Denver Nuggets Breakdown: Romp Over L.A. Reminds That West is Three-Deep

[Erick Blasco]

All the preseason and early season forecasts have tabbed the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers as the prohibitive favorites to represent the Western Conference in this year’s Finals.

 

After trouncing the Lakers 105-79 though, the Denver Nuggets reminded the NBA that omitting them from title talk would be erroneous. Quite simply, few teams have either the offensive firepower or the defensive energy the Nuggets have, yet alone both.

 

Here’s the rundown on how the Nuggets do what they do.

Offense

 

Because Denver has terrific three-point firepower (6-16 at the game at hand), they generate tremendous spacing for their isolations, high and wing screen/rolls, and post ups, where double teams are quickly punished.

 

This is important because so many Nuggets are accomplished one-one-scorers while doubling as willing passers.

 

Carmelo Anthony is Denver’s go-to-guy and has one of the most well-rounded offensive repertoires in the league. It was his 18 points in the second half that turned a two-point halftime nail-biter into a 26-point romp.

 

Of Anthony’s 25 points, eight came in transition, nine came on baseline drives with strong finishes, four came on cuts without the ball (including a clever fake screen, dive, catch, and dunk), two came on a screen/roll where he shook off the contact of Luke Walton and nailed a jumper, and only two came on a standstill isolation jumper.

 

Only a select few in the NBA posses Anthony’s combination of speed, strength, and shooting form. Kobe Bryant has it, no doubt. LeBron is developing the jump shot, but he can’t attack from the multitude of areas on a court Anthony can because he can’t post up and rarely plays along the baseline. Brandon Roy doesn’t have the overpowering strength, and Dwyane Wade doesn’t have the range.

 

The point being that Anthony is a rare breed in the NBA. He’s even an exceptional passer!

 

Chauncey Billups couldn’t shake Derek Fisher—1-8 FG—but he got the ball to the places it needed to go to—8 AST, 1 TO.

 

Arron Afflalo hit his open jumpers—4-4 FG, 8 PTS.

 

Nene showed off explosive spin moves in the pivot and sank two of his three jumpers, while Kenyon Martin bricked the majority of his awkward drives and line-drive jumpers. Each made nifty interior passes whether on the move or feeding cutters.

 

J.R. Smith showed off his electric talents to their full extent—7-16 FG, 4-10 3FG, 20 PTS.

 

Chris Andersen worked hard on the offensive glass with six offensive rebounds among his 11 total.

 

Ty Lawson showed warp-speed quickness, an accurate jump shot, good vision, and extreme athleticism when he capped off the game with a poster dunk late in the fourth. If he can remain accurate from the outside, he’ll easily replace the scoring lost with Linas Kleiza overseas.

 

Of course the Nuggets had their problems. They missed over a dozen layups, overhandled and overpenetrated at times (especially Smith and Billups), and generated many of their points from poor Lakers court balance. On the other hand, they demonstrated an unselfishness juxtaposed with their aggression with their sterling ratio of 28 assists on 37 turnovers. The fact is, Denver has as much scoring punch as anyone, and can easily overcome most of their mistakes with a J.R. Smith hotstreak or three.

 

Defense

 

Denver plays an aggressive double teaming defense that turned the tide in the third quarter. Wing screen/rolls and corner screen/rolls are trapped aggressively, with the pass back to the middle of the court often overplayed.

 

When doubling the post, doubles are hard and tight, choking the airspace of the player trying to post up, and forcing the post player to swing the ball to blind spots.

 

Those double teams result in turnovers (Denver forced 16 Lakers turnovers) which fuel their fast break (16 fast break points).

 

When asked to play one-on-one, Afflalo did a yeoman’s job holding down Kobe Bryant. While Kobe recorded 19 points, the majority came against Smith, Martin, and Andersen. Afflalo is already filling Dahntay Jones’ shoes nicely.

 

Denver’s interior rotations were generally on point, forcing the Lakers to miss a dozen layups of their own.

 

Denver’s rambling, scrambling style coaxed the Lakers into taking more bad shots than they’re accustomed to, which proceeded to more run outs and more transition opportunities.

 

Martin and Anthony made several exceptional defensive rotations.

 

However, while the Nuggets defensive blitz allowed them to take control in the third quarter, they also showed many holes which will need to be corrected.

