Nothing To Mess With
The Spurs may have coasted over them last year in the first round, but, don’t sleep on the Nuggets this season. Though a 10:30 east coast start time likely has the tendency to do just that to fans, Denver’s worst enemy is themselves. The Nuggets may not be a playoff team right this second, they soon could be, and with the way the tight Western Conference is breaking down, they could ruin someone’s season in that first round. Spurs fans should hope the Nuggets don’t make it, trust me.
Talent isn’t an issue, and it wasn’t last year. AI and Melo combine to average over 50 points a contest, and there’s no telling when one or the other or both will absolutely go off. Take tonight, for example. Iverson takes over the first half, and Carmelo recovers from a 1-7 FG 1st half to drop in a casual quarter century. Final product? A 13 point victory over the second hottest team in the league coming in (sorry, Houston’s too damn good right now, 17 beats 11), and only two of your starters score over 8 points. Guess who those two fellas were…
Talk all you want about J.R. Smith or Eduardo Najera. The two bench buddies had good games, no doubt there, but this team’s strength doesn’t come from either of those two specifically, but in that they have several of those “guys” that can go off at any point to help out the big boys. Some nights it might be, gasp!, Camby. Others, it could even be Mizzou’s finest, Linas Kleiza, who didn’t even score in this game, but has bombed for 41 earlier in the season. Throw in a healthy K-Mart, and solid contributions from the two-headed “intangible” (codeword: no one better on roster) PG behemoth of Chucky Atkins and Anthony Carter, and you’ve got a squad.
The issue, whenever there has been one, has been a lack of effort, or some sort of internal problem. Carmelo and JR suspended. K-Mart not fully healthy. Players (insert who ever you’d like here, all apply) not giving full effort for full games. Whatever the situation, whatever the problem, it’s nearly always been internal.
For the Spurs, a loss, while uncommon in these parts, isn’t a big deal. Don’t let it turn into a slide though. A rough stretch doesn’t even begin to describe the patch of games coming up. Phoenix, Denver again, New Orleans, Detroit, and Boston all in the next week plus. Strap it on, the road ahead could get bumpy.
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