Melo's Play Could Turn into the Dunk of The Year
Two games into the season and I am ready to gift wrap the MVP trophy and present it to Carmelo Anthony. Melo has looked nothing less than brilliant.
Opening night, Carmelo had 30 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists. Not to mention the best dunk of his career. Paul Milsap would agree and probably think twice before challenging Melo on the way to the rim again. Also, we saw the raw brilliance of rookie Ty Lawson. Ty’s quickness and knack to find his way into the paint gave the Jazz fits all night. Lawson had 17 points and 6 assists and brought much needed energy off of the bench. Chauncey Billups was solid on his way to 25 points. Billups controlled the game and played tight defense on Ronnie Brewer and Deron Williams. The Nuggets looked good on their way to a 114-105 victory.
In the second game, Melo proved to be one of the smoothest scorers on the planet. The Nuggets trailed most of the game until Melo took the game into his own hands in the fourth. He posted 19 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter as he willed the Nuggets to rally past the Blazers. Chauncey Billups again played solid with 22 points.
Coming into the game with Portland, the Nuggets were low on sleep. A blizzard dumped two feet of snow on Denver in the days before and kept the team from arriving to their hotel until 4 am Thursday morning. The Nuggets showed true heart and determination as they outplayed the Blazers down the stretch. Greg Oden missed two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining to allow the Nuggets to take the victory. The final score was 97-94.
So far, the only question for the season is ‘where are our bigs?’ Nene is playing a bit soft and needs to use his size and strength to rebound, defend, and score near the basket. Kenyon Martin should thrive when Ty Lawson is on the floor as KMart runs with the best of them. Chris “Birdman” Andersen has only blocked one shot and hasn’t provided the same spark that earned him that big contract in the offseason. They all need to step up their level of play if the Nuggets want to emulate and build off of their success from last year.
