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

Haha, I like that pic of T-Mac, makes it seem as if he and the bench are celebrating. Pearson literally stole the show from Perko and Dwight seeing as how I thought they would be the ones to rack up double-doubles (or a triple-double in Perko's case) because they were the starters, but nevertheless, good the see the West still reigning supreme.

It was a nice moment I thought. Kind of fitting as well since the East were pretty much dead-and-buried at that point. Pearson is so much fun to control; it was like having Yao at his prime. In the end, I just wanted to see what I could get with him.

Yeah, that T-Mac pic is special Shame Perko couldn't get another MVP award.

It was a shame, but I really had a lot of fun using Zach Pearson.

Agreed, love that shot of T-Mac. All the screens are great, in fact.

Thanks Andrew, sometimes it feels like I've taken the same shot 100 times, but every now and then I get lucky with it

T-Mac: "All hail the king!"
Bench: "All Hail T-Mac!"

I wonder how LeBron would feel about T-Mac being the King... consider he's his teammate and all

The Next Level - 1-10

This was something I really tried to do during the 10th season, but for some reason I couldn't get it the way I wanted it. But I managed to find a song I liked and enough footage to go with it. So, hope you guys enjoy this little montage I made from video captured from seasons 1-10:

phpBB [video]

Fun fact: Patience Price (the artist in the song) is managed by David Faustino (AKA Bud Bundy from Married With Children)

Very cool.

I was thinking of something similar but I have 545 videos on my Youtube account from my current dynasty alone. Over 47 minutes worth.
Maybe one day if I'm really bored and can find a whole concert to use as background music.

Something I noticed in your video was a few 360 dunks. I think I've only managed to pull one of those off once, with Corey Brewer of all players.

Well, that video makes me wanna get the game.

Me too, but it's been out for two years and just a few weeks ago I saw it priced at 29.99

You could probably find it a better price than that online.

Nice vid loving it!

Very cool.

Thanks Andrew, making it brought back a lot of good memories

I was thinking of something similar but I have 545 videos on my Youtube account from my current dynasty alone. Over 47 minutes worth.
Maybe one day if I'm really bored and can find a whole concert to use as background music.

Something I noticed in your video was a few 360 dunks. I think I've only managed to pull one of those off once, with Corey Brewer of all players.

I'd say you could make one awesome 3-4 minute video out of the best videos you have. I really had to stretch some of mine out to get the desired length. I guess the hard part for you would be figuring out what to omit

The 360s are kind of a J.R. Smith specialty I noticed. Dennis Da Conceicao managed to pull one off but apart from him, Earl is the only guy I've been able to do it with IIRC.

Well, that video makes me wanna get the game.

Me too, but it's been out for two years and just a few weeks ago I saw it priced at 29.99

If you can get it for cheap, I'd recommend it. From my experience with both Live 10 and 2k10 (and 11 for that matter), I find EA have a more intuitive freestyle passing system. It's also a lot more forgiving when it comes to the passing lanes I find. You just need to prepare yourselves for a bizarre glitch in the animation/gameplay every now and then (which is why I recommend it if it's cheap).

You could probably find it a better price than that online.

I just checked Amazon and you can get he PS3 version for 17.75. A slightly better price, but considering you can get 2k11 for 11.60 on the same console, it's probably still a little steep in comparison.

Nice vid loving it!

Thanks, hopefully I can come up with something else for 11-20 when it comes around

5 Game Summary

After going 3-2 in the previous summary, Denver looked like a tired team in this one. They were unable to get any momentum towards the end of their road trip and it even affected them when they returned home against the Celtics. They went loss, win, loss, win, loss to unusually dip under .500 in this summary. This round included two OT games, but with the tradition of reporting on wins, I deicded to go with the game against Milwaukee this time around:

Nuggets Win In OT



It took an extra period of play, but the Nuggets were able to come up with a 112-108 win against the Milwaukee Bucks. After the game couldn't be decided in regulation, both teams went blow-for-blow and it looked like it could have gone to double-overtime, but the Bucks fell asleep on what turned out to be the pivotal play of the game:

phpBB [video]

Perko went on to win the Performer of the Game award, as that rebound was just 1 of 29. He also had 14 points, 15 assists and 4 blocked shots in what was an incredible display.

The scoring load was shared in the main part by Denver's three gun wingmen. Cody Campbell (28), Taylor MacKenzie (22) and Duncan Werner (21) all caused headaches for the Bucks defense at some point of the game, while Dwight Howard had a solid performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Despite getting pummeled on the boards, the Bucks were able to match it with Denver offensively through Bertrand Durand, who scored 38. Former Nuggets guard Nathan Bing also had a strong game, scoring 23. Harry Carlos (18 points, 9 assists) and Blake Griffin (16 points, 9 rebounds) both came close to double-doubles.

