I am so disappointed after last night's game that I don't know where to begin from..First of all, I am a Nuggets fan from across the Atlantic, so watching them play live is a pretty hard thing to do considering the time difference (for example, the match against the Grizzlies started at 1 a.m. in my country, which is Romania..so by the time it ended it was 3.30 a.m. so I had about 4 hours to sleep before I woke up this morning and prepared for work).

To start the match, I had a good feeling about it, hoping the team will build from their amazing win against the Mavericks. I warmed up with the Celtics and Heat game, rooting for the Celtics (yeey, they won)..followed by another game that ended with the desired result (the Lakers losing at Orlando), so I was even more confident that it will be a very good day with a Nuggets victory coming right up.

After the first half, things were looking beautiful, the Nuggets were sharing the ball, were playing pretty good defense and the Grizzlies were not. I kept thinking about the first time we met them this season, when we also had a big early lead, only to let them come back into the game and after a back and forth 4th quarter we somehow won by 1..and I thought that the players would remember that and keep the pedal to the metal in the second half as well.

Then, the 3rd quarter started, alley-oops were falling each and every time they wanted, the ball was moving even better than in the 2nd quarter and I was very happy that I stayed up to watch them play such a good game. Then, all hell broke loose. I was checking the stats in real time, and I was happy the Nuggets had 19 assists somewhere at the middle of the 3rd quarter. At 86-69 the game was practically over, but then Chauncey began not caring anymore. At some point during the end of the 3rd quarter, while the Grizzlies were desperately trying to get back into the game and were applying some full court pressure, he inbounded the ball with a soft right baby-hook!!!Of course, it led to a Grizzlies steal and bucket. I simply didn't believe my eyes..a player with his experience to just toss up a ball like that, it was unbelievable. I started to become a little worried, and by the time the quarter ended I was almost sure that they will lose. Their body language looked awful to end the 3rd quarter. Billups was jacking up shots that he shouldn't have and was trying to have more turnovers than points or assists, Birdman was..well, I simply don't understand how come he keeps getting playing time anymore, because he is inept at doing all the things that are asked of him, while being even worse at other things that normally aren't his strong points (e.g. defending in the post, where he is a living disaster).

By the 4th quarter, I thought that Ty and J.R. were having such good games that they will finish the game (in place of Afflalo who was having an off night and Martin), but then coach Karl thought otherwise. It's not fair to those 2 that they got subbed off at the middle of the 4th when the Nuggets were still leading I think by 2 or 4 points, because they were clearly playing better and playing with passion.

I think that this loss is on Chauncey Billups and George Karl more than anybody. C-Bill should be the floor general, should provide the experience and mental focus that he certainly possesses. Instead, his body language was awful, he tried to make shots when his shots weren't falling, he was careless with the ball when he should have been even more careful than usual and he stopped sharing the ball. The last 15 minutes of the 2nd half, the Nuggets had 1 assist. They stopped caring, they stopped playing the basketball that brought them success in the 1st 33 minutes of the game.

I am a fan..and thus I suffer when they lose and I am happy when they win. The win against Dallas made my day. I was happy all day long because of that win, because of how Jason Terry was staring in vain at the end of the game. I accept hard fought losses, when they play with their hearts, but it just doesn't work out. I can live with a few bad losses here and there, because they happen. But for some reason, I can't live with performances like the other night, when they play outstanding for almost 3 quarters and then they go AWOL. It's like they almost wanted to lose the game against a playoff rival (wow, never thought that was going to happen..calling the Grizzlies playoff rival).

One game after a great win, an unacceptable loss occurs (I've seen that sequence before) and for one night, I had a bitter taste in my mouth when I went to bed. Unfortunately, this taste was still there when I woke up, a sign that this loss stings more than others..that this loss was never supposed to happen, and yet it did.

Finally, I am somehow sure that losses like this are harder to accept by the fans than by the actual players, and maybe some of them don't even care that much, because if they really did, they would have shown that during the game itself and maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have let Darrel freaking Arthur have 24 points!!!!!!