This is the third straight preseason All-America team to have a freshman on it. Simmons, a 6-foot-10 native of Australia, is considered by many the top recruit in the country.
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The Nuggets were victorious over the Trail Blazers 108-104 on Monday.
Portland returns home to play LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Moda Center. Damian Lillard thinks they aren’t playing with enough “urgency”. Every Denver reserve made a basket in the second quarter, but Lillard eventually wrestled the game back in Portland’s favor.
Portland doesn’t have their continuity to lean on anymore. The Bucks had a strong start, but the Celtics rallied and really put the Bucks away with a 16-0 run in the third. A team with experience got inexperienced in a hurry. G Michael Carter-Williams continues to recover from a left ankle sprain that has sidelined him for the past five games. Multiple drives to the basket, quick passing and player movement made sure the Nuggets took high quality shots all night, and they made good on 49.4 percent of them. To characterize the Grizzlies’ start as a disappointment is a reach, as a few of this has to be expected at a few point. I’m intrigued if Lillard can influence Mudiay to keep turning the ball over on offense, as he leads the National Basketball Association in turnovers so far in the early part of the season.
It helps to have a sidekick, and C.J. McCollum has been just that early this season. Much like Eric Bledsoe did with an increased role in his first year with the Suns, McCollum has enjoyed being a mainstay in the starting lineup as opposed to being a backup point guard. As such, we thought it right to take a look at who has been a devilish surprise to start the campaign, and who has let us down a bit. The desire to play Mudiay extended minutes in place of the injured Nelson had to be high for Malone. We came out, we ran the floor well offensively. The rest of the roster is full of guys who have certain skills and know their roles. Even guys like Mo Harkless and Noah Vonleh have carved out nice roles as hustle guys off the bench.
If we can go Reverse Dad on you, we’re not disappointed in New Orleans, we’re just mad at them. Just, like I said, we’re 4-and-4 and each game we’ve lost-it’s not like, ‘Why are we losing?’ It’s obvious to us and it should be obvious to people watching that understand the game, why we losing.
Stotts extended Allen Crabbe’s minutes in the first half.
Gallinari finished the quarter with his third 3-pointer of the frame to put Denver ahead 87-80 heading into the fourth. Bucks players legs get exhausted.
Meyers Leonard fouled out with 39 seconds left. Sometimes the Blazers play ideal defense during the first 14 seconds of the shot clock, only to falter over the final 10. There will be regression at a few point, and Portland may not have the pieces to make up for that.
The Bucks have a defensive rating of 105.7 (ranked 24th).
Now like I stated earlier, the Nuggets like to get Faried involved on the offensive end. Aminu is the team’s only real plus defender, but he can’t guard all five positions at once. The Blazers are 4-0 when they outrebound an opponent. They’ve gotten everyone to buy in to having a selfless team that does the job they need to do to win.
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Will all of this add up to a surprise Western Conference playoff appearance? The Nuggets like to use a very simple play that allows veteran Jameer Nelson to come off a stagger screen and get off a shot.
