Nuggets/Lakers Game 4 Twitter Diary

You may have noticed the Quick Hitters we started posting on the left side of the page. I basically started a Twitter account so I could post small stuff that I couldn't turn into a real post. Well, I've found that it's a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I decided to post a running diary (to steal a phrase from Bill Simmons) of sorts with the Twitter Updates I threw out during Game 4.

• It's good to know Melo is still getting no calls. I should have a significant amount of rage built up by halftime.
• Poor shooting by both teams so far. The only jumpshot Denver has made was Kenyon's bank.
• Nene is eating up the boards. Another non-call on Melo. 0-7. WHOA! DJones with a windmill. While mid-air, I had visions of him bricking it.
• Chris Anderson flying ALL OVER THE PLACE. Hitting the floor, blocking shots, trying to wash Gasol's hair...
• I defy you to name one thing that Sasha Vuja-chick is good at, besides being a greasy Euro and getting under people's skin.
• J.R. Smith must have been watching old Magic Johnson videos. He's made 3 highlight reel passes already.
• That's not to say all "Euros" are greasy. In fact, Argentina may have more grease-balls per capita... allegedly.
• J.R. tries to snack tray Kobe and commits the foul. Van Gundy glosses him "Smitty", I'm sure J.R. is down with that name.
• Melo is clearly hurt. They've played well without him but they can't expect to win a series with him out.
• What a sight. Birdman sauntering to the scoreboard, casually chewing gum. He definitely has a little Captain in him.
• Balkman has seen the court and the Nuggets aren't down or up by +20. This is what happens when Melo is out.
• Nuggets up 7 at half without Melo. They aren't shooting well but are winning this game with their legs. Less jumpshots, more drives.
• 3 straight missed 3s by the Nugs has the Lakers within 3 right out of the gates. Melo is back but doesn't look right.
• J.R. Smith is currently being triaged courtside. Meanwhile, Odom tries to throw an oop to Gasol. Forgot about Gasol's 2-inch vertical.
• Tough going out there. The court is flooded with Kobe's tears. Nuggets up 70-59.
• Melo slips on the tears and flying burritos Ariza. It's getting testy with players flying all over the floor. Kobe bout to get T'd up.
• Martin is playing out of his head. 13 pts, 13 boards. Birdman follows up a Martin miss with a dunk!
• Karl can expect to pencil somebody else in the lineup for Dahntay in Game 5. He will be suspended for that Kobe trip.
• Denver up 11 after 3. They need to play well in the 4th after the Game 3 debacle.
• Billups... AND 1 baby! Andrew Bynum strikes again. Twisted his ankle when he came down. Not good.
• Billups is unconscious at the moment. He drains an arching 3 in Ariza's face after a good J.R. steal.
• SMITH CLIMBS THE LADDER! Nene hits him with a nice feed and he throws one down.
• Luke Walton draws a tech. Daddy's gonna take the keys to the your Lexus for that one.
• Now Mark Jackson is calling him "Smitty."
• J.R. picked up one of the weakest technicals I've seen. We'll call it even after the D Jones trip.
• Flagrant on Bynum. He goes with the 2 handed chop technique on Anderson. It's either that, or bag and balls to the face.
• The chick in the Biz Markie Heineken comm clearly only knows the words to that part of the song.
• Classic case of softly mumbling until the part she knows comes on, then she starts bringing the heat.
• Luke Walton must be wearing the "heavy socks" tonight.
• The line on Walton: 0 pts, 6 fouls, 2 ill-advised tattoos, 1 kickin' jheri curl.
• I smell a riot cooking. Game 3 all over again with the technicals.
• Melo about to foul out again. The Lakers are running a press, fouling, and otherwise using all of Kobe's Cordillera moves. Too soon?
• The officials are blowing whistles like they're trying to fill a quota. It is almost the end of the month.
• 105-93 Nuggets with 2:51 remaining. I am optimistic that the Nuggets might win this one.
• J.R. with 2 straight 3s. Let's get thirty, Smitty!J.R. with 2 straight 3s. Let's get thirty, Smitty!
• Garbage time, benching starters. Nuggets get a steal, miss 2 layups, get 2 offensive boards, and D Jones gets fouled on another layup miss.
• 120-99. D Jones throws one down over some stiff. Petro with the steal, then he runs the court like Tyus Edney only to airball a finger roll.
• Nuggets win big. Shades of the Rockets series except the Nuggets haven't been blown out yet and they could have swept with some breaks.

