Denver Nuggets: 7 Reasons They Would Beat the New York Knicks in a 7-Game Series
The Melo megadeal of 2011 will go down as one of the biggest trades of the century, due to its sheer size and the movement of superstar talent.
One month after the trade, it's been a tale of two teams; one thriving with team-oriented play, the other struggling to sync up their stars.
For Denver Nuggets fans who grew increasingly frustrated with the months-long Melodrama, a matchup of the two new teams was salivated over, but the Nuggets and Knicks won't meet until 2011-12 at the soonest, for their annual two-game series.
And while it will be interesting to see the two teams tussle in the regular season, the ultimate grudge match for Nuggets fans would be to play Melo's Knicks in a playoff series.
Of course, since the two teams play in opposite conferences, said series could only be an NBA Finals, which seems to be a stretch for either team.
But let's take a trip down the hypothetical highway and imagine a Nuggets-Knicks Finals: Who would win?
At 10-4 since the trade, Denver has been dominating opponents by 12.3 points per game, while New York's record now sits below .500 at 7-9, including lackluster losses to the Cavs (2), Pacers (2), Pistons and Bucks.
It's bad in New York, so bad that Anthony has been doing his Houdini impression and vanishing into the team bus instead of talking to the media.
Melo isn't smooth when things go bad, something he's repeatedly shown by sulking and running from criticism. And while ducking Denver media met modest criticism, doing the same in New York has already got some New York and national media turning against Melo.
Undoubtedly, the Denver Nuggets are a more complete team, and these are the reasons they would beat the New York Knicks in a seven-game series.
Team Defensive Play
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Probably the most similar statistic for the Knicks and Nuggets is their offensive efficiency.
Arguably the two best teams on offense (Nos. 1 and 2 in scoring), Denver has even averaged more than their league-leading 107.24 points per game with the new team, while Melo, Amar'e and Smooth have scored proficiently as well.
But what separates these two teams is Denver's dedication to defense.
For years, George Karl preached that his team would play increasingly tougher defense, and this team is fulfilling those unpaid promises.
Karl has a team that will play the “right way,” together on defense, and they've only allowed 94.7 points per game. The effort and intensity from all players is up because on this Nuggets team, no one can afford taking plays or games off on defense, or they will be benched for another who will play D.
The increased effort has come from literally every position on the floor; from Nene, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari getting blocks to Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton stealing basketballs.
Compare the Nuggets' 94.7 points allowed per game to the Knicks' 104.6 and it's easy to see which team is superior.
Coaching
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George Karl is one of the NBA's greatest coaches ever.
This season, Karl became only the seventh coach to eclipse the 1,000-win mark and his 25 years in the Association make him one of the most experienced coaches in all of basketball.
In 18 seasons, Karl has coached his team to the playoffs. Despite coming up short in championships to this point, Karl knows how to win in the NBA.
He's a player's coach, tough but fair, and Karl gives lots of leniency on the offensive end.
He once learned from the venerable Dean Smith at UNC, and Karl has tried to pass along those basketball and life lessons to his players for years.
Karl understands the nuances of the game, that contests are won through effort, drive and determination—through playing defense.
Mike D'Antoni on the other hand, couldn't spell defense if you spotted him the “fense.”
D'Antoni's style is all about trying to run up the score on opponents through the pick and roll.
While it works at times, his team's aversion to playing tough defense, or giving any effort at all (see: Melo) would give Denver the distinct advantage.
Carmelo Anthony
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Speaking of a lack in defensive effort, Carmelo Anthony would hurt New York whenever Denver had the ball.
Melo is a good, not great player.
Anthony's shot is silky smooth and he's surprisingly quick off the dribble.
But beyond being one of the best scorers in the league, what does Melo do well?
He's a decent rebounder, a mediocre passer and Melo's defense simply stinks.
Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari, the players who share Melo's old small forward position, have already shown they're comfortable scoring in Denver and they would eat Anthony up.
Both Gallinari and Chandler have put their shooting skills from distance on display, and each drive the hoop with determination.
And on the defensive end, Gallinari and Chandler both give great effort, with the ability not only to frustrate opponents, but they both block balls well too.
Nuggets' Two-Headed Monster at Point Guard
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No offense to Chauncey Billups, who literally defines Denver basketball as the hometown hero, but there's no way he could keep up with Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton.
Lawson, who studied under the wise old Billups for his first year and a half in the NBA, learned enough to be very comfortable in the role of starting point guard.
Lawson's speed is second to none (not exactly Billups' strong point) and the young Nuggets guard could have a field day running circles around Chauncey.
