Gameday Dish: Trail Blazers Host Nuggets

November 18 by Leave a Comment

Tonight the Denver Nuggets play the Portland Trailblazers at the Rose Garden in a matchup of Northwest Division rivals. This is the first of four scheduled meetings between these teams this season.

Last season, Denver went 3-1 against the Trailblazers, and Portland has not won a season series against the Nuggets since the 1998-99 campaign. But the Nuggets have lost their last three road games so perhaps the Blaze can capitalize on their home-court advantage.

Three big stories surround this game – one immediately relevant to this evening’s contest and two Phil Collins “In The Air Tonight” influences hovering in the background.

Top Blazer and three-time All-Star Brandon Roy will be out with a bum left knee. He is Portland’s best defender and will be especially missed against Denver’s high-powered offense, which at 105.8 ppg ranks fourth in the NBA.

In other injury-related news, the Blazers announced yesterday that Greg Oden, the former No. 1 draft pick whose short career has been marred by injuries, will have microfracture surgery on his left knee and will not play this season. Though this will not squarely impact the game tonight, it’s definitely a blow to the team’s morale and adds to the Blazers’ big picture concerns. They were hoping Oden would return this season to help them down low and finally start living up to his draft expectations.

Meanwhile the Nuggets are contending with their own big-pic matters as rumors surrounding Carmelo Anthony’s impending departure from the squad continue to loom. A Nugget for all of his eight years in the NBA and Denver’s top player for arguably that whole time, Melo continues to be badgered by media and fans as to his future plans and the growing possibility that his tenure as a Nugget is coming to an end.

Anthony refused to sign a 3-year $65million extension with Denver earlier this season. However, Melo has been a monster on the boards of late, with a total of 44 rebounds in the last 3 games – an average of almost 15 per clip. This fact should especially concern Portland because they have been one of the league’s worst teams on the glass this year and currently rank 27th in rebounding.

Both teams are coming off of Tuesday night victories – Portland over Memphis on the road and Denver over New York at home. I’ll join Marv Albert and Steve Kerr on the sidelines when Nuggets at Blazers tips off at 10:30 PM PST on TNT.

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Gameday Dish: Lakers at Nuggets

November 11 by Leave a Comment

Both the Nuggets and Lakers are looking to improve upon their latest performances. On Tuesday night, Denver lost 144 to 113 at Indiana, making them an even 4-4 for the season. The run-and-gunners got a taste of their own medicine when the Pacers fired 54 points in the third quarter – the most points scored by a team in one NBA quarter in 20 years. To put that in perspective, number one overall pick John Wall was barely two months old the last time a squad put up that many points in 12 NBA basketball minutes.

The Lakers along with the New Orleans Hornets are the only teams left in the NBA with unblemished records. At 8-0, the 2010 NBA Champs have come out of the blocks looking close-to-dominant. With eight wins against no losses, this version of the Lake Show is tied for second-best start ever for a Lakers team. And this is all being done without siixth-year center Andrew Bynum, who has not played so far this season due to a summer surgery on his right knee. Only the 1997-98 Purple & Gold, at 11-0, stand ahead of this year’s team when it comes to start of the season sizzle.

With Los Angeles’ on-target, long-range 3-bombing leading the league at 43.5%, the Nuggets team defense better pay special attention to their perimeter play, especially after allowing the Pacers to hit 16 threes in their last game. Denver bested the Lakers in 3 of 4 meetings last season and took them to six games in the 2009 Western Conference Finals, proving they are capable of derailing the champs. Denver will be looking for redemption tonight and hoping to capitalize on the vulnerability the Lakers displayed in their latest matchup.

In Tuesday’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, LA played what can be fairly described as their weakest contest of this early season. The Wolves out-rebounded them 54-42 in their 99-94 loss. To continue their winning ways Los Angeles will have to improve on the boards against a tough, physical Denver front line led by superstar forward Carmelo Anthony.

Speaking of #15 on the Nuggets roster, Anthony’s extension-refusal, almost-traded, maybe-gone, still-here, stay-or-go mini drama still hangs over everything the Denver franchise does.  The subtitle to this season in the Rocky Mountain State could be called ‘Melo Movements?’ with emphasis on the question mark.

Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and I will team up tonight to bring you live coverage from the Pepsi Center on NBA on TNT at 10:30 PM EST following the Boston Celtics at Miami Heat.

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Gameday Dish: East Meets West at the Q

February 18 by Leave a Comment

I’ll be back at the Q tonight with Marv and Reggie. Before the All-Star break, we were there to see the Cavs get their 12th and 13th consecutive wins to tie their franchise record. After a week’s rest the Cavs will try to pick up where they left off and continue their streak to top that record with a win over the Nuggets in front of their home crowd.

While players got a chance to recharge their batteries, Cleveland coaches and the front office were busy hammering out transaction details for the three-way swap that was finalized yesterday. The deal brings Antawn Jamison from Washington to Cleveland while Z heads to the Wizards along with the Cavs’ 2010 first-round draft pick and the rights to Emir Preldzic. A proven scorer, veteran Jamison will bolster the Cavs’ already deep frontcourt. Since all players must clear a physical exam before suiting up in their new jerseys Jamison will not dress for his Cleveland debut.

Nonetheless the matchup will give us a good indication of just how far the Cavs have come in the new year. In early January Denver pulled out a 99-97 victory in their first meeting. Both the Cavs and Nuggets lead their respective divisions and if they keep winning this could be a preview of the NBA Finals. We’ve also got two of the leading scorers in the NBA going head to head. Both Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James faced-off on the All-Star starting lineups over the weekend. Putting up 27 points, three-time All-Star Carmelo edged out six-time starter LeBron by just one bucket. But LeBron’s winning streak continued as the East ultimately took the game by the same narrow margin.

While future legends LeBron and Melo battle on the court, living legends Jerry West and Oscar Robertson will enjoy the show from the sidelines. Both generations of co-captains from Olympic gold medal basketball teams will be honored in a special pre-game ceremony. Fifty years ago Robertson and West were co-captains of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team that brought home gold from Rome while co-captains James and Anthony medaled in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

The special presentation with Robertson, West, Anthony and James is also helping raise money and awareness for men’s prostate cancer. Ironically, Nuggets head coach George Karl, who himself is a prostate cancer survivor, announced just a couple days ago that he’s been diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. No doubt this will be an emotional night for George and his team after going public with the difficult news. But I know coach Karl will attack this situation with the same toughness, determination and optimism he delivers on the courts day in and day out. Karl was at practice earlier today and will be on the bench tonight to help his team jumpstart the backstretch of the season with a win over the number one team in the league.

NBA on TNT presents national coverage of the Denver Nuggets @ Cleveland Cavaliers at 8 p.m. ET.

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