Woody drops the hammer on Melo

Pretty accurate if you ask me-something is about to blow


Put up or shut up, Melo<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
By Woody Paige<o></o>
The Denver Post<o></o>
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Carmelo Anthony didn't man up. <o></o>
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The Nuggets' "superstar" gave up and laid down — again. <o></o>
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He couldn't do a layup or a standup against the Lakers, then he wouldn't shut up or back it up on Saturday. <o></o>
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This is the end of these Nuggets, and it should be the end of Anthony with the Nuggets. No more, please. He's become the biggest disappointment with the Nuggets, and to Denver, since David Thompson's game and life blew up. Melo is no longer melodious or acceptable. <o></o>
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There's quit in the Nuggets and embarrassment in Denver. Los Angeles Lakers 102, Denver Quitters 84. <o></o>
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On the bench in the fourth quarter Anthony repeatedly screamed at coach George Karl: "Don't just sit there!" <o></o>
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Later Anthony spewed like Regan in "The Exorcist": "We're not just losing. We're getting the (expletive) beat out of us. It's about us giving up as a whole. We quit . . . everybody from the players to the coaches. <o></o>
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"There's no way I can lay down on my team the way we laid down (Saturday afternoon). . . . I'm surprised at how we laid down like that. In my five years (with the Nuggets), that's the first time I've ever felt like this." <o></o>
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In Anthony's five years the Nuggets have won only four of 19 playoff games — 21 percent. They've never won a postseason series, never won more than one game in a series, never looked this awful before. <o></o>
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And they're about to lose this series in four straight. They've already given in. <o></o>
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It will be mercy elimination. <o></o>
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The Nuggets aren't in the same hemisphere as the No. 1-seeded Lakers, but there was absolutely no reason in Game 3 for the Nuggets to show no enthusiasm, show no cohesiveness, show no defense, show no offense, show no sense of purpose or urgency, show no reason for being in the playoffs. <o></o>
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There was no reason for the Nuggets to show up. <o></o>
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They didn't men up. <o></o>
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And if Anthony can't accept responsibility for 5-of-22 from the field, a horrifying majority from under or near the basket, and one assist, and zero defense — as usual — then he must take his act elsewhere. <o></o>
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How long do we have to wait for Anthony to take charge? <o></o>
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In fact, how long do we have to wait for him to take a charge? <o></o>
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The only time Anthony gets up in anybody's chest is when he's jawing at an official. Anthony spent more time Saturday staring at the ref than he did at the basket or his defensive assignment. <o></o>
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Anthony has sold Denver 76 trombones. And the 76ers sold Denver Allen Iverson. <o></o>
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The Answer is a question, and Anthony is not the solution, but just a problem. <o></o>
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The two leading scorers were 10-of-38 and uninterested. <o></o>
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Too bad Eduardo Najera and Linas Kleiza aren't more talented. They, and J.R. Smith, came to play. The others came for no discernible reason — except to watch the NFL draft, which they did before the game. <o></o>
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"We chart our layups, and we were 1-for-20 in the game. Melo and A.I. missed most of those," a disheartened Karl said. "We missed a lot of easy baskets in the first half. Melo missed a lot of those." <o></o>
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It's obvious that Karl and Anthony, who've maintained an uneasy peace since last year, have broken the truce. <o></o>
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Anthony has snapped. <o></o>
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Their relationship won't survive. One or the other, or both, will be gone. Pick your side. <o></o>
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"I know that Melo is very emotional right now," Karl said when asked about Anthony saying the team and coach quit. "I don't think I quit. . . . In the fourth quarter I was trying to find answers." <o></o>
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Anthony is correct that Karl can't continue to sit there on the bench. The players are overreacting to the refs' calls and uncalls, but they're not getting any support from the coaches. And Karl isn't defending them any better than they are defending the Lakers. <o></o>
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But Karl can't shoot for his players, and he can't get them to buckle down or liven up. <o></o>
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Anthony was busy doing his smiley-face for much of the game, but he should have frowned after he missed bunny after guppy, lay-in after tip-in, easy opportunity after simple shot. <o></o>
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He should do something or get out of the way. <o></o>
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Truth is, the Nuggets have played much better in this series with Anthony off the court. <o></o>
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A longtime basketball expert from Los Angeles said at halftime: "What's the big deal about Anthony? I don't see anyone that special. He doesn't look or play much like LeBron, does he?" <o></o>
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The Nuggets were tied with the Lakers at 42 in the second quarter. If they had cared, the Nuggets would have been up by 12. But, per custom in this series, the Lakers steamed away by 17 points. <o></o>
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In one 30-second stretch, Anthony missed a layup, glared at an official and totally ignored the Lakers, who converted a layup. Anthony missed another shot. While he pouted, the Lakers scored again. <o></o>
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Scream at yourself, not at the coach. Scream in an empty room, Carmelo. <o></o>
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For the fifth year in a row, Anthony has not become The Man in the playoffs, and the Nuggets are down, and soon out. Quit it.<o></o>
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http://www.denverpost.com/paige/ci_9068968

