While You Were Sleeping... 25 February 2011

by Basketball John on Feb 25, 2011 5:01 AM MST in NBA - News, Chatter, & Links

Only one game of relevance on tap for last night.

The Ugly

Boston Celtics 75 @ Denver Nuggets 89

Thanks for nothing Boston. I realize that you were without Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels, Semih Erden, and Luke Harangody due to trades, but still. Denver also had their traded-for players for the first time.

But still.

The Celtics lost the game on a 16-0 run by the Nuggets to close things out. 16-0 to finish the game? I guess even the best teams have off nights, but still. Only KG and Pierce showed up offensively. Rondo had 5 & 8 while Ray Allen had just 10 points on 4-10 shooting.

According to CelticsBlog, the Perkins trade made the other vets livid. It could be that had an impact on their play. They also don't buy the 9-player excuse,

And when it mattered tonight, the Celtics couldn't cut it. Only one starter,Kevin Garnett (14 pts, 13 rbs) shot 50% from the field, and the happiest guy to be out there tonight was a D-Leaguer nobody has ever heard from before. The Celtics lost tonight, they in what is admittedly a knee-jerk judgement, lost today, and yet life goes on.

The game was ugly from beginning to end, despite the Celtics leading for most of the way and well into the second half, and you never really got the feeling that the Celtics wanted the W. The Nuggets controlled the paint (52 boards for the Nugs, 38 for the C's), they brought the energy, and they got the win on the back of a late 16-0 run in the 4th.

The Nuggets are now 2-0 since the Melo trade and by all accounts are looking very good. Crap.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

the Nuggets looked good last night

they are two ‘good’ players deep at every position

yojimbo is jazzed

by jazzed on Feb 25, 2011 10:25 AM MST reply actions

I was about to say the same thing with almost the exact same title

I was going to say Nuggs, but that was about the only difference.

The Felton-Lawson combo could be a very difficult matchup for a lot of teams to guard.

The quality of players they got is pretty astounding. They lost a problem child and gained 3 young starters, one development big man, and more assets for the future.

I love reading Nugg fans commenting on Yahoo and stuff to Knicks fans saying, I’m glad you like Melo now, but wait until he has 3 straight 40+ games and they lose all 3 or he misses crucial games with trivial injuries.

I am in no way affiliated with the blog of the same name.

by JazzHype on Feb 25, 2011 10:42 AM MST up reply actions

jinx?

yeah – really interesting when they had Felton AND Lawson on the floor together. though not sure how often that will happen.

yojimbo is jazzed

by jazzed on Feb 25, 2011 9:34 PM MST up reply actions

Addition by subtraction...

by jbuxxy on Feb 25, 2011 10:41 AM MST reply actions

Absolutely.

I can only hope the Jazz result is similar.

I am in no way affiliated with the blog of the same name.

by JazzHype on Feb 25, 2011 10:42 AM MST up reply actions

I know they're a rival of ours, and I know them continuing to win makes us much less likely to make the playoffs...

But I honestly find myself kind of hoping that they do well. What Melo put them through this season was awful, but through it all, the rest of the guys kept playing, the coaches kept working, the front office pulled off a virtual miracle getting back so manyhigh-quality players in return for Melo, and they clearly aren’t gonna go down without a fight. I like to see that in a franchise. If only it was a hapless non-rival like the Cavs, then I could root for them outright instead of having to do it begrudgingly.

"I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it."

by shandonfan on Feb 25, 2011 4:04 PM MST reply actions

I found myself cheering for them (the Nuggs) as well

too bad they are in our division. with Affalo, Gallanari, Chandler, Smith . . . they’ve got wings coming out their ears. and i wouldn’t mind any of them in a Jazz uniform but for Smith.

yojimbo is jazzed

by jazzed on Feb 25, 2011 9:37 PM MST up reply actions