The Bucks were close to causing Denver's second consecutive loss, but the Nuggets overtime execution proved to be slightly better on the night. They learned the hard way that you can't fall asleep on the defensive glass with Perko around.

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DEN@MIL

(OT)
DEN: 112 (Campbell 28, MacKenzie 22, Werner 21)
MIL: 108 (Durand 38, Bing 23, Carlos 18)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Borislav Perko 14 points 29 rebounds 15 assists 4 blocks

Rebounds

DEN: Perko 29
MIL: Griffin, Salisbury 9

Assists

DEN: Perko 15
MIL: Carlos 9

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Last 5 Games

@IND: 88-78 L
@MIL: 112-108 W (OT)
@DAL: 101-96 L (OT)
@HOU: 85-74 W
BOS: 98-95 L

The Nuggets are currently 44-11

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Just 2 More!

Borislav Perko came ridiculously close to a quadruple-double once again. With 6 blocks in the first quarter, it looked like it was in the bank. However, he managed to be two shy of the milestone. He had 16 points, 12 rebounds, 19 assists and 8 blocks. He's putting up some serious numbers and is pushing his claim for an MVP repeat.

CODE BLUE!

Cody Campbell earned his way into the starting lineup thanks to a 40 point effort in Denver's loss to Dallas. Werner now drops back to the bench.

Trying To Inspire

LeBron James was looking to inspire the below par Nuggets against the Houston Rockets and he came out with a 27 point performance. He's still a force to be reckoned with.

A Slight Turn Around

Things were looking great for Duncan Werner pre-All-Star break. He was named on the West bench and he had a solid 19 point effort against the Pacers in the last game before the break. But now he's been named on the Nuggets bench thanks to some outstanding performances by Cody Campbell.

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Next 5 Games

MIA
ORL
POR
UTA
GSW

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I have the monthly report to come next and I've already played the next 5 games. I planned on having this posted a few days ago, but making that video, watching cricket and Skyrim have all found ways to distract me.

14-29-15-4?? Shit, that's right there with his 20-20-20. Well done, nice to see him clinging on to that back-to-back MVP.

Sucks to see Werner demoted to a bench role, hopefully he becomes a good sixth man. That was just a crazy game from Perko; if he tried in the scoring department, I bet he could match Robin Lopez's 30-30 game.

Just excellent. Perko is off the charts...

February 2022 Review

The Nuggets came into February on a 13 game winning streak, but it took only the second game of the month for them to lose to the West's second seed, the Hornets. After the streak ended, they struggled for consistency, alternating between wins and losses. In fact, they were only .500 on the whole month with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses.

While they wouldn't want to entirely blame the problem on their road trip, you could understand why they'd feel a little homesick, playing just 1 game in the entire month in Denver. But despite the indifferent team form, there were some incredible individual performances. Cody Campbell broke his way into the starting lineup thanks to a 40 point effort against the Dallas Mavericks. Taylor MacKenzie continued to fire and maintained his spot at the top of the scoring ladder, while Borislav Perko decided to go into MVP mode. Some big time performances from him (including a game where he had 29 rebounds) saw him takeover top spot in the MVP race.

It wasn't the greatest month of this dynasty, but hopefully it's just a footnote on another championship season for the Denver Nuggets.

Monthly Awards

EAST Player: [DET] Njabulo Nyoni (23.9ppg 5.3rpg 1.7apg)
WEST Player: [DAL] Brady O'Leary (25ppg 6.1apg 1.1bpg)
EAST Rookie: [MIL] Miguel Carlos (5.9ppg 1.2rpg 1.8apg)
WEST Rookie: [SAN] Quint Gray (3.9ppg 3.4apg 0.5spg)


MVP Candidates

[DEN] Borislav Perko (7.8ppg 10.3rpg 9.3apg)
[DEN] Taylor MacKenzie (25.6ppg 2.4rpg 1.9spg)
[NOH] Hobbes MacDonald (21.6ppg 4.7rpg 3.4apg)
[LAL] Theo Hadson (24.2ppg 4.8ppg 3.7apg)
[DAL] Brady O'Leary (20.6ppg 6.4apg 1.1spg)

Standings

EAST

Philadelphia 36-20
Indiana 35-20
Boston 31-22
Detroit 32-24
Washington 32-24
Toronto 27-27
New York 28-29
Cleveland 25-28
---
New Jersey 25-29
Atlanta 25-30
Chicago 23-29
Miami 25-32
Charlotte 24-31
Milwaukee 21-30
Orlando 24-34


WEST

Denver 44-11
New Orleans 34-19
Oklahoma City 32-24
Houston 31-27
Memphis 30-26
Golden State 27-27
LA Clippers 27-27
Dallas 28-30
---
Minnesota 25-29
San Antonio 24-30
Portland 23-29
Sacramento 21-31
Utah 21-31
Phoenix 21-33
LA Lakers 19-37

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March is going retro!



