Denver beats Memphis

1st Quarter

 

With 13 seconds left on the shot clock on the  Nuggets initial possession, Iggy forces a shot and misses.  Then Memphis scores an uncontested 3.  Oh crap, here we go again is the only thing going through my mind at this point.

 

With 8:39 left, Gallo drains an uncontested three and Memphis calls a timeout.  According to the Memphis announcers it was so Grizz Coach Hollins could remind players that not how they do things in Memphis (allowing open 3's) - - I giggled thinking of how many timeouts the Nuggets would need.

 

2nd Quarter

 

Gallo did not miss a shot in this quarter and went 4 of 4 from the free throw line.  He finished the half 5 of 6 from the field.  Brewer started the quarter with three straight missed free throws.

 

The Memphis announcers had a good question of which I need some help to answer.  At one point the Denver lineup on the floor was PG Hamilton, SG Miller, SF Brewer, Gallo and Faried.  The question is, who would be considered the center, Gallo or Faried?

 

3rd Quarter

 

McGee make three straight shots, NONE of which were putbacks or dunks!!  He would also finish the game with ZERO goaltending violations!!

 

For a span of four and half minutes, Denver was held scoreless.

 

4th Quarter

 

The Nugs scored the first 8 points of the quarter during the course of the opening three minutes.  During this run, the Nugs had 9 missed shots but 6 offensive rebounds.

 

Gallo would make his first 5 free throws of the quarter and finish the game 10 of 11 from the charity stripe.  The Nuggets as a team would finish with a team high 28 attempts.

 

Fist Pump of the Night: With 33 seconds left Gallo would steal the ball.  With 13 seconds left Gallo would drain a 3 making it 96-92 for the Nugs.

 

Flawless Logic: For the 2nd game in a row, Lawson had 5 turnovers.  That's three times in 11 games he's had at least five turnovers.  Last season in 61 games played, Lawson only had more five or more turnovers in 7 games.  I can deal with a player struggling to put the ball in the net, but please, don't giveaway the ball.

Well that's not what I expected

Sometimes the nice thing about living in Canada is that it is pretty easy to avoid finding out details about a Denver Nugget basketball game for 36 hours.  When the opportunity finally arrived to sit down to watch the game on League Pass, I expected to see Ty Lawson rebound from a tough last game in Miami and a nail biting finish.

1st Quarter

Lawson was the lone bright spot of the first quarter for the Nuggets shooting 3 of 5 from the field.

Iggy was trying to force his game and it was not working.  After draining a tough shot, he came back down the next two possessions and forced (not tried) forced tough shots up with about half the shot clock still remaining.  A few possessions later while trying to barge his way into the paint, Iggy has the ball stripped from him.

Koufos had a tough quarter.  He lost every battle he had for an offensive or defensive rebound.

2nd Quarter

Quarter starts with the Spurs draining a three then Gallo losing the ball on offense.  On the impending Spurs offensive possession Gallo saves the ball for the Nuggets only to see his Nugget teammates WATCH as the Spurs grabbed the  saved ball and scored an easy bucket.  Honestly, that's all you really need to know about this quarter.

Bang my head on the table moment: Tim freakin Duncan drains a buzzer beating 3 to send the Spurs into the half up by 20.

3rd Quarter

Iggy tried to take charge of the Nuggets offense the first four possessions of the quarter.  The net results were 1 offensive foul for charging, 1 tough basket made, 1 missed 3-pt attempt and 1 missed fadeaway.  SIGH

During the 1st timeout of the quarter, Coach Karl politely told his defence to stop watching the game and begin playing the game.  Every highlight of a Spurs bucket in the first four minutes of the half, the effort defensively is minimal.

4th Quarter

 

McGee gets charged with his 3rd THIRD offensive goaltending violation.  How can you read that last statement and not shake your head?

 

Then the story of the night played itself out again!  Ginobli schools Faried allowing himself an open 3.  The next time down the floor, Ginobli has enough time to recite the alphabet in three languages before draining another 3.

 

Fist Pump of the Night: Just over a minute into the game, Lawson attacks the paint, gets the hoop and the harm and drains the free throw.  Sadly, after a good first quarter, Lawson would go 2 of 8 the last three quarters.

