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

[Andrew]

Awesome stuff. Once I've finished a few things I need to get done, I'm planning on getting back into my 06 Bulls Dynasty.

I'd love to see it happen, I remain skeptical though. Kevin from thesportsgameguy.com sent it to me earlier today, at which point I knew I had a new avatar...at least until July 8th.

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

It seems that the Nuggets keep rolling, going for another 5 wins in this round to extend their streak to 13. Apart from an overtime win in Miami, it was pretty clear sailing for Denver. The feature game is against the Bobcats:

Denver roll over Charlotte and keep streak alive



The Denver Nuggets once again came up with an impressive victory, beating the Charlotte Bobcats 93-66. JR Smith top scored with 26 points while Chauncey Billups had 17 points and 6 assists. Carmelo Anthony was the performer of the game though with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 5 steals. While he's not producing big numbers, Melo is doing everything else right, providing excellent hustle on the defensive end. Gun signing Jordan Hill also contributed with 10 points and a team high 6 rebounds.

For Charlotte, MVP candidate Reuben Walker led the way with 24 points and 8 rebounds. However he along with Charlie Villanueva (19) were the only two double figure scorers for the Bobcats, as the next best was Patrick McNamara with 9. While Kevin Love provided a solid rebounding effort with 11 boards, it wasn't enough to off-set the woeful shooting Charlotte experienced.

With this win, Denver are now on a winning streak of 11.

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CHA@DEN

DEN: 93 (Smith 26, Billups 17, Anthony 15)
CHA: 66 (Walker 24, Villanueva 19, McNamara 9)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 15 points 3 rebounds 2 blocks 5 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Hill, Lopez 6
CHA: Love 11

Assists

DEN: Billups 6
CHA: Walker 8

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Last 5 Games

@GSW: 83-67 W
@LAC: 91-82 W
CHA: 93-66 W
IND: 80-66 W
MIA: 104-99 W (OT)

Denver is now 30-5

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Dominant front-court

In the overtime win against Miami, two of Denver's big men really stepped up. Check out these stat lines:

Jordan Hill: 18 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block
Chris Andersen: 17 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks

While Denver's back-court handles most of the scoring load, it's the front-court that gets it done on the defensive end.

A True Warrior

While his role has been down-sized a bit this season, Melo still has games every now and then where he steals the show. Against the Golden State Warriors, he scored 36 points.

Valuable Bench Production

Patrick Mills is a real unsung hero of this dynasty. When Billups goes to the bench, the lightning fast point guard provides a great game with the second unit. Against West second best the Clippers, he had 26 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Contributors like him can possibly prolong Denver's winning streak if they can give the starters valuable rest.

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Next 5 Games

NYK
@HOU
@HOU
@MEM
@CHI

The feature game will be against the Bulls.

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With Denver's winning streak at 13, they have one home game against the Knicks before facing a long road trip. This will truly test their championship credentials, as they've only have 1 loss at home so far. The next 5 games will be up soon.

[dare]

13 game winning streak Nice man your defense is awesome, holding 3 teams to below 70 points. Your getting back to a championship form

[Andrew]

Great to see the streak continue, hoping you can threaten some records. Jordan Hill continues to impress.

[Kenny]

Awesome stuff. Once I've finished a few things I need to get done, I'm planning on getting back into my 06 Bulls Dynasty.

I'd love to see it happen, I remain skeptical though. Kevin from thesportsgameguy.com sent it to me earlier today, at which point I knew I had a new avatar...at least until July 8th.

I reckon it'd make for a good dynasty scenario (Lebron signing with the Bulls). It'd mean that Chicago would have had the best player of the current and previous generation.

13 game winning streak Nice man your defense is awesome, holding 3 teams to below 70 points. Your getting back to a championship form

Thanks dare, I'm hoping this all means another championship

Great to see the streak continue, hoping you can threaten some records. Jordan Hill continues to impress.

I think I might have to look up the record winning streak for Denver, but hopefully I can atleast give that a good shake. Plus at the risk of jinxing myself early, I still have an opportunity at the 72-10 mark... but I'll just keep playing before I start really thinking about that.

