As far as RootZoo friends go HTP is one of my best, so you can imagine that when our two bball teams were fighting it out for the final spot in the Western Conference, he and I were all about it. When it started to come down to the wire and we realized the intense conflict that was about to take place, we decided a bet of some kind needed to be made. Obviously I lost, so here it is. My breakdown of the Denver Nuggets 2007-08 Season in all it's glory. It's extremely late I was supposed to post it right after their season came to an end, but I wanted to piss him off which has worked brilliantly! For the record, going by the way the Warriors played LA this season, that series would have been waaaaay more interesting and maybe actually a decent one to watch. So...yeah. Coming into the season, Denver had a lot to prove and a pair of superstars on a mission. One of which had even made the prediction of a sweet 60-Win season! Kids. Coach Karl had some fun toys to play with, indeed. His boys formed a high-powered offense that was not only extremely exciting to watch, but could win games while choosing not to play defense all together. Textbook basketball? Maybe not. Good times? Hell yes!
After last season's early exit via a San Antonio team who could not be stopped by anyone, Karl and his Nuggets had now lost four straight First Round Playoff Series. Ahhh but the winds of change were blowing through the Mile High City. With them came great optimism and of course, high expectations. On Halloween night, they set out on their journey at home against Seattle. Basketball-hungry Nuggets fans by the tens of thousands got what they wished for as AI put up 25 pts, 5 rebs, 14 assists & 7 steals and Melo dropped 32 in a lopsided victory against young rookie phenom, Kevin Durant & the rest of Carlesimo's Sonics. Just like that, the potential 60-Win season had kicked off!
Shortly after a few blowout losses, including a 26-point whooping by Boston that brought them down to earth, Denver trampled on the Wizards in DC, and followed that up with 5 straight wins against scrub teams, averaging 116 PPG in that 6-game streak and realizing their strengths. "Before that game (vs. Boston) we were walking around thinking we won something before we won anything, It was a blessing the way they beat us." said Melo, "We learned a lot from that." Through the next 9 games, however, Denver won just 4 and lost to every formidable opponent they faced with the exception of a blowout win in Dallas that probably made Mark Cuban go home and kick his teacup yorkie. AI was coming off a 48-minute 51-point night (in defeat) at home vs. the Lakers, and threw up 35 pts, 12 assists and 6 steals against a 12-8 Dallas team. "He's the energizer Bunny!" said Anthony Carter after the game. "He just doesn't get tired. He was charged up for this game."
From there, the Nuggets won 6 of their next 10. The most exciting game of that stretch by far was a double overtime victory at home against a T-Mac-less Houston Rockets team. AI & Melo went off with 36 & 37, respectively. But it was a buzzer-beating floater by Anthony Carter with 0.8 seconds in double OT that gave the Nuggets the 112-111 win to dazzle and thrill their hometown faithful. Now, here's where it gets fun for me. It always makes for an awesome matchup when two out of the league's three most exciting teams square off. What could possibly make it even more exhilarating? Back-to-back games, of course. So...on a chilly Friday night in Oakland, the Nuggets rolled into town locked and loaded for a straight-up shootout with their old pals, the Golden State Warriors. After the 71-point 1st Quarter you knew this game was going to be all that it was hyped up to be. The Nuggets led through the majority of the game, but Monta Ellis on a fast-break tied it up at 118 a piece with 1:12 to go in the 4th Quarter. After a bucket by AI & couple free-throws by Melo, Baron Davis made it 122-120, Nuggets missed a shot and with 10 seconds left, the final possession fell into the hands of jack-it-up Jack. Sadly, he did. A 3-pointer. Clank. Ballgame.
After the crazy OT loss at home and a full day to think about the what-ifs, the Nuggets went on a three game winning streak including yet another OT thriller in Miami. They then exacted revenge on the Boston Celtics on their home court in front of their screaming fans who packed The Can that night for a meeting of the two teams' respective Big Threes. In KG's first game back from his strained abdomen injury, he only played 21 minutes and went 2-7 with 8 rebounds and 4 turnovers. It was because of a good shooting night from Boston's rookie Rondo, and the other 2 to the Big Three that they stayed in the game. The bench combined for 46 points as well, but double-digit scoring from Denver's entire starting five and chiseled hottie Kleiza off the bench ultimately spelled win for the Nuggets. The 19,000 strong in attendance that night, who had been waiting patiently for this game since the loss in Boston back in November, did not leave disappointed.
At this point in the season, the battle for playoff spots in the West was an intense one. The West was just amazing and Denver, Dallas and Golden State battled for the 7th & 8th spots all the time knowing that one of the three would end up on the outside looking in after a great season and nothing to show for it.
Dallas was 46-28 and their schedule to round out the season was GS, @LAL, @PHX, SEA, UTAH, @POR, @SEA, NO.
Golden State was 45-30 their schedule was @DAL, @MEM, @NO, SAC, DEN, LAC, @PHX, SEA.
Denver was 46-29 their schedule was SAC, @SEA, @LAC, @GS, @UTAH, HOU, MEM.
