Losing Is Bad, But Numbers Never Lie. Denver Nuggets Need To Grow Up

Portland came to Denver without their number one scoring option, but they did have their new number one player, Damian Lillard.  Lillard ended with 31 pts., and his Trailblazer team shot lights out for a couple of quarters.  Does the fact that we played crappy defense those same quarters have anything to do with their shooting?  The world may never know.  What we do know is that shooting, covered or uncovered, is very cyclical.  Sometimes they fall even when you are well covered.


This Nugget team, especially without Ty Lawson, is a front runner or bust basketball team.  Even with Lawson they don't have a real closer, but do have the penetration power to get free throws and paint points for a reasonable chance at victory.

Shaw has shown the impressive ability to win a fair amount of games with a basketball team that is clearly Ty Lawson away from being hard to watch. He has also revealed an inability to get the most out of guys who don't always bring their best dance moves to the party.

Shaw, with a full complement of capable professional players and not a bunch of immature studs playing for something other than wins, will rectify his coaching failures while unveiling his true coaching ability. Whether or not he is allowed to do it in Denver is the million dollar question.

Coach Shaw reached such a level of frustration with his team that he aired out  guys for not maintaining a neat locker room for one another.  When you are concerned about the way a player forces their game to one side of the court too often you are coaching.  If you make a national declaration about locker room maintenance you are rearing. (see: Parenting)

Those of us who are parents appreciate him for his willingness to invest more than basketball into the lives of his players.  Those of us who are fans of the Nuggets and Shaw ask the same question that I started this article with.  Is Brian Shaw out of his Mother Lovin' Mind?

Of course he is.  And one day all of his players will talk about how he helped them to mature as a person before he made them a better player when they're telling stories to their children.  Bobby Knights players certainly do that for him, and he was certifiably crazy.  Shaw is just starting to show signs.

The loss to Portland is all the example you need. The Nuggets went to the losers locker room with some glaring discoveries.  After being benched in favor of an always hardworking Timofey Mosgov, JJ Hickson came off of the bench to set a  team record 15 offensive rebounds (the previous mark was 13 by Dikembe Mutombo) of the Nuggets 27 total offensive rebounds.  Denver's dominance on the glass generated 64 shots in the paint against Portland. Only 27 of them fell.  

In the 4th quarter, when the Nuggets finally played real defense, they stopped Portland without fouling.  Unfortunately, they had already given the Trailblazers an enormous amount of free throws as Portland finished the game shooting 36-39 from the line.  

There's more.  The Nuggets got 26 free throws of their own, but they missed 9 of them in a game that they lost by 5 pts.

I can hear the parents now.  "Opportunities are not endless.  You must take advantage of the chances you get in life".


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Denver Nugget Coach Brian Shaw Has Stopped Coaching, Started Parenting