Good job… now on to the constructive criticism.

Here is installment number 3 in (we hope) a 5 part series chronicling Popes' (guest poster and Nuggets Fan) journey to the NBA Finals.

Wednesday night the Nuggets beat the Mavs to advance to the Western Conference Finals. I think a round of hearty back-slaps, high-fives, and hugs are in order, so get to it.

My impressions from the series are as follows…

-I like Dirk Nowitzki. He has gone through some trying times in this series and through it all, he has conducted himself professionally. He hasn’t complained about the officiating, he hasn’t complained about the Nuggets and their aggressive D. He has commented on both issues frankly and honestly. His play in the series (horrible footwork notwithstanding) has been incredible.

- I am indifferent about the rest of the Mavs. Jason Terry was mediocre. Dampier isn’t worth discussing. J Kidd played well but he's showing his age. Bass was good but still, eh. The rest of them, meh.

-The Nuggets need to play more consistently to beat the Lakers. I know Denver beat the Mavs by double digits in 3 games this series, but I can’t shake the feeling that too many of the points we scored were streaky. I want to see less of JR banking in 3’s and more of JR taking it to the hole and tossing up an easy alley-oop to K-Mart. I want to see less of Melo draining a 3 with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and more ball movement from him out the inevitable double team so that the Nugs aren’t stuck in that situation. I’m not complaining about the Nugs performance, I’m just sayin’.

-George Karl needs to manage his players and their playing time, he just might need to get creative. Against the Lakers, George needs to pay attention to line-ups and respond accordingly. Please George, take some cues from Houston. I’m not fully briefed on the Lakers just yet but I do know we have some mis-matches and those need to be exploited. I know Derek Fisher can’t match up with Chauncey, JR, or Dahntay Jones. I think the Lakers are going to have a tough time matching up with Melo. On our side, we need to keep a good defender on Kobe at all times. We need to combat their lanky athleticism with some of our own.

-I repeat that advice if Houston wins out, amended to include the Rockets strengths.

-Melo is growing up. I think a lot of his growth happened this past summer at the Olympics but Chauncey has also had a lot to do with it. Last night after the game, Melo acknowledged that Chauncey was a leader, almost going so far as to imply C-Bill was leading the Nuggets. I think that is growth right there. Melo is aware of his own leadership limitations and he is mature enough to let Chauncey do his thing. That might seem simple but I think that a big step for Melo, a guy who has been the leader of the Nuggets since he came on board.

-JR Smith might be growing up. He looked off an open 3 last night and passed the ball.

Good job so far Nuggets, there is still work to be done.

Popes

This all makes me feel like a newcomer.

Here's the second installment in a series of Popes' guest posts, chronicling his journey through Nugget fandom, the NBA playoffs, and life.


Nuggets finished their dismantling of the Hornets Wednesday night. I watched the game, banquet beer in hand, with a smile on my face. The Nuggets never lost their composure during the shoddy officiating early on, Melo consistently took it to the hole and passed out of double teams, Dahntay Jones played his way into a blossoming man-crush, and Chauncey smiled and the whole world smiled back.

I don’t even know what to say, I haven’t been a fan for nearly long enough to really appreciate this win. I loved every second of the win.

I stayed high on the play of the Nugs for quite some time after Game 2. I was convinced the Nuggets were invincible when they played to their potential. I was ready to have my team take on the world.

Not much changed over the next 3 games, the Nuggets had a misstep in Game 3 and then doled out the beat down of the half-century in Game 4. Game 5 was a foregone conclusion, I knew they were going to win. They had the mental edge, they had the physical edge, they could draw on the reservoir of belief that they had almost doubled up the Hornets. An NBA franchise getting doubled up, yikes.

And they won, just as I knew they would and in much the same fashion as previous games. So I celebrated for a while, let the feelings of my team’s success sink in. And then faster than I thought, I returned to practicality, to an almost regular season like approach to the next series.

I’m educating myself on the Mav’s so I know all the names to yell at the screen/court when I’m watching. I’m figuring out who the best match-ups will be so I can criticize Karl when he doesn’t play it the way I want. I’m heading into this series knowing that we’ve got to win and I want to know how we can do it.

