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

a nice run and no surprise the L would come from Portland; AK47 what a line! good to see he and the Diesel having fun!

Good five games and what a performance from Brown against the Hornets.

Yeah, it still surprises me how hot he can get from behind the arc.

It amazes me how in only a couple of seasons the rosters are so different to in the beginning. NBA players move around a lot. On this game at least.

Interesting road trip coming up. You should probably win the middle 3 games, although I don't know what players those teams have

Yeah, 4th season in and OKC don't have Durant, Green or Westbrook... I'm pretty sure they'd be a big priority IRL.

Holy crap, 57 points.. How many of those came from dunks?

Holy crap, 57 points.. How many of those came from dunks?

60

Not as many as you'd think... he actually hit 12 three pointers.

Going 4-1, AK showing he isnt an old white guy and Brown BALLIN OUT OF CONTROL. I'd say this was a pretty good week

The old white boys go alright... the Birdman is one too remember

A much better stretch there, amazing performance from Shannon Brown. Nice to see AK-47 fitting in a little better.

Kirilenko has been a pleasant surprise... I shouldn't be too surprised though, since I had him in NBA Live 06 and he was a weapon back then too.

a nice run and no surprise the L would come from Portland; AK47 what a line! good to see he and the Diesel having fun!

I've loved what both Shaq and AK-47 have brought to my team.

January 2013 Summary

Team Overview

January proved to be a mixed month for Denver. It was the month that would see Taylor MacKenzie's dream run encounter a nightmare shooting slump, which initially hurt the Nuggets, being that he was the top scorer for the team. However Shannon Brown managed to fill the void, with some huge 30+ point games, including the 57 he scored against New Orleans. He proved he's not just a dunker, sinking 12 from beyond the arc. Melo of course had a few big games himself. Ty Maximilian has proven to be a consistent player, while Andrei Kirilenko and Shaquille O'Neal have provided excellent energy off the bench since their arrival.

In limited time, Smush Parker proved he can still cut it in the NBA, while Billups and Chauncey have both been pass-first point guards in an incredibly potent offensive team. While the Birdman has had more moderate performances, he still leads the league in rebounds per game and is in the top 10 for blocked shots. Grant Hill and JJ Hickson are used sparingly since the arrival of Shaq and AK-47, while Arron Afflalo, Ray Allen and Matt Bonner were completely inactive during January. You know your team is deep when the all-team leading three point shooter and a former 6th man of the year are on your IR.

I think that covers everyone...

Around the League

Monthly Awards

West Player: [NOH] Chris Paul (23.5ppg, 6.6apg, 1.4spg)
East Player: [CHA] Danny Granger (20.6ppg, 6rpg, 4.8apg)
West Rookie: [UTA] Njabulo Nyoni (12.7ppg, 3.5rpg, 0.8spg)
East Rookie: [MIA] Frank King (10.1ppg, 3.8rpg, 1.2apg)

MVP Race

[CLE] Lebron James (25.7ppg, 5rpg, 1.4bpg)
[CHA] Danny Granger (22.3ppg, 7rpg, 5.2apg)
[NJN] Devin Harris (20ppg, 6.6apg, 1.8spg)
[NOH] Chris Paul (20.6ppg, 6.8apg, 1.3spg)
[MIA] Dwyane Wade (24ppg, 3.4apg, 1.7spg)

League Leaders

PPG: [CLE] Lebron James (25.7), [MIA] Dwyane Wade (24), [CHA] Danny Granger (22.3), [DET] Ben Gordon (22.1), [UTA] Deron Williams (21)
RPG: [DEN] Chris Andersen (11.5), [MIN] Al Jefferson (10.8), [MIL] Andrew Bogut/[HOU] Yao Ming (10.2), [BOS] Kendrick Perkins/[IND] Al Horford 9.7
APG: [CLE] DJ Augustin (7.8), [BOS] Rajon Rondo (7.3), [ATL] Russell Westbrook/[GSW] Jordan Farmar (6.9), [NOH] Chris Paul (6.8)
SPG: [NJN] Devin Harris (1.8), [MIA] Dwyane Wade (1.7), [OKC] Tony Parker/[LAC] Al Thornton/[CLE] Mo Williams/[POR] Brandon Roy 1.6
BPG: [ORL] Dwight Howard 2.3, [CHA] Tyson Chandler/[MIL] Andrew Bogut 2.2, [MIN] Al Jefferson 2.1, [POR] Greg Oden/[HOU] Yao Ming/[GSW] Andris Biedrins 2

