Nuggets Lose Another Win, to Pistons 113-109

The Nuggets left the known universe and entered the alternate universe for this game. The alternate universe is the opposite universe; everything there is the opposite of what is in our universe. In the opposite universe, a win is counted as a loss. In the opposite universe, George Karl manages his player minutes well and has the right players in at the right time, most of the time. In this opposite universe, the Nuggets rely on Camby, Nene, and J.R. Smith, rather than on Melo and A.I., to get the bulk of their scores. Finally, in the opposite universe, the Nuggets hustle on defense and get some good stops, and they keep their turnovers under control. And down is up, left is right, and black is white and so forth, but let's stick to basketball or it's going to get way too confusing.

That's one crazy universe, but it was the one the Nuggets were in tonight, as they again proved that they have responded to all the pleas from their coaches and their fans to play more intelligently and carefully, with alot more attention to defending and shot selection. But despite their delivering just about everything the coaches and the fans were asking for, the Nuggets nevertheless had another loss recorded following their outstanding and successful efforts.

The Nuggets were playing on the road for the second night in a row against the rested and best team in the Eastern Conference, so most basketball observers thought it would be an easy Pistons win. It certainly looked like it would be in the 1st quarter, as the Nuggets came out of the tunnel shooting bricks left and right. It was 26-13 at the end of the 1st quarter.

In the second quarter, 2 Nene blocks, four J.R. Smith steals, an Iverson steal, and a Nene steal all but shut down the Pistons offense, and the Nuggets had an improbable 44-42 lead at the half. With excellent ball distribution and with no turnovers whatsoever, the Nuggets built up to a 62-50 lead with 5 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter. But this was the Pistons, after all, and it was in Detroit, after all, so there was no way the Nuggets were going to put this one away without a major fight. Although Richard Hamilton and Chris Webber sat out the game with the flu, Detroit's backups are better than alot of team's starters, so a little problem with the flu was not going to stop Detroit in their building from fighting for this game tooth and nail.

In the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Chauncey Billups torched the Nuggets for 11 points, and the Pistons scored on 10 of their 12 possessions. The Nugget's 12 point lead quickly evaporated during the 21-9 Pistons run, and it was 71-71 at the end of the 3rd.

In the seesaw 4th quarter, the Pistons led by 5 with 9:39 left, but then the Nuggets led by 5 with 3:09 left. Melo was called for offensive goaltending with 2:34 left and then Billups made two free throws off a J.R. Smith foul, at which point the Nuggets lead was 91-88. Then, what else would make sense other than a Denver turnover? Ronald (Flip) Murray, the shooting guard who played virtually the entire game due to Rip Hamilton being out, got hold of a Nene pass, and Billup's driving layup made it 91-90 Nuggets. Camby tipped in a Melo layup try, and then Wallace sunk two free throws off of Melo's 4th foul. Then Allen Iverson, who knows a game slipping away when he sees one, hit a jumper with 26 seconds left to give the Nuggets a 95-92 lead. J.R. Smith was replaced by Blake, who promptly committed a foul on Billups, who made one of two, so it was 95-93 Nuggets with 22 seconds left. Murray fouled Iverson, who made both free throws and then, following a Detroit timeout, Billups made another driving layup, so now it was 97-95 Nuggets with 13 seconds to go. Then Billups intentionally fouled Iverson, who made one of two free throws. Billup's 3-point shot with 2 seconds to go missed.

So now the Nuggets have possession with 1.5 seconds to go and a 3-point lead. How can even the Nuggets possibly lose? Many of the internet sports sites were showing a final score of 98-95 Nuggets. But oh, that's right, they were in the opposite universe, so the win had to be recorded as a loss somehow. George Karl, who has been coaching like a scared rabbit the last 6 weeks or so, called timeout, which allowed the Pistons to huddle up and get ready to try to mess up the inbound pass. According to the coach of the Pistons, Flip Saunders, the Pistons had considered the game lost at that point and had no intention of calling a timeout themselves. Following the timeout, Camby's inbound pass was tipped by Tayshaun Prince, and it also went off Iverson. Rasheed Wallace picked up the loose ball with a fraction of a second left and hurled it 60 feet down the court, or 2/3 the length of the court, and the ball miraculously banked in.

In overtime, both teams stumbled around at first in a daze, but eventually Wallace took control, whereas J.R. and Kleiza badly missed three-pointers for the Nuggets. The Nuggets had no chance to win in overtime, because they had given everything they had to give to win the game in regulation.

So poor George Karl, who gave enough minutes to J.R. Smith for a change, and cut back on Blake's huge minutes when he saw Blake missing everything and getting torched by Billups, nonetheless came up with the very thing that he is afraid of: another loss, another step toward the cliff of the Nuggets failing to make the playoffs, and another step toward his ending up coaching Memphis or some other team next year. Karl called timeout when there was no good reason to and allowed the Pistons to prepare to disrupt the inbound pass. And he failed to instruct Camby to throw it toward a corner or right in front of the basket if there was any chance for the inbound to be tipped near mid-court. Had Camby thrown it almost anywhere else other than where he threw it, the Pistons, obviously, could not have stolen the game.

Most think that the great George Karl could not possibly be fired after this season, but the owner may have other ideas if the Nuggets sit home for the playoffs. Do not underestimate the owner of the Nuggets; he's the one who was smart enough to do what was needed to bring A.I. to Denver.

