Posts tagged ‘Denver Nuggets’

It didn’t seem like a winning night for the Washington Wizards as they prepared to face the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. The movement of the team during warm-ups, the faces of the players, you could tell it was their fourth game in five nights. They weren’t exactly physically weary or mentally downtrodden in appearance, but the air of the team reflected the atmosphere in the Verizon Center, dead … like that oddly quiet elevator ride. Even Baltimore’s Carmelo Anthony being in town barely drew a response from fans, most electing to give him the Prokhorov treatment.

Toss out the box score from the game. The final was 120-109 Denver, but I could convince you otherwise. Washington led 56-46 in points in the paint, 32-8 in fastbreak points, they shot 51.2-percent from the field and made 23 of 27 free-throws. The Wizards were only out-rebounded by three (39-36), all in the defensive boards category, had the same amount of assists as Denver (23), and two less turnovers (15-13). Washington blocked nine shots, which may have contributed to the Nuggets’ 13-2 lead in second chance points, because both teams pulled seven offensive rebounds. Andray Blatche’s first quarter shot chart even looked like this:

Too bad after going 6-8 from the field in the first period, Blatche went 2-6 over the rest of the game (9-9 in free-throws on evening, though, for 25 total points).

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Also note: Don’t make fun of Al Harrington for wearing K-Mart brand “Protege” shoes any more … it seems that he’s ditched those for Nikes. Now keep reading…

If you’re local to the DMV area, you’ll remember Othella Harrington. He left the South from Mississippi in 1992 to be the next ‘big’ big for John Thompson in D.C., in line with Ewing, Mutombo and Mourning. But while Othella had a productive four-year career with the Georgetown Hoyas, and a tenured NBA career (709 games over 12 seasons and five teams), a famed basketball big man he was not.

Al Harrington entered the league out of a New Jersey high school in 1999 and has appeared in over 830 NBA games spanning 13 seasons. Different Harringtons to most, a bullet point on the mental cheer sheets of a couple courtside hecklers aided by libations on a Tuesday night at the Verizon Center. As you can gather (and as the title of the post gives away), the most oft-shouted quip by said hecklers was to call Al ‘Othella’ — they really David Letterman’d it, over and over. And over.

Al took exception as soon as that magical zinger was found by the heckler’s inner heckler early in the game. He retorted, “I’m not Othella, you dummy!” to the degree where you wondered if he really thought that they really thought he was Othella.

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[Editor's Note: Rashad Mobley has reported on the Wizards with media credentials since the 2008-09 season for Hoops Addict. He occasionally contributes to Truth About It.net, providing excellent analysis and a different perspective from his up-close coverage of the team.]

Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith ended the third quarter, by missing consecutive 24-foot jumpers, and his numbers going into the fourth were anything but impressive. He had made one of his six shots, and he only had four points, as his team held a slim lead over the Washington Wizards.

Things certainly did not get any better when the fourth quarter initially started, because Smith picked up an offensive foul trying to run through Nick Young, and then a technical foul for a delay of game violation. Still, Nuggets coach George Karl never removed him from the game, and despite some momentary frustration, Smith stayed composed.

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Ok, it was just one game … two games counting the win against Minnesota. With a 107-97 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Wizards have won two games in a row for just the sixth time all year (three has yet to be accomplished). Is it a reason to think this team just might do something crazy and sneak into the playoffs? Absolutely not. Is it a reason to get excited? A resounding yes.

Energy, effort, hustle and hunger were the themes tossed around the Verizon Center Friday night, the obvious reason why Wizards fans, even those who came to see Baltimore’s Carmelo Anthony, stood up and cheered for a brand of basketball that’s rarely been seen this season, if at all.

“I told guys at shoot-around, ‘We gotta play like a pack of mad dogs,’ and that’s how we played tonight,” said Flip Saunders after the game. The new guys, Josh Howard, Al Thornton and James Singleton set the example and led the way. “Thornton at 6’7″ can play like 6’10″ rebounding-wise, and Josh can play bigger, and of course Singleton. Those are energy guys,” the coach continued.

