Denver Nuggets - The Next Level [Game 3 + 4]

[Kenny]

All Star Weekend

It's that time again. With Denver's first player in the Rookie game since Ty Lawson, there's something extra for Nuggets fans to watch out for. Anyway, here are the results from the games:

T-Mac's record leads Rookies to victory



If Taylor MacKenzie hit the wall, nobody told him that, as he announced himself as the top ROY prospect in the 96-88 win over the Sophomores. In an amazing performance, he had 53 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 steals to win the Rookie Challenge MVP in a landslide. The next best scoring effort for the Rookies was Boston's Dave Russell, with 10 points. Utah's Njabulo Nyoni and Washington's Amory Buckley both had 8 points each.

For the Sophomores, ROY winner of last season Ollie Rose was the star with 23 points, as well as Nach Carlos who had 20 points and 11 assists. Chicago's Power Forward Thomas Bender had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Luther Rutherford had 14 points. However none of these players could even come close to Taylor MacKenzie. Not only did he have a hot shooting night, but he was able to slice through the defense at will. Hopefully for Denver's sake this is a sign of things to come.

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ROOKIES VS SOPHOMORES

ROOKIES 96 (MacKenzie 53, Russell 10, Buckley 8, Nyoni 8)
SOPHOMORES 88 (Rose 23, N Carlos 20, Bender 15, Rutherford 14)

MVP: Taylor MacKenzie 53 points 7 rebounds 3 assists 6 steals

Rebounds

ROOKIES: Buckley 12
SOPHOMORES: Bender 10

Assists

ROOKIES: Buckley, Russell 7
SOPHOMORES: N Carlos 11

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West dominate East



In a one sided affair, the West have defeated the East 79-62. Kevin Durant had a stunning performance for the West as he picked up the All-Star Game MVP. He had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 1 block. LaMarcus Aldridge had a scoreless first half, but went on to have a fine second by scoring 14 points and picking up 7 boards. The Birdman was one point away from a double-double, with 9 points and 14 rebounds... he also had two impressive blocks:

phpBB [video]

For the East, Lebron James and Devin Harris both scored 14 points, while Dwight Howard picked up a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

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EAST VS WEST

WEST: 79 (Durant 25, Aldridge 14, Andersen 9)
EAST: 62 (James 14, Harris 14, Howard 13)

MVP: Kevin Durant 25 points 10 rebounds 1 block

Rebounds

WEST: Andersen 14
EAST: Howard 14

Assists

WEST: Gay 5
EAST: Wade, Harris 3

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The Next Nate?

Dave Russell showed that for a small point guard, he's got some hops.

Impressive Debut

As mentioned in the report, LaMarcus Aldridge had a nice first All-Star game with 14 points and 7 rebounds.

Just in case you didn't see the video...

Birdman was one of the standout performers in this game on defense.

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Hope you all enjoyed my All-Star weekend. Back to the 5 game summary next.

[Kenny]

Absolutely, looking forward to seeing how your players do. Hope you can take home at least one MVP award.

done

[Azzdogs]

Birdman with 2 huge blocks. Plus great game by McKenzie.

[Andrew]

Wow, 53 from MacKenzie for a new Rookie Challenge record. Shame Birdman couldn't have been an underdog MVP as well, but nice job taking home some hardware nevertheless.

[Kenny]

Birdman with 2 huge blocks. Plus great game by McKenzie.

Birdman's 2 blocks was probably my favourite bit of the whole all-star weekend

Wow, 53 from MacKenzie for a new Rookie Challenge record. Shame Birdman couldn't have been an underdog MVP as well, but nice job taking home some hardware nevertheless.

I wasn't quite sure what the record was, but I thought I'd be pretty close to it. I edited the headline for the Rookie Game

And yeah, it's a shame that Birdman couldn't get the All-Star MVP, but it's a piece of hardware I've already won with Melo, so I was content for him just to play his game

[Alpha_]

Birdman is an All-Star??

