No one, it seems, walks into Denver lately and comes out unscathed. The Nuggets are rolling past teams to the point if you go in on the back end of a back-to-back it’s almost an assumed loss and, welp, watch your head that you don’t get dunked on too badly. The Clippers played one of the most entertaining games of the season Wednesday night but got rolled up Thursday, 107-92, when Ty Lawson hit for 21 points and Danilo Gallinari had 20. Watching the Nugs in their 12th straight home win is like seeing a butcher put meat through a grinder. Not that this game wasn’t close — because it was tied up at half. But in the second once the Clippers stopped giving it to Blake Griffin (17 points, but just two boards?) every time down the floor in the third quarter’s first half, their offense halted. Denver started driving and kicking for threes — to Andre Iguodala (14 points, seven dimes, harassing D on Chris Paul), to Gallinari — and the lead got away from the Clips. The Nugs shot 56 percent from the field and 48 from three; there’s just not much you can do about that, though with the way Griffin was getting great looks on Kenneth Faried, it seemed like L.A. could have milked that a little longer. … Save some time to watch Wilson Chandler‘s big dunk and JaVale’s big block … J.R. Smith‘s best games always come with a ” … but” attached. He had 36 points for his most in a game since 2011, but he didn’t even try to penetrate Oklahoma City’s defense down one on a final possession. He was the only player giving life to the Knicks in the 95-94 loss to the Thunder, but J.R. giveth and he taketh away, too. He and Russell Westbrook followed basically the same story arc Thursday, by starting out hot (Russ dropped 15 points in the first quarter, while J.R. shot 12-of-20 to start) before ending not-so-hot (Russ rolled an ankle and finishing shooting 3-of-13, and J.R. finished 2-of-9 from the field in the fourth). Without ‘Melo due to a knee injury, the Knicks needed a star to pull out the improbable win. The Thunder had two. Kevin Durant had 35 points and his pull-up fade game was nasty in spurts. Serge Ibaka (12 points, nine rebounds, five blocks) didn’t light up MSG like Steph Curry but he took on a Chandler-STAT frontline most of the game and did work. … A request: Never try to finger roll ever again, Russell, please. … You hear Dwight Howard walk back on his my old teammates were garbage (we’re paraphrasing) comment today? Next you’ll hear him say he’s surprised people don’t believe him. … Hit the jump to read about Rudy Gay calling out his old ownership …
Did Rudy Gay have enough time or do enough with his time to prove to his former owner he was a team’s cornerstone? That’s the question. He said today that Robert Pera didn’t see enough of his game before he sent him and his huge contract to Toronto. Both teams have played pretty well in wake of the trade, so let’s just leave it at that. We’re not of the mindset Gay is a guy who can take a team to a title alone, but it doesn’t mean he’s not a big scorer. After a very bad post-trade atmosphere in Memphis, the grit-n-grind has rarely looked better. … Chicago had a genuinely terrifying flight situation last weekend when several of the team’s plane engines blew only a few minutes into their flight to Indianapolis. Seeing what Bill Wennington saw from his seat — sparks flying out of the engines as they blew — would have sent us grabbing for our rosaries, but apparently everyone held their cool before they flew Sunday morning to Indy on the Blackhawks’ plane. Then, Mavs owner Mark Cuban loaned the team his plane to get them down to San Antonio. Nothing unusual happened on those flights but the whole thing would leave us jumpy. Maybe that’s why Nate Rob wore his Yeezy 2s against the Spurs because he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get the chance again. Also, we’re a little suspicious no one on the flight panicked a little. Come on, Bulls announcer Stacey King was on the flight, too — have you ever heard how excited he gets on a generic dunk? … Though each team is hopelessly out of the picture for any postseason, the Bobcats and Suns got even worse Thursday after learning Ramon Sessions and Marcin Gortat will each miss about a month. Sessions suffered a second-degree MCL sprain in his left knee on Wednesday. The good news: No surgery. The bad news: Outside of Kemba Walker, the Bobcats have nobody you’d want handling the ball. Come on down, Ben Gordon! Gortat’s injury is to his right foot, and though it’s just a sprain he’ll also be done for a month. The team’s third-leading scorer, best rebounder and best shotblocker now cedes his minutes to Jermaine O’Neal, we’d guess. Somewhere Alvin Gentry is so thankful he got fired when he did. … The Lakers will be without their best cheerleader for a little bit after Robert Sacre was sent down to the D-League with Darius Morris. How will the Lakers make the playoffs now? … We’re out like Nugs’ opponents in the thin air.
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