The fans of the Denver Nuggets can thank their hometown hero Chauncey Billups for their win yesterday. He saved them. Anytime that Anthony Carter or JR Smith are in position to be in the game at the end you will have a scary situation. I just don't understand George Karl's coaching. Maybe he doesn't have anyone else but Carter or Smith should join Renaldo Balkman and Sonny Weems in a suit for the 4th. Can't Karl go to Jason Hart, who saw quality minutes with the Spurs a couple of years ago? I'm a Carolina guy through and through but he is not a good coach (see USA's 2002 World Championship team).
Carmelo carried the team during the 2nd and 3rd quarters with his pull-up jumpers. Linas Kleiza played a great all around game (amazing to see transformation from his two years at Mizzou when he was a beast inside and now he just shoots 3's). Can someone please tell me how Kleiza isn't getting more minutes. He is the only Nugget that consistently hits 3's. He stretches the defense and opens driving lanes for both Billups and Melo. He needs more burn. Plus his Plus/Minus (yes, hockey reference) for the 20 minutes of work he put in was +16.
Kenyon Martin was his usual self, getting into the middle of everything. KMart needs to understand one thing and one thing only. STOP SHOOTING JUMPERS! He needs to attack the basket, he is so much better that way. Anyone remember when he was in the Finals (against you guessed it, the Lakers) with the Nets and he decided to take the ball to the basket instead of settling for jumpers, he ended up with over 30.
Now, I'm not big fan of the Lakers (because of Kobe) and would love to see them lose but Pau Gasol needs more than eight shots for them to win this series. He finished with a great game with 17 points and 17 boards but he needs the ball more. Nene and Chris Anderson aren't good enough defenders to keep up with him. Kobe needs to stop acting like a baby and just play ball.
By the way, the guys from the Lakers and Nuggets aren't even close to the Europeans when it comes to complaining to the referees. I watched the EuroLeague Final Four a couple of weeks ago and every single play is like life and death there. The coaches are going crazy and just about every player is in the ref's ear even during play. Sarunas Jasikevicius (former Maryland guard and Lithuanian National Team member) is probably the biggest whiner I've ever seen. I don't think he has ever committed a foul and he probably gets fouled on every play. Now I love his intensity, but let a play or two go.
While I was watching the Semis between Greek powers Panathinaikos and Olympiacos Piraeus I noticed a call not go the way American Josh Childress wanted and he decided to desanitize (if that's a word) his mouthpiece and throw it to the ground in front of the ref. He wasn't given a "T" or even looked at by the ref. He even threw in some verbal diarrhea for some good measure and didn't even get a rise out of the ref. So if anyone thinks the NBA guys are bad, just a gently reminder to watch any European basketball and you will mistaken.
Cavs by 18 tonight.
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