Wow. Can always count on Woody to be witty and brutally honest.

Entertaining read.

Looked like not only Melo, but the whole team quit yesterday in the 2nd, maybe even Karl, they all looked cooked.

Brutally honest is right.....

LOL at Woody Paige the moron. Denver was 20-62 the year before Carmelo arrived on the scene and they have never missed the playoffs since he's been there. He's top-5 in the league in scoring every year and has a higher FG% than any of the other top scorers in the NBA. Yeah the #8 Nuggets are about to lose to the #1 Lakers, but any #8 seed would have been swept by the Lakers as well. Tough matchup but nothin you can do. To give up on Melo now would be ridiculous, the kid is only 23 and giving you 26 pts and 8 rebounds a night on 50% FG, give him a break.

Despite being a #8 seed & barely making the playoffs at all, the whole Melo\Iverson combo still has people thinking that a title should be coming soon.

They are facing a no win situation out here.

Trade Iverson for a pass-first PG who plays defense.

Sign Ron Artest.

Hire a defensive coach.

Yeah and he gets paid a ridiculous amount for every basket he makes, you'd think he'd show a little heart and play defense at least once every quarter.

Dsethi said:

Warriors wouldn't have gotten swept. Probably would have lost 4-1 or 4-2

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Warriors dont deserve the chance because they lost 2 in a row to the Nuggets in that crucial last week of the season. You lose to the Nuggets in our own home, you dont deserve to be in the playoffs.

Carmelo is only 23 years old, any talk about trading him is ridiculous.

26 points and 8 rebounds on 50% FG from a 23-year old NBA superstar. Nothing you get in return would be worth he's worth.

It's not over yet-they have a chance at some sign of redemption at home tomorrow night.

Dsethi said:

I don't care if they deserved to make the playoffs or not - not every 8 seed would have been swept; the Warriors would have won at least 1 if not 2 games. Obviously they didn't deserve to make hte playoffs, if they did they would still be playing

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Nope just a bullshit guess on your part, no way of knowing that. The arriors would have lost by more than 25 pts in every playoff game vs. the Lakers. They play worse defense than the Nuggets.

Woody Paige is a terrible, terrible writer. He's like the Chris Berman of journalism.

Here's an intelligent take on Denver's situation from John Hollinger, a writer who actually knows how to spell.

DENVER -- This is the Denver Nuggets' winningest season in two decades, while the past five years have been the most sustained stretch of regular-season success in the franchise's NBA history.

It's hard to reconcile those facts with what is becoming an increasingly ugly ending to the campaign.

Saturday's 102-84 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers put Denver down 3-0 in their first-round playoff series, and elimination now seems as certain as death and taxes (no NBA team has ever come back from such a deficit).

Given the ease with which the Lakers won the first three games, nobody is expecting Denver to break that string. The game was such a laugher that many Denver fans exited, making the gold-clad, "MVP" chanting Lakers fans increasingly prominent in the crowd -- figure skater Michelle Kwan among them.

Certainly, Denver's fate had plenty to do with the opponent. L.A. again was flawless at both ends and got another star-caliber yet team-focused effort from Kobe Bryant. Meanwhile, Luke Walton continued his unbelievable play off the bench (6-of-7, 15 points, five rebounds, five assists).

