November 7
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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Apparently, Friday nights are about erasing the past. A week ago, the Miami Heat snapped a 17-game losing streak in Indiana with a victory at Conseco Fieldhouse. Friday night, the Heat snapped its eight-game losing streak to the Denver Nuggets with a 96-88 victory over Denver at AmericanAirlines Arena. The common theme to the streak busting? A balanced approach. "That's what we've been trying for," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We feel like we're developing balance, and it's been different guys each game, at times. Guys were very unselfish. There wasn't a lot of one-on-one." No, this was not an encore of Dwyane Wade's 40-point binge Wednesday in Washington. This was the Heat's star guard ..."
November 3
Denver Post
columnist Benjamin Hochman
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We've gone only about 0.2 miles in this marathon of an NBA season, but a fascinating story line is already developed in Denver, where Carmelo Anthony is going all Alex English on opponents. The most eye-popping number isn't his 37.7 points per game, but his 53.6 shooting percentage, which is emblematic of his efficiency that seamlessly transferred from the preseason to the regular season. So not only is Melo shooting better than ever, he's shooting more than ever - his 23 field-goal attempts per game would make for his highest season average, as would his 12.3 makes. But we forget that J.R. Smith has been suspended for these first three games (and the next four). Smith is Denver's ..."
November 2
Memphis Commercial Appeal
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The scoreboard wasn't all that provided fireworks in what turned out to be a shootout Sunday night between the Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets. The Grizzlies had to douse an explosive shouting match between O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay on their bench before the end of a 133-123 loss in a wildly entertaining affair at the Pepsi Center. Mayo tossed in a career-high 40 points only to have the performance overshadowed by Nuggets' forward Carmelo Anthony's 42-point outburst, and somewhat marred by an incident during a late fourth-quarter timeout. Denver kept Memphis at arms length in the fourth quarter, never allowing the Griz to get closer than five points. Gay took exception when Mayo made a strong ..."
November 1
Denver Post
columnist Benjamin Hochman
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Mark Warkentien has an idea. Consider three seasons ago, when the valiant Hornets won 39 games despite injured starters missing an astounding 133 contests. Meanwhile, in other cities, there were whispers of teams tanking in efforts to improve chances at drafting Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. But if Warkentien had his way, the Hornets, despite the West's 10th-best record, still could have made the playoffs. The tankers too. See, the Nuggets' vice president of basketball operations has penned a plan, which he is sharing with members of the NBA's competition committee. Here it is: In each conference, the top seven teams will make the playoffs, per usual. But after the regular season ends, the ..."
October 29
Salt Lake Tribune
columnist Kurt Kragthorpe
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The Jazz's season started without enough stops, just the way the last one ended. While their intentions may have been good, they did nothing to make anyone believe their defense is improved, could not overcome the horrible performance of their controversial power forward and missed a chance to open the season with a meaningful road victory. The Jazz needed much more than merely a few stretches of adequate defense Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center, where they ultimately could not keep up with the Denver Nuggets in a 114-105 loss. Amid all that Deron Williams gave them and everything that Carlos Boozer failed to provide, the Jazz crumbled in the second half of a game they genuinely ..."