Don't Crown Denver Just Yet

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

The Nuggets have been the most impressive team in the West to this point in the playoffs. They crushed the Hornets so badly that Byron Scott may lose his job and the roster might be overhauled before next season. And now, after a Tuesday night Game 2 victory over the Mavericks, Denver finds itself halfway to the conference finals.

Based on who they've played, though, should we really be considering them as a candidate for one of the best teams in the conference? All signs point to NO.

Doing Lines: Dirk Doing Work | Watching Film: The Jet Gets Pranked
On the Blockquote: Joe Johnson's Tired

Denver is a nice team. It has made a nice surge since Chauncey Billups was brought into town to run the show and George Karl finally got himself some healthy, capable bigs who were willing to do a little more than run down to the offensive end of the floor and call for the ball on an alley-oop.

But let's not forget, this is a Nuggets team that truly hasn't been tested yet. They beat up on a severely undermanned and overrated Hornets team, and they're now up 2-0 on a Mavericks team that was without Josh Howard for most of Game 2, who frankly wasn't all that great to begin with.

Jason Kidd expired two years ago, and Dirk Nowitzki, for all his freakish athleticism and ability to create shots for himself anywhere on the floor, just doesn't seem to be the type of guy who can be that number one player to lead his team deep into the playoffs. (At this point, remember, the Mavs team that went to the Finals was a lot deeper than just Dirk.) And mentally, the Mavs seem to break down and give up if the games begin to get out of hand, which might explain the reason for their multiple losses this season by more than 20 points.

Denver appears to be a fine playoff basketball team. They're finally getting contributions from enough players where the pressure is completely off Carmelo Anthony to perform, which is (by the way) just the way he likes it. But just because the Nuggets are rolling over some teams that are average at best, this doesn't mean that they're capable of beating the Lakers or the Rockets in a seven-game series. In fact, it doesn't even mean that the Nuggets are through with the Mavericks yet in this series, as it shifts to Dallas for the next two games.

The Nuggets are a fine team, and are, without question, one of the top three teams remaining in the playoffs who happen to be in the Western Conference. All I'm saying is, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Doing Lines
By Matt Watson

Right now no one will be surprised if the Mavs go down in four -- they've shown no fight in the fourth quarter in the first two games of this series -- but you can't fault Dirk Nowitzki. After going for 28 and 10 in Game 1, he went off for 35 and nine last night, posting a semi-respectable (at least in the context of a 12-point loss) -3 in the plus/minus column. [Box Score]

Joe Johnson, a three-time All-Star who's head and shoulders Atlanta's best offensive option, scored 11 points in 39 minutes against the Cavs. It's not even like he suffered a bad shooting night -- he shot 50% -- it's just that he attempted all of 10 shots. Predictably, the Hawks lost in a landslide. If he doesn't assert himself like the max-contract player he is (and even that might not be enough), this series will be over in four. [Box Score]

Watching Film

That's just cold. Hilarious, but cold. Apparently, though, Jet harbors no ill feelings.

On the Blockquote

Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Joe Johnson admitted after the game that he's tired. It is understandable, he logged the most minutes of anyone in the NBA this season after playing for Team USA last summer. He took just four shots in the first half because the Cavs were double-teaming and he wasn't fighting. The Hawks generally got great performances from Mike Bibby and Josh Smith. Al Horford and Marvin Williams are hurting, who knows what they can bring. But it is pretty obvious the Hawks are going to have a hard time when they don't get a great game from Johnson. With those doubles sure to continue and his tired legs, I'm not sure how many he has in him right now.

Dallas Morning News:

"It's my right ankle,'' [Josh] Howard said. "It's been sore. I tried to get through it tonight, but my ankle didn't respond the way I wanted it to.

"I'm going to continue icing and treatment, and the plan is that I will be ready on Saturday.''

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-06-2009 @ 10:28AM

cantstopdrinkin said...

I like some of your comments about the Nuggets ( addition of Billups of course, but also that for the first time they are healthy) but how can you say that and then say the Hornets were undermanned AND overrated. My problem is with the overrated part. They werent overrated , just really hurt. The same exact team MINUS Posey almost made the conf finals last year because they were fully healthy and now they arent even near full health and all of a sudden they are overrated? What is happening in Denver is the same thing that happened to NO last year (except its helped also by the addition of Billups) in that Denver has constantly been hurt just like the Hornets were before last year and now Denver is fully healthy for the first time around playoff time , just like NO was last year, and they are surging. The playoffs have just as much ,if not more, to do with health then ANYTHING. I really think people underestimate how important it is to be healthy (esp your bigs). You can have the best team in the league by far and if your not healthy your not going to go anywhere past the conf semi's or at the most the conf finals....

5-06-2009 @ 10:31AM

But what compounded the problem even more for NO is they have NO depth , probably the worst depth of any team to make the playoffs, and they were going against the team with the most depth. And also they were going against the team with probably the most atheltic group of bigs and NO's important bigs Chandler and West were both playing with injuries to the lower legs and its IMPOSSIBLE to play playoff defense against athletic bigs like Denver's when you cant move laterally.... impossible. And thats why we saw what we saw...

5-06-2009 @ 10:34AM

5-06-2009 @ 10:37AM

And one more thing i forgot to put in my first comment Brett then ill leave it be lol. If you really wanna know just how hurt Chandler was add up how many alley-oops him and CP connected on ..... actually just see how many they even tried. They are by far the best alley-oop duo in the league when healthy, they had maybe 5-10 tries in 5 games!? And thats pushing it

5-06-2009 @ 11:49AM

D_Average said...

I said it before the playoffs started, and I'll say it again, Denver IS the team to beat this year.

5-06-2009 @ 12:55PM

Michael gifford said...

"joe johnson is tired, he logged the most minutes because he played for Team USA"???? really and Kobe, Lebron and Pau Gasol ALL of whom not only played for team usa but also went one more round deeper in the playoffs and in the Lakers case 2....Joe Johnson should quit the excuses and just show up...Kobe and others like them show up sick, tired, sore, hurt and always come to play...that's the issue with Johnson...star in his own mind and will never make the leap til he makes the commitment...

5-06-2009 @ 1:34PM

john said...

Funny, I thought the Rockets were playing the best in the west. Silly me, they actually have played two GOOD teams and have only lost one more game than Denver....