Hole Punch Sports

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 t...

I won’t say the series is over, but tonight’s game, a 103-94 victory by the L.A. Lakers over the Denver Nuggets, really hurt. I’d been nervous all day; I guess as a Broncos fan I don’t remember what deep playoff runs feel like. While Game Four was a game we had to win, it felt coming into tonight that our best shot of taking the series was to win Game Five, too. Surely the Lakers knew this and stepped up with their best effort of the series. It was their one good effort for a few players. It’s annoying how guys like Lamar Odom will get praised for this game. The start of the fourth quarter is obviously where we lost the game, but the Lakers outplayed the Nuggets for most of the game, even in the tied first half. It was kind of like how some of our games with the Hornets played out: we controlled the tempo, and were clearly dominating, but didn’t have an actual lead yet. Tonight the Lakers did the same to us. They played just hard enough on defense to keep our shooters from developi...

Wait a second…if LeBron gets knocked out, will the league try even harder to ensure Kobe makes the Finals? Embedded video from NBA Video

Embedded video from NBA Video With Carmelo Anthony sick and off to an icy start, the Denver Nuggets shouldn’t have had a chance tonight. But Chauncey Billups (loved that drive in the highlights) and J.R. Smith stepped up and led the team to a 120-101 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers and even the Western Conference Finals at two games apiece. The entire team played well as the Nuggets outscored the Lakers in every quarter. The Birdman was fantastic, and he, Nene, and K-Mart completely dominated the boards against an overmatched Lakers front line. Dahntay Jones had a sweet breakaway windmill dunk and a wonderful make-it-look-like-an-accident trip of Kobe Bryant. Carmelo came in and did his thing in the fourth quarter, forcing his way to the line when they needed to keep the lead up. And the fans were outstanding; one of the “no means no” chants came through crystal-clear on TV. You know the league’s not happy about that. Really, the only complaint Nuggets fans can have...

Wow. Wow! The Orlando Magic just took a 2-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers with a ten-point win in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals. I didn’t think Orlando had a prayer in the series, and told a reader I expected the Cavs to win in five. I’m still not sure Orlando will win, especially when the refs are willing to call a foul on Dwight Howard’s last-minute block of LeBron James, perhaps the cleanest block I’ve ever seen (more in a second). At this point I just really want someone to break up the Cavs-Lakers Finals, which is a pretty bad place to be as a fan. I mean, obviously I want the Nuggets to win it all, but if they can’t I just hope someone crashes the league’s party. The Magic sure do play funny on offense with a lead, though. They kept going for the dagger three instead of a) a good two or b) trying to kill any clock. It was like a football team passing every down with a four-point lead or something. I was afraid they were going to blow it. And really, I hate...

• We bought our tickets on StubHub. If you’ve never used it before (I hadn’t), it’s totally legit. You buy your tickets online, and I think they’d mail them to you if there was time, but in our case we picked them up at a conference room in the Oxford Hotel downtown. All in all a pretty painless experience, except to the wallet. • Niketown sucks. After I picked up David V at the airport, we had some time to kill, and he needed to get a Nuggets shirt. The last time I was there, which was a few years ago, I could have sworn one of the front rooms had a bunch of Nuggets or at least Carmelo stuff in it. There was none to be found anywhere in the store yesterday, even though Melo is the biggest star of the Jordan brand. But what really got me was that on the walls outside of the room where the basketball stuff is, they had a huge picture of LeBron James on one wall, and on the other…a big Kobe Bryant. You’ve got to be kidding me. Couldn’t they have paid some kid six cents to find a good p...

In a devastating blow to their championship dreams, the Denver Nuggets lost Game Three of the Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers tonight, 103-97. It was an absolutely brutal game to watch down the stretch if you like the Nuggets. I do. As one of you noticed on my new Twitter page , I did indeed attend the game in person. Here is the requisite view from my seat: Look familiar? It felt that way, though I was on the opposite end of the court from where I sat in Game Five of the Hornets series, meaning the Nuggets would actually come at us in the second half. Also I was two rows back, if anyone really freaking cares. I was pretty down after the game, but now I’m not sure how to feel. It seemed like L.A. dictated a slower tempo than we like to play at home, but we still put up 97 points on a night when Carmelo Anthony was in foul trouble and we couldn’t hit a jump shot to save our lives. It’s starting to feel like J.R. Smith’s cold streak is rubbing off on Chauncey Bil...

