2009 NBA Playoffs
  

                     The Nuggets Are a Playoff Sensation

                            By: Aaron Fischman

 

May 9, 2009 - The Nuggets Are a Playoff Sensation

The Denver Nuggets are smiling as you read this. And for good reason. Last season, at this time, the Nuggets were already a week into their vacation, having been swept from the playoffs by the Lakers in the opening round of the NBA postseason. In that series Denver gave up nearly 115 points per game to the Lakers. The opening game set the stage for the entire series and was, at the same time, reminiscent of the Nuggets’ year-long defensive effort (abysmal, to put it kindly) as the Lakers scored a whopping 128 points. During that 08-09 season the Nuggets surrendered 107 points per contest, second only to the run-and-gun Golden State Warriors, led by a not-so-defensive guru named Don Nelson. (*Note: The 08-09 numbers mark Golden State’s third straight season at the top of the points allowed list…the same number of years as Nelson has coached the team.)

That was last year…this is now. I mean in regard to the Denver Nuggets. Which kind of sounds like the chorus of this Dream song and this 1980s coming of age tale. Back to the issue at hand. This year, the Nuggets’ defense has improved immensely during the regular season (Denver is one of only a handful of teams to hold its opponent to 44% FG), but more importantly, in the postseason.

Nugget opponents did not register 100 points in any of the first six playoff games played. In fact, in the playoffs, opponents are only scoring 86 ppg - on 41.3% shooting - against Denver. Though the Mavericks did top 100 points in Game 2 on Wednesday night - Denver's seventh overall playoff game - the Nuggets still won handily. More importantly, even in that game, the Nuggets' defense put the clamps on Dallas late in the game, starting the final quarter on a 16-2 run!

In a famous - or should I say infamous - Game 4 at New Orleans Arena, the Nuggets held the hometown Hornets to a franchise-playoff low 64 points. Chris Paul, a Top 5 MVP candidate this season, could muster only 4 points and 6 assists to go along with 6 turnovers in that game. Arguably the best point guard in the league, Paul, was completely shut down!

 

That game was honestly an old-fashioned butt-whooping. And this is coming from a CP3 fan. Not to mention someone who generally despises the Nuggets.

After the game, Paul vented, “Understand that while it was embarrassing and they beat us pretty bad, it still was only one game.” That may be true - the 58-point loss was just Game 4 - but Denver's lockdown D was omnipresent throughout the series.

Shutting down a top-notch player like Paul is no easy task. Let’s recap Chris Paul’s career accomplishments really quickly: He was voted the Rookie of the Year in 2006. For the past two seasons, he has made the Western Conference All-Star Team and led the league in assists. Last year, he nearly led the Hornets over the defending Champion San Antonio Spurs; although the Hornets lost that Conference Semifinal Series in seven games, they proved that they meant business. Somwhere during that stretch Paul showed that he was, without a doubt, the best point guard in the league. In 2008-2009, he had another amazing year and it wasn’t like he was flaming out at the end of the regular season. He had his best month in April, averaging 28.3 points per game, 11.7 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.2 steals. He is a great player with great stats.

My point is this: Even a very impressive player like Chris Paul, who was in his best form of the season, couldn’t do anything right against the Denver defense. The Nuggets' defense was dominant and their prolific offense hardly suffered because of it, nearly doubling up the Hornets' point total in that crucial Game 4. (I wonder if James Posey is second-guessing his decision to leave Beantown right now or just counting his money.)

While Carmelo Anthony was doing who-knows-what this offseason - with or without Lala - the Denver front office was shopping Marcus Camby and his huge contract. Many around the league reasonably thought that trading the league-leading shot blocker would make Denver’s defense even worse in the 08-09 campaign. The Clippers (shout of to my homies) bit on the trade and - I feel - got a great deal.

The thing is…the deal also worked out well for Denver, who didn’t seem to miss Mr. Camby much this season as they improved to the second-best record in the Western Conference. The Camby trade did so much more than send away the league-leading shot blocker. It created enough cap room for the Nuggets to give new contracts to J.R. Smith, Nene, and Lala’s husband.