Standings

East

Cleveland 31-13
Washington 26-18
Boston 25-17
Indiana 26-18
New Jersey 25-20
Detroit 24-19
Toronto 22-19
New York 22-22
---
Atlanta 19-23
Orlando 19-23
Charlotte 20-27
Philadelphia 18-24
Chicago 15-26
Miami 16-29
Milwaukee 16-30

West

Oklahoma City 32-14
Denver 29-14
Phoenix 28-16
Portland 28-18
New Orleans 26-18
Memphis 25-18
Utah 24-19
Minnesota 22-24
---
Sacramento 20-22
LA Clippers 18-24
LA Lakers 17-25
Dallas 16-26
Golden State 16-28
Houston 15-30
San Antonio 15-31

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NBA Goes Retro



To celebrate 20 years of Shaq in the NBA, the whole of February is going retro! Hope you all dig the old school uniforms. In this photo, Ty Lawson is wearing the retro Nuggets jersey.

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I'm not sure whether the 5 game summary or the all-star announcement will come next. I'll play the rest of the remaining games and see what happens.

You should post you team stats for the season. WTF with 12 3-pointers though..

sux that T-MAC2.0 hit the wall; hope he snaps outta it soon...

Hardwood Classics night. Is Ray Allen injured? It's a really deep squad.

Nice idea going retro for a month just to spice things up. Good to see you're still right up there in the West but a shame you don't have any MVP candidates.

3rd best record in the league. Great job.

You should post you team stats for the season. WTF with 12 3-pointers though..

Ah yes, that's a good idea. I will do that in my February review

And maybe Shannon Brown is the next coming of Vince Carter?

sux that T-MAC2.0 hit the wall; hope he snaps outta it soon...

I hope so too because he is a very important player in my roster and I'd actually like to win ROY with him. We'll see how February goes for him

Hardwood Classics night. Is Ray Allen injured? It's a really deep squad.

Ray Allen isn't injured, he just doesn't fit in as well as I would have liked. It seems a little wasteful having a player of his caliber on IR, but in the end I'd prefer to have Taylor MacKenzie in my squad and GH more recently has played better than Ray-Ray

Nice idea going retro for a month just to spice things up. Good to see you're still right up there in the West but a shame you don't have any MVP candidates.

Thanks Andrew, it's an idea I tried out in the second year (I think), and it's something I really liked doing and made the screenshots atleast very interesting. With Shaq and Grant Hill likely to retire next season, I thought it'd be nice to give it a go before they eventually leave

It's really hard for me to have an MVP candidate because there's no one in my squad that's a standout star. Melo would usually be it, but at times I've had to make up for his poor shooting by having other players step up into the main scoring role.

3rd best record in the league. Great job.

Thanks NovU, I just recently come off a tough stretch, but it's good to know that I can still stay up there.

5 Game Summary

It was another interesting 5 games, as Denver went 3-2. The Nuggets scored comfortable wins over Phoenix and the Clippers before getting blown out by the Kings at Sacramento. They had to play them again the next day, where they pulled off a come from behind win. Unfortunately the win wasn't enough to make them competitive against Atlanta, who also recorded an emphatic win. It's a bit concerning that Denver's losses are coming in blowouts and is something that will need to be addressed before the playoffs. The feature game of the round is the one against Phoenix:

Melo leads Denver to victory



The headline to this article has one that has been a bit too scarce for Denver's liking, however Carmelo Anthony had a big game in the Nuggets' 90-83 win over the Suns. Melo recorded 39 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals as he picked up the Sprite Performer of the Game. He was supported by Ty Maximilian, who had 20 points, while Andrei Kirilenko was the other double digit scorer with 11.

Phoenix had an even distribution of scorers, with Leandro Barbosa (17), Darrell Sullivan (16), Stephen Curry (15), Kirk Hinrich (14) and Channing Frye (13) all contributing. Frye and Curry both picked up double-doubles, with 15 rebounds and 13 assists respectively. However it proved to be Melo's night and when he's hot, there's not too many other players that can match him.