Felton, like Lawson, is quick-footed and he has the ability to light it up from distance while being the sixth-best player in the NBA at stealing the basketball.
Of course, the Knicks' Tony Douglas is a skilled young guard as well, but he's not going to play to the high level Felton has displayed this season when it comes to the battle of benches.
And for Karl, the ultimate luxury is to insert both Lawson and Felton in Denver's backcourt at the same time, a lineup the Nuggets have gained good production from lately.
Sharing the Basketball
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Before the trade, the Nuggets struggled at shooting the rock. The lack of ball movement led to a stop of player movement, and the offense became stagnant. (Sound familiar, NY?)
Sure, nearly every night the same guy (Melo) would go off offensively (with Billups usually not too far behind), and there was a consistency.
But as Anthony and Billups got their shine, the rest of the team's frustrations grew and the ball was shared less.
The new Nuggets are the antithesis of their old team, though, as Denver's assists have increased to 24.9 per game and lots of different players are scoring.
In fact, in the 14 games since the trade, the Nuggets have had at least three players score in double digits every game, with six different leading scorers over that time.
So while consistency is lacking, the ability to have a different player go off each night works to Denver's advantage, as it makes them more unpredictable and therefore harder to defend.
All the passing has had another positive consequence, too; the Nuggets have been fast-breaking on opponents at a much higher rate.
Denver's averaging 18.4 fast-break points per game as the new Nuggs' youth allows them to wear teams down and flat-out run them out of the gym.
This is an added advantage when you consider at least three games in a series vs. New York would be a mile high at Pepsi Center.
Size
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Before the trade, Denver's most glaring deficiency was in the size department, something they shored up with the many players they got in return from New York.
Chandler (6'8”) is just as tall as Melo, and Gallinari (6'10”) is even big enough to earn him some time at the four spot, along with his natural three position.
And when it comes to height in the front court, Timofey Mozgov (7'0”) and Kosta Koufos (6'11”) give added depth to Denver's size, even though neither have cracked into Karl's rotation at this point.
Denver's starting center Nene (6'11, 255 pounds) is in the middle of enjoying his best season as a pro (15 PPG, 7.4 RPG), and the Brazilian would be a beast of burden for the Knicks' Jared Jeffries (6'11” 240 pounds) to handle.
Likewise, the Nuggets' Kenyon Martin (6'9” 245 pounds) is arguably Denver's best defender and top intimidator, he and the Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire (6'10” 240 pounds) would battle relentlessly throughout a seven-game series.
Plus, the Nuggets' bench bigs (Chris “Birdman” Andersen, Al Harrington, Mozgov and Koufos) are better overall than the Knicks' bench big men (Ronny Turiaf, Roger Mason Jr. and Shelden Williams).
Depth
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The new-look Nuggets are now one of the deepest teams in the NBA.
Sure, Denver doesn't have three stars like New York, but the Nuggets team is so deep, it's difficult to know which of their two fives, the starters or the bench, would win in an intrasquad game.
And what's most amazing about the new Nuggets is their chemistry, as all the starters and bench players seemingly get along great.
At every position, the starter and backup complement each other on these new Nuggets (Lawson and Felton, Arron Afflalo and JR Smith, Chandler and Gallinari, Martin and Al Harrington, Nene and Chris Andersen), and the bench scoring is at a strong 41.4 points per game since the trade.
Conversely, the Knicks' depth is questionable at best. With Douglas, Turiaf, Mason Jr., Shelden Williams, Shawne Williams, Bill Walker, Derrick Brown, Anthony Carter, Andy Rautins and Reynaldo Balkman as the backups, New York would be in trouble in a series against the Nuggets.
Prediction
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So while this series seems unlikely, it sure would be a great show, as the trade has interlinked these two franchises forever.
And if they were to play, the Nuggets would win not only because they have much more talent all-around, but also because they play the game the right way, winning and losing together on both ends of the court.
If this series ever did play out, the Nuggets would win in six games, demoralizing the Knicks and Anthony along the way.
To the lay NBA fan, it seems silly to think that a team with three stars would lose to a team without even one star, but don't forget that basketball is the quintessential team game.
For a roster that was shaken up only a month ago, the Nuggets are playing like one of the best teams in the NBA today.
Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist actively seeking a career in journalism. Along with being the CSU Rams Examiner, Kurtzman is a Denver Nuggets, Denver Broncos and NBA Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com, the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com and a weekly contributor to milehighhoops.com.
Rich also heads up PR for K-Biz and Beezy, a Colorado-based rap group.
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