 

Too often Smith would give up on Kobe’s drives, leaving Bryant with uncontested pull-ups. Smith also was totally flustered when presented with a baseline screen causing Chris Andersen to switch onto Bryant. The resulting no-match led to an easy score for Kobe. The hope is that as Smith gets back into playing shape, his defense will pick up, a reasonable expectation.

 

While Martin had no problems shoving Kobe to the floor on off-ball cuts, he was abused on the glass by Odom and Bynum early in the game.

 

When Bynum attacked Andersen directly, the Birdman was unable to spread his wings and contest. Also, simple pump fakes would get the Birdman to spread his wings and soar out of the play.

 

Nene’s interior rotations were hit-or-miss, and he too had trouble with Bynum’s length and strength around the basket.

 

The Nuggets responded to their first major test with a satisfactory performance on both ends. However, the caveat is that the Lakers were playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road, and were without Pau Gasol. The Nuggets can also counter that J.R. Smith is still rounding into form after his early season suspension.

 

The Nuggets won the first battle between the two conference powers, but a three-week January-February stretch where the Nuggets go to San Antonio, Los Angeles, Utah, and Cleveland, while hosting Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Sacramento will be a better determinant as to how capable the Nuggets are of winning the war.

[YugoRocketsFan]

The Spurs? I think their time is done, its pretty much Rockets, Lakers, maybe Mavericks and Suns

Edited November 15, 2009 by YugoRocketsFan

[Erick Blasco]

Three years ago people thought their time was done, five years ago people thought their time was done...

[Warren2ThaG]

The Spurs? I think their time is done, its pretty much Rockets, Lakers, maybe Mavericks and Suns

 

Do you even watch bball lol? Portland and Denver and SA > Mavs / Suns / Houston.

[Lemon]

Do you even watch bball lol? Portland and Denver and SA > Mavs / Suns / Houston.

 

Mavs and Suns can give trouble to any of those three teams. Houston is still the team that can push anyone to 7 games by shear willpower. But imo, it's way too early in the season to tell where these guys are placed in playoff rankings. I agree with the article though. Even if Lakers were with Pau Gasol, we still may have lost. The Nugget's bigs weren't the problem, it was the scoring of Smith and Anthony while the team played good defense. All together, Nuggets are a Western Elite. As far as NBA elite though, I'd say they're the Portland of the West in that they're almost there but they're still missing something.

Edited November 16, 2009 by GogglesNaproN

[YugoRocketsFan]

Three years ago people thought their time was done, five years ago people thought their time was done...

 

Do you know the timetables you are using? 3 years ago? 5 years ago? They are done as a team, last year showed exactly why because they lost in the 1st round.

[YugoRocketsFan]

Do you even watch bball lol? Portland and Denver and SA > Mavs / Suns / Houston.

 

I do, I watched the game last night where the Rockets beat the Lakers, great game.

 

I also meant to say Nuggets instead of Rockets, wasnt trying to be a homer. But, Denver and LA are the 2 contenders while Mavs and Suns also look great.

 

The Spurs are done though.

[Real Deal]

So if the Nuggets' win over the Lakers means that the West is three deep, what does the Rockets' double-digit win over the Lakers mean?

 

I can't look too deep into this yet. The Lakers are still without Gasol, who is a very important piece to the triangle offense and sometimes the second unit. Our second unit is in the bottom half of the league in overall production and 28th in efficiency, I believe. That wasn't the case last year.

 

Plus, with Kobe's groin injury and Odom nursing a bad back and having to play starter minutes in the process, it was Bynum's team against Denver and Houston. You can't expect anything but losses there.

 

We can venture out East and see the Celtics losing to the Hawks and the Pacers in consecutive games, also. Very similar situation. Does that make the East four deep? Five? And surprisingly, that's a Boston team with everyone playing, at full health.

[Erick Blasco]

Do you know the timetables you are using? 3 years ago? 5 years ago? They are done as a team, last year showed exactly why because they lost in the 1st round.

 

Because Boston was done in 2008 when they didn't even make the playoffs the year before. The last postseason series the Spurs lost with a healthy Manu Ginobili was in 2006. Food for thought.

[YugoRocketsFan]

Because Boston was done in 2008 when they didn't even make the playoffs the year before. The last postseason series the Spurs lost with a healthy Manu Ginobili was in 2006. Food for thought.

 

2 totally different teams and situations Blasco boy. The Spurs are honestly done as a team, they are quite old, Ginobili isnt 100% healthy (doesnt look like it), Duncan is 33, and Parker cannot carry the team, they also have bad role players, I dont see them doing anything this year.

