If you watched the Denver Nuggets closely in their must-win game five victory over the Utah Jazz (116-102), there is really something missing in their game. Despite making big shots down the stretch, the fire in their eyes that had led them to the NBA Western Conference finals last year is evidently gone.
This first round series with the Jazz was supposed to be a walk in the park for the favored Nuggets. Utah entered the playoffs without two reliable starters in center Memo Okur and forward Anrdrei Kirilenko, who are both in sickbay. But the Nuggets had found themselves in a deep hole, falling behind 3-1 in the series before surviving game five.
Ever since assistant coach Adrian Dantley filled-in for cancer-stricken head coach George Karl, things has dramatically changed from better to worst in the Mile High City. Karl led the Nuggets to a 41-20 win-loss card before taking an indefinite leave of absence for cancer treatment. Dantley finished the regular season job with a 12-9 slate.
The first round series against Utah has opened a can of worms for the Nuggets as dissention slowly creep in within the team. Disgruntled guard J.R. Smith started the ball rolling with his tweeter post saying “You play selfish you lose selfish that's all I'm saying about the game!"
Superstar Carmelo Anthony is frustrated by the lack of firepower help from his teammates. "I'm trying, I'm trying to beat them. I'm trying to do everything I can in my power to beat the Jazz," Anthony said. "But, at the end of the day, I need some help. I'm not sitting here pointing fingers or nothing. As a unit, we've got to do this together. I can't do this by myself." Game four saw Anthony loudly chastised teammate Chris Andersen on the bench for taking an ill-advised outside jumper that missed the target. "I'm in a battle. I don't have time to worry about people's feelings right now," Anthony further exclaimed. "I'm trying to win."
And then there is veteran guard Chauncey Billups, who added more fuel to the fire by openly stating that the team is starting to miss Karl’s voice and leadership in the ongoing playoffs. "It's frustrating to lose, and people can say what they want, but at any rate, when we win, we win together", Billups said. "That's with all due respect and no slight to A.D. because I think A.D.'s done a great job trying to maintain and handle all the guys we have on this team. But, yeah, definitely. I think you would see that from any team that lost their head coach for the second half and the playoffs. I think it would be a major effect to anybody. George won over 900 games, man. A.D.'s just been coaching like 9, 10, 12 games."
Dantley obviously felt uncomfortable with all these negative developments hounding the team. "I don't know what to say about that, there's always some comments made by a player. And usually when you lose a game, we're going to have that type of statements," Dantley said.
Now that the Nuggets has lived for another day following their latest win over the Jazz, the next game still remains a big question mark. Starting center Nene will miss game six with an injured knee and it’s also difficult to score a win at Energy Solutions Arena. But Billups (buoyed up by the game 5 win) is feeling confident of a possible game six win and extending the series to a deciding do-or-die game. “We gave great effort for the whole game, and we just stayed with it. Now we have a chance to put the pressure back on them. The pressure is on them to win in...”, Billups said.
But Jerry Sloan, Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and the rest of the Jazz are also feeling the same way.