Perhaps it is because I’ve only been following this team for a couple years that I am refocusing on their next series so quickly. Or maybe it’s because I think the Nuggets can make some real noise in this year Playoff’s and the first round isn’t nearly enough of a ruckus. Whatever the reason, the next game is Sunday and I can’t wait.

-Popes

Nug Love

The following is a guest post by avid VoML reader and resident Denver Nuggets expert, Popes. Popes came to Denver at a nice time, the team was young and exciting and they had a franchise player to build around in Carmelo Anthony. As with most teams who experience success after years of ineptitude, the Nuggets have their fair share of bandwagon fans. I can attest that Popes is not one of them.

I’ve been following the Nuggets ever since I moved to Denver in late 2004. Over that period I’ve slowly built up my attachment and knowledge of the team. I’ve watched Melo meet a new supporting cast at the beginning of each season. I stood transfixed at Iverson’s first game in the Pepsi Center, convinced that his personality and style of play would get the Nuggets further in the playoffs. I grew depressed this off-season as the Nugs dealt away a couple of my favorite players, Najera and Camby, for unknown returns. And finally, I watched from the upper reaches of the Pepsi Center with rapt (re: drunk) attention as the Nuggets put together a great season in 2009.

I didn’t know what to expect going into the Playoffs. The Nugs had a soft schedule for their last 10 games and they rolled through them, ending up with the 2^nd seed in the Western Conference and winning the Northwest Division. But I was still unsure about them, they seemed to still have that fragile feeling about them, much like years past when the Playoffs arrived, all strategy, teamwork, and discipline were thrown out and replaced with one-on-one contests of athleticism . So on Sunday night, I sat rather uncomfortably on my friend’s couch (he was at the game, I was borrowing his cable, squatting if you will), wondering what was going to happen.

And now, 4 days later, I sit at my desk at work, still slightly buzzed from the first 2 games of the 2009 playoffs in which the Nuggets beat down the New Orleans Hornets. I couldn’t be happier with my team.

What happened on Sunday and last night prompted much reflection on how good this team can be and the risks of believing in what they could do. Saying someone or something has potential is easy, it rolls off the tongue as a pleasant platitude. Believing and hoping that that thing or person comes through on what you dream for them is another animal entirely.

I’ve just begun to wonder what the Nuggets can do.

George Karl has for once been playing the right players at the right time, actually managing the game. Anthony Carter is an undersized guard with questionable abilities, he shouldn’t be playing in this series because there’s no good match-up. I’ve had the pleasure of watching his minutes decline these last 2 games. Linas Kleiza, for all his improvement last year, has largely been a disappointment this season. He isn’t bringing anything unique to the line-up and his strengths aren’t nearly as strong as they should be to warrant more PT (re: 3 point shooting). His minutes have also declined.

But it isn’t about who George ‘Tony Soprano’ Karl is sitting, it’s also been about who he’s playing.

Karl has told Dahntay Jones to harass Chris Paul which is great because it’s the only thing that DJ is capable of doing well. I don’t want DJ shooting the ball, I don’t want him dribbling, I want him hacking the shit out of Chris Paul. Foul out, get T’d up, I don’t care, just make sure that CP3PO knows who was guarding him.

Chris Anderson is playing out of his head. I don’t know much of his career prior to his mystery drug suspension (was it is the Chinaman’s nightcap, the Yam-yam? We may never know) but I do know that whatever he was doing before, he wasn’t doing it nearly as well as he is now. He’s getting solid minutes, hovering somewhere in the mid 20’s is my guess. And he’s producing, blocks, rebounds, energy, hustle, and the occasional basket. Opposing players are changing their shots because of him and when they don’t, he smother chickens them (see what Birdman did to Rudy Fernandez a couple weeks back). Last night, I witnessed him light up the Pepsi Center with a put-back dunk, a play that I'm convinced broke the Hornets.

I could go on about all the players… Melo playing solid, not getting huge points but making up for it with D and hustle and the occasional primal scream, K-Mart making David West a non-factor, Nene scaring Tyson Chandler, Chauncey… nothing needs to be said, JR Smith’s puppy like enthusiasm and unbelievably short memory, but I’ll save it for later. The series isn’t over, there’s still basketball to play, and even though it’s only the first round, I’m not ashamed about how fired up I am. The Nuggets are playing up to their potential, the way I’ve hoped they would.

-Popes