Billups' Big Night Covers for Carmelo

Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.

Carmelo Anthony has often been criticized for his failure to the lead the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs in five tries, but that's simply unfair. Truth be told, Denver's history of early exits began long before Anthony even entered high school, let alone became the Nuggets' whipping boy.

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In fact, the last time any Nuggets team saw the second round was in 1994 when Dikembe Mutombo, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and LaPhonso Ellis snuck into the playoffs and shocked the world by toppling the top-ranked Sonics (coached, ironically, by George Karl).

And the time before that? You have to go all the way back to 1988 when Doug Moe roamed the sidelines, ALF was a hit TV show and Carmelo was just three years old.

Given such an embarrassing track record of long summer vacations, the Nuggets made a wise move in November to acquire Chauncey Billups, a point guard who's started more playoff games over the last six years than almost any other player in the league.

And in his first playoff game with the Nuggets, Billups wasted no time showing how he earned the nickname "Mr. Big Shot," carving out a niche in Denver's postseason lore (slight as it may be) by nailing eight of nine 3-pointers on his way to 36 points while out-dueling Chris Paul in a blowout win over the Hornets. His eight treys not only set a new career high but also a franchise playoff record. All in all, he was a surgeon on the court, shooting 10-of-15 from the field and 8-of-8 from the line, racking up eight dimes with nary a single turnover.



Anthony, meanwhile, suffered through an off night, shooting just 4-of-12 from the field and finishing with 13 points. Behind Billups' heroics, Anthony was a complete afterthought -- which, the more you think about it, is actually quite significant.

Anthony doesn't have to carry this team night in and night out; it's possible for him to have one of the worst nights a star can expect to have in the playoffs and still win by 29. It's only one game and all that jazz, but this is the first time in a long time I can recall such a poor performance instilling so much confidence that a team is headed in the right direction.

Doing Lines

The Magic fell to the 76ers, but it was through no fault of Dwight Howard, who racked up a personal playoff-high 31 points on 11-13 shooting to go with 16 boards and a pair of blocks. He couldn't be stopped, not even when fouled: a career 60% shooter from the stripe, he hit 9-12 free throws.

Watching Film



The NBA is known for its catchy commercials, whether it's the omnipresent "Where Amazing Happens" montages or the funny mini tour bus spots. But chess?

I'm just not feeling it. The voiceover seems like something out of a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings trailer, and the video went on for about 90 seconds longer than I wanted it to. In fact, the only reason I watched it from beginning to end was because I was waiting for a "rook"/Derrick Rose reference, and that never happened. Rare miss by the NBA's marketing folks.

On the Blockquote

Jerry Sloan on his team's demeanor:

"We're not a nasty team," Sloan said. "Most of the teams that we've had here have been pretty nasty in that they will get after you from daylight to dark. We're just learning how to get after it a little bit more as we go along with the younger guys. Part of that's my fault, I take full responsibility for that. Because I probably haven't been nasty enough with 'em."

Kobe Bryant upon learning of Sloan's comments:

"Well you know, I'm a game connoisseur, so I know how nasty Sloan was when he was playing," Bryant said. "And pardon my French, but your ass would be kicked out of the league if you played that physical nowadays," he continued.

Ira Winderman's initial thoughts on Miami's 90-64 loss:

Uh, this wasn't good.

Joe Smith's rap lyrics (no, really):

"Got girls looking at me like he's that dude/Tall and sexy, he's so cute, plus I know he plays ball so he got loot/Heard that before, put 'em all on mute."