By Kyle Soppe
Denver is lucky they landed Peyton Manning yesterday, because the basketball team sure didn’t offer much to cheer about, falling to the Mavs 112-95 on Monday night.
The Nuggets held an early four point advantage, but that was erased quickly, and Denver never sniffed the lead from that point forward.
The Mavs starting front court dominated the young front court of the Nuggets, outscoring them 58-19. On top of the edge in scoring, the Dallas bigs grabbed 10 more rebounds, blocked three more shots, and shot 21.7% better from the field.
Don’t look now, but the defending champs are starting to get MVP like production from Dirk. He dropped in 33 points, the fourth consecutive game in which he scored at least 27 points. His 11 rebounds were his most in nearly a month, and his six dimes were a season best. In contrast to LeBron James, critics wanted Dirk to show off his range more often, and he has obliged by hitting 10 triples in his last four contests.
In fact, the entire Dallas starting lineup was on the mark from downtown, as they held a ++18 advantage over the Denver starting five.
Jason Kidd may no longer be the point guard in which a championship team is built around, but he certainly can still produce at a high level. The 17 year veteran has hit a three pointer in 19 of his last 20 games, but still has a knack for setting up his teammates more than himself. On Monday night, JKidd recorded 10 assists for the second consecutive game, and didn’t commit a single turnover.
After Dirk, it was Brandon Wright who took on an extended scoring role for the Mavs. He poured in a season high 15 points on 7/9 shooting in 27 effective minutes. The 15 points nearly equaled his total March points (21). He also doubled his season average in rebounds, grabbing six in his limited action.
The Nuggets are a team that relies on outscoring their opponents, as opposed to stopping them. They are often led by Danilo Gallinari, but the Mavs locked him down last night. Gallinari was held to only four points on 1/7 shooting, dropping Denver to 2-5 when he only manages one bucket. While he had a solid all around game (seven assists and six rebounds), that is not what the Nuggets need out of him, as the team lacks another big time scoring threat.
From the odd stat department, Aaron Affalo scored 20+ points for the 10th time this season, but the Nuggets are better when he isn’t scoring at such a high level. They are 5-5 in games in which the guard goes for at least 20 points, and 20-12 when he doesn’t. An odd trend, especially considering how efficient Affalo is (83.3 Total Shooting %).
The two leading shot takers for the Nuggets last night came from the bench, as Al Harrington and Wilson Chandler combined for 28 shots. The aggressiveness is welcomed by the high scoring Nuggets, but if it doesn’t come in an efficient manner, then it is counter productive. The duo shot only 39.3% from the field, including 33.3% from distance. Not exactly the stat line your looking for from two players who are at least 6’8″.
Denver recorded a nice assist:turnover ratio (2.0), but couldn’t take advantage, as they allowed the Mavs to have an even better one (2.4). Both teams recorded more assists than the Orlando Magic had baskets in their embarrassing loss to the Derrick Rose-less Bulls.
Leave a Reply