Thornton can score too, netting 17 of his 21 points in the second half. He arrived in D.C. at 2 am on Friday, and wasn’t able to participate in that morning’s shoot-around, but dug deep and found a way to play some damn good defense against Anthony. “Once Carmelo gets in a groove and gets in jab steps going, he’s very hard to guard. So, I just tried to get in him and frustrate him a little bit and make him take off-balanced shots,” Thornton said. Melo had 23 points in the game, but only five in the second half and zero in the fourth quarter. He shot 1-10 in the second half.

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No, this isn't Ernie Grunfeld, it's Keith Sweat (clearly) - flickr/gwen

This Wizards lost their second summer league game against the Nuggets, and as a unit, they did not look good. But Ernie Grunfeld’s not sweating. He’s probably sitting poolside at the Hard Rock, requesting that the waitress blast some Skynard “Simple Man” over the sound system while he snacks on a cucumber and plays it cool in the 108 degree Vegas heat.

But should the Wizards’ Pres. of B-Ball Ops. (GM) be breaking a sweat over what he’s seen so far in Sin City?

On one hand, as we keep telling ourselves, it’s just a summer league game. The roster players out there will be playing vastly different roles come the regular season. They will be asked to do specialized acts and play within themselves, leaving the bulk of the scoring/defensive/creating duties to the ‘big boy’ players.

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[photo source: flickr/dskciado]

This is Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez, a Mexican victim. Probably not of the swine flu, but definitely a victim of capitalist America’s NBA luxury tax, which is designed in a rather socialist manner to penalize those who spend more money.

Many have wondered where Denver would be if they still had Marcus Camby, who was sold to the Clippers for a 2nd round pick. But watching the energy, hustle, and scrapiness of the Nuggets, led by the Birdman Anderson, it’s easy to see how a big like Nájera might fit better than the frail Camby.

Nuggets coach George Karl hated to see the Big Mexican sign a 4-year $12 million contract with the Nets this past summer, but Kiki had an edict from cost-cutting owner Stan Kroenke (even though anyone might question giving that much to a 32-year old). Still, Kroenke and his wife, a Wal-Mart heir, are both on the Forbes billionaires list (Kroenke is ranked 205 and worth a meager $3 billion).

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On this night of Cinco de Mayo, the Denver Nuggets square off against the Dallas Mavericks, playing in the second game of their first 2nd round series since ’93-94.

In 1994, Denver became the first #8 seed to beat a #1 seed in the NBA playoffs (they only played a five game series back then). Pivotal game four of that series was played on May 5th. Dikembe Mutombo led the Nugs with eight blocks, to go along with 10 points and 16 boards.

But it was the play of LaPhonso Ellis in game four which allowed Denver a chance to return to Seattle and win game five. Ellis dropped 27 points and 17 rebounds on the squad formerly known as the Sonics. Both those numbers remain playoff highs for Ellis. Of course, he only played in 16 career playoff games, 12 coming that year with Denver, and four coming in ’00-01 with Minnesota.

You want more? Well, that night, and today, Cinco de Mayo, happens to be LaPhonso Ellis’ birthday.

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Well, the Wizards are in the midst of a brutal February where they’ve lost their first 5 games of the month, 6 losses in a row overall, as well as in 8 of the last 10 games. And while their early season play without Gilbert Arenas has surprised everyone, for some to the point of questioning the value of Arenas, this latest futility is no surprise. What has become evident is that no squad can overcome the level of injuries felt by the Wizards, and that dangerous NBA teams need a guy who is able to command points in the hoop.

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About That Nuggets Game [live blog]

With 5:41 left in the 4th quarter, as Linas Kleiza was hitting two FTs to push the Denver lead to 12 at 96-84, Carmelo Anthony, who at the time had 40 points, checked back into the game.

Normally, I would not blame a team for bringing their superstar back to the court with a 12 point lead. Five minutes and forty-one seconds is a lot of time….we know this is the NBA. But, it’s the manner in which the Nuggets carried out the remainder of the game that makes me object. Denver’s intent was not so much to put away the game as a team, rather so ‘Melo My Man could put on an individual show and go for an individual achievement.

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