Building a Champion: Denver Nuggets Association

[DewsSox79]

nwragequitter

stop clogging threads with "dribble"

[nwfisch]

Capt. Serious

[Capt. Serious]

Capt. Serious

Warning, the following may be Not Safe For Work or a storyline spoiler.

[clonetrooper264]

Ragecloner264

ragefischquitter

[clonetrooper264]

stop clogging threads with "dribble"

[clonetrooper264]

Do it

Maybe I will tonight...if not tomorrow. It will probably come updated as of my next game.

[clonetrooper264]

Next game and stats coming later today

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets overcome slow start, defeat Raptors

It was a tale of two halves for the Denver Nuggets as they faced off against the Toronto Raptors Saturday night. The Raptors led by 3 at the half, but the game was clearly in their hands. The Nuggets missed shot after shot in the first half, recording one of their lowest shooting percentages for a half all season. Those in attendance thought the Raptors would be able to steal one from the Nuggets if the poor shooting continued. While the Nuggets struggled shooting, the Raptors couldn't miss. Jose Calderon ended up finishing the game with a career high 33 points on 15-27 shooting. Ed Davis added 16 on 7-8 shooting. However, halftime proved to be Denver's savior as they came out of the half swinging, making a much higher percentage of their shots. Led by Tayshaun Prince's 12 3rd quarter points, the Nuggets outscored the Raptors by 17 in the 3rd and took a commanding lead that they would not relinquish. Prince led the Nuggets with 24 points. Andray Blatche added 20 points and 11 rebounds leading the Nuggets' bench effort. Lou Williams, Marcin Gortat, and Lamar Odom also scored double figures for the Nuggets.

"Frankly, our first half was terrible," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "We were sloppy offensively and gave no effort defensively. We gave them so many easy baskets. I told them at the half that they couldn't expect to just walk in and beat them just because they weren't as good of a team as us. They were giving effort, we weren't. Fortunately, our players were able to respond in the 2nd half and we took what was ours."

"Gotta hand it to Tay and Andray," said Ty Lawson. "They really stepped it up while the rest of us were struggling. Without their efforts, we probably drop this game. The rest of us gotta step it up next game."

Nuggets GM clonetrooper264 was also in attendance. When asked about the game he only said two things:

"First half was awful." and "Tayshaun is looking great out there. His acquisition is looking better and better every game."

The Nuggets will travel to Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks on Monday.

[clonetrooper264]

Here are those much anticipated stats.

Team leaders: Points
T. Prince-16.4
M. Gortat-16.1
A. Afflalo-14.9

Team leaders: Rebounds
M. Gortat-8.4
K. Faried-7.9
A. Blatche-5.5

Team leaders: Assists
T. Lawson-7.7
L. Williams-4.8
W. Chandler-2.4

Team leaders: Steals
T. Lawson 2.4
A. Afflalo-1.1
L. Williams/W. Chandler-1.0

Team leaders: Blocks
K. Faried 1.3
M. Gortat-0.9
A. Blatche-0.6

Team leaders: FG%
L. Willams-61.8%
J. Childress-58.3%
A. Afflalo-57.3%

Team leaders: 3pt%
J. Childress-64.3%
T. Prince-59.1%
A. Afflalo-57.4%

Team leaders: FT%
L. Williams/B. Gordon/T. Lawson-100%
A. Afflalo-85.7%
M. Gortat-80%

Team leaders: Minutes per game
T. Prince-30.6
M. Gortat-30.4
T. Lawson-29.7

Team stats
Record: 9-1
Points Per Game: 116.5
Points Allowed Per Game: 101.1
Differential: 15.4
FG%: 51%
3pt%: 51.1%
Rebounds Per Game: 39, 9/30 off/def
Blocks Per Game: 6

Everything else was glitched.

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets' hot streak comes to an abrupt halt against Knicks

All good things eventually come to an end. For the Nuggets, it was an extremely ugly end. While the Nuggets are known for their hot shooting and great rebounding, against the Knicks both of these traits were nonexistent. Down 20 at the half, the Nuggets fought back to get the lead down to 8, but it wasn't enough as the Knicks rode Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony to their 5th win of the season. Lin scored 27 points and added 9 assists (against 1 turnover) and Anthony scored 19 for the Knicks who handed the Nuggets just their 2nd loss in 11 games. Arron Afflalo led the Nuggets with 17 points. Tayshaun Prince and Wilson Chandler combined for 29 on 13-17 shooting, but the rest of the team struggled mightily to score.

