So, for the fourth time this season the Denver Nuggets will be playing the Houston Rockets. Yep. Fourth time. Sooooooooo … what to talk about.
Seriously. What to talk about?
Of the Nuggets and Rockets games this season, I think I've covered three of them. I spent most of the day trying to think of something new to say about Houston, but honestly I can't think of anything. It didn't help that I was distracted by loads of work I put off from the week before, but still, it's hard coming up something to say when you've played someone this often.
Maybe we can talk about Houston’s starting lineup? Wanna talk about how Luis Scola is a good player again? How about how much I dislike Kyle Lowry (seriously, I want Kenyon Martin to “regulate” Lowry into the first row)? Say we talk about how Kevin Martin may be the single most annoying player on the the Houston Rockets? How about Chuck Hayes being the shortest center in the league? Shane Battier being a good defender? Yao Ming being injured?
Looks like we covered everything. That’s the hard thing about these teams you play so much … it’s hard to constantly come up with fresh things to say about them. Their record is 25-30 and is another one of those “better than their record” things. Rick Adelman is a good coach and has done the best with what he’s got. Beyond that … ehhhhh. The Nuggets lost to the Rockets last week despite Carmelo Anthony scoring 50 points. Denver leads the season series 2-1 (Nuggets winning in Houston 107-94 the third game of the year).
As for our Nuggets (31-24). What to say? They had their win snatched from the jaws of victory last night against the inexplicably named Memphis Grizzlies. Embarrassing. Yet, with the way this season has gone it’s probably not all that unexpected. As the fourth quarter progressed it became a depressing reality that the Nuggets were losing yet another game after having a large lead. Definitely not the stuff of legend. When you lose a 17-point lead in the late stages of the second half, hanging your head in shame isn’t far off.
Nuggets of Wisdom
It has occurred to me that any lineup featuring both Chris Andersen and Al Harrington is doomed for horrific failure. Both are the most uncoordinated people on the planet and when they are in together it seems like a collection of calamities waiting to happen. The second unit has been vexing, particularly in the third and fourth quarters. It seems as if they do their best to give up leads, which the starting unit has to struggle to re-take (but, lets face it, the Nuggets loss last night was a definite team loss).
Chauncey Billups and Melo need to continue to play well. Arron Afflalo needs to regain his shooting touch from the Dallas Mavericks game. Is is too much to ask for a solid sustained performance on the road for once? I’d like for the team to prove me wrong, but with the way this season has gone so far I’m not holding out much hope for this one.
Fingers crossed however.
Oppositions Take: The Dream Shake
