How close are we to the Celtics??

[Powder Blue]

It's been a treat to watching the Celtics during the finals. They play the game the way it should be played. As I sit and watch them I wonder how close Denver is to being on their level? Half of me feels we are close because we have most of the talent needed to get the job done but then I look at the way we play the game and it's obvious Denver's team chemistry and coaching is light years away from Boston's.

Hopefully Karl, Melo and company watched this series and noticed how Boston won, by playing defense and working as a team. If we come out next year with a freestyle run-and-gun offense mixed with poor defensive intensity it will lead to another struggle for a playoff spot and a first round exit. I pray we don't.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

Nuggets are light years behind the Celtics.

A good start to changing that would be firing Karl and hiring the C's defensive coach. The team should listen to him, considering what he just did.

Would help if the team moved AI too. Or maybe the new coach wouldn't be a lazy cough drop sucker and would start AI/JR and could get AI playing more like a PG.

[ambiglight]

not even close. this team lacks both brains and heart, two qualities that boston has in abundance. this team looks more like portland from a couple years back.

[The Rebel]

the biggest difference between the Nuggets and Celtics is that they all fit together (which has shown with the way they developed their chemistry so quickly) and all are willing to take a backseat for the benefit of the TEAM; the Nuggets have no on court chemistry, do not fit together, and not one of the top 3 players has displayed a willingness to take a backseat. A new coach may help that, but finding players that actually fit well together will help much more.

[el loco]

Did you listen to the post game comments made by all of the Celtics after winning the championship tonight? I think that is what separates us from them more than anything else. The IQ from their main players is a lot higher or so it seems from listening to their interviews. Plus, they all bought into the philosophy that a championship is won on the defensive end of the floor, which held true once again.

[pickaxe]

When I heard Doc Rivers in the post game interview and he started it all off by saying one word "Defense." I kinda shook my head. Then the crowd chanted defense again and I laughed.

The Nuggets knew they needed to play it, but just couldn't retain it from quarter to quarter. Dedication to defense is all Denver needs. Just dedication. They would probably get that with pieces that fit better together, but they would at least get out of the first round with dedication to defense.

[SnakefromHell]

Carmelo of the 2007-08 season is the anti-Celtic because he is too lazy to play hard, too lazy to be passionate, too lazy to play defense.

Melo of 2008-09 season? We'll see.

It'd be fun to see Tom Thibodeau (if GK is fired) pulling his hair out trying to coach the Nuggets on that other end.

[airchibundo507]

why was this thread even created?

we are so far away from the celtics that it's not even funny...

look at the way they guarded kobe. they had aggressive perimeter man-defenders on him that made sure every jumpshot was contested. they had big men who would shadow kobe and force him out of the paint. the best help defense in the league...the team functioned as one and would all collapse on kobe while managing to block off passing lanes and forcing him into turnovers. every rotation was perfect.

now look at the way we tried to guard kobe...

even after game 4...karl was still searching for the right guy to put on kobe. carter clearly didn't work. klieza didn't work. k-mart didn't work. najera didn't work. melo didn't work. smith didn't work. kobe could get to the paint at will...every nugget rotation was either 4 steps late or non-existent. the lakers passed between our legs and toyed with us the entire series. they'd get either wide open jumpers from late nugget rotations...or easy gasol/odom lay-ups from camby leaving his man to help defend penetration.

I watched Game 3 on youtube last night.

our guys have no freaking defensive awareness. guys watch the ball instead of their guys and the opposition ends up getting easy baskets. our guys can't stop (or don't try to stop) penetration...they can't rotate...they can't recover...

we are without a doubt the worst defensive team in the league.

and this is only an analyzation of the defensive side of the game.

[airchibundo507]

Carmelo of the 2007-08 season is the anti-Celtic because he is too lazy to play hard, too lazy to be passionate, too lazy to play defense.

Melo of 2008-09 season? We'll see.

It'd be fun to see Tom Thibodeau (if GK is fired) pulling his hair out trying to coach the Nuggets on that other end.

I guess iverson is the anti-celtic because he'd never sacrifice his scoring for the cause of winning a championship. look no further than his overdribbling and shot-forcing within the denver offense.

play AI at point and your offense suffers.
play AI at shooting guard and your defense suffers.

choose at your own risk. : )

[SnakefromHell]

^I love your analysis of the Celtics and the comparison between their and our D.

But you don't need to bring AI when I criticized Melo because for the fact that I'm not his fan... I'm a Nuggets fan. And when I criticized someone it's because they're detrimental to the Nuggets winning in which case Melo was as much as Karl, and partly AI.

But I can't question AI's effort every night. It's the effort that I want to see... but this comment has nothing to do with supporting AI or being a fan of AI. I'm a Nuggets fan... no fave player, except if Westbrook plays on this team.

[TEAIM]

We're really close- I'll do the math. just gimme a minute.

In 4 games we gave up 459 points to the Lakers, an average of 114 ppg.

In 6 games Boston gave up 563 points to the Lakers, an average of 93 ppg.

So by my calculations we're screwed. Here's to another awesome year of Nuggets Basketball.

Come on Melo win that scoring title baby. This what it's about. F**k championships.

Here's a quote from Melo's interview with Julie Browman after winning his first scoring title " Anythings possiblllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeee"

Now that's what's up.





Nuggets regular season record 32-50 miss playoffs.

[blue steel]

^

The sad thing is I would rather us have a 32-50 record and miss the playoffs than watch this joke of a team go 50-32 and do the same BS. I cant wait til the day this team decides to make changes by chaning our mentality and assembling players that compliment each other.

