Post Game Report: Grasping At Straws Edition

There have been two perfect storms thus far in the Nuggets season.

The first was in either the Minnesota or N.O. game, when Nene intercepted an outlet pass and found himself ten feet away from the basket, with nothing in his path. He gingerly advanced toward the basket, silently mouthing "esquerda, direita" with each step. After a quick glance around to make sure no one was within ten feet of him, he planted both feet and completed his first dunk of the year. I'll be honest with you: I teared up.

The second was this Celts game. The Nuggets are still a team without an identity. Especially on the defensive end, where most everyone is trying, but no one knows where to be. The Celtics are still on the the honeymoon. A team that makes an extra pass will absolute destroy this scrambling, diving, swarming Nuggets team. And the Celtics were incredibly hot all game, converting not only the easy shots but also the difficult ones (some of Pierce's dipsy-do finger rolls were insane). It was bad, but it was (and is) November.

George Karl's 'let the players play' offense is nice, if your team is filled with acutal ball players. When it's full of Linas Kleiza and Nene running into each other or bringing defenders TO THE MAN WITH THE BALL (WHO IS LIKELY ALREADY FACING A DOUBLE TEAM!), then it's time to think about what you really believe in.

Karl can speak on a lack of 'spirit' or 'energy' all he wants, but that's just code for 'my players let me down'. Don't get it twisted: with the exception of Camby (sometimes) and Melo (on offense!?), everyone is playing hard. It's the system, or lack thereof. Coach 'em up, Georgie, or go back to ESPN.

Let's talk positives:

Von Wafer can flat out shoot the ball. And he made a pretty assist pass. Give this man some minutes.

Bobby Jones makes his impact felt. On defense, he's not a lockdown guy like Yakhouba. He's more like a small, fast Najera, disrupting all five opponents by running around like crazy and bothering people. He forced several turnovers in the open court just by flailing around. I like it. He looked very tentative off the dribble and lost the ball a couple times, but made 3 three-pointers. Minutes for him, too.

(The above two guys should get minutes instead of Khouba, who is flat out limited and will always be, and LK, if Kleiza continues his nightly crisis of confidence bullshit. I've already given up on J.R., who is what he is: the poor man's Ricky Davis.)

Stephen Hunter should play, once in a while, when we're outsized (like in New York maybe?). He's a live big body.

Kenyon played his ass off. He was the only guy to show any leadership. And he must've demanded to go back in the game, cause he played more than 20 for the first time last night. Now that I've accepted the contract, I'm really happy to have K on this team. He means it, at least.

Melo didn't ease my fears last night. He looked sort of content. I've never seen him so happy NOT to have the ball! I should stop praising his passing: yes, 6 assists (btw, assists: most bogus stat in hoops? yeah, probably), but he's also staring down his cutters, and lots of his passes are tipped, or poorly delivered. Don't telegraph your passes, C-lo, you'll end up with molasses. And you're already looking slow enough.