According to George Karl, the Nuggets need more than anything to play together as a team. He does not like his players worrying about their minutes or their shots or whether they start or not. He has had almost every player on the roster start at one time or another, and I think he does this on purpose to signal that the players should not care too much about whether they start or not. He wants his players to play in the way that will help the team the most, which means not only that they will do what they do best, but also that they will try to integrate what they do with the other players. For example, J.R. Smith is supposed to shoot 5-10 3-point shots a game, but if he sees someone in front of an open lane to the basket, he is supposed to feed that player for an easy layup or dunk, rather than be selfish and shoot that particular shot. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nuggets Still Waiting For Anthony-Iverson to Click By Arnie Stapleton Allen Iverson will be on the sideline in street clothes Sunday in Las Vegas when Carmelo Anthony plays in his first All-Star game. How appropriate. Denver's two superstars have played only six games together since Iverson came over from Philadelphia in a Dec. 19 trade. Anthony was just beginning to serve his 15-game suspension for fighting when Iverson arrived. Shortly after Anthony's return, Iverson went down with a sprained right ankle that kept him out of nine of the Nuggets' last 10 games before the All-Star break. "Once we have everyone back and have A.I. healthy, then we can be one of the top teams in the West," said Anthony, the league's leading scorer. "It's just a matter of putting it all together when we are all out there on the court." That's been the Nuggets' hardest task this season, staying healthy enough to built a nice rapport. When they did play together, Anthony and Iverson were starting to prove the nay-sayers wrong and showing that the two shooting stars could indeed coexist. They averaged a combined 54 points and 12 assists. However, in their time together, they went just 2-4 as a hodgepodge of newcomers were all adapting on the fly and a lack of stamina resulted in fourth-quarter fades. After sending Andre Miller and Joe Smith to the 76ers along with two first-round draft picks for Iverson, the Nuggets traded Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge to Milwaukee for Steve Blake. The Nuggets (26-25) entered the break as the seventh seed in the Western Conference and are hoping the returns of Iverson and Marcus Camby, who's had a pulled groin and the flu this month, will ignite a rise through the standings so they can finally make some noise in the playoffs. "We have a short period of time to come together, to believe in each other, to built a trust, to (be able to) win playoff basketball," coach George Karl said. "And some nights I think we're going to do it and other nights I think we're too individualistic in our thoughts, too worried about our shots, our minutes. "If we just block it out and just worry about the team. When we play as a basketball team, we are good. When we defend and pass the basketball, we are good. It's not much more complicated than that." Since Anthony was named to his first All-Star game as an injury replacement, he's been playing a lot looser and Karl is counting on his unselfish play to continue over the next two months and beyond. He also wants to make sure Anthony doesn't feel the need to make amends for the 15 games he missed by taking on too much of the burden during the Nuggets' playoff push. "I think we expect a lot from Carmelo, but not more because of the suspension," Karl said. "The only thing that matters right now is the chemistry of the team coming together, staying together and figuring out how good a team we can become." Because talent-wise, the Nuggets stack up pretty well. "We have talented bigs, we have a talented backcourt and we have a young kid named Melo that's pretty incredible to watch," Karl said. "So, the pieces are nice. But putting them together is a commitment by everybody to forget about themselves and just commit to being a team. "When we get our A-team out there, it's going to be fun. We're going to have some good games in the second half of the season." </div> Source
Here is some more wisdom from the Nugget's Head Coach. Here is my favorite George Karl quote of the season so far: "We have a tendency when the scoreboard says it's okay to be goofy, we go goofy." Yes coach, it is true. There is a fine line between having fun, which is great, and "going goofy," which is very damaging, and the Nuggets too often do the latter. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In Denver: Keeping it Simple By Travis Heath "Maybe we should ask for 82 on the road," head coach George Karl quipped after Saturday's win in Milwaukee. Okay, maybe the Nuggets shouldn't go quite that far, but Denver's struggles at home are now leaving even the most seasoned NBA observers at a loss for words. "It's unique and it's bothersome," Karl said prior to Monday's game. "I don't know the answer other than that I think we're more focused on the road." For most NBA teams, if they can win 30 games at home and go .500 on the road, that's a recipe for a 50 win season. The Nuggets are currently holding up their end of the bargain on the road with a record of 12-10. The problem has been at Pepsi Center, where the team had a mystifying record of 13-14 coming into