Yet it's hard to imagine Denver expected this result after going 33-8 at home this season. Especially after the weather gods threw them a bone and spooked the Californians with some mid-afternoon snow.

If L.A. completes the sweep on Monday, it would cement the Nuggets' status in the second tier of the NBA -- good enough to win 50 games, but not nearly good enough to hang with the league's elite in a best-of-seven series. With the team nearly $9 million over the luxury tax and two key players getting long in the tooth, it's an uncomfortable place to be.

Since pairing Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony at midseason last year, the Nuggets have twice been outclassed in the first round by one of the league's heavyweights; the Spurs did the honors last year. Thus, it seems probable that Denver -- much like Dallas and Phoenix -- will be among the Western teams contemplating major changes if they can't get out of the first round.

But for those of you who are wondering, a coaching change isn't on the menu. "We could lose both these games by a hundred and George [Karl] would still be the coach," a team source told me before Game 3.

Indeed, Karl has managed to keep everyone on board through a challenging season. For all their volatility, you don't hear these guys complaining about shots -- even with two big-time scorers to keep happy. Karl also helped J.R. Smith turn around his season, and possibly his career, while other young players have also shown positive development.

You also might wonder if attention-shy owner Stanley Kroenke has soured on having such a high payroll if it doesn't produce some postseason results. If so, the shedding of contracts would have painful results in the win column.

But while Kroenke remains elusive to the media, it appears he's still on board with the program. For a very recent example, he signed off on the last-week-of-the-season addition of Bobby Jones with the inclusion of a nonguaranteed second year -- something that added to his tax bill but gives the Nuggets flexibility for trades this summer (it was a similar deal with Howard Eisley that allowed the Nuggets to trade for Smith two years ago).

So Denver won't nuke everything just yet. But that doesn't mean it can stand pat.

Right now the Nuggets' problem isn't talent, and it isn't effort. It's more systemic: Simply put, the pieces don't fit real well. And while everyone focuses on their defense, it's on offense where the fit is the problem.

This team wasn't designed to be the Bad Boys, and by playing such a frenetic pace they're going to give up some points. But with two of the league's top four scorers in Iverson and Anthony, it should be an elite offensive team. Right now, it's not, and their attack seems weirdly disjointed.

That was obvious again on Saturday, when the Nuggets' attack degenerated into a one-on-one, "Whose Turn Is It Anyway?" type of offense. Denver shot 37.2 percent and had only 22 assists, after registering a mere 12 in Game 2. For the series, less than half of the Nuggets' baskets have been from a teammate's pass.

Nuggets coach George Karl saw some tough flaws resurface in Game 3.
When I asked Karl before the game where his team needed to improve, the question wasn't even out of my mouth before he blurted, "Pass it!" Yet the interesting part of Game 3 wasn't that the Nuggets weren't making the pass, but how often there wasn't a pass available to be made.

Too often, Iverson and Anthony had three guys around them or were forced to drive into crowds because teammates weren't threats to score from the perimeter. Though both are great scorers, neither are great shooters and both prefer to operate near the basket -- Anthony on post-ups, Iverson on drives.

And with L.A. packing in the lane, the two shot just 10-for-38 in Game 3. For the series, they're 50-for-129 (38.8 percent).

"It seemed the Lakers had a good feel for when to bring double teams on [them]," Karl said. "And we forced shots."

For Denver's half-court offense to work, the other three guys need to create room by stretching defense out to the 3-point line. Do Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby and Anthony Carter strike you as the type of guys to do that?

Here's perhaps the most instructive piece of info about the Nuggets' need for floor-spacers. In terms of 3-pointers per shot attempt, Denver's three most prolific bombers this year were Smith, Linas Kleiza and Eduardo Najera. And other than Iverson, they were the three Nuggets with the top offensive plus/minus on the team.

Want more? Look at Denver's most effective offensive lineups and you'll see a similar trend. The top five-man units with more than 50 minutes, according to 82games.com, were:

1. Iverson-Smith-Kleiza-Anthony-Najera

2. Iverson-Smith-Kleiza-Anthony-Camby

3. Iverson-Smith-Anthony-Najera-Camby

4. Iverson-Smith-Kleiza-Najera-Martin

Notice a trend here? The Nuggets can score in bunches if they surround Iverson and Anthony with shooters. They can get by with one non-spacer -- either Martin or Camby -- at the 5. And otherwise, there just isn't enough room for their two big scorers to operate at peak effectiveness.