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DEN@PHX

DEN: 90 (Anthony 39, Maximilian 20, Kirilenko 11)
PHX: 83 (Barbosa 17, Sullivan 16, Curry 15)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 39 points 5 rebounds 4 assists 4 steals

Rebounds

DEN: O'Neal 16
PHX: Frye 15

Assists

DEN: Anthony, Maximilian 4
PHX: Curry 13

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Last 5 Games

@PHX: 90-83 W
@LAC: 84-76 W
@SAC: 94-78 L
@SAC: 83-73 W
@ATL: 86-67 L

Denver are now 30-15

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Old school jerseys, old school form

In the second game against the Kings, Melo put on 33 points. Taylor MacKenzie also enjoyed a return to the scorers sheet with 26 of his own.

Another big game

Clearly I'm running out of clever titles to when Shannon Brown comes up big. He had 35 points against the Clippers.

Decreased production

Steve Nash is enjoying his DNP.

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Double feature

There are two games before the All-Star break, so I decided to make this a double feature round. With two games here, this means I can keep doing 5 game recaps for the rest of the season. The games will be against the Nets and the Knicks. Both on the road. Lets hope for two wins!

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Next will be the all-star announcement, followed by the double feature. The All-star break is just around the corner, will Denver have a strong representation in the games? Or will they get snubbed like last season?

The computer didn't play Nash. Its just so frustrating.

Close games. What happened with Nash? I'm not familiarized with Live 10.

Decreased production

Steve Nash is enjoying his DNP.

And the cheerleaders from the looks of things.

Good write-up as always, looking forward to the All-Star announcement.

There better not be any snubs this year

It arguably wouldn't be realistic if there weren't a couple of snubs. Knowing the selection logic in Live, I think we can count on at least one or two really prominent and unusual snubs.

The computer didn't play Nash. Its just so frustrating.

Close games. What happened with Nash? I'm not familiarized with Live 10.

I think with both Stephen Curry and Kirk Hinrich, the computer decided to move Nash out the rotation... probably due to age and declining stats... I checked out his rating and it's still 74... that's better than average I think.

Decreased production

Steve Nash is enjoying his DNP.

And the cheerleaders from the looks of things.

Good write-up as always, looking forward to the All-Star announcement.

Haha yeah, the temptation to write a beavis and butt-head-esque remark was great, I have to admit

There better not be any snubs this year

It arguably wouldn't be realistic if there weren't a couple of snubs. Knowing the selection logic in Live, I think we can count on at least one or two really prominent and unusual snubs.

Snubs are apart of the game in real life and NBA Live 10. I don't think it can be avoided because there's so many great players in the league... the announcement is coming very soon

All-Star Team Announcements

Birdman to start, Melo snubbed

Chris Andersen is the only representation for the Denver Nuggets in the All-Star game. Carmelo Anthony and Shannon Brown were unlucky omissions from an inexperienced Western Conference side. It contains 7 debutants including Ollie Rose, who is also playing in the Rookie Challenge as a Sophomore. The East however has only 3 debutants, being Randy Foye, Ben Gordon and Rajon Rondo.

EAST

| Andrew Bogut [MIL] | Amare Stoudemire [NJN] | Lebron James [CLE] | Dwyane Wade [MIA] | Devin Harris [NJN] |

Bench

| Dwight Howard [ORL] | Chris Bosh [TOR] | Danny Granger [CHA] | Randy Foye [WAS] | Rajon Rondo [BOS] | Mo Williams [CLE] | Ben Gordon [DET] |

WEST

| Chris Andersen [DEN] | LaMarcus Aldridge [POR] | Rudy Gay [OKC] | Stanley Alston [OKC] | Chris Paul [UTA] |

Bench

| Al Jefferson [MIN] | Kevin Love [OKC] | Kevin Durant [MIN] | Ollie Rose [UTA] | Deron Williams [NOH] | Aaron Brooks [HOU] | Jon Hunt [MEM] |

Taylor MacKenzie to start in Rookie Game

Taylor MacKenzie will be leading the charge to turn around the Rookie's fortune, starting at the 3 position. He will partner Njabulo Nyoni on the wing, who is the only other player to win the West Rookie of the Month this year.