I just dont get how did Kroenke got so rich. You don't get rich by keeping ongoing relationships with people that are negatively impacting your business...so why the hell is Karl still coach? Why doesn't this team care about defense? And why are we still trying to emulate the Knicks/Jailblazers and whoever elses pathetic runs of overpaying and signing players that dont fit with each other and getting rid of draft picks?

I honestly don't understand. How can Kroenke do so well in other businesses and so poorly in the only one I care about?

...F*** Kroenke.

[IggyTheBEaST]

not even close.

but I told you posey was a key to success. Him and House we 2 of the main reasons the Celtics were as good as they were.

Make him a large offer.

[el loco]

not even close.

but I told you posey was a key to success. Him and House we 2 of the main reasons the Celtics were as good as they were.

Make him a large offer.

I don't think anyone here disagreed with your assessment of James P. It is just that most of us doubt that he would ever return to this team based on how he left us the first time. He would be a good fit and I would like to see him back, but I doubt it will ever happen. He will want to try and repeat now anyways IMO.

[UNLVNugsFan]

^

The sad thing is I would rather us have a 32-50 record and miss the playoffs than watch this joke of a team go 50-32 and do the same BS. I cant wait til the day this team decides to make changes by chaning our mentality and assembling players that compliment each other.

I just dont get how did Kroenke got so rich. You don't get rich by keeping ongoing relationships with people that are negatively impacting your business...so why the hell is Karl still coach? Why doesn't this team care about defense? And why are we still trying to emulate the Knicks/Jailblazers and whoever elses pathetic runs of overpaying and signing players that dont fit with each other and getting rid of draft picks?

I honestly don't understand. How can Kroenke do so well in other businesses and so poorly in the only one I care about?

...F*** Kroenke.

Karl is still coach because he is golfing buddies with Kroenke. We try to emulate the Jailblazers because Warkentien headed up their organization for a decade or so. With those 2 in place, I am not expecting anything better than our first round exits, no matter how much talent we accumulate.

[JRmakes_it_rain]

I know we're nowhere near the celtics......but was I the only one that appreciated the "you're not Jordan" chant they started? I'm so tired of sportswriters comparing the 2...Kobe is good, but no Jordan , no matter how hard he tries to mirror his game and body language. Kudos to the Celts fans for that chant, loud enough to be heard on national television.

[airchibundo507]

not even close.

but I told you posey was a key to success. Him and House we 2 of the main reasons the Celtics were as good as they were.

Make him a large offer.

the celtics were as good as they were because they have a defensive coaching staff and players that are on the same page. their guys are passionate on the defensive end: they play with awareness, high IQ, and aggressiveness. they had a gameplan from the get-go...and were pretty keen on achieving it. they shut down the laker transition game and made L.A. a halfcourt team. stopping kobe's penetration tremendously lowered the efficiency of the triangle offense.

the celtic offense is a much weaker area for the team. but the lakers are hardly the defensive squad that the celtics are. the celtics had the pleasure of exposing the biggest mismatch in the series...radmonovic guarding pierce.

the lakers start odom at PF and gasol at C partially because their frontcourt is thin, but also because it allows them to be a faster team in transition. when their transition offense was shutdown, playing odom and gasol out of position actually hurt them. the celtics were clearly bigger than the lakers and could grab (offensive) rebounds at will.

house and posey spread the floor and hit big buckets. posey played good defense on kobe for the time that he had to...

but both of them are far from the main reasons why the celtics were as good as they were.

[SnakefromHell]

^

The sad thing is I would rather us have a 32-50 record and miss the playoffs than watch this joke of a team go 50-32 and do the same BS. I cant wait til the day this team decides to make changes by chaning our mentality and assembling players that compliment each other.

I just dont get how did Kroenke got so rich. You don't get rich by keeping ongoing relationships with people that are negatively impacting your business...so why the hell is Karl still coach? Why doesn't this team care about defense? And why are we still trying to emulate the Knicks/Jailblazers and whoever elses pathetic runs of overpaying and signing players that dont fit with each other and getting rid of draft picks?

I honestly don't understand. How can Kroenke do so well in other businesses and so poorly in the only one I care about?

...F*** Kroenke.

I believe basketball is not his field. Just like an electronic seller trying to sell clothes, or foods. I believe he's good in his REAL business. Nuggets is just something that he thought could be profitable.

He has no clue about basketball... this is an investment he knows nothing about and refer to the people like Bearup what to do. He goes for people with resume like Karl but he's washed up and he will never be able to see that unless he decides to like the sports.

[Ewingfan]

add garnett and Thibodeaux and that's a start.

[The Rebel]

So now Kroenke is getting the hate? The guy is losing money by the truckload and people want to complain about an owner like that? AS the owner (of any company) he hires guys who he believes can do the job of running the organization and allows them to do it (he gave Kiki 5 years, and now people want him to start firing the new crew after 2 years), he also gives them the time to do it. The front office makes the choices, if they choose to keep Karl and it hurts the team they are the ones who will pay for it in the end, but do we really want him to fire people or remove the front office after 2 years, because they are the ones making the decision on keeping Karl.

The biggest problem that I have seen with Kroenke was the way he brought in Warkentein the final year of Kiki being here, I never agreed with it. But Kiki had 4 years to prove he could do something, and did not get us past the first round, now he is going to give this front office the chance to get something done as well.

While I have plenty of problems with Karl and especially Warkentein, I do not blame the owner for anything then putting people who I do not agree with in charge. Especially since he is a guy who is always willing to give the front office and team whatever they ask for, even writing a check every year to keep the team going.