"Playing Phoenix and Charles Barkley in the 1993 Finals was like playing against your little brother and knowing you're well-equipped.
"Your little brother might beat you one or two times out of seven, but you know he's going to get beat in the end.
"The Suns didn't know how to win. They knew how to compete, but they didn't know how to win. There is a difference." -Michael Jordan, "For the Love of the Game"
Last night watching Game 4 of the Nuggets-Spurs series, the above quote kept coming to mind. Well, not the whole thing, that would make me some kind of savant, but the part about competing versus winning. No team over the last two years knows more about competing but less about winning than the Nuggets.
I don't mean it as a knock (believe me, I'm still so grateful we're even in playoff contention); I just mean to show the kind of improvement the Nuggets need to make to become an elite team.
For once, it's not an issue of talent.
Last night really came down to mental toughness. The Nuggets fought back, but the Spurs were absolutely unstoppable when they had to be.
In the fourth quarter Denver made a furious rally to take the lead, but the Spurs settled down and just played basketball.
(Don't you love analysis like that? They made plays when they had to.)
What really happened is that the playoff-hardened Spurs maintained focus and executed with the game on the line, whereas the Nuggets played on emotion for too long and ran out of steam.
At three minutes remaining, the Nuggets had just taken a 99-97 lead on Earl Boykins' bank shot in the lane. The Spurs come back and Duncan scored to tie. Then Boykins hit that three-pointer that turned out to be just a long two. If it had been a three, who knows?
I bet nothing would have changed-the Spurs don't panic. Yet the smallest Nugget made the smallest of mistakes.
As it was, Duncan answered again to tie the game. Carmelo scored on a layup, then Kenyon Martin fouled out on the other end trying to stop Duncan.
(By the way, bravo to the $100 Million Man for stepping up when we needed it. I don't think 12 points and six rebounds are quite what anyone had in mind for the biggest game of the year, but I don't blame Martin-I blame Kiki Vandeweghe for thinking Martin would be a difference-maker in the first place. If the Nuggets are the team that competes hard but doesn't always win in the clutch, then the fiery Martin is the personification of that idea applied to players.)
Duncan sank both free throws with 1:37 left to tie the game again. At this point, the Nuggets are competing, both teams are scoring every single time and the competitive-but-choppy game is on the verge of becoming a classic.
On the Nuggets' next possession, Camby's open for a baseline jumper, which, of course, he's unable to resist, barely drawing iron on his wild shot. Then, with a minute five to play, The Amazing Ginobili! lays it in for the 105-103 lead.
(Wow, I am sick of hearing about The Amazing Ginobili! I get it, he's had a good series and he's not American (which, taken together, actually is pretty remarkable, I guess). But the guy could give George Lucas tips on how to generate hype.)
Anyway, that sequence really showed the difference between the teams at a point when every basket was critical. Camby Cane forced up a ludicrous shot, and Genome did his little twisting, lefty act to get a big bucket. Not just two, but a layup for two! With sixty-five seconds left in the Nuggets' biggest game of the year!
The Nuggets weren't finished yet. Boykins dished to Melo on the right side, who made that spinning, one-handed catch he cashed in for a money jumper. Parker hit from the baseline, then Carmelo posted up Horry on the other side, drove hard to the lane, then took a horribly awkward shot to avoid contact and was bailed out, sinking both of his free throws to tie.
Somehow Greg Buckner blocked All-NBA First Teamer Ginobili's shot at the other end to force overtime, when...well, you know what happened there. The Nuggets fell apart like the French army.
Talk about losing focus under pressure. Genome's flop on the inbounds pass to Andre Miller somehow became the stake in the heart-that is, if you consider the Nuggets to be vampires. But that's the difference between a team that exectues well and plays calmly to win, like the Spurs, and a team that competes hard and plays off emotion, like the Nuggets.
What can the Nuggets do to improve?
I think Barkley said it well at halftime: we could use a real point guard, and Carmelo could be better at posting up.
There was a little truth to Anthony's Melo-centric postgame contention that he should have gotten the ball more, but he could have worked to make himself a little more open, too. Often his positioning would have forced a dangerous entry pass.
Doug Moe said it at halftime, but he could have been speaking of the whole game: "We gotta play better defense. Our defense stinks."
The Nuggets played their butts off, especially offensively, but couldn't stop or even really slow the Spurs down the stretch. And that was key.
Again, it's not about talent. Denver stayed right with the Spurs throughout the end of regulation. When the Nuggets learn to calm down and play smart in the closing minutes of tight ballgames, then they'll finally join the Spurs among the NBA's elite.