"What else is there to say?" said Ty Lawson, who only shot 3-10 overall and had 4 turnovers. "We sucked. We couldn't rebound, couldn't make shots, couldn't do jack. We played like garbage and that showed during the game."

"Every team goes through a rough patch," said Tayshaun Prince. "Ours just happened to be today. It's unfortunate because we were on a win streak and playing some fantastic ball, but it happens. We just gotta look ahead to the next game and play better."

"I'm disappointed in our effort tonight," said George Karl. "We played lazy and got killed. They will learn never to play this way again, I'll make sure of it."

The Nuggets will have a chance to redeem themselves Wednesday against the 76ers.

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets redeem poor performance against the Knicks with strong game against the 76ers

It was the tale of two different games for the Nuggets. After struggling mightily against the Knicks, the Nuggets came out with one of their most dominating offensive performances against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nuggets shot 56% overall and were active on defense as well, accumulating 9 steals and 10 blocks as they defeated the 76ers by 27.

Despite a retro performance from Elton Brand, who scored 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and 25 points from Jrue Holiday, the 76ers were unable to overcome the dominating 46 point 2nd quarter from the Nuggets. Tayshaun Prince led the Nuggets with 21 points, including 5-5 from 3. Ty Lawson bounced back from his poor game against New York with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists with no turnovers.

"I came out with the mentality of being aggressive," said Lawson. "Jrue and I were going at each other all game. I was mad from our loss against the Knicks a couple days ago so I wasn't about to let Jrue get the best of me. He might've scored more points than me, but coach didn't let me play in the 4th quarter, so I say I won that matchup. Besides...he shot like 30% from the field or something like that. Don't let his point total fool you."

"After a loss like that, it lights a fire under you," said reserve Andray Blatche, who scored 18 points, grabbed 9 boards, and blocked 3 shots in 26 minutes off the bench. "We didn't want to experience that again, so we came out and played our hearts out. That resulted in a ridiculously good 2nd quarter and a blowout win for us. We got back to doing what we do best, and we happened to do it especially well this game."

This game also marked the first time guards Andre Miller and Louis Williams played against their former teams since they were swapped. Miller scored 10 points, dished 4 assists, and had 3 steals in 15 minutes off the bench for the 76ers while Williams scored 13 points, dished 7 assists, and had 4 steals in 21 minutes off the bench for the Nuggets.

"I just wanted to go out there and show my old teammates what's up," said Williams. "I'm sure Andre was thinking the same thing. We both played pretty aggressive, but I think it's clear why one team was better than the other tonight, haha."

The Nuggets will hope to start a new winning streak in their next game against the Phoenix Suns.

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets scrape win against Suns

It was a battle of scoring titans so to speak at the Pepsi Center when the Nuggets took on the Phoenix Suns. It was truly a battle of high octane offenses as both teams were tops in the league in both pace and points per game last season and also this season. Phoenix lived up to their name the entire game, shooting a scorching 56% for the game, led by 30 points by former Nugget Javale McGee, 29 points from Steve Nash, and 22 points from Shannon Brown. The Nuggets also shot extremely well, finishing at 55%. Their scoring was more balanced, with 7 players scoring in double figures, led by former Sun Marcin Gortat who had 22. The Nuggets bench led a 3rd quarter surge that allowed Denver to take the lead going into the 4th quarter, where they would eventually seal the game with free throws by Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo. Ben Gordon and Andray Blatche led the bench effort. Gordon finished with 16 points and Blatche finished with 14. It was the first time the two teams met since performing two separate trades which landed McGee, Jamario Moon, and Reggie Williams in Phoenix and Marcin Gortat and Josh Childress in Denver.

"It's always fun going against your former team," said Gortat. "I could tell Javale felt the same way. He played with a reckless abandon out there. When he shows focus he's one of the hardest players to guard in the league. Fortunately, it was my team that came out on top."

"It's our job to come in and provide a spark," said Blatche regarding the bench play. "When we come into the game, our goal is to try to outplay the starters and ramp up the intensity level. We got a lot of good scorers on this bench. I'd say we're the best bench in the NBA. Several of us could be starting for other teams. Maybe if we keep it up, one or two of us will crack the starting lineup."