[Erick Blasco]

So if the Nuggets' win over the Lakers means that the West is three deep, what does the Rockets' double-digit win over the Lakers mean?

 

I can't look too deep into this yet. The Lakers are still without Gasol, who is a very important piece to the triangle offense and sometimes the second unit. Our second unit is in the bottom half of the league in overall production and 28th in efficiency, I believe. That wasn't the case last year.

 

Plus, with Kobe's groin injury and Odom nursing a bad back and having to play starter minutes in the process, it was Bynum's team against Denver and Houston. You can't expect anything but losses there.

 

We can venture out East and see the Celtics losing to the Hawks and the Pacers in consecutive games, also. Very similar situation. Does that make the East four deep? Five? And surprisingly, that's a Boston team with everyone playing, at full health.

 

It means that with their effort, smarts, and Aaron Brooks' gun-slinging, the Rockets can beat anyone, anywhere, though probably not for four out of seven games.

 

For Atlanta, we're seeing a maturation in Josh Smith's game that is paying off big time. Of course it doesn't mean that the Hawks will be contenders, but they're worth keeping their eye on closely.

 

The Lakers are fine, they just have to care, play harder, and play smarter, things they really aren't doing right now.

 

Denver's played really well to start the season. Their biggest question marks from last year were their bench scoring, whether Afflalo could replace Dahntay Jones, and whether the roster would keep playing at a high level. They passed those tests with high marks except for Smith's defense. That leads me to believe that they'd have a fighters chance to beat anybody in a playoff series, including the Lakers.

[Erick Blasco]

2 totally different teams and situations Blasco boy. The Spurs are honestly done as a team, they are quite old, Ginobili isnt 100% healthy (doesnt look like it), Duncan is 33, and Parker cannot carry the team, they also have bad role players, I dont see them doing anything this year.

 

The average age of San Antonio's roster is 29.17.

Dallas has the exact same age, at 29.17.

Orlando is third at 28.71 with Boston next at 28.33

 

Yet Dallas, Orlando and Boston are contenders and the Spurs are not?

 

The Lakers are seventh at 27.77, a shade younger than Denver and New Orleans. I don't know what it is but for some reason older teams are better at winning than younger ones.

 

In terms of years of experience, the Spurs are fourth with the Lakers (gee the Lakers are the most experienced team in the league, I guess they're too old to win), Magic, and Mavericks ahead.

 

San Antonio's role players include Antonio McDyess and his accurate shooting, George Hill, a player who impresses every scout with his talent and defense, Roger Mason's ability to perform under pressure, DeJuan Blair's rebounding prowess, Keith Bogans' ornery defense, and Richard Jefferson's two-way game. Sure Matt Bonner is strictly a shooter, Michael Finley is done, and Theo Ratliff is past done, but the last two are players number 12 and 13 on the roster, and Bonner's spacing is necesarry. San Antonio is fine. Those role players played without Duncan and Parker last week and beat the Mavs and Raptors.

[YugoRocketsFan]

The average age of San Antonio's roster is 29.17.

Dallas has the exact same age, at 29.17.

Orlando is third at 28.71 with Boston next at 28.33

 

Yet Dallas, Orlando and Boston are contenders and the Spurs are not?

 

The Lakers are seventh at 27.77, a shade younger than Denver and New Orleans. I don't know what it is but for some reason older teams are better at winning than younger ones.

 

In terms of years of experience, the Spurs are fourth with the Lakers (gee the Lakers are the most experienced team in the league, I guess they're too old to win), Magic, and Mavericks ahead.

 

San Antonio's role players include Antonio McDyess and his accurate shooting, George Hill, a player who impresses every scout with his talent and defense, Roger Mason's ability to perform under pressure, DeJuan Blair's rebounding prowess, Keith Bogans' ornery defense, and Richard Jefferson's two-way game. Sure Matt Bonner is strictly a shooter, Michael Finley is done, and Theo Ratliff is past done, but the last two are players number 12 and 13 on the roster, and Bonner's spacing is necesarry. San Antonio is fine. Those role players played without Duncan and Parker last week and beat the Mavs and Raptors.

 

Yeah still, having this roster does not make them a contender, im seriously skeptical about them when it comes to that, they just arent good anymore.

[Erick Blasco]

Yeah still, having this roster does not make them a contender, im seriously skeptical about them when it comes to that, they just arent good anymore.

 

Well, we'll see. Check in around the end of January when the Spurs put things together every year.