Well, it’s Tuesday. What is Nuggets Nation to do as the team doesn’t play for well over 24-hours? You could take a quick listen to Andrew Feinstein on Clough Talk 4-18 here. And you can read some additional random thoughts by yours truly and read up on some news and opinion after the jump.
– I’m not a big fan of Wilson Chandler‘s pull-up jumpers when the Nuggets are in transition. I am a huge believer that Chandler is a phenomenal player with a ton of upside, but he’s got to start taking the ball to the rim and throwing down once he gets there. I’ve seen Wilson’s athleticism and know he can finish in traffic. Check out this dunk over JaVale McGee. It seems that he’s comfortable pulling up and I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, but I wonder if he’s ever worried about his ankles and the impact that dunking may take on them … not sure. He has had a couple surgeries on his ankles and has had to sit out some recent games because of the chronic pain. If Chandler becomes more aggressive on this series it will mean two things – a good free throw shooter will find his way to the foul line and Kevin Durant will have to expend more energy on defense.
– Why wasn’t Chandler on the floor when the Nuggets needed a three-pointer last night? Chandler routinely hits difficult shots and it’s a pretty clutch player. Anyone remember him clinching the game for the Knicks against the Nuggets back on December 12th? Check it out here at the :45 second mark. Gotta have your best shooters on the floor in close games.
– My friend Joel wanted to know why everyone was so up in arms over the offensive basket interference non-call when Nuggets fans should be more concerned with who wasn’t boxing out Kendrick Perkins or Thabo Sefolosha. Pretty good call right there. It’s hard to account for guys that come flying into the lane, but Kenyon Martin lost position to Perkins inside and had Perkins not even been there, Sefolosha was right there for the tip or dunk as well while Nene and K-Mart were both still on the ground – watch it here at the 2:50 mark. Denver needs to do a much better job on the glass on both ends of the floor in Game 2 on Wednesday. Only 5 offensive rebounds? That’s not going to cut it.
– In the comment section of yesterday’s Golden Nuggets there was some talk from an OKC fan about Jeff Morton being called “salty” and an “idiot” by Kevin Durant via Twitter for his piece about trying to turn the negatives of the first game into some positives. The writer at Daily Thunder.com responded to something Durant said, but Durant’s comments are nowhere to be found. Did KD delete his comments about Mr. Morton? He wont stand by his own words? Gotta keep that image squeaky clean.
– We can all keep saying that Denver would have won had they made half of their 12 missed free throws, but the fact is the Nuggets are struggling to make the freebies so we can't expect that to just turn around. The Nuggets might be battling missed free throw points all series long. Would practicing free throws help at this point? Hopefully the mental block will go away as I believe the issue is more in the players' heads than it is the actual shooting.
– It's crazy how the Nuggets team is sort of like a group of Aspen trees. Aspen trees are all connected – a group of what looks like individuals on the surface, that are actually connected at the roots and are affected by one another. The poor free throw shooting seems to be contagious as does the three-point shooting. The Nuggets most consistent deep threat will be on the bench for Game 2, so we might see more streaky shooting from these Nuggets – let's hope this team can get hot.
– Arron Afflalo‘s injured left hamstring raises a pretty big question on who is to blame. Afflalo mentioned yesterday that he wants to get past the 10-day window for allowing the hammy to heal before playing again. My question, why wasn’t he held out longer after he re-injured it the first time? Is it the training staff’s fault? The player? A combination? Just bad luck? Afflalo’s presence is greatly missed. His place in the rotation gives the Nuggets a much more dynamic group, but there is no reason why the Nuggets cannot overcome his absence. Afflalo is a tireless worker and I know it’s eating him up inside not to be out there with his teammates.
– Why does the court at the Oklahoma City Arena have yellow on it yet the uniforms don't have yellow in them?
– Should the ticket sales crew be responsible for calling season ticket holders to remind them to show up without a shirt for playoff games in which the organization will provide T-shirts? Do the folks in the upper deck get shirts?
On to the links…
Clough Talk 104.3 FM – Sandy Clough (Feinstein clip: Andrew Feinstein on Clough Talk 4-18)
Some nice talk here about Game 1 and moving forward. Andrew has a suggestion for how to get the Nuggets back to their old ways at the foul line.
Thunder hones in on enhanced strategy to stop Nuggets' center Nene – Chris Dempsey, Denver Post
The Thunder coaches want the players to get more physical against Nene and not allow him the position he wants to catch the ball in the post. Good luck.
Kiszla: It's official – key call missed – Mark Kiszla, Denver Post
Kiszla talks about the missed call obviously and he has this gem, "In the NBA, talent trumps teamwork." Kizzzz can't be serious can he? Talent is nice, but year-in-and-year-out the best teams win the title. I hate this whole "talent wins" crap. Have these talent riding clowns ever played the game?
Pacers Lose Collison in First Half, Give Away Another Victory in Final Minutes – Nathan S., Indy Cornrows
I hope we don’t the “give away another victory” thing with the Nuggets. Gotta close out games – comes with experience. Pacers could be up 2-0 or even at 1-1, but inexperience has them down 0-2.
Miami Heat Disembowel Sixers in Game Two – Michael Levin, Liberty Ballers
Not what you want to read about after the second game of a series …
Rick Adelman, Rockets part ways – ESPN.com
This is sort of surprising as the Rockets have never had a healthy team and they traded away Shane Battier. Maybe it’s time for a fresh voice in Houston.
Zach Randolph to sign new deal – Chris Broussard, ESPN.com
After getting their first post-season win in 13 tries, the news of Randolph’s new deal goes public. Funny timing, but it’s never a bad time to tell the world you are getting $71 million guaranteed over four years. Randolph has had to work hard to repair his reputation around the league as a serious player, but after listening to his post-game comments after his Grizzlies team won game one against the Spurs – it would appear Zach has matured. He had nothing but great things to say about his teammates and came across very well.
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