"It was good to come out with the win," said George Karl. "But our defense was atrocious. We allowed the other team to make shot after shot after shot. It's unacceptable. We clearly have some work to do in practice defensively. Anytime Javale McGee scores 30 against you, you know something is horribly wrong."

[clonetrooper264]

Report: Nuggets ship Childress to Chicago

In a somewhat spontaneous and startling move, the Nuggets have shipped G/F Josh Childress to Chicago in exchange for Kyle Korver and a 2012 2nd round pick.

"We felt that we weren't exactly the right fit for Josh," said Nuggets GM clonetrooper264. "He wanted to have a bigger role and more minutes, but he was playing behind Tayshaun and Wilson who are key members of our team at small forward and Arron and Ben at shooting guard. It was a tough decision, but we feel he can be a better fit for Chicago. We're also pleased to add Kyle to our team. He's a proven 3 point threat and his shooting will definitely be a strong asset to our team. We also like that we now have multiple 2nd round draft picks to work with and can use to possibly move up in the draft."

Korver will be in uniform for the Nuggets' next game. He will continue to wear #26.

[DePaulfan21]

Childress<<<<<<<Korver

[clonetrooper264]

Childress<<<<<<<Korver

Childress's contract is terrible. Glad I got out of that.

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets take on Mavericks in clash of Western Conference titans

It was written on paper as a clash of the titans, the top team in the West against the second team (who had since dropped to 3rd by the time game rolled around due to a Spurs win). The well balanced attack of the Denver Nuggets against the offensive juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki. It turned out to be no contest. Denver rolled all over the Mavericks in the 1st quarter and grew their lead every quarter afterwards, eventually blowing them out by 30 points. The Nuggets were led by Wilson Chandler's 21 points off the bench, but lost him to an injury in the 4th quarter after a Mavericks player ran into him after he scored his 19th, 20th, and 21st points on a corner three.

"Nah I don't suspect foul play or anything like that," said Chandler, who suffered a lower back strain. "Obviously it sucks, but we have a lot of time before our next game for me to rest up. Hopefully I can be back in action by then."

The Nuggets had 7 players score in double figures altogether while also playing smothering defense against Jason Kidd, forcing him into just 7-27 shooting and 8 turnovers.

"Dirk can't score if he doesn't get the ball," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "Ty and Lou did a great job of dogging Jason out there and forced him into a lot of mistakes. Dirk still managed to get his, but he didn't go off on us, which is what we wanted."

The Nuggets will take their winning streak to Los Angeles in their next game against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. If Chandler is out for that game, the Nuggets will have to rely on heavy minutes from Arron Affalo and Tayshaun Prince in order to hope to contain Kobe.

[clonetrooper264]

Jason Kidd shooting 27 shots? What in the world 2k...?

The game always finds a way to cheese at some point, even if they're getting blown out. There were so many wide open 3s that I just missed for no reason. The CPU never misses those...

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets prevail over Lakers in OT thriller

In a clash of two of the top teams in the Western Conference many fans entered the Pepsi Center expecting to see a good game. What they got was probably the most exciting game of the season thus far. Los Angeles jumped to an early 9-0 lead in the first quarter, but Denver quickly rallied to tie the game at 15. They would go on to take a 33-25 lead going into the second quarter. That's when the roller coaster started to go up the proverbial chain lift.

The Nuggets went off in the second quarter shooting a mind blowing 76% from the field and making all 4 three point attempts in the quarter. Combined with their furious rally from the first quarter, the Nuggets jumped out to a 21 point halftime lead behind 71% shooting from the field and a ridiculous 78% from three. But the madness did not stop there. In a strange turn of luck, the Lakers rode 68% shooting in the third quarter to cut the lead to 9 going into the fourth quarter. The Lakers then proceeded to show championship caliber play in the fourth behind none other than Kobe Bryant who seemingly scored at will no matter how much defense was in his face. The Lakers proceeded to appear to run away with the game before a furious rally and a late shot by Arron Afflalo tied the game with a minute left. Neither team was able to make a shot in the game's final minutes with regulation ending with Andrew Bynum blocking a desperation three by Ty Lawson.

