"Cornerstone"
Now that I got that out of the way, let’s delve into what was possibly the worst officiated game of the Nuggets season. An absolutely dreadful performance by the officials in tonight’s game, no two ways about it. It wasn’t completely one sided in favor of the Grizzlies, but it was awful. No play typified this more than with around 4 minutes remaining, Mike Conley received a tip from a jump ball and shuffled his feet 5 steps without dribbling then shot a desperation three point shot that went in. Everyone saw it. Brian Shaw saw it. Hell, I saw it without it being pointed out to me.
That, wasn’t the only thing wrong with the proceedings this evening I’m afraid. Ty Lawson left with what appeared to be a sprained ankle in the 4th quarter. While Lawson scored one point in the second half, an injured team losing one if it’s leaders was a huge blow. The evening starting off poorly for Lawson after being called a “cornerstone” piece of the franchise by Shaw, Ty proceeds to miss a morning meeting and was banished to the bench in place of Aaron Brooks to start the game. Nothing more to read into that that complete irony. Just poor timing on Ty’s part.
The other Shaw-bestowed “cornerstone” is Kenneth Faried, who had an ok game, but had his hands full with the bruising Marc Gasol … who seemed to be coming out to make a point after being completely dominated by Timofey Mozgov in their last matchup 4 days ago. 17 points and 12 rebounds was a good night, but Manimal was taken out of the game late in the 4th quarter for Darrell Arthur who was playing the best defense on the team tonight.
Outside of that, there were no real standouts for the Nuggets other than Randy Foye had 21 points and 9 rebounds. He was again inconsistent on defense, but you could see the effort was there. In fact the effort was there for many of the Nuggets tonight, but you just can’t overcome a talent deficiency and right now the Nuggets have that in spades with all their injuries. Just another team playing out the string.
One last note. Quincy Miller has been generally an offensive minus since he entered into the starting lineup. His offensive game lacks explosion, and needs serious … serious development. Maybe he can get that. Q DOES seem to get it on defense, and that is encouraging … but his offense is light years behind. I’m rooting for the kid but he needs to show something on offense and soon.
Nuggets of wisdom
Ty going down with an ankle injury puts a bruised shaped capper on one of the most injurious seasons I can remember for this franchise. Truly, the team has been snake bitten with drama (Andre Miller), injuries (almost everyone) and the absolute dominance of the Western Conference. It’s time for a reboot, and time for a re-think. The team seems to be playing hard still at least, and this can be a learning experience.
No reason to get upset about a loss in a lost season. On to the next and play out the string. Spring brings new hope, and a draft lottery in a month.