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

Well unfortunately, most good things have to come to an end. This time I'm referring to the winning streak Denver had. It ended at 15 with a 2 point loss against the Houston Rockets... the rest of the round though? As good as you could hope for with that minor blemish. The feature game is against the Chicago Bulls:

Return of Mac instigates comeback win



After being exiled to Injury Reserve the last month or so, Taylor MacKenzie has led the way to help Denver come back from 17 points down to win 90-82. It was looking ominous early for the Nuggets as Derrick Rose scored 20 in the first quarter. He would end up with 39 for the game. At half-time with his team down, George Karl decided to throw out a wild card in Taylor MacKenzie.

T-Mac 2.0 was in career worst form earlier in the year, but in this game, he showed some form reminiscent of his rookie year. He scored 33 points in the second half, while JR Smith was rested after he scored 15 in the first. Carmelo Anthony provided great support as well with 22 points. The game would belong to Taylor MacKenzie though, as he was awarded the Sprite Performer of the Game, with 4 steals and a block to go with his scoring effort.

For the Bulls, Derrick Rose was of course the high point man. Matthew Clement added 15, while power forward Derek Gerard was just shy of a double-double with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

The question now is; where to now for T-Mac 2.0? With him in form, he adds an interesting element to the team; however if he slips back to his previous form, he's a major liability. Only time will tell.

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DEN@CHI

DEN: 90 (MacKenzie 33, Anthony 22, Smith 15)
CHI: 82 (Rose 39, Clement 15, Gerard 10)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Taylor MacKenzie 33 points 3 assists 1 block 4 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 9
CHI: Wainwright 9

Assists

DEN: Billups 6
CHI: Gerard 4

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Last 5 Games

NYK: 92-80 W
@HOU: 88-67 W
@HOU: 87-85 L
@MEM: 94-75 W
@CHI: 90-82 W

Denver are now 34-6

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Still loving Memphis

JR Smith loves Memphis... but not the way the Grizzlies fans would like. He notched up 50 points against them once again. Rudy Fernandez: where's your defense?

Possible successor?

Robin Lopez proved his value against the Houston Rockets in both games. He was the Sprite Performer of the Game in the first game with 12 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks. His second game was also solid, with 9 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks. With the possibility of Chris Andersen retiring a likely (but not certain) event to occur in the off-season, Denver may already have his successor... let's just hope it's not going to turn out like the Mario Chalmers situation.

Denver's new starting power forward?

George Karl wanted Jordan Hill to stay on the bench because he likes the impact he brings along with the rest of the second unit... but he wanted more from his starting man. Borislav Perko started the last 4 games of the round. Against Memphis he had a nice game, with a stat-line of:

10 points 12 rebounds 4 assists 3 blocks 3 steals

At only 21 years old, Perko has the opportunity to become Denver's long-term starting power forward.

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Next 5 Games

@TOR
@WAS
@MIA
GSW
LAL

The feature game will be against Washington

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Even though the winning streak ended, Denver are still the dominant team of the league and hope to star that way coming up to the all-star break. Hopefully the Nuggets can come through with the Ws and start another long run. The 5 game summary will be up next.

[Bucket]

MacKenzie is back. Nice to see him on the court.

[Andrew]

Shame the streak came to an end, but 15 in a row is still impressive. Good to see T-Mac return with a fine game and Smith is just on fire.

[dare]

You can trade T-Mac 2.0, Smith needs to be hot all the time.

[megarover]

He's back folks. I have seen him in so long I thought he was gone. T-Mac 2.0 can be lethal. Hopefully he can return back to form and if he does I see a another big win streak in your future

[Axel The Great]

Did T-Mac shave?

[Kenny]

MacKenzie is back. Nice to see him on the court.

Yeah it is. I decided that I didn't really need Oleksiy Pecherov on my bench, so I deactivated him and put T-Mac 2.0 on my bench.

Shame the streak came to an end, but 15 in a row is still impressive. Good to see T-Mac return with a fine game and Smith is just on fire.

It is a shame but it's better to have come to an end now than in the playoffs. I'm hoping to pick up the first MVP award in the dynasty with JR, but it's still early.

You can trade T-Mac 2.0, Smith needs to be hot all the time.

The best trade I can get for him is Sasha Vujacic. Not only is Sasha got the same amount of time left on his contract, but he's also worth 1 million more a year than T-Mac 2.0... so as Andrew O'Keefe would say: "NO DEAL!"

