Mile High Musings: 11 Denver Points to Ponder

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A banner day in the 303, if I do say so myself. Here are 11 notes from a truly Super Saturday:

1) Ubaldo for Cy. Ya heard it here first. I can't wait to buy his jersey in June (and name my firstborn son/daugher Ubaldo/a Champ Brenner in 2018). Throw in the fact that his No. 38 jersey makes it impossible for me to blow a bucket of money on the roulette tables, and my man-love for UUUUUUUUU is pretty much complete.

2) I've watched the 7th-inning replay about 20 times. And I'm still absolutely befuddled as to how in the world Dexter Fowler caught that baseball. Not quite DeWayne-esque, but pretty damn close.

3) A few friends from here in Davenport and from afar have commented on the somewhat-unfortunate timing of Ubaldo's no-hitter in regards to national coverage, since Saturday was the opening act for the NBA playoffs and featured that 20-inning offensive crapfest in St. Louis. Yeah, too bad he couldn't have the show all to himself. But since I dig on ESPN all the time, I must commend both the Worldwide Leader as well as MLB.com for giving Ubaldo his fair due.

Special shoutout to MLB.com for providing free live look-ins on big baseball happenings such as a no-hitter or walk-off situation. In Paris Hilton talk, "that's hot."

4) Yeah, Ubaldo walked six guys. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

Look at it this way: let's say you often frequent the same steakhouse, and you're rarely disappointed. Then one time, you go in there and your waiter presents you with THE PERFECT PORTERHOUSE. This baby is the way steak is supposed to be made; it's the chef's finest moment. Now let's say the mashed potatoes are a little mushy; the asparagus was a touch undercooked; your water was a little too lemony and the waterboy spilled ice cubes all over the table because those damn pitchers don't know how to store ice cubes properly.

You gonna remember ANY of that secondary stuff? Of course not. You're remembering THE steak. That's why the six walks don't matter much to me. Nor does the fact that Ubaldo needed 128 pitches to get through nine. This was his shining moment.

5) One final note: anyone notice who was behind the plate for the no-no? That's right: Miguel Olivo. He's also caught the Rockies to a 4-2 record with a .348 average. Meanwhile, the Rox are 2-3 with Chris Iannetta behind the plate, who sports a .190 average. I nominate the new guy for full-time catcher. My patience with CI is wearing thin.


6) Welcome back to the Roller Coaster Otherwise Known As The Denver Nuggets.

Is this what it's like to date a schizophrenic girlfriend? Can't this team just decide whether it wants to be great or terrible and get on with it? Simmons writes the other day in his ESPN.com NBA playoff column that Utah has a better team, and in light of the San Antonio/Phoenix debacles, I completely agreed at that time. Now I think he couldn't be more wrong after the Game 1 victory. That Utah team cannot score with Denver.

7) Melo offered to Holly Rowe a parcel of the following postgame quote: "...we passed, we played defense..." I only heard those five words. Didn't need to hear any more.

This is an official request to the Nuggets' video coordinator to clip those five words, copy and paste together 100 times in one of those remix tapes, and show it to the Nuggets in their next team meeting until they get sick of hearing it. HAMMER THOSE WORDS INTO THEIR FREAKING HEADS. Pass. Play defense. Pass. Play defense. Pass. Play defense. They do those two things, they CAN and WILL beat any team on the planet. They don't, and they lose to the Knicks, the 76ers, and perhaps even the Butler Bulldogs. That's how these things work. After a nifty give-and-go with Afflalo and Chauncey that resulted in a Double-A 3-ball, Doris Burke (who did a wonderful color job on the game, by the way) pointed out perfectly on cue that in the Nuggets' wins, they average 23 assists; in their losses, 16.

This isn't rocket science, fellas. Pass. Play defense. Win.


8) The fourth quarter spurt is exactly why we're never trading JR Smith. We're stuck with him, or better or worse, through sickness and in health, until death do us part (a couple of 28 percent shooting seasons would do it too)

9) I have zero expectations for these playoffs. And it is pretty darn liberating. A lot less stressful. I wish I could feel more excited about the Nuggets' chances to put it together for six weeks and make a fantastic playoff run. But without George Karl at full pace, we're screwed. This spring of 2010 has completely, 180-degree reshaped my beliefs that NBA coaches don't matter.




10) So the 8th-seeded Avs were 32 seconds away from taking a 2-0 lead back to Pepsi Center. Expect nothing less from those playoff-underachieving Sharks. Either way, it's a great time to be a Denver fan. The proud Avalanche tradition is looking up.


11) Buh-bye, B-Marsh. We hardly knew ye. Don't let the door hit you on your egotistical ass on the way out. Anyone wanna start a "How Long Until Marshall Gets Suspended For Being Shenaniganalicious In South Beach" Pool? I'm in for Week 10 of the 2010 season.



Have a good one.

-AJ

Mavericks (-4) vs. Nuggets? C'mon

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Tonight, good readers, marks the most anticipated matchup of basketball titans all year. They've been battling for months, and it all comes down to this. The spoils of winning are great; the consequences of defeat are even greater.

Oh, and while you're watching, don't forget to check your Blackberry for Sweet 16 score updates.
I am, of course, talking about the Nuggets-Mavericks game. AJ vs. B-dubs. Denver vs. Dallas. The Mile High City vs. Big D. Team who makes good trades vs. team that makes franchise-destroying trades and steadfastly defends them years after the fact.

March madness, indeed.

The Nuggets (46-26) are 3-0 against the Mavs this year, and hope to get two wins on this three-game road swing against Western Conference playoff contenders, in hopes of securing another Northwest Division crown and a top-four seed. The Mavs (43-28) are toiling in the eight-spot right now and just trying to fight off Phoenix for that final playoff position, with the great reward of getting swept by the Lakers.

Nene has been questionably suspended for tonight's game by the NBA for (apparently, despite the lack of public video evidence) head-butting Phoenix Suns whiner/forward Louis Amundson. (Not that Nene's absence helped the Hornets on Wednesday, but whatever.) Meanwhile, Josh Howard, Dallas' third-leading scorer, is still doubtful with an ankle injury, and Jason Kidd is questionable with old age.

So here's what I don't get. The Mavericks do have home court tonight, and obviously that helps. But they're favored by four points tonight. While the effect of home court, and how much the line should be pushed in terms of points, are issues you could argue all day, it's generally concluded that the NBA road team should be given two, maybe three, points on the spread. If that holds true tonight, I guess odds-makers think that Dallas sans Howard is better than Denver sans Nene. I didn't know they were legalizing pot in Vegas.

Let's say Howard does play, and hypothetically suppose Nene could play as well. How much is a player like Nene really worth in betting points? Two points? Maybe three? Let's be fairly generous and say four points, which would make this game a pick 'em. Again, Denver has beaten Dallas all three times this season, and historically has played the Mavericks very well. Would you really, really take Dallas to win the game tonight if Nene was in? Forget records; Denver is clearly a better team. I guess the odds-makers have put a ton of weight into Dallas' 9-0 record at the American Airlines Center since the All-Star break. But hey, never mind that other than San Antonio, the best opponent in that stretch was mighty Detroit (34-37), right? Why put too much emphasis on valuable details like that?

AJ and B-dubs will be good friends on this blog, but when it comes to important matters such as Nugs-Mavs, Broncos-Cowboys, Badgers-Sooners or Alba-Biel, war may ensue. The initial battle...commences this evening.

-AJ