 

Flawless Logic: When I think of Memphis, the next opponent for the Nugs, I think of their front court and post game.  Koufos has looked overmatched the past couple games, McGee is equal parts liability and asset while Mozgov is the third option for a reason.  The only reason for optimism is the notion that Faried looked flat tonight. 

The scary concern is can the Nuggets learn to defend the 3 point shot well enough to avoid another 20 point loss?



Well then

1st Quarter

Denver's first possession of the game ends with Faried taking a shot from near the free throw line and missing.  That should have been a sign of things to come.

Another theme established this quarter was how the defense was going to play for the game- - collapse on James and watch the guy in the corner drain a three ball. 

Offensively, Gallo had one of his better quarters of the season, going 3 for 5 from the field and 2 for 4 from the charity stripe.  He looked fourth quarter engaged in the first quarter, a positive sign!!

2nd Quarter

Nine games into the season, nine different sets of announcer raving about McGee's defense.  Yes, McGee had 4 blocks last night worthy of highlight reels.  He also had about every Heat player drain a practically uncontested shot over him.

Jordan Hamilton, playing in place of Wilson Chandler, was on fire.  He shot 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, the only 3'balls the Nuggets sank in the half.

Corey Brewer was ice cold!  He missed two open three's and by open, I mean time to drop and do a set of pushups before releasing the ball.

3rd Quarter

This quarter is summed up by one sequence.  The Miami Heat hit 4 straight three's, only one of which the shooter had to deal with a hand in his face.  During this stretch Gallo hit a three of his own and scored a tough deuce. 

Being down by 13 at the end of the quarter was actually flattering to the Nuggets.

4th Quarter

Speaking of making the score look flattering.  The Heat allowed the Nuggets back into the game and almost steal it.  The law of averages somewhat caught with the Heat because they were still getting their open looks but started the quarter 2 of 9 from the field.

Miller and McGee would combine to score Denver's first 13 points of the 4th quarter bringing the Nuggets to within four with 7:39 remaining.  This would be the last we see of McGee  - - seriously, what the hell??

I understand the theory of team wanting to go smaller and quicker but benching one of two guys with a hot hand makes no sense.  If he returned after a break, that's fine but never seeing the floor again?  I'm the first to complain about his defense but he was not hurting them this quarter.


Fist Pump of the Night: A bit pre-mature of a fist pump as the points would be taken of the board. Ty Lawson's night was personified in one play with 5:30 remaining. Lawson drives the lane and drains a shot but it's called back on a offensive charging call keeping him at zero. I LOOK FORWARD TO HIS BOUNCE BACK GAME THIS SATURDAY IN SAN ANTONIO.

Flawless Logic:  Gallo had 23 free throws attempts in the first 3 games.  He's had 10 the best six games combined including tonight's four.  For the 3rd time this season, Lawson failed to visit the charity stripe.  This happened a grand total of 8 times all last season.  It is NOT a good thing when Faried gets more free throw attempts in a game than these two combined.

One of the better games this season, wrong result

1st Quarter

 



It was 16-6 for Denver with 6:20 remaining when the dreaded timeout curse strikes again!!  By the team the backup unit of McGee, Miller and Brewer hit the floor two minutes later, the lead was down to 2.

 

That's when McGee took over the game with 3 dunks and a block. 

 

The announcers mocked him for an errant pass that ended up out of bounds but I did not see it that way.  McGee had the ball under the rim, lost his dribble, had to get rid of it and saw Gallo basically at the free throw line.  As he threw the ball, Gallo rotated away from the pass.  This play is a simple miscommunication and not another notch on McGee's track record.

 

Biggest issue I had this quarter, Gallo spent more time in the offensive paint than Lawson, that is not a recipe for success for this team.

 

2nd Quarter

 

The "real" Ty Lawson showed up for this quarter and it was great!  Lawson went 4 of 5 shooting with all his shots coming from within the paint. 

 

A candidate for "fist pump of the game" came with the Suns up 48-47.  Lawson would race down the court and set up Brewer for the easy deuce then on the next possession, Brewer would race down the court and set up Lawson for the easy deuce.