Personally, this is one of my favourite times of the season; when the jerseys revert to the ugly 80s rainbow design. Hopefully it'll inspire the Nuggets to get back to their dominant ways. Can you name all 7 guys on that bench during the threepeat season?

14-29-15-4?? Shit, that's right there with his 20-20-20. Well done, nice to see him clinging on to that back-to-back MVP.

It was one of those games where I was like "wow, he's grabbing a lot of boards... I wonder how many he has" and then I'd check and be amazed. Seems to do it without a fuss.

Sucks to see Werner demoted to a bench role, hopefully he becomes a good sixth man. That was just a crazy game from Perko; if he tried in the scoring department, I bet he could match Robin Lopez's 30-30 game.

I hope he does too. His game certainly suits the system I have, but with Campbell I can start T-Mac at the 2. I probably should try and score more with Perko, but it just doesn't feel as natural with him as it does with my wing guys. When it comes down to it, I really like him as my main distributor, as opposed to a main option. It'd be interesting to see how he'd pan out in a situation that did force him to score more points.

Just excellent. Perko is off the charts...

He never ceases to amaze

[DEN] Borislav Perko (7.8ppg 10.3rpg 9.3apg)

Not the kind of averages you'd normally see. He needs to average a triple-double. Really outlandish numbers, paritcularly the 29 rebounds.

Read everything over the last week or so and this is amazing. Love the generated rookies and even the real NBA players and... Wow is all I can say. From the days of Ty Maximillion to now its been consistently amazing. Cheers for writing this

Bit of a rough patch but overall I'd say you're in good shape. Those are some amazing performances from Perko though after last season's feat, not altogether surprising. Hope you can find a way to get that elusive quadruple double. Interesting situation with Campbell and Werner, seems like there could be some competition there but it's great that they're both productive.

I just checked Amazon and you can get he PS3 version for 17.75. A slightly better price, but considering you can get 2k11 for 11.60 on the same console, it's probably still a little steep in comparison.

Agreed, I'd probably give eBay a shot though.

[DEN] Borislav Perko (7.8ppg 10.3rpg 9.3apg)

Not the kind of averages you'd normally see. He needs to average a triple-double. Really outlandish numbers, paritcularly the 29 rebounds.

I figured I'd keep his scoring moderate because of the said outlandish numbers

Read everything over the last week or so and this is amazing. Love the generated rookies and even the real NBA players and... Wow is all I can say. From the days of Ty Maximillion to now its been consistently amazing. Cheers for writing this

Thanks reneker, I appreciate the effort you put into reading this. 55 pages is a lot to catch up on. As I always say, keep reading and I'll keep writing

Bit of a rough patch but overall I'd say you're in good shape. Those are some amazing performances from Perko though after last season's feat, not altogether surprising. Hope you can find a way to get that elusive quadruple double. Interesting situation with Campbell and Werner, seems like there could be some competition there but it's great that they're both productive.

I just checked Amazon and you can get he PS3 version for 17.75. A slightly better price, but considering you can get 2k11 for 11.60 on the same console, it's probably still a little steep in comparison.

Agreed, I'd probably give eBay a shot though.

I don't know if it's the AI logic or something psychological, but it seems like when I rack up a good number of blocks against the opposition, they change their game plan to take more perimeter shots. Sometimes when I'm really chasing that stat, I'll even try to pre-empt the shot on the perimeter and get faked out because of it.

So far I'm really enjoying Cody Campbell's game. A guy who's 6'9-6'10 with a good shooting touch and the ability to put the ball on the floor is always an asset. Being off contract on the upcoming free agency, I hope to retain both him and T-Mac and possibly fit Werner in there as well (all three are in the last season of their contracts).

And eBay is probably a good bet on that. I'm just not very savvy when it comes to that site. Only because I have never really used it before. In real life, I have a tendency to pay "sticker price"

5 Game Summary

After a month where the Nuggets went .500, they picked it up at the start of March, winning 4 of their first 5. The only loss they had came at the hands of the Utah Jazz. Otherwise they had comfortable wins against Orlando, Portland and Golden State. The first game of the month however went down to the wire. Here it is:

Nuggets Burn Heat



The Denver Nuggets started off March 2022 on a high with an 87-85 win against the Miami Heat. With the scores tied at 85, the Nuggets made the decisive play that won them the game. It was apparently originally intended for Dwight Howard to commit a double-team and pass to the open man. The Heat weren't suckered in, but the All-Star centre was able to make the adjustment:

phpBB [video]

Howard came up with the winning play, but once again it was Taylor MacKenzie who led the way in scoring. He had 27 points. Cody Campbell (17) and Bartholomew Myer (16) both backed up him well. In fact, Cody Campbell was named the Performer of the Game, thanks to his all-round efforts. He recorded a stat in every column with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks.