The Nuggets have blown more than a dozen 4th quarter leads of 8 or more points this year, but 9 losses stand out as outright thefts. The Nuggets record is 35-34, only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers and only 3 1/2 games ahead of both the Warriors and the Hornets, with 15 games left. Only two of these four teams get in the playoffs, and the current small Nuggets advantage is offset by the fact that the Nuggets have the toughest schedule down the stretch.

Doesn't it seem odd that a team that recently outplayed the Lakers, the Suns, the Bulls, the Cavaliers, and the Pistons is in alot of danger of not making the playoffs? It is very, very odd, so I think it is time to list the 9 Nuggets wins that went down in the record books as losses. Every team gets robbed once or twice in a season, but 9 times is ridiculous. If you add 7 wins to the Nuggets actual record, the Nuggets would be 42-27, in 6th position in the Western Conference, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers and just 2 games behind the Rockets.

Remember, this list includes only the most extreme cases, where the Nuggets won, except that someone did something superhuman on the other team with less than a second left, or the Nuggets or their coach did something so stupid that they distorted the true result of the game. None of the six or seven garden variety 4th quarter collapses are included in this list, because those ordinary collapses are part of regular basketball and not part of the supernatural. Here are the extreme cases, where the Nuggets were robbed, either by themselves or by some supernatural force:

1.November 2: Clippers 96 Nuggets 95
The Nuggets are leading 92-82 half way through the fourth quarter and still lose when Sam Cassell gets both free throws with 12 seconds remaining. Melo is thrown out of the game with two technicals early in the 3rd.

2.November 8: Knicks 109 Nuggets 107
The Nuggets blow a 12 point 4th quarter lead and Jamal Crawford steals the ball from Eduardo Najera, who was subbing for Kenyon Martin, and makes a 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left for the game-winner. To add alot more damage to this win recorded as a loss, Kenyon Martin is lost for the entire rest of the season.

3.December 6: Hawks 98 Nuggets 96
The Nuggets lead 84-69 with 9 1/2 minutes to play and collapse down the stretch. Shelden Williams hits two free throws with 5 seconds left to get the Hawks the victory.

4. 5. and 6.December 16: Nuggets 123 Knicks 100
With about a minute left in a huge Nuggets win, J.R. Smith is dangerously neck takled by Mardy Collins and a mini brawl erupts when Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith go at it. Melo is thoroughly ticked by the attack on his friend and by the situation in general and comes in to throw a punch at the instigator Collins, who is staying out of the Robinson-Smith altercation but is standing there shouting obscenities regarding the Nuggets. After landing the punch, Melo quickly backpeddles up the court to avoid being suspended for the remainder of the season. Based on prior incidents, J.R. was to get a 3-game suspension and Melo a 4 or 5 game suspension, but David Stern goes supernova and hands out a 10 game suspension to J.R. and a 15 game suspension to Melo.

A careful game by game analysis was done in January and it showed that the best estimate of how many extra net games the Nuggets lost during the 15 games is almost 3 1/2, so we'll say three to be conservative.

7. February 7: Hornets 114 Nuggets 112, Overtime
Desmond Mason's first overtime buzzer beater comes after Chris Paul's short jumper with less than a second remaining is blocked by Carmelo Anthony. Nene is a couple of inches from blocking the Mason tip-in. Mason, by a couple of inches and by a couple of micro seconds, beats the Nuggets.

8. March 22: Bulls 109 Nuggets 108
Bulls rookie Tyrus Thomas, who says he "doesn't know what happened," scores on a tip-in with two-tenths of a second left after Ben Gordon's missed jumper. Melo has his man, Luol Deng, boxed out just to the left side of the hoop, but Deng goes over the back of Melo to tip the ball up from the Gordon miss, and Thomas charges in unguarded with no time left to steal the win.

9. March 26: Pistons 113 Nuggets 109
The Nuggets have thoroughly outplayed the Pistons since the start of the 2nd quarter of this game. In the 4th, Denver takes the lead with 7:54 to play and leads by 5 with 3:09 to play. With 1.5 seconds to go, Chauncey Billups has just missed a three pointer and the Nuggets, leading 95-92, have possession with a team rebound. Marcus Camby's inbound pass toward the middle is tipped by Tayshaun Prince and Iverson. The loose ball is scooped up by Rasheed Wallace and, with no time left on the clock, Wallace hurls a 60-foot shot (2/3 the length of the court) that banks in. The Nuggets are shocked and lose their composure in overtime.

Kleiza played 23 minutes and was 4/9, 2/3 on 3's, and 2/2 from the line for 12 points, and he had 2 rebounds. Steve Blake played 25 minutes and was 0/6 and 0/1 on 3's for 0 points, and he had 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Nene played virtually the entire game and was 8/13 and 5/5 from the line for 21 points, and he had 17 rebounds, 9 of which were offensive. He also had 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.

J.R. Smith played 30 minutes and was 8/15 and 5/10 on 3's for 21 points, and he had 4 steals, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.

Camby played virtually the whole game and was 8/15 and 8/8 from the line for 24 points, and he had 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block.

Melo played virtually the entire game and was 6/19, 0/2 on 3's, and 1/2 from the line for 13 points, and he had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Melo had only 2 attempted and made layups and 1 attempted and made dunk, and he missed several short jumpers. Overall on jump shooting, he was only 3/15.

A.I. played virtually the entire game and was 5/14, 1/5 on 3's, and 5/9 from the line for 16 points, and he had 8 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Unable to get inside, Iverson failed to get a single layup or dunk in this game; all of his shots were jumpers, although many were short jumpers.

The next game will be Wednesday, March 28 in Denver to play the Sonics at 7 pm mountain time.