The Nuggets also retooled by bringing in Chris Andersen (a.k.a. the Birdman) and signing him to the league minimum. The Birdman is 30 years old, but it sure doesn’t look that way. Much like a bird, the man can fly with ease. When a shot is attempted and he’s anywhere in the vicinity, it is the Birdman’s cue to trigger his wings and block the shot into oblivion. That’s when he just jumps out the gym.

 

So who is Chris “Birdman” Andersen and where did this high-flyer come from?

Andersen was born in Long Beach, CA and was next-door neighbors with Snoop D.O. Double-G (ok, I made that last part up). Though he was born in the LBC, he actually grew up in Texas.

Chris dropped out of the University of Houston, the alma mater of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, and ended up in community college for a year. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that he wasn’t cut out for college. Anyway, he started his pro career in China, but made it to the NBA two years later. That’s when he began his first stint with the Denver Nuggets (in 2001). After three seasons with Denver, he moved on to New Orleans, where he played with the Hornets until he was suspended for violating the NBA's drug policy. Let’s just say it wasn’t marijuana that he got in trouble for. (Don’t take drugs, kids. Even if it may look glamorous when you see Steve-O doing it on MTV.)

After the drug suspension, Andersen played only five games for the Hornets, then came back to the Nuggets, where he played this entire season. The Nuggets couldn’t be happier. The Birdman appears to be off drugs, but still flying high as a kite.

He may have a flashy nickname and a collection of hardcore fans, but don’t be fooled. The Birdman is not all hype. There are tons of interesting anecdotes about his aura, tattoos, and even his swagger, but the man also has substance. Did you know that the tattooed one (no, not THAT tattooed one, I mean Chris Andersen) leads the league in blocks per minute? He’s second to Dwight Howard in total blocks, too, but plays a mere 20.6 minutes per game; compared to Dwight Howard’s 35.7 mpg. The dude is efficient and not just on defense. He can hit the mid-range jumper if need be, but he generally takes only high percentage shots. As an added bonus, his rim-rattling dunks can pump up the crowd just as much as his out-of-nowhere rejections. He's a very exciting player on the court.

Before I go on and on about the Birdman (more than I already have), I want to conclude that the man has clearly been a huge reason for the Nuggets’ success this season. He's so well known in the NBA community that he even has his own t-shirt.

The Nuggets’ success this season and postseason can be attributed to a number of factors, but the biggest one has to be the Allen Iverson- Chauncey Billups trade. Early in the season, Billups was shipped to Denver along with Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb - neither of whom are with the Nuggets right now - in exchange for A.I. It was a controversial trade at the time - since Billups was injured for much of the playoffs last season - but it worked out very well for Denver in the end.

With the Melo-A.I. duo, the Nuggets were all about isolationism. (Don’t get me wrong, Melo and Iverson are great one-on-one guys and they can score with the best of them. It’s just that one-on-one play is not conducive to winning in the playoffs, especially when you have two starters trying to score that way.) And both Melo and A.I. played poor defense; an area of the Nuggets’ game they should’ve practiced harder on last year.

 

Then there's the issue of leadership.

Allen Iverson hasn’t been shy in the past about criticizing the idea of practice. Remember this? ( “Not a game, not a game, we talkin’ bout practice. How silly is that?”) Well, apparently practice is not that silly. Good teams practice hard so they can win in the playoffs. Chauncey Billups knows this, whereas the concept is a little fuzzy for Mr. A.I. (“How the hell can I make my teammates better by practice?”) Anyway, while Iverson was busy getting on Joe Dumars’ nerves in the Motor City, Billups began acting like a floor general leading the Nuggets to battle, defensively, as well as on the offensive end. For that reason Billups has been essential to the Nuggets' success this season. He's the glue that holds a very talented - but combustible - team together.

How appropriate is it that a three-time Mr. Basketball from Colorado gets to take the Nuggets further into the postseason than they’ve been since 1994? (That’s 15 years for those of you who are keeping score at home.)

If Denver advances to the Western Conference Finals - which I expect to happen - they will be the deepest into the playoffs that they’ve been since 1985 (at which point this writer was not born). That's when Alex English was the star of the team. The funny thing is that those ’85 Nuggets went on to lose to the Showtime Lakers in the Western Conference Finals; which is exactly what I expect to happen this season (more on that another time).

