Because it was less of a game and more of, well, a beatdown. I felt this needed to be posted such that other people would step away from the ledge that we've all collectively moved a bit closer to after last night.
1. I don’t care what people say about how much NBA athletes are paid and how they shouldn’t be tired this early in the season, if you play 4 physical games of professional basketball in 5 nights, 3 of them on the road, YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL SUFFER. Period! Everyone who’s saying that shouldn’t excuse the beatdown the Nuggets got last night isn’t understanding that in running 5+ miles a game, boxing out, taking elbows, forearms and knees is going to require recuperation time. Back to backs are the single worst thing about the NBA, even over refs or anything else.
You know why else it doesn’t make sense? The Nuggets have TWO BREAKS OF 3 DAYS EACH later on in November! How in god’s name does it make any sense to schedule 4 games in 5 nights instead of spacing games out to fill the schedule?
2. When you combine point 1 with the fact that the Nuggets are missing Bird and Kenyon and playing with a hurt Nene, starting Shelden Williams and bringing Melvin Ely off the bench, playing them both for more minutes than they’ve had in YEARS, the Nuggets are going to be more subject to blowouts like this one than they’ve been in the past.
In any case, as has been stated, this is one L, we’re still early in the season and there is still room for improvement. Obviously there have already been statements made about the preparedness of this team in crunch-time situations, but the simple fact of the matter is the Nuggets were exhausted, playing on the road, and were missing 3 key pieces to the overall success of this team.
Finally, I'm not excusing the piss-poor defensive effort in the third which neutered any chance of the Nuggets being able to keep this from being a total stinker. Letting another team, much less the Pacers go for 20/21 FG is inexcusable. That is a collective team failure. But if you are an objective fan and have any inkling of how mentally and physicall draining playing professional basketball can be - especially 4 games in 5 nights - when you are ALREADY shorthanded, you should take this beatdown blowout with a grain of salt.
Go ahead and call this excuse-making. Until the NBA changes something about their ridiculous scheduling process and the Nuggets can get healthy again as a team, you will see things like this happening occasionally.