This offers a prescription for next season. As crazy as this sounds, the Nuggets need to play smaller and possibly even faster. Picture Anthony as the power forward with shooters like Smith and Kleiza around him. Picture a couple of more shooters, acquired in free agency or via trade for the likes of Nene and Kenyon Martin.

Picture the Nuggets, in short, as a faster-paced version of teams like Toronto, Orlando or, yes, these Lakers -- teams that had better offenses than the Nuggets this season despite appearing to have far less individual offensive talent, because they effectively space the floor around their star players.

In fact, L.A.'s ability to do just that was on display for all to see in these first three games, as L.A. rained in 29-of-71 (40.8 pecent) from downtown to keep Kobe's double-teamers at bay.

In the meantime, the Nuggets will come back on Monday for a final salvo with this gang, and one last shot at leaving this series with a shred of dignity intact.

"Don't give up," Iverson said of his approach. "I've been in this league 12 years and I never gave up one game."

As always, Iverson's effort is unquestioned. But he may need a few more shooters around him to make it a fair fight.

Exquisite Hoopster said:

Nope just a bullshit guess on your part, no way of knowing that. The arriors would have lost by more than 25 pts in every playoff game vs. the Lakers. They play worse defense than the Nuggets.

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Good players average 26 a game on 50% shooting during the regular season. Superstars play great defense, hit the big shots and carry their team on their back throughout the playoffs. Oh yeah, superstars don't get DUI's and superstars don't throw their teamates and coach under the bus after they get their asses kicked.

Woody Paige is telling it like it is. As painful as it is not one word he said is incorrect.

Anthony is an all star caliber player. A.I. is on the decline. Martin is a waste of money. Nene, seems like a good guy, but is always injured. camby is pretty good. i dont see them doing much the next couple years until iverson is off the books.

Boss Hog said:

Good players average 26 a game on 50% shooting during the regular season. Superstars play great defense, hit the big shots and carry their team on their back throughout the playoffs. Oh yeah, superstars don't get DUI's and superstars don't throw their teamates and coach under the bus after they get their asses kicked.

Woody Paige is telling it like it is. As painful as it is not one word he said is incorrect.

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Kobe did. Threw his teammates under the bus and demanded to be traded to another team because he hated it there so much.

What does getting a DUI have to do with anything? Kobe raped a girl.

http://forum.therx.com/showthread.php?t=566633

http://forum.therx.com/showthread.php?t=566851

Exquisite Hoopster said:

Kobe did. Threw his teammates under the bus and demanded to be traded to another team because he hated it there so much.

What does getting a DUI have to do with anything? Kobe raped a girl.

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Kobe was not charged and if you think that girl wasn't willing you are as ignorant as Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is just a typical NBA player with lots of money. Throw up shot after shot and pad your stats and give a crap less about the team and winning.

If he can take a page out of the book of Duncan, Nash, Wade or any of the true superstars then you'd have something.

Oh, and what does getting a DUI have to do with anything? Getting a DUI on the eve of the playoffs causes a huge distraction to the lockeroom. He's also the face of the franchise and thousands of kids look up to and admire him. That's what it has to do with.

Denver looks like a well oiled machine compared to that group of table scraps they have in Toronto

Boss Hog said:

Kobe was not charged and if you think that girl wasn't willing you are as ignorant as Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is just a typical NBA player with lots of money. Throw up shot after shot and pad your stats and give a crap less about the team and winning.

If he can take a page out of the book of Duncan, Nash, Wade or any of the true superstars then you'd have something.

Oh, and what does getting a DUI have to do with anything? Getting a DUI on the eve of the playoffs causes a huge distraction to the lockeroom. He's also the face of the franchise and thousands of kids look up to and admire him. That's what it has to do with.

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Okay, well Kobe was charged with cheating on his wife and kids, right? That we can agree on. Adultery that definitely caused a huge distraction to the Lakers during the regular season and made every Laker headline a Kobe rape headline. How is that any better than getting a DUI?