J.R. chides Nuggets for being "selfish," Dantley sounds off

¹²³ · Apr 27, 2010

It was the tweet re-tweeted 'round the hoop world.

After the Nuggets Game 4 loss at Utah, Nuggets guard J.R. Smith posted on Twitter: "You play selfish you lose selfish that's all I'm saying about the game!"

The Nuggets had only 13 assists in Sunday's Game 4 loss (Utah had 14 in the second half alone). Carmelo Anthony did attempt 26 shots, but he made half of them. And Smith, perhaps more than any other Nugget, is known for playing selfishly.

Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups was asked Monday about the tweet, and the team captain said: "It's frustrating to lose, and people can say what they want, but at any rate, when we win, we win together."

Asked about Smith's tweet, Nuggets acting coach Adrian Dantley appeared visibly uncomfortable at the team's media availability Monday.

"I don't know what to say about that, there's always some comments made by a player. And usually when you lose a game, we're going to have that type of statements," said Dantley, who is filling in for George Karl, still recovering from throat and neck cancer.

Then, asked again about the Smith tweet, Dantley said: "What do you want me to say? That he shouldn't have made that comment? I don't know. He shouldn't have made that comment."

On Monday, Smith did not make himself available to the media. But after the backlash, Smith tweeted:

"yo i got the twiiter goons on my back!"

For the regular season, Denver averaged 20.9 assists per game. During the season, the Nuggets were 42-7 when they tallied 20 or more assists. The Nuggets had just 12 assists in the Game 3, also a loss.

"I don't think we've been specifically selfish, I think that the style that we play doesn't make us a high-assist volume team, like Utah is," Billups said. "The style they play, they're going to move it every time, they're going to have 25-30 assists most nights. Our system is not set for that; our system is kind of run-and-play and isolations.

You can't get a lot of assists that way."

Dantley added: "I don't know who was selfish. A lot of time it looks that way when we miss shots, when it's the same shot in the first game that we made. ...When you lose, you say some funny things, some negative things, but the main thing I told the guys (at Monday's film session) was: Stay together. I know they feel down. It felt like a funeral in there, or something like that. We just got to get their spirits up."

Numerous Twitter users posted their own tweets about Smith's "selfish" line, including one tweeter who made reference to the old phrase — the pot calling the kettle black.

Smith was essential in Denver's Game 1 win, splashing four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. But overall, he has shot 11-for-45 in the series, which Utah leads, 3-1. Game 5 is Wednesday at Pepsi Center.

Smith uses the Twitter handle @JR_Swish.
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