7 comments:
The leadership question reminds me of last night when I wondered: who's the best player on the Nuggets? I mean, Camby's got great defensive skills and doesn't usually shrink from big moments but can't score at the end of games, Melo's a good scorer with the potential for greatness who rebounds a little but doesn't play a ton of D or with a lot of toughness, Martin's got more balance than Camby but isn't exactly a go-to guy either, even if he could keep himself on the floor. Boykins has got the guts and the game but he doesn't even start, whereas Andre Miller is steady in the sense that he never shows any improvement.
The only guy with a shot at being a franchise player is, of course, Carmelo. I'm actually glad he wanted the ball more-he gets a little passive when he's challenged sometimes-I just hope he can develop the rest of his game on both ends to become the player he's capable of. If he can stop acting like such a headcase and put a full season together for once next year, I think he could actually fill that leadership void.
And if he can keep the drugs out of his backpack, etc. I don't want to put too much on a 20-year-old, but I was encouraged that he stepped it up, at least a little, yesterday.
melo will be the guy.. i'm sure of it
and as the only other guy here who reads this blog... and consequently the only one not related to the author, i think that gives me some credibility...
the development of "leadership" on or off the court comes from experience. You can have the skills requisite for becoming a leader, but the only thing that actually yields leadership fruit is time. I'm confident melo will accomplish this with the nugs.
Where i depart from mikey gore's commentary, is when you question K-mart's value.
Several times down the stretch, in the heat of the moment, he took it right down the gut...granted, they weren't pretty, but he went right at the best player in the NBA, and produced in the clutch.
and k-mart does have other attributes that can't be compartmentalized into nightly stats.
this season, i had the once in a lifetime opportunity to go to a nugs game and sit courtside. Corporate perk... whitey's revenge...
anyways... being that close to the players gives you a very interesting persective. You can actually see the nuances of how the players interact. K-mart brings tenacity, attitude. Players respect him. You can't quantify that, but in essence it's really similar to the same mentality that existed in grade school.
"don't piss off the bully."
The nugs were playing the knicks, a no brainer of a game. K-mart had a killer game, 28 points. But more impressive to me was how they could tell he meant business, and that even though these massive men could all hold their own in a pugilistic pile up... it seemed like there was that intangible "you don't mess with k-mart cause he'll crack you."
I like having a guy like that on the court, and on our team. It was a hell of a lot of money to pay, and only time/success will tell if he was worth it.
Hey, come on, I had a couple of Canadian fans, too.
As for John, I thought Melo's desire for the ball was genuine-you didn't have the treat of watching it on the Altitude Sports & Entertainment network, whose commentators were quite obsessed with getting Carmelo the ball and emphasizing his frustration, which is probably why that stands out to me so much.
As far as leadership, I agree 100%-the key isn't a guy who gives good speeches and makes mad faces, but the guy who consistently excels under heavy pressure.
Pugs, I am thrilled that the word "whitey" has finally appeard on my blog, so thanks for that.
I don't think Martin's quite the infallible leader-I seem to recall him calling out Nets teammates after Finals games in which Martin himself had done little. That's jacked up.
You said that Martin does a lot of things that don't show up in the stats. I agree. My point is, most max or near-max salary players-Duncan, Garnett, etc.-provide the leadership and non-measureable production as well as the big numbers. It might not be fair to compare him to Duncan or Garnett, of course, which is why my Martin-bashing is supposed to be more like Vandeweghe-bashing.
Certainly, though, he's an effective power forward and aggressive player, no doubt. It's not his fault we offered him a huge stack of cash. I just wish we hadn't squandered the cap room on him and especially Andre Miller.
Like you said, time will tell if he's worth it, but I thought it'd be lame to wait six years to pass judgment.
pugs
my defense of the frugal shopping emporium was not meant to be mingled with his leadership role.
I don't think it's his job to be a leader, while some may argue that if you are going to fork out that kind of cash... he damn well better play the bagpipes, make waffles, teach gospel doctrine, and any other oddjobs that the team needs.
I was saying that i think the nugs hired with to fill a specific void... power forward. I think he's done a good job, and next season he'll really mesh with the crew.
the real disapointment for me has been "skita." I had high hopes for the fella, i mean... come on... europe is a WONDERLAND of talent, peja, darko... darko? darko!
The only european i'd touch with a ten foot pole starts with a dir, ends with a ski and has a k nowitz" in the middle.
For the exact same reason as John I actually think the Miller signing is justifiable and the Martin one was less so, since Miller signed a year earlier than Kenyon. I don't think Martin convinces anyone to come because we were already improving by then, plus he ate most of the available cap space anyway. And the kind of guy we have room left to sign is going to be more enticed by PT, I think.
Skita was a great pick, it's not like we could have had Amare Stoudemire or anything. Oh, wait...
what's a brother got to do to get some regular musings by my favorite boulder resident?
Um, complain about it, then wait a week?
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