Denver Nuggets @ Indiana Pacers
Conseco Fieldhouse
7:00 PM EST
I’ve watched all three of Denver’s wins so far this year, and with the possible exceptions of Orlando and Boston, they have been the best team in the NBA through one week. Carmelo is leading the league in scoring (37.7 ppg), PER (36.4) and free throws made per game (12.0). Sample size, sure, but the Pacers are not particularly great at stopping people from (1) scoring, (2) being efficient, or (3) getting to the line. So fans are right to be a little concerned when the first-week MVP steps into the building.
And it’s not just Carmelo that Indy needs to worry about. As a team, the Nuggets lead the league in two of the offensive four factors (TO% and FT/FGA) and rank behind only Orlando in offensive rating. For those who don’t care about the numbers, they’ve just been absolute beasts on offense with Nene and Kenyon Martin both looking aggressive and healthy, Billups and Ty Lawson running the team, and well-nicknamed role players Birdman (Chris Anderson) and Spell Check (Arron Afflalo) fitting in well throughout their three victories (at home vs. Utah, @Portland then back home vs. Memphis). Their perimeter defenders aren’t anything to be overly concerned with despite Melo’s commitment to that side of the ball and Chauncey’s solid play, so Granger, Rush, Head and TJ should be able to score as long as they’re hitting shots. But other than Carmelo dropping 45+, the Pacers really need to be worried about stopping Nene, Martin and Birdman from getting easy hoops in the paint.
Given how good the Nuggets have looked and how bad the Pacers have looked, there’s not really a ton else to say. If Indy can pull it off, it would be a nice feather in their cap before they head off to play the Knicks in Madison Square Garden tomorrow. And if Indy can’t pull it off, that will be expected and they will then go look for their first win on the second night of a home/road back-to-back against a feisty-yet-not-overwhelmingly-talented New York team in what promises to be a high-octane shootout between Jim O’Brien’s three-point friendly system and D’Antoni’s Seven Seconds or Less army.
I would personally feel a whole lot better about the whole start of this season if they could find a way to pull off a W this evening. So, yeah, do that, please.
Not So Fun Fact of the Game: Tonight, it comes from the Yahoo game preview, which informs us that “Denver has won eight of 10 meetings dating back to Jan. 29, 2005, including four of five at Conseco Fieldhouse.” I mean, the rosters are pretty different so I’m not really sure why I should care. But I still don’t like it.
(FYI, these previews will improve from the standpoint of stats and the like going forward. Still figuring out how exactly we want to lay things out and what else to include. And, oh yeah, we’ll start getting them up earlier. Bear with me for the next week or so.)
Lang Whitaker and company chose Carmelo for the cover of their November NBA season kick-off issue. Nice call, fellas.
Related Topics:
Arron Afflalo,
Carmelo Anthony,
Chauncey Billups,
Chris Anderson,
Denver Nuggets,
Game #3,
Game Previews,
Kenyon Martin,
Nene,
Ty Lawson
Here Comes the Season. And Roster Moves
by Jared Wade on December 1, 2011 at 10:42 am · 5 comments
The NBA is back. And the Pacers are about to shake up their roster somehow.
Whether that means signing the likes of Marc Gasol, Nene, David West, Jamal Crawford or using the luxury of cap space to make a trade, it is certain that something interesting involving the Pacers WILL GO DOWN in the next few weeks. In fact, the Pacers are so far below the salary cap that they figure to be involved in almost every rumor we hear about (see: Rondo, Rajon) regardless of the likelihood of any deal materializing. Due to the fact that the new CBA is expected to retain the same silly salary-matching restrictions for trades involving any team over the cap, Indiana is in the enviable position to help facilitate any major deal as a third party.
There are many course of action the team could take. Word from Mike Wells of the Indy Star, and others, is that the team is interested in Nene but doesn’t want to overpay (which some team almost certainly will) but squeamish on David West given the fact that he is 31 and recently removed from ACL surgery and the Pacers won’t be real Eastern Conference Finals contenders for at least another few years. (Although some people think the West injury risk trope is overblown.) Additionally, Wells has reported that the “Pacers are more likely to make trades then spend a lot of money on free agents,” because they don’t want to overspend.
Of course, there are also question marks regarding the guys already on the roster. Who starts at point: incumbent Darren Collison or NBA champion George Hill? Can Tyler Hansbrough be a starting power forward in this league if team head honcho Larry Bird doesn’t acquire a more-proven big man? Will the Pacers use their “amnesty” (a clause in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will allow each team to dump one player’s salary from being included on their cap) on Dahntay Jones?
Lastly, what will the schedule look like? We know that teams will have between one and three back-to-back-to-back playing nights — among other logistically complicated/grueling scenarios — on their itinerary this season. Will the Pacers be favored or worse off compared to their peers?
As we enter this stretch of the unknown, there are many more questions than certainties. But the only question that truly matters — will Indiana play basketball this year? — does have a definitive answer: yes. So until something bad happens, just be happy the team is back.
Additionally, Bird and GM David Morway are holding a press conference in a bout 20 minutes. So perhaps they will have a few more answers for us.
Related Topics: David Morway, David West, Larry Bird, Nene
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