 

3rd Quarter

 

Damned curse of the timeout!!  With three minutes remaining, the Nuggets had a 76-73 lead going into a timeout.  The Suns finish the quarter on 10-2 run and a 83-78 lead.

 

Iggy thus far is 6 of 8 shooting.  I mention this cause he finished the game 6 of 8, UMM HOW DOES IGGY NOT PUT UP A SHOT DURING THE 4TH QUARTER OF A CLOSE GAME??

 

4th Quarter

 

Wilson Chandler scores the Nuggets first bucket of the quarter and follows that up with a three.  First time this season, I began to believe any of the hype surrounding his signing.  MORE PLEASE!

 

With 4:30 remaining and the Nuggets down 5, Gallo passed up a shot instead choosing to pass the ball to McGee at the rim for an easy duece.  Next possession, Gallo went into the paint and scored the toughest two points he has drained this season to bring the Nugs within one.

 

Iggy would come up with a huge block on defense and Miller would fumble it away leading to a Suns three pointer.  At this point, the game may as well of ended.

 



Fist Pump of the Game: With the Suns at the charity stripe in the 3rd quarter, they miss the second free throw but get the rebound.  This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves especially when the opposing team converts, which the Suns did.  On the ensuing Denver possession, Gallo drains his 2nd three of the quarter.  Huge fist pump!

 

Flawless Logic: If I told you the number one team in rebounding would give up almost twice as many offensive rebounds as it collected, you would have laughed at me right?

 

The Nuggets collected 9 offensive boards, they average 16, while the Suns collected 15.





Victory from the jaws of defeat

1st Quarter

 

Going into the 1st timeout of the game with 5:52 remaining, it was 12-10 for the Nuggets.  The Nugs would finish the quarter on a 12-3 run powered by Iggy who scored 11 points on 9 shots.

 

Lawson and Gallo would combine for ZERO points.

 

2nd Quarter

 

Iggy was held pointless, Gallo finished the half at 0-10, Lawson was missing easy layups, and Brewer had back to back turnovers resulting in Warriors buckets.

 

What was an 11 point lead was now a 1 point at lead at break.

 

3rd Quarter

 

Here's the statline at the end of the 3rd quarter - - 34% shooting, 8 of 16 from the charity stripe, 2 of 17 from behind the arc.  Luckily the Warriors were shooting only 33%.

 

Gallo would hit his first shot of the game three minutes into the quarter, a reviewed play that later ended up being called a three ball. (In retrospect, what an important review this becomes eh?)

 

Faried and McGee crashing into each trying to collect a rebound after a missed free throw and losing possession of the ball nicely sums up the game so far.

 

4th Quarter

 

With Lawson struggling mightily, Andre Miller took over this game.

 

Scoring 8 of the Nugs 24 points, and assisting on buckets by Brewer, Gallo and Faried, Mr. Miller was turning back the hands of time.

 

OvertimeS

 

An Achilles Heel of this team this young season has been free throw shooting.  Tonight, the reason for the victory is because free throw shooting became the Achilles Heel of the Warriors in overtime.

 

First it was Thompson missing two free throws allowing Gallo to tie the game and send it into overtime two. 

 

Then it was Landry missing 2 free throws with a minute left that kept the score at only a 4-pt deficit.  Iggy and Gallo would hit back to back three's then Iggy and Gallo would each hit two free throws as the Nuggets finished the game on a 10-0 run to win 107-101.

 

Interesting note, the Nugs played "Centre-less" throughout the overtimes.

 

 

The "Fist Pumping" moment of the game:

 

Easily the back to back three's by Iggy and Gallo.  Iggy had not made a shot since the 3rd quarter.  For as hot as Gallo finished the game (8 of 12 shooting) seeing him hoist and drain the three was exhilarating and relieving at the same time.

 

Flawless Logic:

 

Do NOT look past the Phoneix road game on Monday to the Heat home game on Thursday.



A Jazz-y 3rd win

1st Quarter

 

The game starts with Faried missing back to back shots and Millsap scoring a bucket over him.  Millsap won this battle consistently the first half of the quarter but Faried would nicely recover from the slow start both offensively and defensively.