He's back folks. I have seen him in so long I thought he was gone. T-Mac 2.0 can be lethal. Hopefully he can return back to form and if he does I see a another big win streak in your future

Not gone yet, he's just hard to be consistent with because of his shooting stroke. I can't seem to time it a lot of the time... but when he does get on a streak, he's one of the hottest players in the league.

Did T-Mac shave?

He shaved and grew his hair out. His new look suits him a lot more I think... I say new, but he's really had it since his sophomore year. It's kind of crazy how the generated players progress with their looks... except Ty Maximilian, he just had that awesome, peroxided hair the whole time

[Kenny]

5 Game Summary

Well once again in this 5 game summary, Denver have gone for 5 wins to end the month strongly. In fact, they only lost one game in the whole of January. With the all-star weekend approaching, hopefully this will be a factor in getting Denver some representation in the games. The feature game is against the Washington Wizards:

Challenged but not defeated: Denver win 4th straight



Despite a huge night from behemoth centre Zach Pearson, the Denver Nuggets have escaped the country's capital with a 110-104 win over the Wizards. The 7'6 Pearson was dominant in the game with 25 points and 14 rebounds, but it proved to be JR Smith once again who was the difference. Smith scored 34 pointx, while partner in crime Carmelo Anthony complemented him with 22. Chris Andersen had a bigger than usual night with 18 points, while Chauncey Billups and Jordan Hill both added 10. Hill would be the only Denver player to complete a double-double with 10 rebounds as well.

The Washington Wizards were able to stay with Denver the whole game. As well as the performance of Zach Pearson, they had plenty of firepower with 4 other players in double digits. Gonzalo Carlos scored 19, while early season acquisition Devin Harris scored 17 and had 8 assists. Kurt Dale was strong off the bench with 16, while Rasheed Dixon scored 10.

Despite a well rounded team effort on the back of Zach Pearson, JR Smith and Melo proved to be too much for the Wizards' defense. With both of them in such great form, the Denver Nuggets are basically unguardable.

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DEN@WAS

DEN: 110 (Smith 34, Anthony 22, Andersen 18)
WAS: 104 (Pearson 25, Carlos 19, Harris 17)

Sprite Performer of the Game: JR Smith 34 points 3 rebounds 3 blocks 2 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Hill 10
WAS: Pearson 14

Assists

DEN: Billups, Mills, Perko 5
WAS: Harris 8

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Last 5 Games

@TOR: 95-79 W
@WAS: 110-104 W
@MIA: 96-78 W
GSW: 109-95 W
LAL: 95-87 W

Denver are now 39-6

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Continuing to Improve

Melo's scoring got better as the round went on. Here are his numbers:

TOR: 17pts
WAS: 22pts
MIA: 36pts
GSW: 33pts
LAL: 27pts

And here are JR Smith's numbers:

TOR: 29pts
WAS: 34pts
MIA: 32pts
GSW: 29pts
LAL: 35pts

They say defense wins games, but numbers like that on offense will go a long way as well.

T-Mac buries Lakers

He only played in one quarter, but Taylor MacKenzie scored 22 against the Lakers to help seel victory. With Melo and JR in such great form, it's nice to know Denver can get big numbers from a guy like T-Mac 2.0.

What about defense?

Birdman is still fulfilling his role on the defensive end. Against the Raptors he had 16 rebounds and 3 blocks. His presense in the lane is still feared by many teams.

Season high

Improving rookie Borislav Perko put up a career high 18 points against the Warriors. Come on live engine, let's get this guy to the Rookie Challenge!

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Next 5 Games

LAL
SAC
UTA
HOU
NOH

With the next 5 games being broken up by the All-Star Weekend and the Monthly report, the feature game will be coming after the all-star game. I was going to make it a retro jersey round, but I accidentally broke it in the second game I played.

The feature game will be against New Orleans... it's after both the All-Star game and the trade deadline.

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February is approaching and that means the All-Star Weekend is near. With Denver's dominance, surely they'll have atleast one player in the Western Conference side right? There's also a good chance that rookie power forward Borislav Perko will be attending the Rookie Challenge this year. So with any luck, the All-Star announcement will be good news for a few players involved with the Denver squad. Next up will be the January 2017 report.