In overtime, the Lakers once again appeared to pull away, taking a 4 point lead with 36 seconds to go. Then Andray Blatche hit a fadeaway jumper with 8.9 seconds left to pull the Nuggets within 2. Ramon Sessions was fouled and appeared poised to ice the game by making both free throws. Sessions, however, missed both free throws and the Nuggets, with no time outs left, secured the rebound and found the newly acquired Kyle Korver streaking down the court. With just .8 seconds to go, Korver drained a three from the right wing to put the Nuggets up by 1. The Nuggets' heavy defensive pressure on the inbounds pass resulted in a halfcourt heave from Pau Gasol which didn't come close, resulting in a wild Nuggets win.

The Nuggets had 8 players score in double figures, led by Ty Lawson who scored 21 points and added 14 assists, 2 steals, and a block to his totals for the night. Marcin Gortat had 20 points and 13 rebounds. The Nuggets bench continued its stellar play even without Wilson Chandler, who was a gametime decision for the game. The bench effort was led by Ben Gordon and Andray Blatche. Gordon scored 18 points, 16 in the first half where he was 5-5 from the field, and added 3 assists and 3 steals. Blatche added 16 points, including the aforementioned shot that pulled the Nuggets to striking distance in overtime, and 2 blocks in 33 minutes off the bench.

"To win a game like this, it feels great," said Lawson. "It really shows how well our team was able to withstand adversity and come together as a unit to get the win. It was a total team effort tonight."

"It's games like these that really show you what your team is made of," said Tayshaun Prince, who spent most of the game guarding Kobe Bryant. "I've been on a championship team and the way our guys played tonight, it felt like I was back in 2003. People were saying before the game that we wouldn't be able to handle Kobe without Wilson or that their big guys would be too much for us. We proved that we can compete with these guys. There's still a lot we could improve on though."

George Karl agreed with Prince's sentiments.

"It's great that Kyle was able to hit that shot for the win," said Karl. "But at the same time, if we had played better defense in the second half, we might not have needed Kyle to make that shot. The dropoff in defensive intensity from the first half to the second was unacceptable. Our rebounding wasn't very good either. Part of that was their big men just having more size than us, but we have to box out better and not let them get so many offensive rebounds. If their guards are able to sneak in there and steal rebounds, that's a big problem."

The hero of the game was newly acquired G/F Kyle Korver, whose game winning shot also gave Ty Lawson his career high 14th assist.

"I think people know what I do pretty well," said Korver. "When I'm in the game, my job is to hit threes, and we needed a three for the win. Ty was able to find me in my spot, and fortunately, I made the shot. It was a great feeling for sure. To be in only my second game with these guys and to have helped them win a game like that against a great team like the Lakers, it's special."

The Nuggets will face reigning MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in their next game.

[DePaulfan21]

Hot sauce FTW

[clonetrooper264]

Hot sauce FTW

Should've put "GIMME DAT HAWT SAWCE" in there somewhere...

[clonetrooper264]

Game for this chise coming out tomorrow sometime after I get on campus. I shockingly will have a tv and thus I can bring my PS3.

[clonetrooper264]

Nuggets shut down Bulls

It was a continuation of a disappointing season for the Chicago Bulls as they dropped a game at home to the Denver Nuggets. Rose had 25 points and Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 10 boards, but it was not enough as the Bulls shot poorly from the field the whole game. The Nuggets were led by Andray Blatche's 22 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Ben Gordon added 16 points of his own, mostly coming from downtown as the Nuggets rode their bench to yet another victory.

"It's such a luxury to have bench guys like BG and Andray," said Ty Lawson. "They could be starters on a lot of teams but they're coming off the bench for us. Even against a deep team like Chicago I think we have the best bench in the league."

"Rebounding was key," said Nuggets coach George Karl. "The whole team crashed the boards and it really payed off for us. We had several second chance points early that really put us in a good position to be in the lead for the rest of the game."

The Nuggets dominated the Bulls on the glass 49-38, no small feat considering the Bulls have premier rebounders in Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, and Taj Gibson.

"Our defense was also superb this game," continued Karl. "We forced them to a lot of tough shots late in the clock which is what we want. We really shut down Rip as well. He's really the X-factor for them...when he plays well, they play well."

The Nuggets will face the Detroit Pistons tomorrow in the second half of this back to back.