Official Game Thread: Hawks at Nuggets

[lethalweapon3]

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy Manimal!”

((Stuck in Orlando holiday traffic, so couldn’t finish tonight’s preview. Just gonna pull a Hawks and mail it in early… lol! Cheers!))

It seems Mike Malone has finally gotten out of his own way. And for that, fans of tonight’s hosts of the Atlanta Hawks, the Denver Nuggets (9:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL), are reveling in the joys of the holiday season. It wasn’t easy getting here.

"You guys got to understand, he’s not going to be the same player he was last year.” That was the Nuggets head coach last month, Malonesplaining to the pestering media why his 2016 All-Rookie 1^st Team phenom (no, not Emmanuel Mudiay), Nikola Jokic, was watching his minutes erode, shuffled off to the bench in favor of tarnished team icon Kenneth Faried. This, after he shone so brightly at the end of last season. I mean, can’t “you guys” see, Jokic was overrated?

“Gallo (Danilo Gallinari) was out, Wilson Chandler was out. Last two months of the season we played our young guys, we played them 35 minutes a night almost. We’re healthy, we have guys playing, so everybody stop expecting Nikola Jokic to be something he’s not. I think it’s unfair to him."

The Nuggets made it all the way to December 12 without more than one single two-game win streak. Malone was so excited about the return of behemoth Jusuf Nurkic that he slid Jokic over to power forward, a position he hadn’t played since his days in Serbia, and was shocked – shocked! – to find out twin-brute frontcourts have gone the way of the Do-Do.

So, naturally, the coach punishes Jokic further by relegating him to mop-up duty in favor of Faried, which turned out to be more of a “see why I don’t start you?” exhibition for the Manimal. So, maybe we’ll try… Darrell Arthur at the 4-spot? Nope.

Finally, Malone comes to his senses, replacing Arthur and Nurkic with Wilson Chandler (the steadiest player on the roster all season) and Jokic. And the smaller-lineup Nuggs promptly won three straight, Jokic shooting 74.2% from the field and dishing out 6.3 APG while bringing 9.3 RPG and 16.7 PPG to the fray. The glimmer of hope shined, bright enough for even Malone to see, during Denver’s 20-point loss in lowly Dallas on December 12, when Jokic put up a season-high 27 points (10-for-12 FGs) with 11 boards and 4 assists.

Now a starter, Jokic upped the ante when Dallas came to Denver one week later: 27 points (13-for-17 FGs), 15 rebounds, 9 assists, leading the way to a 10-point victory this past Monday. He and the Nuggets struggled one night later, when the host Clippers handed them a mirror. But nobody wants to hear, “Hey, you guys, it was just the Mavs!” from Malone anymore.

Nurkic was fine and all, but the problem in Jokic’s case was he worked best as a high-post five who didn’t have to defend quicker and more experienced fours. Playing the Itches together turned Denver into the Itchy and Scratchy Show, comically screwing up spacing for every offensive player on the court.

Forcing Chandler and Jokic to come off the bench came across to Nuggets fans as needlessly undermining the team’s most productive frontcourt players, and passing off Jokic’s rookie season as some garbage-time aberration wasn’t going to fly.

((blah-blah-blah Jokic really good, Harris and Mudiay working out, Faried's being shopped, Dwight and Timmy’s out, so play more Bembry and Hump, go get 'em Dennis, don’t let Jameer kill us, blah-blah-blah…))

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[Gray Mule]

Atlanta must do something tonight.  Just checked the standings.  Hawks are

out of the lottery, but just by a fraction:

Atlanta - - .483%

Bucks ----- .481%

Even with our latest loss, we couldn't stay down.   Tonight, we fix this!  Maybe!

Or, the Hawks might just go wild and win a game.  You never know with them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!

 

[Guest]

Niiiice lw3! Safe travels. Merry Xmas and all that other good stuff squawkers!!!!

[Guest]

Hump starting tonight.

[Guest]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

Hump starting tonight.

14/11 for the Humpster...

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

14/11 for the Humpster...

[Guest]

1.  
2.  

   Atlanta Hawks 

    

   ✔ @ATLHawks

   UPDATE: Kyle Korver also out (illness)

   2m

   •  

No THjr.

Time for the rooks.

[Guest]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

1.  
2.  

   Atlanta Hawks 

    

   ✔ @ATLHawks

   UPDATE: Kyle Korver also out (illness)

   2m

   •  
   •  

Please let Prince run wild for one night in the thin Denver air :-)

[Peoriabird]

Hump is making Lurker look bad already

[Thomas]

Guess Bud figured might as well let a banger bang for us. The only way Kris is allowed to earn his paycheck. Very good to see him on the floor.

[Sothron]

It was nice to see Bembry hit his free fro after that shot.

[Marvin24Williams]

bazemore is useless

[Plastic Man]

Horrible officiating on both ends. Tanks for the gift, Denver.

[L1xi]

Nice comeback at the end. Clutch free throws from Dennis and Paul. And finally we won a close game...

Merry christmas Hawks from Germany

[Lurker]

Well as I said in the chat, Dennis is a good dribble driver. He was able to get to the lane and get fouled at least twice to initiate a comeback

[terrell]

28 minutes ago, Marvin24Williams said:

bazemore is useless

Yep. Pretty much.....................................................

[BigDog90]

I was surprised ATL escaped with the win. 

Bremby was a surprise. Baze played bad again.

Amazing to see ATL is 2 games out from 3rd place.

[Garchelino]

Ahora, Plastic Man dijo:

Horrible officiating on both ends. Tanks for the gift, Denver.

Denver gave us the win but I am pleased with the hustle in the last 2 minutes. Dennis keeps playing pretty good and we somehow cut the turnovers in last weeks. 

Frontcourt was solid all around. Hump deserves more PT and Scott is finding his rhythm. Bembry played way better and under control than Bazemore, who was utterly bad on both ends. 

All in all, valuable road win with all the injuries. Please Hawks, lets keep up some positive momentum. We already are 6th on the East race.

[Sarcatic1]

That was an ugly ass game but I will take it

Sap and Dennis carried the team tonight. They hit clutch free throws

Great to see Bembry play and contribute. Dude was very good tonight

 and lmao at Malone for getting that dumb tech

I'm tired of Delaney and Baze

Delaney couldn't keep Jameer Nelson's old ass in front of him. There were like 3 straight possessions where he blew by Delaney with absolutely no issue.  This dude makes Mike Bibby look like a decent defender

Time to move Baze for whatever you can get. I don't care if its a second round pick in 2030 but get this dude out of here. He plays just like the bad version of Josh Smith. Terrible shots, bad passes, and gambles on defense and gets burned. Seems like a great guy and a hard worker but the Hawks tricked themselves with that deal they gave him.  I want to see the 2 rookies play so get Baze out of here

Edited December 24, 2016 by Sarcatic1

[Trout7]

I am happy  with the teams effort. I am sure that was painful for Bud to have to break down and start the "lowly" Kris Humphries but I new he would perform well given the chance. On another note Bazemore is a train wreck out of control. I'd pay 20 bucks a game for them to not show that Baze gaze no more.LOL.