I just caught the last six or so minutes of Game Two of the Orlando Magic-Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals, and I hope you did, too. It was NUTS. Beautiful basketball down the stretch from the Magic, who I seem to recall a certain reader supporting on his long and winding road to becoming a Nuggets fan. Anyway, Orlando Calrissian was hitting shots, and they seemed to know just how to cover LeBron: send absolutely everyone at him when he drives, and hope Mo Williams and The Big Z miss enough jumpers to keep it close. And it worked. Hedo Turkoglu hit a long three-pointer to tie the game at 93 with 48 seconds remaining. On the next possession LeBron appeared to take four steps on a drive and was actually called for it. For a second I thought it was some kind of defensive foul or something (wasn’t listening to the game sound), but no. (After the game Craig Sager asked LeBron if he had not argued the call because of fatigue, and James, to his credit, admitted he had travelled. ...

Can’t beat the Lakers? Try becoming the Lakers. Embedded video from NBA Video The Denver Nuggets stole a chapter out of L.A.’s playbook tonight, winning in a way only the Lakers usually do: taking the first half off, showing no outward signs of caring, and then, somehow, getting back into it and taking the game at the end. In sharp contrast to their effort in Game One, the Nuggets played almost flawlessly down the stretch, save perhaps J.R. Smith’s turnover on a pass attempt to Carmelo Anthony. (I guess Anthony had that turnover, too.) Anthony, by the way, just about willed the Nuggets back into the game, scoring more than 30 points for the fifth game in a row, which Scott Van Pelt just told me breaks Alex English’s franchise single-season playoff record. That means the streak started with Game 3 in Dallas, when Carmelo hit that game-winning three pointer. I can almost hear Morpheus: “He’s beginning to believe.” Chauncey Billups might be missing some of his free throws, but he p...

It’s funny that I would post that link about the refs—and even funnier that Dick Bavetta is on the crew tonight—but if the Nuggets lose, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. Where is the energy? Carmelo’s starting to heat up, but he still had to walk over to Nene to get a five after a made free throw. Wake up, people! We are lucky it’s as close as it is, and somehow now it’s a five-point game, so I’ll get back to watching it.

Guess who finally hit the big time? That’s right, folks, you can now read something I wrote on somebody else’s blog. Truly a momentous day. No, I didn’t actually write the whole post, but you should really check it out anyway.

Without getting into any details, today sucked, and so it’s fitting that the Lakers took down the Nuggets in Game One tonight. What’s sad, but also reassuring, is that the Nuggets put themselves in position to win the game. They had a big lead in the first quarter, which is almost annoying at this point, because unless you’re playing the Hornets you always lose a lead you build that early. But they also had some good leads in the fourth quarter. If you’re not familiar with this rule, which I think I’ve heard the Sports Guy credit to Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, it’ll totally change the way you watch games. The quote is from Michael Lewis’ awesome profile of Shane Battier : One statistical rule of thumb in basketball is that a team leading by more points than there are minutes left near the end of the game has an 80 percent chance of winning. If your team is down by more than 6 points halfway through the final quarter, and you’re anxious to beat the traffic, you can leave kno...

Did anyone watch SportsCenter tonight? If you did, did you happen to see real-life Jon Barry on a real-life court guarding a life-size digital Kobe Bryant, presumably from NBA Live? Just, uh…just curious. 21.5 more hours…

Thanks to their 89-70 victory over the Houston Rockets today, the Los Angeles Lakers will face the Denver Nuggets in this year’s Western Conference Finals. If you didn’t see the game, know that it was truly an easy win; the Lakers won by 19 despite Houston closing the game on a 12-0 run. The schedule is now set for the next series as well. Game One is Tuesday night at 7 Mountain (ESPN), and the Nuggets and Lakers will play every other day until the series is over. Actually, the schedule’s been set for a few days, a fact I wish I’d known when I was looking for but not getting any tickets on Friday. (Did any of you have any luck on that front?) Does today’s first Game Seven give anyone pause heading into the series? I say it’s about time the Lakers step up, because they haven’t done much to this point. But then, all we’ve done is beat a bunch of quitters, and then a one-Germensional team. I am excited to see the games, but would feel a lot better with the warm blanket of homecourt ...

Embedded video from NBA Video Enjoy the highlights, including Kenyon Martin's last-minute dunk that had Mark Cuban's name written all over it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think before this postseason that the Nuggets were going to the Western Conference Finals. Even with that No. 2 seed, I would’ve settled for getting out of the first round and then losing to the Spurs. Now, of course, my dreams just keep getting crazier. It was a tense closeout game, as those games tend to be. I didn’t get a single phone call, text, or game-related e-mail during the proceedings, and only sent one e-mail myself. I’m not sure all the fear was deserved, especially when Carmelo get off to a torrid start in the first half, scoring 21 on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Can you believe a year ago the rumors were that the Nuggets were looking to trade Melo? (Charles Barkley just called him the best scorer in the NBA right now…how awesome is that?) Unlike the Hornets, the Mavericks didn’t qui...

