Same Old Story
Parker-less Spurs steam roll Martin-less Nuggets
Hey stop me if you have heard this one before: The Nuggets outmatched and unable to scheme their way out of meltdown against a flop-happy, well-executing San Antonio team. No need to check the publish date of this recap, unfortunately this is not just an old recap from one of the many Nuggets beatings that have come at the hands of San Antonio within the last five years. Nope, sorry to say, this is as fresh as it gets, and what can you expect? Nothing outside of the Nuggets looking the exact opposite of fresh. Stale as mail-order bread, a good way to scribe the Nuggets performance. And just so we are clear, that's stale across all facets of play, offense, defense, you name it and the Nuggets made it look bad. The Spurs made their 102-91 win over the visiting Nuggets look, well, Spur-ugly. "Spur ugly" can only be described as a style of play that lacks flashy flair but boasts bullish brilliance. Yes, there were flops. Yes, there were torrents of awful stints of officiating. That all should be second nature at this point, after you are the Nuggets and you are playing the Spurs on their home court. But before we add another pin in our Manu Ginobili voodoo dolls, we need to at least give some jeering, if not jealously laden, credit to the lumbering Spurs and their ability to get the calls. True, the officials assigned to the game were eggregious in their incompetence, with the majority of which being delivered by the blundering crew chief, Eddie F. Rush. But, as they say, the whistling zebras, even the good ones, like to reward execution, and that, above all else, is what the Spurs fluidly accomplished. If its part of the battle plan, no matter how resentful, to flop and frolic, then you go out and flop and frolicked like your life depended on it. As much as I have justified reason to hate on the Spurs savage, break-you-down-slowly style of play, I really am in continued awe of how they manage to get it done so convincingly against a Nuggets team, who for lack of a better explanation, simply lacked any sort of game plan. Tis' life in the George Karl era. Kind of like the bronze age when they had no toilets but still had the human need to eliminate waste, so they went about laying excrement all over the township. That's what the Nuggets did last night. While they had no humane way of taking care of their preverbal 'business', they were forced to labor away countless droppings of fertilizer. Seriously, if you know you are playing a highly formulary basketball team, would it not seem wise to present yourself as if you had an offensive scheme of your own? How many offensive possessions that resulted in any sort of point conversion, actually were born out of movement, or any form of set offense. Stand around the perimeter, wait for someone to drive and dish; That was how the Nuggets chose to spend their second half.
The first half, all be it, far from perfect, was at least peppered with momentary jolts of pick and roll/backside-cut conversions. Who really was surprised when the Nuggets came out in the second half and seemingly abandoned any such desire to run planned, drilled upon, offensive sets? Nobody. And if you were surprised then you were probably also the same dopes who heard George Karl's pre-game -"this is a measuring stick type game"- hyperbole and thought to themselves that maybe such talk would indeed bring about a result that would be something George would want to cop to come the final buzzer. I surely hope that, after all these years, you know better than to actually want to use one of these games as any sort of a measuring stick. Personally, I think George got caught in his own trap. If your George Karl, you looked at the Spurs being without their court general Tony Parker, who say out due to injury, plus a dinged up Tim SlamDuncan.com, and HEY, WHY NOT SAY THIS WAS TO BE A 'MEASURING STICK' GAME. Ut-oh George, you should have guessed that offering 
up minimal to no halftime/in-game adjustments, would make it matter but a mouse fart that the Spurs were sans their second best player. After all, stepping in for the injured Parker, was the basketball force that is, Jacque Vaugn. Jacque Vaughn? Oh yes, very much a Jacque Vaughn domination tonight. You probably shouldn't have forgot about the unstoppable basketball phenomenon that is, Francisco Oberto. Oberto. That's right, Oberto. He combined with Vaughn, were really the best possession-4-possession participators in the contest. Why are the Nuggets letting average role players take over a game that was supposedly going to provide some sort of measuring stick? All I can say is that, the Nuggets have at least been consistent at making marginal players look like world beaters this season, Beno Udrih • John Salmons, ringing any bells? Maybe that's just it though, maybe its not that the Spurs simply own the Nuggets like a fat kid owns a King Soopers Savings Card. No no, maybe its much more dark and pitiful. Maybe the reality we eventually have to come to, is that, perhaps the Nuggets themselves, are really no better (and thus definable) as a completely mediocre collection of ballplayers. Toss in a head coach who can't buy a winning game plan against Gregg Poppovich, who characteristically, embarrassed his good friend's team. Its not that they lost on the road against one of the NBA's best team's - rather its more, the way ,in which the Nuggets were rendered push over's against said depleted team. "Frustrated Incorporated" - Soul Asylum. For Nuggets fans, tonight, there is no asylum. Altitude should play that fitting 90's alt-rock anthem, during the lead-in to all games against San Antonio.
Last thing, to end on a souring positive, at least said Altitude Sports & Entertainment broadcasting team were able to go, a record, 3 solid quarters without mentioning the over cooked Lexus Drive of the Game - and T H A T = some degree of progress. Baby steps everyone, we all take baby steps. We do so, as the venerable San Antonio Spurs continue their uninterrupted championship stride.
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