George Karl didn't exactly give J.R. a ringing endorsement, he basically called Smith a pain in the ass. Let's hope J.R. doesn't get upset about this because he really did have a good game. Yeah, he made a couple of bonehead plays but he hustles on every play and easily creates more opportunities than he kills. His shot selection was good tonight and he took it to the rack early and often, creating opportunities for teammates, and causing the L.A. bigs to commit fouls.

Kenyon, Nene, and Birdman killed L.A. on the boards all night. It's amazing what they can do when not in foul trouble.

Game 5 on Wednesday. Big one for the Nuggets as it would be nice to avoid a Game 7 in L.A.

-PSon

All Ears: Thoughts on Game 1 of Lakers/Nuggets

• Carmelo looks like he's ready for the big time. He came out in Game 1 and made a statement. He looks like somebody who wants to earn a championship.
  
• Dahntay Jones is the new Reggie Evans, except he has some semblance of ball skills. Reggie Evans needed to be fined every time he put the ball on the court. Jones can actually handle the ball somewhat; in his mind, this gives him free reign to drive the ball to the hole out of control and turn it over. Play hard defense and make plays when they present themselves.
• J.R. Smith damn near gave me a heart attack when he limped off the court after the last play. Straight from his Twitter account: The knee feels good thanx peeps
• L.A. decided they would rather have take their chances with Ariza on Melo than putting Kobe on him. Kobe had the task of guarding Chauncey and did a pretty good job on him. Chauncey still got his assists and put a couple of clutch 3s down in the 4th quarter. Will L.A. allow Melo to torch them again? Ariza proved to be adept at fouling Melo but that's about it.
• Nene did a great job against Gasol. Pau likes human contact about as much as he likes putting water on his hair.
  
• L.A. killed Denver on the offensive boards. If Denver wants to win in L.A., they'll need to be more aggressive on the glass.
• MAKE YOUR FREE EFFING THROWS! Chauncey Billups, Denver's best free throw shooter missed 3 early in the game. That alone was greater than the margin of defeat.
• For the love of god, why was Andre Carter passing the ball in on the biggest possession of the game? Of course L.A. is going to have their longest guy mark him, especially after Denver trots out their shortest player. It also didn't help that AC waited too long to make the pass and let Ariza catch up to Billups and steal the ball from out in front of him.
• The officials let a lot of stuff go. Their was a ton of physical play in this game by both teams, especially when Melo and Kobe were posting up on each other.
• Andrew Bynum is a stiff.
• How far has Adam Morrison fallen? A couple of years ago, he almost won college player of the year and now he's warming the bench for Shannon Brown and D.J. Mbenga.
  
• The Nuggets had a number of people guarding Kobe last night. Melo and AC probably fared the best. I still like Dahntay starting because he can concentrate on playing his defensive game without having to do anything on offense. If somebody is going to pick up early fouls on Kobe, it should be him.
• It does hurt to lose that game when Denver easily could have won it but the silver lining is that they did not play their best game and still almost beat the Lakers in their house (I know the Lakers didn't play their best either). L.A. had to win, Denver didn't. Denver has been all but unbeatable at home and after witnessing the Lakers in Houston, I am confident that Denver only needs to win 1 game of the final 3 in L.A. to take this series.

Predictions: J.R. will go for 30+ in 1 game this series, if Denver loses the next game they will win games 3 through 6, Lamar Odom will get ejected from at least 1 game this series, Kobe will go for 50+ in 1 game this series, and Denver will win 2 games by more than 10 points in this series.

-PSon