Nuggets Run Into the Great Wall of Dallas 115-95

Playing a back to back road game after a demoralizing thrashing in Denver by the Jazz, the Nuggets flew to Dallas, played hard rather than tired, but too sloppy and not smart enough by pro b-ball standards, and were handled without much difficulty by the team that has so few weaknesses that they give you almost nothing to take advantage of. The Mavericks are an astounding 26-3 at home this season, and they have lost 1 home game (to Detroit on December 7) in the 3 1/2 months since November 8. They have now won 19 straight games at home, including wins over most of the other top teams in the Western Conference. Absolutely no one is beating Avery Johnson's squad in Dallas this year. In fact, almost no one is beating his squad anywhere; the Mavs are an incredible 46-5 overall after starting 0-4. Those Mark Cuban fines did nothing to stop his building the team that has to be the big favorite to win it all this year.

The winningest team in the League went about their business taking advantage of the Nugget's turnovers and porous inside defense, got 56 points in the paint and a nifty .511 field goal percentage, and drove another nail into what may end up being the coffin of the Nugget's playoff hopes and the 2006-2007 season as a whole. The Nugget's turnover gauge was in the red "meltdown" zone again at the end of this one. They had 23 turnovers, although the Mavs had 17, which is worse than their average of 13.

PF Dirk Nowitzki made a respectable 6/16 jumpers and scored 31 points on 10/22 shooting overall, and with 11 rebounds and 8 assists, he came very close to a "triple double". SF Josh Howard, who suffered an ankle sprain Thursday night against the Heat and was questionable, not only played virtually the entire game on his sore ankle, but put on a jump shooting show that was almost as good as Melo's, and finished with 27 points on 12/22 shooting.

When you have forwards like this, you have the luxury of having your center concentrate only on stopping penetration, which is exactly what Mavericks center Erick Dampier did; he produced 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals along with making life miserable for Nuggets wanting to take it to the hoop, particularly Iverson and Nene.

The Mavs average 7/18 from behind the 3-point line but they were so unimpressed by Nene, Camby, and other Denver interior defenders that they decided to bulldoze their way to scores in the paint in this one and were just 4/9 from downtown versus 3/10 for the Nuggets. The problem for the Nuggets here, of course, is that with J.R. Smith recovering from knee surgery, they have no one left who is fully qualified to take 3-point shots except for DerMarr Johnson, who George Karl apparently hates with a passion and refused to play at all for the second straight game no J.R. game.

The Nuggets, who are now fully getting that "we are on the ropes" feeling, came in with a little desperation and alot of attitude on their shoulders. But the Mavericks are the NBA's best in your face team; they can mock you by responding to what you do by doing the same back to you, and then beat you by doing what you can not do. The scrappy Nuggets got 13 steals against the Mavericks, but the Mavs stole it right back 12 times. And both the Mavs and the Nuggets ended up well above their usual number of personal fouls. But the Nuggets also "fouled the refs" and were given three technical fouls, including one handed out to George Karl, who has probably had at least one disturbing dream lately where he saw himself coaching the Grizzlies in Memphis next season.

The Nuggets used that increasing desperation they are feeling to stay in the game through the first half; Dallas was up only 60-56 at the half. During the intermission, there must have been some fighting words in the locker room and the Nuggets plotted what would have been a stunning upset. But they had 7 turnovers in the 3rd quarter, including 3 offensive fouls and a Melo travel. These are the kinds of turnovers you get when you are kind of desperate and in too much of a rush to get your points. The referees normally do not permit players to get sloppy on execution just because they are getting desperate for a win and think they can pull a stunning upset.

The Nuggets have now lost 18 of their last 19 games in Dallas over the last decade. Maybe next year the League will allow the Nuggets to play in Dallas after a rest to give them a chance for their first win there since the Clinton administration. Both games this year were back to backs for Denver but not for Dallas.

Not only did George Karl refuse to play DerMarr Johnson again, but for some unknown reason refused to play Reggie Evans, who gets more offensive rebounds per minute than folks like Tyson Chandler, Emeka Okafor, and Ben Wallace. True, some of those rebounds are so that he can stuff in his own missed layup, but so what? The Nuggets need his layups, too. With Evans stuck on the bench all night, the Nuggets had a pathetic 6 offensive rebounds, versus 11 for the Mavs, and had just 75 shot attempts versus 88 for the Mavs. Benching Evans was worse than shooting yourself in the foot, it was shooting yourself in the head.

So like a bank robber who can't stop with just one heist, Karl committed a multiple felony benching in this one: he had two players sitting on the bench the whole night who were badly needed to give the Nuggets a chance to win the game. I am afraid that it's time to put Rick Adelman's number on the speed dials at Nuggets headquarters.

Kleiza played 21 minutes and was 1/6, 1/3 on 3's and 4/4 from the line for 7 points, and he had 2 rebounds and a steal. Diawara played 21 minutes and was 1/5, 0/3 on 3's and 1/3 from the line for 3 points. Najera played 26 minutes and was 3/7 for 6 points, and he added 3 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a block.

Steve Blake played 25 minutes and was 0/2 and 1/2 from the line for 1 point, and he had 4 assists and 2 rebounds.

Nene played 23 minutes and was 4/8 for 8 points, and he had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Camby played 36 minutes and was 2/6 and 6/7 from the line for 10 points, and he had 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. Camby missed a "triple double" by just 3 assists. Camby seems to play his best against the best teams, a fact which fans should keep in mind if the Nuggets can get their act together and make it into the playoffs.

A.I. played 43 minutes and was 8/18, 2/4 on 3's, and 8/9 from the line for 26 points, and he had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He was an excellent 8/14 on jumpers.

Melo played for 41 minutes and was 14/23 and 6/8 from the line for 34 points, and he also had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He was an excellent 7/12 on jumpers.

The next game will be Monday, Feb. 26 in Memphis to play the Grizzlies at 6 pm mountain time.