Dirk Nowitzki is a pretty good sport. After preventing a sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, a feat which made confetti fall at the American Airlines Center (seriously?), Nowitzki seemed eager to compliment the Nuggets. When a reporter asked him about the momentum in the series, he immediately said that Denver takes it to another level at home; it was exactly the kind of honest and humble answer we claim we want athletes to give. (Sort of like before Game Two, when he talked about how some of Denver's defenders give him trouble, and when Chris Webber and Charles Barkley tore him to shreds.) Furthermore he's scored at will in this series. I just feel like pointing that out considering how often I've given the man a hard time. Anyway, the action tonight was another close and tightly-officiated game, though it didn't seem quite so ridiculous as Saturday's contest. Unfortunately the Nuggets couldn't execute the last two minutes. That's basically all it cam...

If you've missed it somehow, you need to go read Tom Friend's long profile on Chauncey Billups on ESPN.com. (Thanks to David V. for the heads-up.) You might want to hold off for a couple hours, though, because I cannot wait to watch this team play again tonight.

Embedded video from NBA Video Double-click the highlights to go full-screen. Thanks, NBA.com! For the last several playoff games, we’ve been wondering what would happen when the Nuggets finally get tested. Yes, they lost Game Three of the Hornets series, which is sad considering just how much can-do spirit the Hornets revealed in the series. But the Nuggets had a huge lead in the first quarter and almost won that game. Perhaps the team still hasn’t been tested, but they absolutely stole a game from the Dallas Mavericks today thanks to a huge game by Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony’s game-winning three. The game was close most of the way, but the Mavericks kept getting a lead in the fourth. Then Dallas couldn’t make enough free throws, or execute properly in a “foul-to-give” situation, and the rest is history. The Mavericks, led by owner Mark Cuban, were obviously ticked by the no-call in the closing seconds, whereby Carmelo got free for his clutchest shot as a professional. (...

It’s becoming difficult for Nuggets fans to stay humble, which is unfortunate, because no team will be as eager to quit as the Hornets were. Nevertheless, the win last night wasn’t easy…or was it? After a thrilling start to the game, including back-to-back dunks by Carmelo and J.R. Smith in the first quarter, a friend and I were discussing our chances. I try not to take anything for granted in sports because that backfires so often. But the Nuggets were controlling the tempo completely, and I felt like even if the game was close, we’d run away with it in the fourth quarter. He agreed. Watching the third quarter last night, I was not so confident. Dallas controlled the pace of the game and turned it into a halfcourt, let’s-trade-possessions contest, which they’d clearly rather play at altitude than deal with our frenetic attack. I thought the Nuggets were headed for a real test in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless they blew the Mavericks away with another huge run to start the fourth...

I hate to move the news of the Nuggets’ win down, but you can scroll down. (Can’t you?) Here are a few things I’ve run across lately. 1. Rick Reilly’s brief but cutting take on the Broncos’ draft haul this year. The worst part was when he said of McDaniels: This is the same genius who traded one of Denver's first-round choices in 2010 to move up in the second round to take a 5'9'' defensive back— Alphonso Smith …And if the Broncos are going to be as lame as I think they're going to be—4-12 perhaps—that first-round pick will be very high. And it’s time for a retraction. After the draft I wrote about Denver’s trade for Alphonso Smith, thinking we had dealt Chicago’s first-round pick, which I estimate next year will be about No. 32 overall. But Reilly’s right: it was our own pick we gave up for the 5-9 corner with 4.5 speed (which I don’t think is all that fast for that position). In other words, it was a DISASTROUS move, giving up the top pick of next ye...

As a longtime Nuggets fan, the more I think about this team’s still-brief playoff run, the more excited I get. Sometimes it’s the little things: watching an NBA playoff game on ABC and realizing that’s the Pepsi Center court where all the action is taking place. And sometimes it’s the huge things, like watching John Elway introducing Chauncey Billups to the crowd, a clip which literally gave me chills. The Nuggets’ win today was textbook and also wasn’t—common in the way the team completely blew it open at the end, but rare in the way everyone stepped up around Billups and Carmelo Anthony, neither of whom had a great game. (’Melo still had his moments, namely his three-point play at the start of the second half and his first three-pointer in the fourth quarter.) It was the bench, as ABC pointed out, that really stepped it up. I recently voiced my concern to, um, LT that we didn’t really have an answer for Dirk Nowitzki on our roster, while he contended the Chris Andersen could do t...