The Denver Nuggets play a high scoring game and come out victorious in Toronto against the Raptors. Giving George Karl a very treasured victory in his coaching career, and they did it without Carmelo Anthony.

 

Because I'm not feeling creative enough to follow up my preview with something equally as snappy, you will have to deal with a summation by quarter. No Carmelo tonight.

 

1st Quarter:

Shelden Williams starts on Andrea Bargnani. Not sure about that match-up.

Nice ball movement by the Nuggets. Feeding Nene early although he's got a case of butter fingers

Ah Toronto…always a very "polite" crowd. Sonny Weems looks good to start the game for the Raptors

Nene could have 40 tonight if the Nuggets keep feeding him 10 points at the 5:55 mark.

Lots of empty seats in Toronto….league wide problem.

Chauncey Billups is going to fake Jerryd Bayless into oblivion…..wait…..was that Al Harrington hitting the three-point shot? Well…wonders never cease.

Nice to see Alex English. Wish he was involved with the Nuggets organization.

INCREDIBLE Drive by J.R. Smith and one the hard way.

Nuggets shoot 75% in the first quarter. Up by six. Very little defense but very entertaining Nuggets up 39-33

 

2nd Quarter:

Chauncey hits a nice 3. Gives himself 18 points at the start of the 2nd.

Shakey start to the second for the Nuggets. Sloppy play with the second unit.

Both teams heating it up. No defense whatsoever. Looks like Big Al is breaking out of his slump.

Neither team can miss. Ty Lawson hit a three. Haha. This is insane offense.

Nuggets need to feed Nene. He is stuck on 10 and the 2nd quarter is almost over. Unacceptable.

Good God. 70 first half points!

74-65 Nuggets at halftime. Nene has 17 points, missed only 1 shot. Chauncey has 18 and Al Harrington has 15 IN THE FIRST HALF!

 

3rd Quarter:

Lets see if the Nuggets can muster up some defense this half

Sloppy start to the 3rd. Nice rebounding. Shelden Williams gets a tech for saying "Come on man!" Don't like that at all.

Nene = Unstoppable! 22 points at the 8:24 mark.

Haywood Workman is dishing out techs like candy. I really hate these  new tech rules

NICE offensive rebound by Gary Forbes. Defense has improved and offense is still efficient!

Nuggets defense has gone on LOCKDOWN! Gary Forbes with two steals in a row.  12-2 run by the Nuggets 19 point lead.

Sloppy play to the end of the quarter. Lots of turnovers and missed shots for both teams. Bench does not play as consistent as the starters in this game.

Nuggets lead 98-86…Raptors close on a 6-0 run. Nuggets need to close. Gary Forbes has 15 points.

 

4th Quarter:

Ty Lawson starts the quarter off nicely with an and-1.

Nice cut to the basket by Big Al. He has 23 so far. Way to break out of your slump!

Klieza is having a nice game….then he blows a wide open layup!…yep, that's the LK we all know and love.

Big Al hits a fade away 3 in desperation. It's his night!

Nuggets are keeping the lead at 10 over the Raptors. Bench may be staying in too long. Lets get the rest of the starters in.

J.R. hits a BIG three. Nuggets up by 10….couple that with a GREAT block by Nene!

Nuggets up by 7 with 1:58 to go. Lets hold on to this one!

Oh no…Big Al drives to the basket and gets his ankle stepped on. He has 31, hope hes not too injured.

Chauncey makes a bone-headed shot with no time on the clock…misses the shot…then two Raptors fight for the rebound and lose it out of bounds!

Strange…seems like one particular ref has swallowed his whistle. Already mentioned him.

Nuggets, as always, have made things interesting.

Nuggets win!123-116…Congratulations to George Karl for his 1000th win! YAY! Get's the Gatorade cup shower from Al Harrington. Nice moment!

Nuggets of Wisdom

It was great to get George Karl his 1000th win in the same place he got his 900th. It indicates something lasting, something that you can always have to look back on. Hopefully the Nuggets add a championship to his resume very soon. Overall, the Nuggets looked quite a bit better in this game than they had the previous two. Al Harrington led the way with 31 points, Nene had 26 and pretty much dominated the first half by himself. Chauncey Billups chipped in 21 and 8 assists. Nice distribution of the ball and great team defense in the second half despite the Raptors comeback. While Klieza and Bargnani hit some clutch threes, you never got the feeling the Nuggets were in too much trouble after the 3rd quarter. Overall I have to say I was quite pleased to see the Nuggets bounced back from getting laughed at by former Nugget Jon Barry on Wednesday night. No Melo tonight yet there’s no real problem, Toronto is kinda bad and they play no defense. It’s up in the air whether he plays in NY on Sunday. I’m sure some jokester on here will make some crack about not needing Melo. Whatever. Doesn’t matter in this situation. I grant everyone permission to make snarky Carmelo Anthony comments. You know why? We won. All is good. 14-8 is pretty neato!

Congrats again to George Karl. Lets get 1000 more!