[kibaxx7]

Great night by MacKenzie And nice to see Birdman at the ASG again!

[Andrew]

I wasn't quite sure what the record was, but I thought I'd be pretty close to it. I edited the headline for the Rookie Game

Beat it by seven; Durant had 46 points in the 2009 Challenge. I was hoping he'd hit 50 in that game, he still beat the old mark by ten though.

[Kenny]

Birdman is an All-Star??

So was that man... hence why I don't think Birdman being an all-star is that far-fetched

Great night by MacKenzie And nice to see Birdman at the ASG again!

He definitely deserves it. He's been my best player in the overall scheme of things.

I wasn't quite sure what the record was, but I thought I'd be pretty close to it. I edited the headline for the Rookie Game

Beat it by seven; Durant had 46 points in the 2009 Challenge. I was hoping he'd hit 50 in that game, he still beat the old mark by ten though.

Ah yeah that's right, I remember that. I've become a fan of the Durantula and the OKC team in real life.

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

In the games after the all-star weekend, Denver went 3-2... once again. Something about that win loss ratio... I don't know. Anyway, it started with a loss against the Detroit Pistons, who are actually doing pretty well in this season. Two emphatic wins in the middle against the lowly texans Dallas and San Antonio and a win at the end against Miami. The feature game of the round is the game played in Memphis:

Memphis survive Denver surge



Despite a spirited Denver comeback, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to hold on, winning 89-83. Taylor MacKenzie and Carmelo Anthony led the comeback after being 20 points down, scoring 31 and 27 respectively. Towards the end, they got it within 3 points; however former Nugget Earl Smith and Jon Hunt came up big in the clutch. Smith scored 26 points, including some big threes in the dying moments of the game, while All-Star Jon Hunt scored 21. OJ Mayo was the performer of the game with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

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DEN@MEM

MEM: 89 (Smith 26, Hunt 21, Mayo 19)
DEN: 83 (MacKenzie 31, Anthony 27, Maximilian 10)

Sprite Performer of the Game: OJ Mayo 19 points 5 rebounds 7 assists 2 steals 2 blocks

Rebounds

MEM: Thabeet 14
DEN: Andersen 15

Assists

MEM: Mayo 7
DEN: Andersen 5

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Last 5 Games

@DET: 67-64 L
@DAL: 105-85 W
@SAN: 79-68 W
@MEM: 89-83 L
MIA: 95-81 W

Denver now sit 35-17

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Monster game

The Birdman keeps getting it done on the defensive end. In the losing effort against Detroit, he had 13 rebounds and 8 blocks.

All-Star Game wasn't a fluke

The Birdman isn't going to be on D-Wade's new poster.

Retro Shaq Attack!

Shaq proves he's still a force to be reckoned with.

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Next 5 Games

NYK
ORL
PHX
PHX
SAC

The feature game will be against Orlando

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Next up will be the February 2013 review. With some of the numbers being posted, I wouldn't be surprised if Denver has atleast one player in the monthly awards. 2 months til the playoffs

[Azzdogs]

I just love seeing the Birdman dominating.

[Kenny]

I just love seeing the Birdman dominating.

I do too. He's a 78 overall player in my game with a 6 year contract of 5 million a year... worth every penny in my opinion

[Kenny]

February 2013 Review

Melo and T-Mac 2.0 earn monthly honors



After an up-and-down year, Carmelo Anthony picked up the West Player of the Month. His form post all-star weekend was outstanding and you couldn't help but think he was sending a message to those who didn't pick him.

On a related note, Taylor MacKenzie capped off a brilliant month by picking up the West Rookie of the Month. His record tally of 53 points in the Rookie Challenge set the tone for the rest of his month as he got back to his devastating best.