 

Utah's second unit featuring Favors and Kanter, kept Denver outside the paint and settling for long duece's the last half of the first quarter.  With 5.6 seconds remaining, Brewer would hit the Nuggets 1st three of the game.  Utah led 27-26 at recess.

 

2nd Quarter

 

The Nuggets would outscore the Jazz 27-11.  Not really because the Nugs were playing that well, more because the Jazz were playing that poorly.

 

Lawson finished the half only 2 of 8, Gallo only had one bucket in the half and is looking extremely uncomfortable with his shot.  The biggest positive in this quarter/half is that the Nuggets committed only 4 turnovers!!

 

The Nuggets defense, aided by 7 Jazz turnovers, held the Jazz scoreless for over 6 minutes.

 

The Nuggets offense, aided by the Jazz going into the penalty with 5:55 remaining in the half, shot 6 of 10 from charity stripe including Faried going 4 of 6. 

 

3rd Quarter

 





Second half starts with Faried getting to the free throw line(and making both shots) after being fouled collecting an offensive rebound then nicely defending Millsap for a stop on the defensive end.

 

Koufos, for the second time tonight, shows off his sweet sky hook shot from just outside the restricted area. 

 

McGee reminds us all he is still a work in progress as he is fouled for in-bounding a ball while still in-bounds D'OH!

 

4th Quarter

 

Brewer's agent will be sending a copy of this quarter to every General Manager in the league.  GM's and fans alike also got their first extended look at Fournier (who I believe will be D-leagued at the end of the month).  Nice to see Randolph and Hamilton get some minutes doing the end of the game garbage time.

 

The "Fist Pumping" moment of the game: With 9:55 to go and the Jazz whittling the lead down to 12, Brewer drains a three.  Then after a Jazz deuce, Brewer hits another three while getting fouled.  He would finish the 4-point play.

 

Flawless Logic:  Lawson, Iggy, Gallo and Faried all sat and watched the 4th quarter.  Great move with the team travelling and playing in Golden State tonight.

 

 



A second victory earned

1st Quarter

 

 Faried and Koufos unexplicably were shooting the ball from outside the paint.  Yip, combined they went 0-3. 

Watched this game under the Houston feed but thanks to the Denver announcers, I paid extra attention to the Nuggets coming out of timeouts.  The score was 13-11 Nuggets going into a timeout with 5:33 remaining.  The Nuggets finished the quarter outscoring the Rockets 12-7!

2nd Quarter

 

 

It took two minutes before Denver hit the board.  It was McGee scoring 6 consecutive Nugget points.

 

Back to the timeout thing.  With 4:57 remaining in the half and the Nuggets up 42-35, Houston came out of the timeout extremely sloppy.  Lawson took full advantage with a wide open three plus two easy layups for 7 points in 2 minutes.  Nuggets finished the half with 14-6 surge and a 15 point lead.

 

 

3rd Quarter

 

ONLY 1 FG,  a rebound by Faried at the 5:20 mark.  You know it is going to be a bad quarter when Miller and McGee botch an alley oop!

 

The timeout curse of the Denver announcers would kick in this quarter.  After a timeout with 5:53 remaining, the Rockets went on a 10-0 run chopping the lead down to only a bucket.  Another timeout with 2:33 remaining would stop the bleeding.

 

4th Quarter

 

This quarter featured the weirdest play of the game.

 

With 1:42 remaining, Houston just closed the gap to 4.  You see the long pass travel to Iggy, you also see Lin hitting the ground. 

 

Was there contact, yip!  The Houston announcers passed it off as the veteran officials thinking Lin flopped and Iggy is allowed the uncontested shot to put the Nuggets up 91-85.





The "Fist Pumping" moment of the game: With 3:30 remaining, Harden draws the Rockets within 5 and pumps up the crowd to an OKC noise level.  On the ensuing Nugget position, Lawson gets sent to the charity stripe.  He misses both shots BUT Gallo is there to tip in the rebound!!

Then after stopping Houston, Miller lobs a paint to paint pass to Faried for the dunk to put the lead back to 9 at 89-80.

Flawless Logic:  On the back end of back to back games, which included travelling away from home, would you not figure Denver would show off the depth most people rave this team has?  Nope, Nuggets ran only 8 bodies tonight (no Chandler)