I can hear those who are telling me that hindsight is 20-20. You may be thinking that it’s predictable that I’m blaming Allen Iverson now that he’s gone and the Nuggets are succeeding. But I saw this coming from a mile away. The "Answer” was clearly wrong for the Nuggets (get it?).

While it is true that Iverson averaged more assists last season than Billups recorded this year, he also took way more shots (about six more, per game, than Chauncey does now) and just plain stagnated the flow of the offense.

Iverson also scored over 26 points per game, so I’m obviously not going to argue that he hurt the offensive output - 26 points per game is phenomenal - but he hurt the flow of the offense. The Denver offense was extremely disjointed with A.I. doing his thing, while Carmelo Anthony did something else. Then, sometimes they had J.R. Smith doing his own thing as well. It was like their opponents were guarding a bunch of talented players rather than a collective team unit.

That brings me to my next point. Billups has brought a team-oriented attitude to Denver.

Though it will always be hard for me to think of Carmelo Anthony as a team guy, it really seems as though Billups has convinced ALL of his teammates to buy into the team concept. With Billups, the team could easily be singing this Sister Sledge hit from the late 70's. They have been transformed from a collection of talented players into a well-oiled machine.

Head coach George Karl has done a good job with the squad this year as well and I’m happy for him. In his fifth season with Denver, Karl has finally won a playoff series. And it looks like he’ll win at least another one, as the Nuggets lead the Mavericks 2-0 in the second round and are playing lights out basketball.

As I'm doling out credit, let’s go to back to Allen Iverson’s 26+ points per game for a second. When Iverson left town many wondered how Denver was going to replace such a great scorer. Admittedly, Chauncey Billups is nowhere near the scorer Iverson is and will never be. With that said, the Nuggets have not been lacking in the offensive department at all. They score fewer points per game than last year, but are still sixth in the league in that category and were ranked second among teams that made the playoffs (only the Lakers scored more points per game during the regular season).

 

J.R. Smith and Nene are the major players (in addition to Chauncey, of course) to fill the 26 ppg void left by A.I.’s departure. In my opinion, Nene is the second biggest reason why the Nuggets are winning like crazy. Last season Nene was injured for the majority of the season, but this season he has been absolutely incredible. He is in the Top 5 on my list of the league’s most underrated players. I love his game.

Nene shoots over 60% from the field and is also a very good defender. Last season, without Nene and the Birdman, it’s no wonder the Nuggets were lost on defense. Camby had to bail everyone else out. I could go on and on about the Brazilian big man, but this piece is long enough as it is. J.R. Smith also helps things offensively for the Nuggets. Smith is a young shooting guard who is instant offense when he’s inserted into the lineup. He’s also not shy about shooting the three.

Not only is J.R. not bashful from beyond the arc, he also makes three-pointers at a 40% clip. He was shooting well last year, too. But with A.I. gone, he has seen increased minutes, which means more shots and more incredible dunks. (J.R. doesn’t just shoot three’s…he’s also a high flyer.)

Speaking of guys on the Nuggets who deserve credit, Carmelo Anthony has matured a lot this season. Maybe saying he has “matured” is a little bit of a stretch, but he has not been in a fight and he has not been arrested this season. I’d say he’s doing well for himself.

To sum everything up, the Nuggets are playing like a team no one can beat. And no one really can right now. They’ve only lost one of seven games in the playoffs and that game was by a mere two points. Like I’ve emphasized again and again, defense is a huge part of Denver’s reemergence as a very good playoff team. Chauncey Billups is the leader of the show. Carmelo is good, too. And Nene makes a huge difference (as does Chris Andersen and J.R. Smith). A shout out to the other contributors as well, namely: Kenyon Martin, Dahntay Jones, Linas Kleiza, Anthony Carter, and Renaldo Balkman.

Though the Nuggets are rolling right now, I don’t believe they’re invincible. I believe the Lakers’ depth will prove to be too much for them in the Western Conference Finals. But stay tuned. It's the playoffs. Anything can happen. (So amazing! It’s amazing!) Right Kanye?