Team Stats

Instead of that team summary I usually do in the monthly review, I thought I'd let the team stats do the talking. Reading up on some of them, a few categories are quite confronting. Here they are:

PPG: 83.6 (1st)
FG%: .435 (2nd)
3PT%: .291 (27th)
FT%: .809 (5th)
RPG: 33.7 (21st)
APG: 20.3 (1st)
BPG: 6.2 (16th)
SPG: 8.1 (1st)
FPG: 11.3 (30th)
ORPG: 5.2 (19th)
DRPG: 28.5 (23rd)

Around the League

Monthly Awards

West Player: [DEN] Carmelo Anthony (23.3ppg, 3.8rpg, 2.6spg)
East Player: [BOS] Rajon Rondo (22.4ppg, 8apg, 1.7spg)
West Rookie: [DEN] Taylor MacKenzie (15.4ppg, 1.5rpg, 1.3apg)
East Rookie: [BOS] Dave Russell (6.4ppg, 2.5apg)

MVP Race

[CLE] Lebron James (26ppg, 5rpg, 1.4bpg)
[CHA] Danny Granger (22.3ppg, 6.5rpg, 5apg)
[BOS] Rajon Rondo (19.9ppg, 7.4apg, 1.5spg)
[UTA] Chris Paul (21ppg, 6.6apg, 1.2spg)
[OKC] Rudy Gay (19.4ppg, 4.8rpg, 1.3bpg)

Standings

East

Cleveland 39-16
Boston 34-20
Detroit 33-21
Indiana 29-25
Washington 29-25
Toronto 27-24
New Jersey 28-26
New York 25-27
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Charlotte 27-31
Atlanta 23-29
Philadelphia 23-29
Orlando 22-30
Chicago 22-31
Miami 19-35
Milwaukee 18-38

West

Oklahoma City 40-16
Denver 37-17
Memphis 33-20
Potland 36-23
Phoenix 33-24
Utah 30-23
New Orleans 30-23
Minnesota 25-29
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Houston 24-32
LA Clippers 22-31
Golden State 22-33
Sacramento 22-33
LA Lakers 21-33
Dallas 20-32
San Antonio 19-36

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Next will be my 5 game summary. The temptation to simulate a few of the 5 game rounds has been great, but I constantly remind myself of the travesty of last season where my team ended up 41-41 and all my stats went south. That and the cpu's obsession with mucking around with my rotation keeps me playing. Hopefully I can do all 82 games this time around... or close to it.

[kibaxx7]

Detroit in East top 3, San Antonio in bottom of the West

[Andrew]

Good to see Melo pick up Player of the Month honours, shame it's not translating into more consistent play for the team and longer winning streaks.

[megarover]

How often are you going to go 3-2. Suprised Memphis is so good this year. Who know they might catch you

[Kenny]

Detroit in East top 3, San Antonio in bottom of the West

Yeah it makes me sad that San Antonio are doing so badly as well. They're one of my favourite teams.

Good to see Melo pick up Player of the Month honours, shame it's not translating into more consistent play for the team and longer winning streaks.

True, but with him back on track, I atleast have a consistent go to man... with any luck.

How often are you going to go 3-2. Suprised Memphis is so good this year. Who know they might catch you

I know, it seems to be the magic number for me. Hopefully Memphis won't catch up, but if I keep going 3-2, they might just do so.

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

Denver started off this 5 game stretch with 2 wins to complete their month of February. March started off with a loss, but two wins after that meant the Nuggets were 4-1 during this round and have a bit of momentum going. The feature game was against Orlando... the last game with retro jerseys for this season:

Melo and Birdman lead Denver to victory



Denver ended February with a convincing win against Orlando. The final score was 75-67. While Melo led the way in offense with 26 points, Chris Andersen won the Sprite Performer of the Game with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Ty Maximilian also chipped in with 10 points.

For Orlando, Dwight Howard had a fine game with 23 points and 12 boards, while Mikael Pietrus scored 15. With Jameer Nelson out with an injury, Tristan MacKenna had a tidy game with 14 points and 8 assists, but in the end they missed Nelson's scoring ability.

