Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Garbage, Rubbish, and Trash

(AP Photo/Gregory Smith)
(Boulder-CO) I’ll tell you what, Nuggets Nation, this game was about as pitiful as it gets. Yea, I know Nene just underwent surgery this morning to remove a testicular tumor. Yea, I know Kenyon Martin has a staph infection on his buttocks. Yea, I know Eduardo Najera is hurting with a hyper-extended elbow, but I don’t care! The guys who played tonight in the Nuggets, 104-93, loss to the Hawks should be embarrassed of themselves for reasons ranging from laziness to out and out stupidity.

In the first twelve minutes of the game, Denver came out absolutely flat and allowed the Hawks open shots, uncontested lay-ups, easy penetration, and anything else they wanted to do offensively. Adding insult to the injured, pun intended, Atlanta connected on 18 of their first 26 shot attempts and scored 65 points in the first half when all was said and done. More alarming is how this is the second game in a row that the Nuggets have allowed more than 60+ points in the first 24 minutes of basketball and to make matters worse it has been to two Eastern Conference teams that typically don’t score a lot of points.

Things were just being given to Atlanta and the halftime stats are gruesome if you’re a Nuggets fan. The Hawks shot 62% from the field in the half in comparison to the Nuggets only making 36% of their attempts. Atlanta had outscored Denver 24-18 in points in the paint, 17-6 on the fast break, and 19-11 off the bench. The Nuggets were just being dragged up and down the floor and looked as if they could have mailed this one in at the half down by 21 points, 65-44. Their effort was garbage. Their team play was rubbish. And the Denver Nuggets looked like trash overall.

I even thought about turning the game off in trade for some kind of reality fix-up show, but instead stayed true not knowing what the second half might bring.

And in the second half, the Nuggets did pull a few things back together and actually managed to win the third quarter from the Hawks, 23-17. It was at this point that the Atlanta Hawks just looked scared to play the game. Granted, the Nuggets couldn’t rebound a lick and the Hawks didn’t really need to score many more buckets as they would run out two or three full shot clocks nursing their humongous lead countless times, but the game just had a terrible level of competitiveness. The Hawks could have easily put the Nuggets down by 30 or maybe even more in my assessment, but they were playing down to the level of the struggling Nuggets and it was honestly making me wish I would have been watching something else.

I digress for the sole reason of not losing readers and bring you to the only way this game could have gotten any worse for the Nuggets Nation. It was bad enough the Nuggets had come into this game after losing to a sub-par Charlotte Bobcats squad the night before and put out this kind of effort, but just when the last spark of hope was flickering as if to start a small fire the officiating crew baited the trap and Allen Iverson and J.R. Smith landed square on the trigger.

With the score, 101-93, and only 90 seconds remaining, Allen Iverson was attempting to receive an inbounds pass from J.R. Smith on the sideline and Anthony Johnson blatantly pushed AI out of bounds and down to the floor with no whistle being blown. The ball went out of bounds and AI picked himself up in disbelief that there was no call. The turnover gave the ball back to the Hawks and Anthony Johnson would turn it right back over on a discontinued dribble (a “carry” for the average fan) whistle and what ensued enraged me. Once again the ancient looking Anthony Johnson pushed AI causing Iverson to lose control of the ball out of bounds and, once again, John Goble choked on his whistle. Would the Nuggets have won the game with either play having a whistle blown? Probably not, but the calls were blatantly missed and AI lost his cool getting two quick techs and the early shower in a fit unbecoming of a player who tonight moved past Larry Bird and Gary Payton and into the NBA’s 21st All-Time scoring position with 21,789 career points.

And in a display even more ridiculous, J.R. Smith acted like a baby and was also tossed immediately following Iverson's ejection!

Not only had the Nuggets lost a game by playing sloppy and uninspired basketball, AI had been tossed, and J.R. Smith had acted like a fool and erased the savory taste in my mouth left by his play before the unneeded tantrum. And I’m sure George Karl wasn’t happy about Smith’s actions either… Karl had a look on his face like a father who has to go into the principal’s office for something so utterly stupid that it disrespects the family’s good name; just disgusted.

Here’s the rest of the box score if you want the individual stats from tonight’s excuse for a Nuggets game. Things seem to be going to hell in a hand basket right now for the Nuggets and I can barely stand to watch.

12 comments:

ThaAnswer said...

I can't remember being this mad at a game. We played so so poorly, but we had a chance at the end. I don't need to go into why we got our asses kicked because I know the Doc will. But at the end we seriously got NO CALLS. AI was fouled twice and I was up outta the seat more mad than he was. The whole team could have gotten T'd up and tossed and I would have been fine with it. You wanna talk about point spreads and iffy refs I would look at those last 2 calls. I'm not just bitter I watched the 5 times and it's clear as day. We were shorthanded and may have lost anyway but the damn refs took away our chance at the end. I feel like Clark Griswald. I wanna tie up the lead ref and send him to my house. Tell him what a low life he is and ask where the hell my Christmas bonus is!!??

DAMNIT

Anonymous said...

Couldn't see the game as it was not televised nationally. But the box score is disgusting, only 5 players scored and 2 of them at 5points or less. Come on... this is a professional basketball game.

Back to Back losses to the Bobcats & Hawks, the Nuggs definitely need to get it together.

Anonymous said...

Haha, thaanswer is with me I see. I don't give a damn who gets thrown out after consecutive terrible calls like that. It's their choice to throw their money away on Ts -- in this case, it was probably worth it to both players... After the second one, the game was certainly lost and I don't blame any of the guys for going off at the refs. Just awful.

I sincerely hope that Karl realizes this and doesn't do something stupid like not play JR against Utah. He did have that look on his face... who knows what he's going to do... Kleiza has been playing like crap lately (aside from boards), and we never get anything but defense and the occasional layup from Yak/Eddie... so JR better get his minutes again or we're in trouble.