[Andrew]

Good stuff. Nice to see Melo having some good scoring nights after his slow start.

[dare]

Nice update, Melo's scoring is coming back. Who is that Pearson guy? Is he the most dominating big man in your league?

[kibaxx7]

This two days away killed me. I have to catch up with a lot of stories!

15 straight wins man, congrats. And nice to see T-Mac 2.0 back!

[megarover]

7 years ago J.R smith was Melo's sidekick. The passing of the throne is a great thing.

[Kenny]

Good stuff. Nice to see Melo having some good scoring nights after his slow start.

It's always nice to get Melo in a good rhythm. I find when I have two good wing players, they tend to open shots up for each other if they're playing well... hence why it's always my aim to have my better players at small forward and shooting guard. If I can get the outside game going, the inside game usually takes care of itself... probably the opposite of what every NBA coach preaches

Nice update, Melo's scoring is coming back. Who is that Pearson guy? Is he the most dominating big man in your league?

He isn't at the moment, but I think give it time and he will be. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a huge up-side to him. He's 7'6, so he can dominate the boards, but he also has range. Pretty quick too for a big guy.

This two days away killed me. I have to catch up with a lot of stories!

15 straight wins man, congrats. And nice to see T-Mac 2.0 back!

You know me man, I'm a man in a hurry

And thanks, it was a nice little achievement... I'm hoping to break it again before the season ends though... hopefully MacKenzie can help me out there

7 years ago J.R smith was Melo's sidekick. The passing of the throne is a great thing.

At the very start of this dynasty, JR was getting a few MVP votes but fell away as the year went on. At the moment he's well on his way to the trophy. His jumpshot is just perfect for me to time at the moment.

[Martti.]

T-Mac v2.0 should really shave his weak-ass mustache.

Nice stuff this season so far, not winning a title would be a disappointment.

[Andrew]

Nice stuff this season so far, not winning a title would be a disappointment.

Agreed. If you do sim, please at least play through the Playoffs.

[Kenny]

T-Mac v2.0 should really shave his weak-ass mustache.

He should! But for some reason a lot of generated players love their pissy little moustaches... must be the fashion in 2017.

Nice stuff this season so far, not winning a title would be a disappointment.

Agreed. If you do sim, please at least play through the Playoffs.

I probably won't sim any games this season. I'm playing it enough to play it through quickly... although, I am getting Red Dead Redemption tomorrow, so my progress might be halted a little by that.

[Kenny]

January 2017 summary

Well what a month it was for the Denver Nuggets! They lost only one game en route to holding a substantial lead in the league rankings. At this point of time they're 39-6. Even though it's only just past the halfway point, people are starting to talk about 72-10 early. If the Nuggets can sustain their play through their stars JR Smith, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups, then there's no reason they couldn't top that mark set by the great Chicago Bulls team. Another promising sign is the comeback of Taylor MacKenzie. After his rookie season, he seemed to be on a downhill slide, but he's managed to show glimpses of his very best coming off the bench. What this means for the rotation?

Well, two players are scorned by T-Mac 2.0's form. The first one being Oleksiy "Stewie" Pecherov. Stewie was the starting centre of the Heat earlier in the season, but now finds himself relegated to the injury reserve. The second player majorly effected by this is Shannon Brown. Brown's minutes were limited as it is, but now he has to compete with a guy who can play both wing positions? Both of these mentioned players are off contract in the coming off-season, so playing time is key right now for them to ensure their future. But while the guy with the league's worst moustache is in this form, they will both have to do without the minutes they want.

