Denver Nuggets ready to take the next step in NBA

i mean new orleans laughingstock hornets.. Dunno were i got wizards from ,,:)..Still ....

And what do you know, Denver loose to the hornets!!! Away.... smashed by 26 points. Thats exactly what im talking about, how do you expect them to get far in the playoffs if they cant even beat the washington laughingstock wizards. !!! .. 7 gamers for em each series? Even if they do get past round 1 they will be tired.Very tired.

NO , I said I DONT THINK denver will get pass the first round. THINK...i ever said they wont... thier away record is 17 wins and 19 losses...Trust me on this, even thou they have won thier last away games...they are going to have to start wining more away, and now if they want to be a contender.They got hornets and san antonio both away. See how they go. overrated? I hate the lakers but i tell ya, thier not overrated. Theyll scrape thru and wake up..Giants they are. I bet if they make the finals they get further then Denver. And no chance of them meeting up you say?? Well i have to agree with you now that the lakers lost thier past 2. but still Thier is a chance . If some how denver get in front of oklahoma ad the lakers get on a roll and houston start loosing,!! then that possibility would have a chance. Denvers six away wins have been against charlotte , portland , sacramento , phoniex , chicago in overtime(by 1 point without Rose) and oklahoma. The last 2 i give props to but the first 4 i mentioned?? each one of them have a loosing home percentage with exceptions for sacramento, who are a lot better at home...then away... I also did state that i dont normally look at the wetern conference team till playoffs time, but just for you i had a look at denver..they have won thier last six away games which is bringing a little bit of respect from muah.But only 2 of this win i give merit to...the bulls win and agaisnt oklahoma. JUST REMEMBER WINNING AWAY FROM HOME IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE NBA. SOMETHING DENVER HAS NOT REALLY DONE ON A CONSISTANT LEVEL.neither has L A . But la is a team that has a lot of finals expierence..Just wait and see , youll be eating your words come playoff time.

Wow, how can you possibly rate the Lakers? And you say Denver won't get "passed" the first round if they play the Lakers? Seen much basketball lately? Denver have beaten the Lakers 3-1 this year and the Lakers, while they will probably just scrape through to the playoffs there is next to no chance of the two meeting in the first round. Why do people rate this Lakers side? They are the most overrated side in the NBA!

Iv'e been following this sport for years . Im a massive fan of the NBA . And its gonna go down like this ... EASTERN CONFERENCE. Only the chicago bulls will be a threat for miami heat. Derrick rose one of the best point guards in the nba has been cleared to play for the chicago bulls. When he returns is a mystery. Im assuming it will be in the palyoffs in the first round against either new york , indiana or brooklyn. Lets look at these 3 verse chicago.....NEW YORK...3 played this season two in newyork without derrick rose all 3 games...2 wins for the bulls. INDIANA...played 4 ..Indiana won the first 3 meetings between the 2 teams. The last game was won bye chicago in chicago. Indiana have had there measure 3 out of 4 but all with out YET I SAY AGAIN.Derrick rose. Derrick rose the ability to make plays like no other.. has a great cross over and his ability to read the play is second no other. HE also is a high scorer himself. Chicago is a completely different team with rose around. The big fellas are relieved from thier high preassure rolls they have had to deal with all year , yet it will also count as a massive positive for chicago has done great considering. NO ONE EXPECTED CHICAGO TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS WITHOUT ROSE. BROOKLYN...played 3 Chicago won 2 both at home while loosing by 4 points at Brooklyn .one left between them..All played without the inspirational Derrick Rose. DERRICK ROSE I personally think he should return this week. He needs the game time on his belt before the playoffs. GEt him workig with the team again. Yu will see a completely different Chicago bulls comes finals time. Higher team score combined with thier awesom ability to keep teams to a measley 92 points a game.....Third in the nba.,,,,The dark horse for sure.. Watch out for em....GO BULLS.. Indianas ability to score 3s scares me a bit . But thats about it..Chicagos away record is above 500% indianas is below, with derrick rose back at point . Chicago easily , could even be a sweep..... MIAMI has played chicago 2 times for a win each,,, both away wins and both with out derrick rose who i think is the most consistant point guard playing. HE is a pure leader , Olly miami is the real danger in the east..In saying that , i wouldt be surprised if Derrick rose returns for thier next game which is against Miami Heat . IF he does then this is a MUCH WATCH GAME which will give you a pretty good indication on whats to come. ..Yes Yes This is about denver ... WESTERN CONFERENCE..Im not that interested yet, i normally focus on my teams division before playoffs...But san antonio is a force to be reckoned with...oklahoma wont win a championship when you have 2 hot heads who wanna hog the ball and just dont have any chemisty between them....Durrant stay get rid of the point guard.....it has to happen and WILL..bet it does.... Clippers are an unkown..Im liking thier style great offence and great defence.They could do better with thier free throws. The pressure of playoffs could get to them...NEVER KNOW,,,another dark horse... Lakers, ever under estimate the lakers.....i have a feeling theyll be strong come playoffs, REAL STRONG.... Overall the western confrence over all looks alot stronger then the easter conference with exceptions for Miami and indiana and chicago. Who have all proved them selfs agasint big teams consistantly.... All these teams i just mentioned for the west have a good travelling record,,,Denver will have a tough time against each one of them....I dont think they get passed the first roud..exspecially if its lakers first up.....