What the hell's up with Steven Hunter? Isn't the guy 7 feet tall and recovered from his knee surgery? Why doesn't he get playing time -- wasn't he starting in Philly at some point? Any news on that one, Doc?

Unknown said...

Once again J.R. shows he..."just doesn't get it". Like the seventh grader who feels the need to jump in to the schoolyard fight between his friend and another foe so he can be cool and sent to the principal's office too, J. R. continues to show that he will never "get it". Karl doesn't even have the luxury of playing him to show him off for a possible trade to the next team to see his upside while fooling themselves into thinking they can corral his downside. J.R., use what money you have,buy yourself a franchise business and hopefully you will be financially set. All you J.R. lovers out there...you too should get a clue. Going back one game against the Bobcats, this clown finally hits a three and goes into his three finger salute...what a chump!!

And by the way, on my tv A.I. wasn't pushed the second time...he was out of control.

James O. Clark said...

Man, what a waste of time watching the Nuggets. They play no defense at all. They are infuriating to watch. I really believe that not having any discipline on offense - no running plays to get other people involved, impacts the way they play on defense. On the offensive side their brains detach, and then when they get on defense they don't regroup and talk to each other. It's crap to watch.

This team is built to run, but doesn't do it. It's built to go inside and be tough and you've Camby shooting 10 foot jumpers. It's ugly all around.

Carmelo can't play D, AI as quick as he is, is a terrible on-ball defender.

Just like last year, there is always some guy on the other team that goes off for a season, if not career high. That's defense.

Man, I luv the Nugz, but they are not proving to be a great team.

Nugg Doctor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nugg Doctor said...

btalk,

Out of control? How about tripped trying to accelerate by that friggin' fossil Anthony Johnson? The guy got away with two chincey plays, but the bottom line still remains that the Nuggets would have still lost that game regardless of Goble choking on the whistle. The second no-call I can understand because time had elapsed and the Nuggets were doomed, but the first missed call was atrocious. As are the Nuggets right now.

Thanks for reading,

The Nugg Doctor

Nugg Doctor said...

james,

"Man, I luv the Nugz, but they are not proving to be a great team."

I feel your sentiments, but at this point the Nuggets are in the realm of being not even worth the price of admission. I figure to be one of the biggest, truest Nuggets fans walking the Earth and I can barely stomach 'em. I can only imagine what the average fan, who's attention span is about five seconds when it comes to a basketball team that has never even won a cake walk, is thinking about this team.

Thanks for reading,

The Nugg Doctor

Nugg Doctor said...

Hey everybody!

Thanks for the comments.

Stumble,

Steven Hunter might as well not be on this team in all actuality. He has never really been an active member and at this point in the season he would just be another body to take up space with. Now, had he not been hurt, or been utilized at some point, he might have been able to help this team, but looking to a guy of his caliber at this point is like putting a band-aid on a deep gash. It may hold the wound closed for about five seconds, but the blood is pouring and he is not going to stop the bleeding.

Thanks for reading,

The Nugg Doctor

Anonymous said...

Well when Eddie can't even raise his arm above his head, I think we need to play the 7-footer sitting around on our bench. He is healhy now, right? He's not a great player, but neither is Yakhouba, and he finds a way into the game despite being the same size as 4-5 other players on the roster. Even just having another big body to take 6 fouls with is something useful... I just don't understand why we even bothered trading for him if we're never going to use him, especially when we have 3 injured bigs.

And yeah, I must be a bigger Nuggets fan than most of you guys because I still enjoyed watching that game despite the loss and the crappy defense. Maybe it's because I like the Hawks too, so their scoring didn't bug me the way it would if we were playing the Spurs or something... At this point, it's hard to criticize the shell of a team we have right now -- without K-Mart and Nene, it's pretty hard to win games... it's as simple as that. Without Nene especially we are hurting for size, interior man defense, and a post game -- no wonder it was so easy for the Hawks to hang points on us... whenever Marcus went out, we were essentially playing 2 guards and 3 small forwards.

So yeah, I think a lot of you guys are jumping the gun on dismissing this team. I'm not exactly confident in our season at this point, but the injury bug once again is the main cause for my ambivalence. Unless we can keep Nene and K-Mart in the rotation, we'll play near .500 ball (winning when we get contributions from everyone and losing when it's the AI/Melo show) and get bounced in the first round once again. Injury really is the determining factor in this team's success as far as I can tell. We have all the tools to compete with the big boys, but between Karl's uhh.. 'passive coaching style' (read: narcolepsy) and all these injuries, I'm not sure this is the year for it. Fire George at season's end and hope for some luck regarding injuries I guess...

ThaAnswer said...

On the Steven Hunter issue, I'm not sure of his physical status but I think we could really use him down low. Especially considering all of our injuries and poor Nene's situation. Having watched every Sixers game for years back when AI was on the team, Hunter was a solid backup for Dalembert. If anything he's a big man that can rebound, block shots and take up space when Camby takes a break.

I'm also hoping that JR doesn't lose the minutes he's recently been getting. Him getting tossed after the game was basically over shouldn't mean anything. Who knows with Karl though, since it seems I disagree with his decisions more often than not.

Here's to not getting smoked tomorrow in Utah.

ThaAnswer said...

I pulled this from ESPN.com. Lets us know about Hunter's status.....



Kenyon Martin missed the game because of a staph infection on his rear end. Steven Hunter, out since the start of the year after undergoing right knee surgery, still isn't ready for action. And Eduardo Najera played on a bad elbow and probably shouldn't have -- he seemed reluctant to shoot and didn't score. Ironically, the infamously frail Marcus Camby has been the only healthy one, missing but a single game this season.