Despite a great performance by Nene and an unusual strong and consistent defensive effort by K-Mart our beloved Nuggets come up short tonight and will in the playoffs again this year against Jerry and his Jazz. Let's be honest the NBA's most underrated coach-Sloan gets his players to play tough, together and defensively - something Mr. Karl has yet to prove he can consistently do with Nuggets. Let's get to specifics-Denver players still do not move without the ball in any consistent fashion. In the first quarter Melo was fouled a lot because he was tangled up trying to do to much inside with no one to pass to. A litle of the sam happened with Afalo. Also Denver was lagging behind in running down the court when they lost the ball to Jazz or when they had stole a pass from Jazz. Denver has not lived up to their old standards around this pretty much all season. Where are the 3 point shooters?

Excuses abound for us faithful to hang in there but the truth is the Nuggets are not playoff material this year even if they make the playoffs- with or without Melo. Let's hand it to the Jazz for doing what they do best and showing the Nuggets-once again whose in charge.