Denver a great scoring team , what they pocess in offence , they unfortunately lack in defence. Very good home team with only 3 loses but away? They are going to need to win some away games against some formidable foes...Miami Heat no doubt will go back to back and wi the championshsip. Have you soon who they have beat in thier last 25 games?? They got some away games agasint some very hard competition in thier remainder of games....A loss is expected. Miami has hit form at the right time as has Denver . But still , im not convinced.

Because your bench plays less. It is still "important" in the sense that the minutes you get from your bench will still be better than those of your opponent, but it is less important than in the regular season.

Just finished watching a decisive victory by the Nuggets at OKC on the back of a 2 game away run. 6 Nuggets players score double and 47 points off the bench and 71 off the bench against the Bulls. I'm just not sure how you can say this type of depth is going not going to be important come playoffs time - oh well time will tell I guess.

Not "prove". You can build a thin veil of support that may fool those not willing to really look deeper into validating the approach, but you generally can't "prove" any point you feel like making.

I guess you can make stats prove most points you are trying to make.

Apologies that should be PPM for McGee

Um a few glaring problems with that list First those were last year’s numbers. Second you’ve just sorted by points per 48 minutes which is basically sorting by hero ball right. How does this list validate the approach when it is simply a list of players who take that approach with no consideration given to the results or how efficiently they got those points (a TS% would be helpful 82 games!). This is like saying that the nuggets in general can’t score because JaVale McGee is their top per minute scorer and he’s sitting at 34th in the league in PPG, but they have the third best offence so clearly this measure is incredibly flawed. Third the top player on your list loses by 12 points per 48 minutes of crunch time (that’s pretty freaking bad) so clearly it doesn’t validate the approach (though this factors in defence) when the top 5 Denver players on your list averaged +6 per 48 minutes of crunch time. Thing is I agree that having someone that can draw the double, force and error etc is important... but so it is for the rest of the game. Do NBA defences suddenly figure everything out or is it the fear of failure for coaches and the psychological need of the superstar that drives the abandonment of basic basketball principles.

Yeah, fair enough...Still, the prospect of JaVale playing any quality minutes in important games is frightening. As far as the final shot...having a crunch time scorer is critical. I agree that hero ball is moronic, but if you have someone who can draw a double, or create a defensive error, you're better off. Just look at this page: http://www.82games.com/CSORT11.HTM Denver's best crunch time scorer is...Faried, and he's a long way down the list. Again, not a good sign...

Problem is benches play less of a role in the playoffs as starters typically play more minutes. This is why super star teams seem to outperform deep or balanced teams, because those stars play more minutes than during the regular season. This is where that “exception” Pistons team is a little weird, they benefited from the same thing as the “superstar” teams because they weren’t a depth team. Their strength was they had an above average guy at each position on the floor in the best 5. So when the playoffs rolled around they ran that advantage for longer (about 9% longer). This is why we’ve seen such success from the recent big three type teams, being able to get 10% more floor time for three guys that have a distinct advantage over the average NBA player is huge.

Do you work for ESPN Ryman? You sound like every ESPN commentator in every Nuggets game televised this season:) The "lack of superstar" argument is all anyone ever talks about. Oh, actually, i'm wrong - they also talk about how Denver's transition offense is not suited to the more conservative playoff structure. There may be a small element of truth to the superstar argument (from a statistical point of view, 2004 Detroit are the only ones to buck the trend in the past 20 years) but I tend to think the team works really well as two units. What I mean by this is that Karl coaches Denver as almost two separate teams, the starting side, and the 'bench' side. But the unique point to this is that if the bench side are outscoring the starters, Karl will keep them on - he doesn't really care for who were the starters for the night and you quite often see that in the clutch with a few bench players on at the end. A great example of this has been the Miller-McGee combo coming off the bench. So while the superstar argument seems to be the logical path to follow, Denver do have some unique qualities that not many other teams have and the strength coming off the bench and the way the bench is used is also rare. That being said, I think they do need to get that home finals advantage to really go deep this year.

Someone got here before me. Damn you!

Remind me of the Denver who upset the Sonics in the first round years ago. Mutombo, LaPhonso ellis, Rodney Rogers, Robert pack etc

I love this Denver team for the regular season. Not so much for the playoffs. They have great depth, which is all well and good but in the tough Western C in the playoffs when starters increase minutes this may disadvantage Denver in a big way. Mind you, all you need is two players on that team to get hot and the big men to put up a good showing and they can beat anyone on any day.

That said I don't think they get out of the second round but mainly cause I don't think they can impose their style on opponents and their wing/point depth becomes less of a factor.

But astro fewer fouls get called in the play offs and depth is generally less important. As to the last shot i think this is a potential plus. i'd rather my team just run a basketball play that gives the ball to the open man than go down the route of predictable hero ball that every piece of analysis suggests is the dumbest possible strategy.