mohammed playing together, without getting in each other's way in the post. They need that option, defensively, to avoid stretches like the first half -- when the Nuggets shot 61 percent and scored 40 of their 68 points in the lane.

Praise Jesus!!!

Agreed Slam. But as long as he's putting forth the effort I just can't fault him that much (not saying you are). All we can ask is for the guys to go out and bust their collective tails off and work together. We utilize their strengths and try to limit the weaknesses.

IMO it was really a big mistake putting him on Melo...not to say Crash would have slowed him much either, but you could tell JSwish was worn out from chasing & getting posted up. Like we were opining before the game, Vincent has the players who would match up better and put him on a lesser athlete in Carter.

It's a learning process for Vincent too (don't think we realized how much of one however) and so long as we see progression with the squad you can't fault him too much either.

[BigSlam]

It would have made more sense to play:

Felts Vs Ai
JSwish Vs Carter
Dude Vs Melo
EO50 Vs KMart
Crash Vs Camby

IMO than do what V did to start the game if he wasn't going to play Nazr. Dude is a strong kid and could have put a body on Melo on D and restsed on the offensive end. If he picked up cheap fouls - so be it. Instead JSwish had a lot on his plate and missed a lot of the game because of foul trouble.

It all worked out in the wash, but we fell over the line. We didn't break clear of the pack and sprint to the finish.

P.S. I thought Felts did a cracker of a job on Ai for the 1st half. It was only when McMinus played him that Ai broke out.

[spectre_]

P.S. I thought Felts did a cracker of a job on Ai for the 1st half. It was only when McMinus played him that Ai broke out.

He also stopped AI in a drive on the 4th quarter straight up which kind of seemed to take some gas out of him. Felton got around the screen, stayed in front of him into the paint and went right up with him causing a miss.

Not too darn bad considering he couldn't even put weight on that ankle 2 nights ago.

We need to use Duds more in general.

It all worked out in the wash, but we fell over the line. We didn't break clear of the pack and sprint to the finish.

Hopefully that's the next step in our progression.

[Rich4114]

Gold: Wallace
Silver: Felton
Bronze: Okafor

HM: Mr. Hammer himself seems to be getting minutes and coming around!