Well, that sucked. Actually, I’m trying—and mostly succeeding—not to be bitter right now. The Denver Nuggets’ season came to a devastating stop the last few nights as the Los Angeles Lakers simply started trying. But the Nuggets’ playoff run was as inspiring as it was incredible. And man, have things changed.
It started with a matchup: the team, with a No. 2 seed that was the highest of the Carmelo era, was set to face the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. I can remember discussing it over the phone with a friend, distraught that we didn’t get to play the more favorable Utah Jazz or Dallas Mavericks. The Hornets had some great pieces around the league’s best point guard, Chris Paul…or so everyone said. Now I can’t see Paul’s face on TV without laughing to myself about what a terrible playoffs he had. His reputation, to me at least, has taken a huge hit. Know why? Because Chauncey Billups is just that good. And don’t forget our 121-63 win on the road in Game Four.
Going into the playoffs, fan expectations were low. All we needed to get that self-respect back was a series victory and for Carmelo to play well. We got that with the New Orleans series. The rest was gravy.
A No. 2 seed should also get through the second round, though, and of course we did that pretty handily against the Dallas Mavericks. I think we’ll look back at Game Three of that series as the day Carmelo went from NBA All-Star to NBA superstar. Here’s the thing. He was a very well-known and well-regarded player who scored tons of points and made game-winners all the time in the regular season. He’d be playing in the Sunday game in February for years either way. But once he hit that game-winning three against Dallas, he elevated his game and his confidence to a whole new level. He had 31 points that day, and the next four games, he scored 41, 30, 39, and 34. Those last two games were against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. I was at Game Three of the Lakers series. Carmelo carried himself like he knew he was the best player on the floor. He didn’t end up playing like it the whole series, but the attitude alone is a huge step for Anthony, who has progressed more in the last year than anyone in basketball. A year ago he got a DUI and the team considered trade him. Now he’s an Olympic gold medalist and one of the most dangerous go-to scorers in basketball, especially at the end of games. We’re so lucky the team didn’t get rid of him.
As for the Lakers, well, they ended up beating us handily in the last two games. But as excited as we all were to play L.A., we probably shouldn’t have been. The Lakers won 65 regular season games this year, which is rare. In the 2000s, only four teams have had as many or more wins: the ’99-’00 Lakers (67), the ’06-’07 Mavericks (67), the ’07-’08 Celtics (66), and this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers (66). Those Lakers and Celtics teams both won the title. It would have been an historic upset for us to advance to the Finals this year. And if we’d hung on just a little longer in Game One, we just might have done it.
It’s a tough loss, but this isn’t the 2007 Rockies all over again. The Lakers should be fine next year, and now that they have a few days off, they might let Jeff Van Gundy or Mark Jackson take them out to a nice dinner. Get a room already. Seriously, go ahead. What’s the worst that could happen? Other powerhouse West teams of the last few years, though, like the Spurs, Suns, and Mavs, are all getting worse. This offseason is key. The Nuggets have to re-sign Chris Andersen, who will be an unrestricted free agent. It would be nice if we could pick up a power forward, someone who could rebound consistently, but I’m not sure if we’ll have or spend the money. Maybe, though. I feel like attendance should be up next year; the Birdman’s great, but every single person in this city is in love with Chauncey’s game. He is now the face of pro sports in Denver. Come November, when the Broncos are 0-9 or whatever, people are going to be stoked to have him back.
As for head coach George Karl, he’s been the target of some national media (read: The Sports Guy) criticism through this series, but I doubt the Nuggets will get rid of him. His pregame speech before the game was perhaps the most resigned I’ve ever heard, but he was just following a proud Nuggets tradition. Before Denver faced L.A. in the opening round of the 1987 playoffs, coach Doug Moe said, “We got no shot to beat the Lakers.”
We didn’t have a shot tonight, either, as Denver’s dream playoff run finally came to an end. You don't usually break out of the first round and win your first championship in the same year. Next year, though? Next year I think we just might have ’em.
Comments
The Nuggets played with an intensity on D that I had never seen from them before. Defense is more "want to" than skill, so that says a lot about the Nuggets players buying into the gameplan and really believing they were better than everyone said they were. Much of the credit will go to Chauncey, and he deserves it, but also Nene and K-Mart both had their best seasons as Nuggets and Melo played the best basketball of his short career.
The Nuggets have a lot to look forward to next season. I think their first priority should be to re-sign Andersen and I'm sure they will because he is now a fan favorite and he WANTS to stay in Denver.
What do you think they will do with Carter and Jones who are also free agents? I'd definitely like to see them re-sign Jones, I'm not sure about Carter. Also, do you think they will put J.R. in the starting lineup next season?
Regarding the power forward, don't forget we still have Steven Hunter who is a seven-footer and a pretty good player if he can stay healthy. I'd like to see Hunter get some playing time with Nene. Maybe play Hunter at center and let Nene play power forward. What do you think?
Anyway, Congrats to the Nuggets for their best season in team history!
Melo proved that he is among the best in the game and can take over in the postseason. Chauncey proved why he is the X-factor for this franchise. And Birdman proved why we need to re-sign him.
I agree that we need an enforcer power forward who can score on the block and rebound consistently. I was actually thinking for the last 2 games that having Camby on the roster might have helped us (although not at the salary we were paying). Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will develop or become available.
And I don't see us getting rid of George Karl - he has been very effective for a Nuggets coach, and it's not like there are better coaches out there.
Either way, this is a proud time to be a Nuggets fan. Go Nugs!
The Nuggets did play harder on defense, but some of them showed off skills I hadn't seen before. Carmelo's quick hands were almost Battier-like, for one example.
I think what happens with Birdman will depend a lot on the cap. I've seen a prediction online that the cap will actually go down, but heard Mark Cuban on Bill Simmons' podcast suggest it will stay even next year. I don't expect Kroenke will want to pay a luxury tax so I hope it leaves us enough room to pay Bird. I don't know what'll happen with the guards; they both seem pretty replaceable to me, but I don't see any reason not to bring Jones back. I like his presence because it allows J.R. to play stretches of the game (like the start of the fourth) when Billups is out, and at Chauncey's age, I hope we give him all the help and rest we can.
I'd be surprised if Hunter eats into a chunk of K-Mart's playing time; in any event I think Nene really plays like a center now anyway. Not to say we couldn't go with them both but I figure most teams will just guard Nene with their center anyway so I don't think it'd create mismatches on O.
Yeah, Marcus Camby. I think if he could have just taken all of K-Mart's minutes that would have been great. Great shotblocking and rebounding compared to Martin, but still someone who is willing to miss lots of open 20-footers. The only problem is I doubt he really would have gotten all of K-Mart's PT and instead would have eaten into Nene and Birdman's time, and I'm not sure that would have been so positive. In any event I don't think we were that much worse off without him, and it was good to give Nene and Chris experience, since Camby definitely would be gone now in this economic climate.