After Denver’s loss to the Lakers in last year’s western conference finals, many thought they would take the next step and reach the NBA Finals in 2010.
With the Nuggets playing well in the opening months and Carmelo Anthony having his best season ever, it appeared the Nuggets were the team to beat in the West.
But then a multitude of problems started.
Head coach George Karl’s cancer issues again became trouble, and he was forced to leave the team to focus on his health.
Head coach fill-in Adrian Dantley has been unable to get the same quality of play out of his team that Karl did.
Criticism in Denver got so heated, that radio show callers were asking for Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups to be player coach.
But solutions like that are not necessary. The Nuggets are still one of the best teams in the league.
If Kenyon Martin returns healthy in the playoffs, they will be fine. The problem for the Nuggets is the Western conference is about to see its most competitive playoffs ever. Every team is hungry.
The Nuggets have to play defense first. When they defended well last year, they were able to make the Lakers and Mavericks look bad.
Energetic play from Chris “Birdman” Anderson and the solid bench play from much improved guard Aaron Afflalo are key to the Nuggets title hopes.
Even with some issues, Denver is still one of the top 5 teams in the 2010 NBA playoffs,
By, Nicholas Goss