George Karl

As if his recent battle with throat and neck cancer wasn't enough, it is now being reported by the Denver Post that Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl is battling blood clots in his legs and lungs.




The Post quoted a blog said to be written by George's partner, Kim Van Deraa, where it is stated that Coach Karl was rushed to a Denver area hospital because "His leg was extremely swollen and he was having trouble breathing..."



In the same blog, it is noted that Coach Karl also had to have some procedures to install filters to catch any clots that break loose. He is said to be in the ICU, so his situation my be closely monitored. "We're not sure when he'll be released or when his radiation will continue. We're hoping both occur — since it would mean he's gotten through the scare of the blood clots and we don't want to add any weeks onto the schedule of radiation."



Because of these latest setbacks, it is said to be highly unlikely that Coach Karl will be seen on the Nuggets bench until at least the playoffs. Please take your time getting better Coach Karl! Everyone in Nuggets Nation is behind you!

Have the Nuggets found their "1/2 a body"?

We'll start with the good news. The Denver Nuggets might have found a big man to give them some size and help them compete with the Lakers for Western Conference dominance. The best news, they didn't have to spend anything to get him, as he was on their roster the entire time. Kenyon Martin missed the Nuggets game last  night and was replaced in the lineup by 7'0 Johan Petro. The team put Petro at center and moved Nene to power forward to give them some size in the post. Honestly, Petro didn't look too bad. He managed 6 points, 2 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds in 20 minutes. Not bad for a guy who spends most of his time riding the pine. So have the Nuggets found the "half a body" that George Karl has been clamoring for? It is possible. Petro is not going to get 10 rebounds every  night but he provides some size and can certainly do some good things. He is a little slow footed on the defensive end, but against Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, the Nuggets wouldn't need him to be the fastest guy on the court.

Nuggets fans should hope that George Karl begins to give Petro more minutes leading up to the playoffs, especially with the starting lineup. Give him some confidence and let him establish some rhythm.

Now on to some bad news...

It is being widely rumored and speculated that the Nuggets will be without their "glue guy" Kenyon Martin for the remainder of the season and possibly through the playoffs. Numerous sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, are saying that the "knee tendonitis" that has sidelined Martin recently is possibly a tear of his patellar tendon. It is expected that Martin will soon be meeting with doctors and specialists to determine the severity of his latest injury and the amount of time he could potentially miss.

This is the worst possibility for the Nuggets, who failed to acquire front court help and size at the NBA trade deadline. Kenyon Martin is the driving force behind the Nuggets defensive effort. He is the "quarterback" on the defensive side of the court there is a noticable difference from when he is on the court to when he is not. While Kenyon was considered a cancer for some of his Nuggets tenure, the last two years have signaled a change in his attitude. He has gone from being a bad seed to being an emotional leader. Though his play may never equal the huge salary he is receiving, he is finally playing like the guy that Kiki Vandeweghe thought he was getting. A Denver Nuggets team without Martin means another year of finishing without a championship. Nuggets fans should hope and pray that this latest set back is just a temporary problem. That in the near future they will see #4 back on the court, grabbing rebounds and slamming in put backs.

Thunder Smashed

The much ballyhooed matchup between two of the best and highest scoring small forwards in the NBA turned out to be more fizzle than flash. Coming off some of his worst shooting games in recent memory and on a day when he wasn't feeling well, Carmelo Anthony finally found his jumper and helped lead the Denver Nuggets to a 119-90 thrashing of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Early in the day, Melo was complaining of exhaustion and dehydration and had to be given IV fluids at the morning shootaround. Whatever was in that IV woke Carmelo up and it was clear by game time that he was feeling much better. By halftime the Nuggets were nursing a nine point lead and Carmelo was an impressive 8-11 from the floor. He wound up finishing 11-19 with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

Carmelo's counterpart, Kevin Durant, saw tough defense from the Nuggets and played what can best be described as his worst game this season. The Nuggets switched defenders on Durant, put big men on him when he was in the post and always had a help defender in his path when he tried to drive to the basket. The methods clearly bothered Durant, who saw his 20+ PPG scoring streak end with a 5-14 night, good for only 19 points. As a team, OKC could only manage 32.5 percent from the field, which is the lowest a Nuggets  opponent has shot all season.

The game was close early on, but the tide turned when the second half opened. The Nuggets blew the game open in the 3rd quarter, outscoring their opponent 31-12 in the third quarter and not looking back for the remainder of the game. Denver got back to a team game passing the ball very well, resulting in 30 team assists. They also outrebounded the Thunder 49 to 45 and dominated in the paint, outscoring OKC 50 to 18. This win proves that Denver is not sliding as some would like to suggest and it also proves Oklahoma City is a good young team but they are not yet an elite team.