ROOKIES

| Eric Barker [NYK] | Amory Buckley [WAS] | Taylor MacKenzie [DEN] | Njabulo Nyoni [UTA] | David Russell [BOS]

Bench

| (SF) Frank King [MIA] | (SG) Stanley O'Leary [CHA] | (SG) Eli North [SAN] | (PG) Jason Everett [MIN] |

SOPHOMORES

| Chris Stuart [MEM] | Thomas Bender [CHI] | Carl Ellis [NOH] | Ollie Rose [UTA] | Nach Carlos [PHI] |

Bench

| (SG) Patrick McNamara [GSW] | (SF) Edmund Feehan [OKC] | (SG) Gonzalo Carlos [NJN] | (PF) Luther Rutherford [CHA]

Well there you have it, two members of the Nuggets are in this all-star weekend. It seems like so long ago I had my whole starting lineup there... oh well, that's what you get with 10 minute simmed quarters. I'll enjoy the game regardless

At least you have one allstar it's better than none

Go Birdman

Double Feature

Snubbed stars shine against Nets



There were two all-stars on display in this game, but the two who had the best night were the snubbed, as Denver defeated New Jersey 82-71. Carmelo Anthony had a Sprite Performer of the Game performance with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, while Shannon Brown scored 25.

Eastern All-Star selections Amare Stoudemire (29 points, 10 rebounds) and Devin Harris (12 points, 8 assists) both had great games, but they ended up being overrun by the star studded Denver side.

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DEN@NJN

DEN: 82 (Brown 25, Anthony 21, Andersen 8)
NJN: 71 (Stoudemire 29, Harris 12, Stuckey 10)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 21 points 6 rebounds 3 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 7
NJN: Kaman 15

Assists

DEN: Andersen, Maximilian, Chalmers 3
NJN: Harris 8

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Melo destroys the Knicks



Melo registered 28 points in Denver's 79-66 win against New York. It seems being snubbed in All-Star selection was a blessing in disguise as he has had two Sprite Performer of the Game performances since it happened. Top rookie prospect Taylor MacKenzie was also strong with 23 points, while Shannon Brown and Andrei Kirilenko scored 9 each.

For the Knicks, Wilson Chandler was their top scorer with 17, while Delonte West scored 12 and David Lee chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

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DEN@NYK

DEN: 79 (Anthony 28, MacKenzie 23, Brown 9, Kirilenko 9)
NYK: 66 (Chandler 17, West 12, Lee 11)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 28 points 3 rebounds 3 steals 3 blocks

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 8
NYK: A Johnson 13

Assists

DEN: Chalmers 5
NYK: West 5

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Retro bench!


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Next 5 Games

@DET
@DAL
@SAN
@MEM
MIA

The next feature game will be against Memphis.

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Going into the All-Star break Denver are 32-15. Hope you all enjoy the games coming up next

Melo sure shows them

I'm still studying your recaps they really are nice

T-Mac is marching on the spot. Also good work by Melo that will show the voters.

Shame about Melo, but looks like it turned out to be good motivation. Good to see you get Birdman in at least, along with T-Mac 2.0 in the Rookie Challenge.

At least you have one allstar it's better than none

Yeah that's true. I guess I was just hoping that Melo would make it as well.

Go Birdman

Yeah, I was really glad he made it. He's had a particularly awesome season.

Melo sure shows them

I'm still studying your recaps they really are nice

Thanks dare... that's not a whole lot to them really. Just really about using different size fonts and using the formatting where needed.

T-Mac is marching on the spot. Also good work by Melo that will show the voters.

Yeah, I'm hoping he'll go nuts for the rest of the season. He has a tendency of peaking late in the season... atleast when I control him anyway.

Shame about Melo, but looks like it turned out to be good motivation. Good to see you get Birdman in at least, along with T-Mac 2.0 in the Rookie Challenge.

I atleast have something to keep me interested in both games. It's better than having a complete snub (like last season).

Absolutely, looking forward to seeing how your players do. Hope you can take home at least one MVP award.