Everyone, Just Back Off!

It seems the trend for the pundits right now, is to call out the Denver Nuggets for being their own worst enemy. They point to their tendency to seemingly throw away games they are supposed to win, not try hard enough in the first half, or give up big leads in the second half. The Nuggets are supposed to be a power house team rolling over the competition no matter the scheduling or personnel difficulties. The analysts want more consistency and point to some lost games as lost opportunities to vie for the top spot in the West. No matter what kind of run they are on, it seems the Nuggets can’t break past the fourth spot in the various power rankings, either.

Having been a fan of this team for some time now, I am willing to chalk up most of this to pure bias. Denver has always been a target for people like Charles Barkley. It’s easy to pick on a team with a small market, but high profile players. The personalities and tattoos don’t help either when it comes to negative opinions. In a still deeply racist and suspicious society masquerading as tolerant, it is easier to label a tattooed team of misfits as lacking character. Every sport needs theater and a black hat in the battle. Without antagonists, where would the drama come from? The true tale of the Nuggets season is much deeper and complicated than the mass of media might surmise.

I won’t pretend the Nuggets don’t have their lapses of concentration, but the same could be said for almost every other team out there. Where is the criticism for the Hawks or the Jazz when they lose to teams they’re supposed to beat? Only a few teams have better records than the Nuggets, but do they deserve all the praise they get? The Cavaliers have done the best job of playing winning basketball this season. Having the best player in the world doesn’t hurt, but they also play exceptional defense, have dealt well with injury problems (Shaq, Mo Williams, DeLonte West), and dominate both at home and on the road. They probably do deserve most of their accolades. The second best team in the league, the LA Lakers, has similar qualities, but lacks real team solidarity. Phil Jackson resents Pau Gasol, everyone dislikes Kobe, and Ron Artest has been mostly a distraction. Most of the media is loathe to point out these facets. Now most in the sports world would rank Orlando ahead of the Nuggets in terms of their league prowess, but not so fast. Has everyone forgotten they play in the East? When you get to go up against teams like Miami, Charlotte, Toronto, and Chicago and they are some of your stiffest competition, it would make sense your win total would be a bit inflated. Couple this with a struggling Boston team giving away victories here and there and even the Cavaliers are probably enjoying a status not so much earned but inherited.

Then you have the Nuggets. Last year everyone’s beef with them was their inability to beat the GOOD teams. They had the best record against sub .500 teams, but struggled to put away teams like the Cavs and Lakers. This year it is the complete opposite. They are 7-1 against the top tier teams, by far the best record, and own the series versus the Cavs and are one game up on the Lakers. Combine this with their overall record against teams above .500 and they look really, really good on paper. Yet again, it is their ability to let games slip away from them against the bad teams everyone focuses on.

Let’s take a moment to review some of these losses. For example, after starting the season on a five game winning streak, The Nuggets rolled into Miami and were beaten by eight points and the next night were throttled by a motivated and rested Hawks team. This brings me to my most important point. The Nuggets’ schedule has included a league high twenty two back-to-back games. Twenty two! That is more than half their games. While the Lakers are getting preferential treatment with a schedule including over ninety percent home games for their first twenty five, the Nuggets are getting the shaft. Pundits have made a big deal lately out of a similar loss in Washington D.C. to the Wizards. I guess no one remembered the epic overtime win by the Nuggets the previous night against the Cavs for a season series sweep. This was another example of fatigue and lack of emotional investment rearing its head again. Not to mention the inability of the Nuggets’ staff to game plan for a totally different Washington squad with Josh Howard and Andray Blatche providing threats previously unseen. Of the Nuggets’ twenty two losses, eleven of them happened during back-to-back games. Half of their losses! Only one of those was against a quality opponent, the Mavericks. You might be saying, “Well, that means they weren’t focused enough to put those teams away and this means they are worse than you are letting on.” On the contrary, I am saying the only reason they lost those games was because of these conditions.

The analysts have also been ignoring all of the Nuggets’ various injury problems. Besides the poor Portland Trailblazers, I dare anyone to bring my attention to a team with more key players with time consuming injuries than the Nuggets have had. From Billups, to Anthony, to Andersen, to Lawson, to Martin the Nuggets have had to persevere despite this adversity. Not to mention J.R. Smith’s seven games suspension to start the season. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the little ordeal of George Karl’s throat cancer.

Considering all of these factors, it is a wonder the Nuggets have done as well as they have. Currently, they are three games better than any other Nuggets season at this point. They are playing in the stacked Western Conference and in the ultra competitive Northwest Division.

So back off pundits! The Nuggets are awesome and play harder and better than almost every team out there. The only inexcusable loss I could come up with was the loss at home to the Timberwolves. Even in this loss however, Minnesota was due after having lost fifteen straight after their opening win against the Nets. Look for the Nuggets to only be stronger in the playoffs after enduring the insane amount of back-to-backs thus far. Having at least one day off between games must seem like a vacation by now. GO NUGGETS!!!!