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Denver Nuggets have stars Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby and Allen Iverson headlining their roster, and are guided by veteran head coach George Karl, who has won in the league for many years.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Yet the Denver Nuggets are simply not as good as they think they are.
On Monday, Denver was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the fifth straight year. The Nuggets, who finished 50-32 during the regular season and earned the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference, were swept, 4-0, by Kobe Bryant and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.
When the Nuggets lost the first two games of the set to the Lakers by 14 and 15 points, it was obvious that Denver was simply being outclassed by a better team. That said, you might have thought the Nuggets would show some heart and urgency when returning home for Game 3. Wrong.
After getting embarrassed 102-84 at home in that contest, Anthony said the team and coaches quit. His teammates and Karl blamed his comments on frustration, but let's be honest, if you watched that game it looked liked the All-Star forward was simply telling the truth.
It was then that you knew the final result had already been decided, without it being official. Anthony, Iverson and company had already thrown in the towel. The Lakers finished up the series with a 107-101 win on Monday night.
Statistics and individual accomplishments are what the Nuggets have been about. The roster has star power on it, but that has not translated into victories during the postseason.
Iverson led the team in scoring (24.5 ppg) and assists (4.5 apg) against the Lakers, while the 23-year-old Anthony averaged 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Nuggets, who are 4-20 during their five-year playoff run. Camby collected a team-best 13.3 rebounds per game versus LA, but contributed just 3.3 points per game.
High-flying J.R. Smith posted 18.3 points per game in the opening round, while Linas Kleiza netted 14.0 per contest and veteran forward Kenyon Martin shouted his way to 8.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in the four-game series.
And for all of those numbers, the Nuggets still posted a zero in the playoff win column, meaning the time has come to change it up in the Mile High City.
Iverson, who was acquired in a blockbuster deal from Philadelphia on December 19, 2006, is still a great player. It was believed when he was acquired that the team was a giant step closer to its first playoff series win since Dikembe Motombo and company upset the top-seeded Sonics in the 1994 playoffs.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, they are not going to win with Anthony and the Georgetown product leading the way. The tandem, which is now 1-8 together in the postseason (the win came against San Antonio in last year's first round), is just not working. This combination is good enough to get Denver into the playoffs, but that's about it.
The Nuggets are an entertaining team to watch. They can score a lot of points, but they don't do the things that win championships. Defense is still not in Denver's vocabulary. The formula for winning is still missing.
Against the Lakers, it was evident that the Nuggets lacked heart and pride. The series was over in Game 1. The time to shake things up has come. A commitment to defense and a new overall philosophy is needed.
In Denver, it is definitely broke, and needs to be fixed.
ANOTHER TEAM FOR BROWN
Larry Brown can't be proud of his short stint with the New York Knicks, and is getting another chance to be the general of a team with a lot of potential. The Charlotte Bobcats, who were 32-50 in 2007-08, are the ninth NBA team the 67-year-old Brown will coach, in what could very well be the final stop of his illustrious career. In his last job, the Hall of Famer took over as coach of the Knicks for the 2005-2006 campaign, and was fired after going a dismal 23-59.
Brown, who guided the Pistons to the 2004 NBA title, has served 23 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, and holds an all-time mark of 1,010-800, making him the fourth winningest coach in league history. The University of North Carolina alumnus replaces Sam Vincent, who was given just one season to try and turn things around down south.
The Bobcats have failed to make the playoffs during their first four years in the league.
Brown, who is the third head coach in franchise history, will try to mold a talented roster into a playoff team right away. Jason Richardson, who led the Bobcats in scoring (21.8 ppg) this past season, point guard Raymond Felton, center Emeka Okafor (who is scheduled to become a restricted free agent), and forward Gerald Wallace make up a solid nucleus.
Can Brown turn the Bobcats into winners?
NO MAGIC FOR RAPTORS
Toronto was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year, falling in five games to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. The Raptors have never won a best-of-seven playoff series (0-3). All-Star forward Chris Bosh averaged 24.0 points and 9.0 rebounds for Toronto, but did not have enough help from his teammates to stay with the Southeast Division champs.
Head coach Sam Mitchell has done a good job for the Raptors, and is not the problem. Team president and general manager Bryan Colangelo needs to find a way to make Toronto a more physical squad. The Raptors are soft around the basket, and need to add toughness in the interior during the offseason.
