Nate Robinson, Ty Lawson Out. Toronto Stops Decade Long Drought

-Toronto came into Denver with a 24-21 record, an all-star in Demar DeRozan and a lot of complaints that Kyle Lowry wasn't another one.  They came in realizing that Denver not only  lost Ty Lawson, but lost back up point guard Nate Robinson, who tore an ACL and is out for the season.  The only thing in the Nuggets favor was a 10 year streak of victories over Toronto in Denver.

That streak is over.

  Even without the back court support, the Nuggets seemed equipped to capture victories against both of these teams.  Well, the Raptors were a tougher challenge than the Bobcats, but in hindsight, Denver accomplished some noteworthy things in both games.

Against Toronto, the Nuggets won the rebounds (49-40) including offensive rebounds (12-9).  They won the points in the paint battle (50-38), and it wasn't the George Karl way with fast break points (which they actually lost 6-11).  The Nuggets had two players with 18 points, one of which was Evan Fournier who scored a similar amount against the Bobcats and is starting to prove to himself that he can play in this league.

Although the first half remained fairly competitive, the Raptors had a hot night shooting to start out.  Denver had to trade 2's for 3's early in order to keep pace with Toronto, but they did it.  By the end of the game the Nuggets would end up with the exact same 3 pt shooting percentage (38.1) and attempts (8-21) as Toronto. Shooting ended at a respectable 45% and the final margin of 10 points came with a strong rush from behind by Denver.

26 turnovers later and the Nuggets are probably kicking themselves for literally handing the game to Toronto, but that might be an over reach.  Toronto shot their way to a sizable lead and took their foot off of the gas.  To their credit, the Nuggets had every reason to quit and did not.  In order for one team to give up a run, the other team has to make one happen.

All of these injuries have made room for Fournier and Quincy Miller who are making strides with every minute they get.  The Nugget organization has chosen the wisest route for any team that can't compete for the crown.  Win as many games as you can with as many developing players as you can get away with, because in the end, you are only as strong as your weakest link.  We may even need to return to the "everybody plays" of earlier in the season.  Time to figure out who we keep and who we package up for the upcoming  trade deadline.