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ORL@DEN

DEN: 75 (Anthony 26, Andersen 12, Maximilian 10)
ORL: 67 (Howard 23, Pietrus 15, MacKenna 14)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Chris Andersen 12 points 15 rebounds

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 15
ORL: Howard 12

Assists

DEN: Billups 4
ORL: MacKenna 8

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Last 5 Games

NYK: 85-65 W
ORL: 75-67 W
PHX: 102-96 L
PHX: 100-90 W
SAC: 91-82 W

Denver are now 39-18

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Another NBA Superhero

Dwight Howard may be Superman, but Chris Andersen had 5 super-human efforts in this round, including an improved offensive performance. Here are his numbers:

VS NYK: 10 points 17 rebounds 3 blocks
VS ORL: 12 points 15 rebounds
VS PHX: 12 points 18 rebounds 1 block
VS PHX: 18 points 17 rebounds 5 blocks
VS SAC: 18 points 17 rebounds 4 blocks

Go-to-Guy

Melo's run has once again come late in the season... but better late than never right? He has been fantastic over this 5 game stretch. Here are his numbers:

VS NYK: 25 points 5 steals
VS ORL: 26 points
VS PHX: 37 points 4 rebounds 2 steals
VS PHX: 31 points 7 rebounds
VS SAC: 33 points

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Next 5 Games

SAC
@MIN
BOS
CHI
DET

The feature game will be against Detroit

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With Melo firing at the right time, I'm confident I can make a good push to the top spot in the West. Another 5 game summary will be up next.

[dare]

18 points,17 rebounds,5 blocks Nice stat line by the Birdman

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

Following on from the last 5 game summary, Denver once again went 4-1. The round began with a loss to Sacramento... Brook Lopez just seems to be unstoppable against the Nuggets. However Denver picked up their form with 4 wins straight. Lets hope the streak can continue on for longer this time. The feature game is against the Detroit Pistons:

Denver extends streak to 4



Denver's current winning streak now stands at 4 with a 79-70 win over the Detroit Pistons. Carmelo Anthony continued on with his scoring form, netting 28 points on the night and picking up the Sprite Performer of the Game. Taylor MacKenzie (14) and Ty Maximilian (12 points, 10 rebounds) both provided solid support on the offensive end, while the Birdman once again hit the boards hard with 15 rebounds.

For Detroit, Ben Gordon scored 17, while Ramon Sessions had 13 points and 5 assists. Tayshaun Prince was the other double digit scorer with 12 points.

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DET@DEN

DEN: 79 (Anthony 28, MacKenzie 14, Maximilian 12)
DET: 70 (Gordon 17, Sessions 13, Prince 12)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 28 points 4 rebounds 1 block

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 15
DET: Villenueva 12

Assists

DEN: Andersen, Maximilian 4
DET: Sessions 5

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Last 5 Games

SAC: 73-66 L
@MIN: 75-67 W
BOS: 84-65 W
CHI: 84-69 W
DET: 79-70 W

Denver are now 43-19

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Still got it

Past it? Nobody told Chauncey that as he scored 45 against the Celtics.

Ty's new poster

Ty Maximilian had a strong game against the Bulls. Here he is throwing down a dunk on Darko Milicic

Sorry Darko

Melo scored 44 points against the Bulls, including this dunk where he used Darko Milicic as a step ladder.

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Next 5 Games

WAS
@MEM
@NOH
@SAN
UTA

The feature game will be against Utah.

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With just 20 games left in the season, Denver have a small opportunity to be the best in the West, but they'll have to win a good percentage of their last 20. Another 5 game Summary will be up next.

[Kenny]

18 points,17 rebounds,5 blocks Nice stat line by the Birdman

He's had a career season

[Azzdogs]

Good 5 game streak and lets hope it continues.

[kibaxx7]

Great record, and superb games by both Birdman and Melo!

[megarover]

I was running when the beast called Melo would come out of hibernation

[Andrew]

A much better ten game stretch there, great numbers from Melo and Birdman.