The Heat had 4 main scorers on the night, led by Demitri Mullan who had 21. Reuben Walker had a good night as well with 15 points and 6 assists. Former Denver Nuggets player Todd Griffin was able to score 14 against the side that traded him earlier in the season, while Jesse Banks had the only double-double of the night with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Denver had uncharacteristic struggles on the boards, with their top 3 rebounders having only 2 more total rebounds than Jesse Banks. But their late game execution was spot on once again.

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MIA@DEN

DEN: 87 (MacKenzie 27, Campbell 17, Myer 16)
MIA: 85 (Mullan 21, Walker 15, Griffin 14)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Cody Campbell 17 points 4 rebounds 4 assists 3 blocks 1 steal

Rebounds

DEN: Howard, Leopold, Perko 5
MIA: Banks 13

Assists

DEN: Myer 6
MIA: Walker 6

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Last 5 Games

MIA: 87-85 W
ORL: 84-61 W
POR: 82-70 W
UTA: 74-71 L
GSW: 100-76 W

The Nuggets are now 48-12

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%@#&!

Would you believe that Borislav Perko was only a single block away from a quadruple-double against Portland? He had 12 points, 18 rebounds, 19 assists and 9 blocks. Despite narrowly missing the milestone on several occasions, the numbers he's putting up lately are quite phenomenal.

A Lot Of Scoring

In this shot, T-Mac is up against the second leading scorer of the competition, Johnny Williams. Taylor showed him how it was done, with 35 points.

Past Vs Future

Cody Campbell represents the exciting young talent that Denver is now building their team around. Up against Melo and the Magic, he had 20 points and 7 rebounds.

Return of the Ginger Highlight Reel

He hasn't gotten a lot of game time this season, but after his 24 point effort against the Jazz, you may see more of Dennis Da Conceicao as the season progresses.

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Next 5 Games

LAC
LAL
@DET
@BOS
@WAS

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I'm finally all caught up with my summaries. Hopefully the next one will be up quite soon as well. Only 22 more games til the playoffs!

Perko really is too good.

Too much Ginger Ale for the Jazz!

Solid game-winner against the Heat. Normally the most epic game-winners are either threes or a tough fadeaway jumpshot, but a dunk is definitely the most emphatic way to win a game. Stinks that you couldn't get it, but I would have wanted to see your reaction when you barely missed out on that Perko quadruple-double.

Pekro is just a mad man! Gingers do have feelings, and they were shown against the Jazz.

That's an emphatic game winner.

I know what you mean about chasing stats. One can never rule out the possibility of the game's AI cranking up the challenge but I think it's definitely part psychological. You're so eager to get the record or statistical milestone that you try too hard to force it and it doesn't pan out. I've done that with Ben Gordon, trying to keep a streak of 50 point games going. It resulted in an atrocious field goal percentage by the end of the game.

Perko really is too good.

No arguments there

Too much Ginger Ale for the Jazz!

Solid game-winner against the Heat. Normally the most epic game-winners are either threes or a tough fadeaway jumpshot, but a dunk is definitely the most emphatic way to win a game. Stinks that you couldn't get it, but I would have wanted to see your reaction when you barely missed out on that Perko quadruple-double.

I'm trying to incorporate the Ginger Highlight Reel as a nickname for DDC... but when he dunked on another redhead, I had to take a snapshot.

I can't even remember the last time I won a game with a dunk... if I ever have. And as for the quadruple-double, let's just say there was a lot of swearing... even a few C-Bombs in there

Pekro is just a mad man! Gingers do have feelings, and they were shown against the Jazz.

He is definitely putting up some crazy numbers.

I'm hoping DDC can be more productive. An athletic, red head can surely be a cult hero in this thread.

That's an emphatic game winner.

I know what you mean about chasing stats. One can never rule out the possibility of the game's AI cranking up the challenge but I think it's definitely part psychological. You're so eager to get the record or statistical milestone that you try too hard to force it and it doesn't pan out. I've done that with Ben Gordon, trying to keep a streak of 50 point games going. It resulted in an atrocious field goal percentage by the end of the game.

As I mentioned, I was hoping to draw a double-team, but I'll take that shot any day of the week.

When it comes to scoring, I'd dare say I'm horribly inefficient in this game. I think the last time I saw my lifetime three point percentage, it was at about 25-ish (which is downright awful really). However, I think that's more of a trial and error thing as well. I don't know what the players are really going to be like in the game because I only really look at DNA ratings, not the overalls. I guess I like the surprise. But yeah, I think once you get a few blocks, the AI is more willing to camp out beyond the perimeter and mid-range... but I could be wrong.