The Coach is Optimistic if the Nuggets Can be Professional & Have Fun Playing Coach George Karl of the Nuggets remains optimistic about getting into the playoffs and about winning in the playoffs, so long as the team is committed, professional, and able to have fun playing and winning. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Nuggets are 22-20 with 40 games remaining on their regular season schedule. For some, they are happy the club still has its collective head above water with all that's transpired. Others believe the team has underachieved and needs to step up the defensive effort ASAP for the team to have a chance to position themselves come playoff time. No matter what you believe, the Nuggets are going to have to win more than 22 games in the season's second half for the season to be considered a success, right? Well, to help answer that, head coach George Karl recently spoke with BNS' Travis Heath. For Karl, he believes that while the first half of the season was definitely tumultuous, he also believes the team is not in a horrible position all things considered. "I was surprised that we were only three or four games behind my realistic goal with all of the hell we've been dealt. I think we need to upgrade February and March and let April kind of take care of itself." So how many wins does the team need to have heading into the season's final month? "Get close to 40 wins heading into April and then play some playoff games in April." Of course that starts right now, and it starts with the Denver Nuggets finding a way to win games. "I think until the All Star game all the games are important," Karl continued. "We don't have the luxury to have many more games like (Saturday and Monday). The suspensions, the injuries and the trades take away that 15 or 20 games of fun time. You can't rationalize now, we've got to go to work." In the second half of the season, Denver will be going to work on the road quite frequently. As such, many pundits have speculated that Denver will fade and possibly struggle to even qualify for the postseason. Your thoughts, coach? "I'll be honest with you, I think my team's more focused on the road right now. I don't know how we change that. We have basketball on top of the list everyday on the road. Sometimes at home it seems like we have some other things on top of the list." Finally, coaches seem to really enjoy breaking down the performance of their team analytically and statistically. However, sometimes it's what's in a coach's gut that's most telling. In that spirit, what does Karl's gut tell him about this team and their second half chances? "Could be good, could be really good. But you know, there's got to be a commitment, a respect to the work that has to be done. That's going to take more professionalism that this team probably hasn't shown in the past. We're going to be tested in our professionalism, our commitment and our mental toughness. When we play hard and we play the right way, I think you see the game is a lot of fun. It's kind of when we cheapen the game with our casualness, our lack of defensive focus and not respecting our opponent the way we should . . . it's things we talk about a lot." Hopefully that message will start sinking in -- soon. If not, the second half could end being a massive disappointment. </div> Source