All in all, this was a solid win. But are we surprised? This is what Denver does to good teams, especially in their building. It was kind of funny to watch ESPN recap the game this morning, especially since they decided not to mention that the Nuggets have dominated the top teams in the league this year. Instead they went the method of showing how badly OKC has struggled with the top tier teams in the NBA.  It baffles me that ESPN just cannot give the Nuggets props, which is just sickening. There are teams outside of Cleveland and Los Angeles that have a chance of winning a title but they decide the only teams and players worth mentioning reside in those two places. I guess it is hard to cover anyone else when you have your nose so far up the collective asses of Lebron and Kobe and your lips firmly planted on their backsides.

And while we are on the subject of ESPN, can we all please make a concentrated effort to not keep calling Kevin Durant "The Durantula"? I love Durant and believe he is going to be a huge star in the very near future but his ESPN created nickname sucks. Durant is not an arachnid, he is not any type of large spider, and last time I checked he doesn't have eight legs. I am disgusted each time I hear the ESPN morons going on and on about Durantula..It is stupid, please please please let it just die.

Pau Gasol...Geico Caveman...Seperated at birth?

I think so...

I think he wants to grab her by the hair & drag her back to his cave...

Pau & Marc taking in a game....

So the Lakers have a puppet and a caveman. Is this basketball or Sesame Street? Man I hate L.A. Nothing would please me more than seeing them run right out of the playoffs by the Nuggets

NBA Referees are incredible...

The National Basketball Association has a problem. It isn't players toting guns into locker rooms, it isn't tattoos, and it isn't young guys with lots of money doing various stupid things.




No, the number one problem plauging the "assocation" are the refs.

And they are not incredible in the good way.

The referees in the NBA are terrible, giving competitive advantage to whomever they see fit. The game is not played on an even keel when certain teams, players and coaches have the officials in their back pockets. The "Jordan" rule has never been more in effect than it is right now, giving certain players preferential treatment and changing the outcome of games. Breathe on Kobe, look at Lebron the wrong way and the ref will blow the whistle. Hammer the average player while he is going up for a layup and the whistle is swallowed. Allow a player, say Ron Artest, to physically impose his will on a star, Carmelo Anthony, and do nothing about it. Yet when Melo gets physical back he is given two quick fouls and sent to the bench for the remainder of the game. Without Melo, there is no way the Nuggets can retake the lead and there is no way that the NBA would let the Lakers lose 3 of 3 to the Nuggets. They cannot allow that to happen...Not with so much riding on the Lakers.

Bad calls, no calls and the like have become commonplace in the NBA. But when challenged on it, David Stern simply says that it is part of the human element of the game. Bad calls happen and there is nothing that can be done. I hate to burst the bubble of the Commish, but what is going on isn't "human element" it is cheating. The referees are changing the outcome of games. But it is all part of the larger plan.

Somewhere in the league office, head honcho David Stern and his cronies sit every offseason, determining who the next champion will be. Oh, they'll allow for some drama, like Game 7 in certain series, but they will do anything they can to make sure certain NBA "assets" like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are given maximum exposure. That is why trades like the one that brought Pau Gasol to Los Angeles, why the lotto balls are fixed and the envelopes to be stuffed to ensure Lebron ends up in his hometown. And why the "stars" are jammed down our throats. Last year as the playoffs were just beginning, we were introduced to the puppets of Lebron and Kobe.

In other words, we were introduced to the players we'll have the "pleasure" of watching in the Finals for years to come. This year it has gotten even worse, with ESPN going on and on about how exciting it will be to watch Lebron and Kobe face off for the title. Oh, but that is pure speculation of course. Or they are in on it, which is the more likely scenario.

Stern had decided that Lebron and Kobe should face off for a title this year, that is what we'll get...because the "fans" want it. Get Lebron a ring before he leaves for New York, and that gives him some credibility, pushing his star status well beyond anything we've seen so far. Well I am a fan of basketball, and seeing those two assclowns battle it out is the furthest thing from what I want to see. I know that I am naive but I would just like to see competitve basketball with no superstar calls and no nonsense. Call the game the correct way, with nobody getting more preferential treatment over anyone else. A foul is a foul and if it is a foul on one team, it is damn sure a foul on the other.

So you don't believe me? Think that this is all just paranoid ramblings and conspiracy theory? What about Tim Donaghy? Oh you remember Donaghy, 13 year ref, company man, soldier on the NBA front lines turned whistle blowing disgraced former ref who admitted that he bet on games he officiated. Stern has done a lot to silence his rather loud voice, including blocking a potential tell all book that exposes most of what I am writing.

He has also gone on a smear campaign to paint Donaghy as a "lone gunman". Stern has said Donaghy acted alone, case closed, no need for further investigation.

We aren't buying it Stern! How can 1 official on a team of 3 be the only bad seed? They can't and everyone knows it. Time to C.Y.O.A. (cover your own ass) to ensure that the writings of someone who has seen the inner circle don't get out. We all know it is scripted David! So either start making the officials call a clean game, hold them accountable for their actions or ditch the script. Give us a legitimate sport or add steel chairs, make the players wear singlets and start calling it National Basketball Entertainment.