Monday's home game against the Golden State Warriors. As a result of the team's struggles at home, the pressure has become palpable for the team and most everyone in attendance. "I think some of the other games we've had that lack of confidence or fear that comes into our game," Karl added. "And actually we've had more pressure at home than on the road." Karl added that Denver's struggles can in no way be attributed to lack of fan support, as the fans have come ready and rowdy since the Iverson deal was consummated back in December. "We've got a crowd here that wants to jump on our back. They are into it, they're ready to go and they've been great. We just haven't played good enough basketball to get them to pick us up and carry us." Perhaps the most maddening part of the team's struggles at home has to do with the altitude and the fact that it should provide the Nuggets with an added boost every time they take the floor in Denver. On Monday, a crowd of over 15,000 once again turned out hoping to see Denver right the ship at Pepsi Center, and on this night, the Nuggets finally found what they've been searching for beating the Warriors 123-111. "I think we just got tired of losing at home," Anthony said of Denver's victory over Golden State. "We won two games on the road, so we tried to approach it like we were on the road." Apparently that strategy worked fairly well for Melo and his teammates. That said, Anthony indicated the team still likes playing at Pepsi Center despite their season long struggles. "I know everybody has been saying that we like playing on the road more than we do at home . . . that's a lie," Anthony added with a smile." So why all of the struggles up until Monday, Melo? "We can't breathe out here, man. That's what it is," Anthony said jokingly in reference to Denver's altitude. "I don't really know," Anthony continued addressing the question more seriously. "Our confidence's been down for a minute. Hopefully these last three games really picked our confidence level up. Going into the All Star break hopefully we can get this game Wednesday in Minnesota and keep the ball rolling for the second half of the season." For Karl, the resurgence of Nene and all around play of Anthony has him excited, that is when the team doesn't get "goofy" on him. "The pieces are nice but putting them together is a commitment by everybody to forget about themselves and just commit to playing basketball and being a team. Tonight, when we got the 24 or 25 point lead, we had five possessions where the shot selection was awful -- it was a joke. A high school coach would have taken everybody out of the game. We have a tendency when the scoreboard says it's okay to be goofy, we go goofy. "When we play as a basketball team we are good. When we defend and pass the ball we are good. It's not much more complicated than that. When we take quick shots and selfish shots and don't defend, we can get beat and we can get beat by anybody." While Karl's words may seem overly simplistic, they sound like a recipe for home-court success if this writer's ever heard one, and sometimes a little simplicity helps to answer even the most perplexing of questions. </div> Source
I don't know if Melo and AI can co-exist. Nuggest will probably need to trade one of the two if it doesn't work out this season.
that would be so stupid to make a trade after half a season. Its obvious that they can co-exist if you have seen them play, its just that this team needs to stay focused defensively, and take good shots on offense. If they would just do those 2 things consistantly, they would be one of the best if not the best team in the NBA.
<div class="quote_poster">Answer_AI03 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">that would be so stupid to make a trade after half a season. Its obvious that they can co-exist if you have seen them play, its just that this team needs to stay focused defensively, and take good shots on offense. If they would just do those 2 things consistantly, they would be one of the best if not the best team in the NBA.</div> Both Iverson and Melo have improved their already great games in the last two months. Iverson has shown he can play the point as well as almost anyone (except Nash?). Melo also has increased his assists as well as his rebounding. These two have only played 6 games together so far and there was no sign of any problem at all during these games. Iverson means it when he says he has been there and done that with respect to scoring and now he just wants to work with the Nuggets toward the NBA finals. Staying focused on defense is problem one for the Nuggets, as Answer_103 says, and problem number two is to find the right offensive balance between the starters as a whole and the other players. They have had some games where the non-starters did not get hardly any touches or shots, which in turn leads to too much collapsing of defenders on the ball and too many double teams of players like Iverson, Melo, and Camby. So if the non-starters get their share of shots, both they and the starters will get better shots, and so the second thing Answer_103 mentions, "take good shots on offense" is exactly what I have in mind too. If KMart and Nene are both fully recovered from their knee surgeries next year, the Nuggets probably are about the best team in the NBA. They might cruise to a 60 win season next year in that case. Of course, home court in the playoffs would be a disadvantage.