Coming off a bitter 3-point loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings on April 5th in which Melo scored 47 points, the Nuggets flew to Seattle to take on Kevin Durant and the 18-win Supersonics. Seattle was ready. Denver had dropped 168 on them a few weeks ago and now it was their turn. Seattle's 2 rookies would have the best games of their young careers that night. Revenge was exacted on Denver for the three previous absolute slayings (10/31 120-103 & 2/27 138-96 then the big one on 3/16 168-116). It was a double OT victory which saw the rooks Durant & Green combine for 72 points and 18 rebounds. Melo dropped 38 & 11 and AI 26 & 13 assists. There were four ties in the final 9 minutes of regulation, then with 99 seconds left, Kleiza hit a three and put the Nuggets up 126-123. But Durant was far from done. With 22 seconds to go, he matched Kleiza's three with one of his own. In OT Period #1 saw scoring from AI, Melo & Kleiza and three blocks from Martin & Camby. Durant & Green followed suit from the other end. With 91 seconds remaining in the 1st OT, AI buried a three putting Denver up 135-130. Durant was fouled and made both FTs, an AI miss followed by a Durant three with 5 seconds tied it up again. In OT #2, despite a great effort by Martin, the rookies came out on top making shots, rebounding & getting to the line. They took the game 147-151 and had Golden State fans everywhere shouting YEE!
With just five games left in the season, and the pesky and unpredictable Golden State Warriors the only thing standing in their way, Denver made the trip to the City of Angels to meet "the other" LA bball team. This was a must win game and they did. With authority. Just up the coast were the fellow 8th place Warriors. They needed every single game but this one meant the most. AI & the Nuggets barged into The Town anticipating one hell of a fight. It was a beautiful night in Oakland and anyone who is a fan of basketball was excited as hell for this matchup. Do or die between arguably the two most exciting teams in the NBA. Golden State desperate to prove to the world that last season's first round victory against Dallas was no fluke, Denver itching to get in & get past the first round for the first time since the 1993-94 Season. But the 8th & final spot could belong to only one.
Nobody gave Denver a chance in this series. The two teams had played each other three times in the regular season and LA won those games by 49 points combined. Now they had to face them with all key puzzle pieces in place. Were the Nuggets scared? "If you're scared, get a dog. If you're scared, go to church. God gave those guys on that team talent and he gave it to us, too. Why put their talent above ours?" That's how AI viewed things going into the series. Game 1 was in LA and Pau Gasol came to play. He took over the paint and lifted LA to a 97-78 lead after Three. Kobe scored 18 points in the 4th and despite a good 4th Quarter effort by AI & Melo, they could not do much to stop the League MVP. LA took Game 1 by the score of 128-114. Game 2 started out pretty excitingly with both teams taking it to one another with aggression. LA only ked by one point coming out of the 1st Quarter but early in the 2nd LA outscored Denver 14-4. The MVP ended the 1st Half with 25 points, Pau Gasol was all but invisible through the half with 4 points, 4 rebs & 4 assists. For the Nuggets it was a sad half as they ended up being outscored 59-49. The rest of the game, Denver kept up but they could never gain a lead, shooting 44% and 4-19 on threes, plus poor production from the bench with the exception of Mr. Smith, (who ended up with 21 in 29 minutes), there was no matching Kobe and friends. The man-beast ended the game with 49 points & 10 assists. The setting for Game 3 was back at The Can. Down 2-0, Denver really just needed to wake the hell up. Finally, the series would see what an NBA crowd is supposed to sound like! Sadly, the rowdy sixth man didn't make much of a difference to the Denver Players. They shot 37% from the field & 25% from the three point line, committed 16 turnovers, and were outplayed on nearly every count. The typically high-scoring offense was downright sad. Melo & AI combined for just 31 points, Camby came up with a doughnut, and Mr. Smith only made 4-11 shots off the bench this time. When said bench was emptied in the 4th Quarter, it sent the wrong message. Melo was extremely upset after the game and accused everyone including himself of giving up. He caught slack for the comment but it seemed to ring true. Before this game, they had not scored 84 points or less but twice all season. The final was 102-84. Game 4 saw a rejuvenated Nuggets team. They came to play and if nothing else, claim one postseason victory in front of their amazing and loyal fans. They trailed in the 1st half but made a comeback in the 2nd. Kleiza made a jumper that put them ahead 73-71 and for a moment it looked like they may have found a way, but after some missed shots, the Lakers were back ahead. The game stayed close until the final minutes. In the end, Kobe Bryant was too much and Melo & AI were not enough. They were handed a 4-0 sweep at the hands of what would eventually be the Western Conference Champions.
The 2007-08 Denver Nuggets have nothing to be ashamed of this past season. They amassed a 50-win Season for only the 4th time in franchise history. They did it on the backs of two of the NBA's hardest working superstars, a defensive stud, 2 key role players and not much else.
Allen Iverson ended his amazing season having played all 82 games. During the regular season he shot a career-high 34% in 3P, had 26.4 PPG, a 56.7 TS%, 27.4 AST%, 2.2 STL%, 26.7 Usg%, 20.9 PER, and a career-high 24.7 OWS, and 9.0 WSAA. At age 33, he played more minutes than anyone else in the league with 3242, 1st in FTs, (most of all active players with 6000), 4th in steals, 3rd in points, 7th in assists, and 7th in OWS. AI accomplished all this playing 41.8 MPG. This future Hall of Famer had himself a season. Through the playoffs, he scored 24.5 PPG in 39.5 MP with 4.5 Assists.
Carmelo Anthony ended his season with a career-best 35% 3P, 25.7 PPG, 56.8 TS%, 1.7 STL%, 21.1 PER, 30.2 Usg%, 14.5 OWS in 36.4 MP through 77 games. He came in 4th in the league in PPG, 10th in Free throws and 4th in Usg%. In the playoffs he scored 22.5 PPG & 9.5 RPG in 36.5 MP.
Marcus Camby won 1st Team All-Defensive Honors, he was 2nd in Total Rebounds with 1037, 1st in Blocks with 285, 4th in DWS, and had the 7th best Defensive rating with 98.3.
The End.
This season, HTP, your write-up of the 2008-09 Golden State Warriors had better be something truly special haha!!
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