Monthly Awards

East Player: [MIA] Nach Carlos (23.9ppg, 6.4apg, 1.4spg)
West Player: [LAC] Ollie Rose (21.3ppg, 3.4apg, 1.6bpg)
East Rookie: [BOS] Hobbes MacDonald (11.8ppg, 6.3apg, 1spg)
West Rookie: [SAC] Caleb Jackman (14.1ppg, 6.9apg, 1spg)

MVP Race

[DEN] JR Smith (30ppg, 2.6rpg, 2.2spg)
[PHX] Lebron James (23.4ppg, 4.3rpg, 3.8apg)
[MIA] Nach Carlos (22ppg, 7apg, 1.4spg)
[HOU] Jon Hunt (23.4ppg, 6.9rpg, 3.2apg)
[LAC] Ollie Rose (21.8ppg, 3.1apg, 1.5spg)

Standings

East

Cleveland 26-15
Toronto 27-17
Charlotte 25-21
Milwaukee 25-21
Miami 24-20
Washington 24-20
Chicago 25-22
New Jersey 22-19
---
New York 20-24
Orlando 21-26
Philadelphia 20-25
Detroit 18-26
Indiana 17-27
Boston 17-28
Atlanta 16-29


West

Denver 39-6
LA Clippers 33-11
Phoenix 25-17
Minnesota 24-18
Portland 24-20
Oklahoma City 24-20
Houston 23-20
San Antonio 21-23
---
Sacramento 21-24
LA Lakers 20-24
Memphis 20-24
New Orleans 17-26
Golden State 16-26
Utah 16-32
Dallas 13-32


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Well, February is the all-star month, so next will be the All-Star announcements. Then the All-star weekend, followed by the 5 games that occurred before and after the break.

[Kenny]

All-Star Announcement

3 of Denver's best in the side, one former player



JR Smith and Chris Andersen both received the votes from the fans to start the All-Star game for the Western Conference, while Carmelo Anthony will come off the bench. This is the biggest representation Denver have had since the 2011 game, where they had 5 players. Since then however there was a drought, with only two players (Chris Andersen and Carmelo Anthony) named in the Western Conference side over the course of 6 seasons.

As a foot-note to this story, former Denver Nuggets player LaMarcus Aldridge will also be on the bench for the Western Conference All-Stars. He was involved in the trade to get JR Smith back to the Denver Nuggets before the season began.

EAST

Starters:

[ORL] Dwight Howard
[DET] Tristan Lehmann
[BOS] Hobbes MacDonald
[MIL] Walt Watters
[MIA] Nach Carlos

Bench:

[IND] Al Horford
[CHA] Charlie Villanueva
[PHI] Crawford Muller
[MIL] Eric Gordon
[NYK] Rajon Rondo
[CHA] Reuben Walker
[PHI] Chris Paul

WEST

Starters:

[DEN] Chris Andersen
[LAL] Luther Rutherford
[PHX] Lebron James
[DEN] JR Smith
[PHX] Stephen Curry

Bench:

[SAC] Brook Lopez
[MEM] LaMarcus Aldridge
[HOU] Jon Hunt
[LAC] Ollie Rose
[UTA] DJ Augustin
[DEN] Carmelo Anthony
[OKC] Stanley Alston

Perko to start in Rookie Challenge



Denver's starting power forward Borislav Perko has earned a start in the 2017 Rookie Challenge. He will join the likes of top rookie prospects Caleb Jackman and Hobbes MacDonald.

For the Sophomores, they will be looking to extract revenge as they were beaten last year as rookies. They will have former Denver player Ralph Patel, who was traded earlier in the season to Orlando.

Rookies

Starters:

[NJN] Dan Garcia
[DEN] Borislav Perko
[BOS] Hobbes MacDonald
[PHX] Brad Bell
[SAC] Caleb Jackman

Bench:

[DAL] Casey Whelan
[CHI] Igor Martin
[OKC] Andrew Morgan
[NYK] Dan Gibson

Sophomores

Starters:

[WAS] Zach Pearson
[NOH] Josh Gordon
[OKC] Gavin Dixon
[PHI] Chuck O'Farrell
[DAL] Dan Carlos

Bench:

[MIN] Johnny Williams
[GSW] Ken O'Reilly
[SAN] Quint Miller
[ORL] Ralph Patel

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I have to say, out of all those selections there's only one real shock to me and that's no Kevin Durant in the West. The West has become increasingly competitive in the small forward position now Lebron James is playing for the Suns, but I thought there would have been a spot in there for the league's second leading scorer. Oh well, that just means Melo gets a spot instead

The All-star Weekend games will be up next

[dare]

Who is Luther Rutherford? Is he the new face in the Lakers franchise

[Andrew]

Congrats on the All-Star and Rookie Challenge selections. Hope you can take home the MVP for both games.