Execution- The carrying out or putting into effect of a plan, order, or course of action. Crunch Time- A critical period of time during which it is necessary to work hard and fast Playoffs- any final competition to determine a championship. The Denver Nuggets- A proffesional basketball franchise in the National Basketball Association, that lacks execution in crunch time, and will lose in the playoffs because of it.

Lets be honest, this response isn't due to the Houston game, it is due to all the games the nuggets lost (except Portland). There is no way the team is going to blowout every opponent in the playoffs. You can bet that every game will be close. The defensive strategy seems to be just as potent as the offensive strategy down the stretch- below par. Double teams have killed the Nuggets down the stretch, the rotations are late and easy shot fall as a result. Case and Point Budinger 16 points 2 key 3 pointers in the 4th. Kyle Lowry (Aka the second floppiest non Euro player) 2 key 3 pointers in the 4th finishing with 20. Even when we were close in the Portland game, the double team freed Batum to get loose on the edge and he in turn he destroyed us. The 1st Portland game arguably was Matthews best game, he was freed due to doubling Aldridge. Every team we lost to (except NOLA) had a closer. San Antonio has two, the Lakers have the one of the greatest, Portland has developed Aldridge into that role, the clippers have one (THE floppiest non Euro), Houston has its MIP candidate, Memphis will only get tougher to beat once Randolph returns. Its all good and great that Karl believes we do not need a closer but a strategy. The fact remains, every team that we will face in the playoffs will have a closer its time we find out who ours is, and if we don't have one, that is indeed troubling news. (It is also imperative that we sign Chandler now that Gallo is down, and no Chandler is not the closer we need, but he is an undeniable talent)