Weekend basketball

Watched some basketball this weekend, and here's what I noticed:

1. I caught part of the Houston Rockets at Denver Nuggets game Friday night. The Nuggets' struggles have less to do with chemistry and more to do with a complete lack of discipline and intelligent play.

Allen Iverson still looks for his own shot just a little too often in trasition, it seems, but at least he creates a very good shot for himself. Carmelo is still too willing to take bad shots. Steve Blake is a better fit on the roster than I thought he'd be, but he also clearly belongs in a reserve role. He's willing to hustle and very willing to pass, but he's not an especially skilled passer and, at times, made surprisingly poor decisions on the fast break. (Obviously the trade deadline is past, but the Nuggets have spent years trying to run at altitude without a gifted distributor at the point, which makes no sense.)

Add it all up and you have a team that looks extremely outcoached right now. I don't think firing George Karl would solve all or any of our problems, but I do think his hands-off approach to the offense is starting to backfire. It seemed too many times that guys were pretty much doing whatever they wanted, without any fear of repercussions.

So if you were wondering how a team with Carmelo and AI can be so mediocre, now you know.

2. I saw a bit of Carolina-Duke, but fell asleep before Gerald Henderson's classless* and unconscionable cheap shot on Tyler Hansbrough. (What can I say, I've been sick.) It just pisses me off too much to discuss it. My biggest regret was that it was basketball, not hockey, else I'd know for sure Henderson would get his in the next game. Instead, with Roy Williams and Mike Surechefski on the benches, you know next time's postgame story will be how proud they are of their guys for being mature enough to just play basketball. Oh, and Billy Packer needs to shut up.

3. Duke's never been a very athletic team, of course, but their skill and conditioning are usually second to none. That's how they so often control the tempo. Not so yesterday. It was only one game, but the Blue Devils were worse in transition than any Duke team I've seen in a long time. Forget their RPI-I will be absolutely shocked if Duke does anything in the tournament this year.

4. Carolina's break was relentless. I hope the Nuggets took some notes on how a team really pushes the pace.

* = I typically loathe the "class" argument, which I associate with Utah Jazz fans and other sore losers. And Carolina DID win, and pretty handily. But it's the kind of thing a Duke booster would constantly brag about, which is why I point it out here.