Denver Post sports writer Benjamin Hochman posts his Nuggets Mailbag on Wednesdays during the 2008-09 NBA season.
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Is there an NBA body that evaluates game tapes for missed calls or team bias by referees? What are the consequences for bad calls made by officials which could and often do affect the outcome of a game?
— Teena B., Highlands Ranch
Teena – That’s a pretty good question. Indeed, the officials have been a hot topic of conversation around here of late. Nene was suspended for two games, which “shocked” Nuggets coach George Karl; Linas Kleiza was fined $25,000 for yelling at an official; and Karl has continually griped about Carmelo Anthony not getting the calls Anthony deserves.
I asked the league office and was told that every play of a game is graded as part of the league’s review process.
You hear coaches talk occasionally about sending in tapes to the league office. Karl said the Nuggets have done that five or six times a game. “We usually send in a group of plays we think were called poorly or wrongly, and then they give us an answer. They’ll actually say ‘we missed a call.’ Or ‘it was marginal.’ They have their favorite sayings. But I actually think they’ve been pretty good. I would say they agree with us a lot.”
Tell us how you perceive the job Karl has done this year with the talent and situation he has found himself in. Thanks!
— Dan, Denver
Dan – I think you’ve got to give Karl and his staff a tremendous amount of credit. About a week after the season last summer, Karl and his right-hand man Tim Grgurich decided that things had to change. Karl decided that discipline needed to become a constant. And they decided that out-shooting of teams wasn’t working, because the Nuggets transition defense had been abysmal.
Karl began to change the culture in training camp — defense wasn’t optional any more. And then came the arrival of Chauncey Billups, who has a lot of similar beliefs in approach to Karl.
I think the best way to gauge Karl’s success is to look at the roster. So many key players are having their best season. Nene. J.R. Smith. Chris Andersen. Dahntay Jones. Key rotation guys, all groomed by the staff.
Now, George admits that he doesn’t always have his best nights as a coach, just as his players might not during a shooting slump or what have you. But the Nuggets have risen to the challenge to beat all the Western Conference playoff teams at least once, and Boston and Orlando on the road.
Playoffs will be another story. The Jazz and Trail Blazers could be tough first-round matchups. But you got to give the staff credit for changing the culture and developing players during, what could be, a historic regular season.
Ben – What is the deal with Linas Kleiza? I thought the no-contract hangover would be long gone by now, but he still hasn’t seemed to be able to get it going. And in the wake of George Karl saying that he’s going to get more playing time, he’s only seemed to get less — seven minutes tonight against Dallas. Makes me think they lean against re-signing him, but he’s still young with a lot of upside. What do you think?
— Shannon, Bend, Ore.
Hey there, Shannon. There’s definitely some frustration with Kleiza’s play this season, because statistically and defensively he hasn’t really improved the way he had in his first two seasons with the Nuggets.
In March specifically, his numbers were down across the board. Entering the last game of the month on Tuesday, he had averaged 19.3 minutes per game, whereas the pervious low for a month was the 21.6 in December. He made just five 3-pointers; in the previous months, he averaged 18.7.
Coach Karl, on occasion, mentions the contract hangover and the shooting slumps as a mental situation. We’ll see if Kleiza rediscovers his groove in the playoffs because, frankly, the Nuggets need him to provide some hustle and bullish play off the bench. Last season he had a big game in the playoff opener at the Lakers. And the guy does have some nights where he’s hitting the outside shot and getting to the line when he drives. On those nights, he’s a heck of a weapon.
I am watching the Nuggets-Mavericks game, watching Anthony Carter get burned constantly. Can you please tell me and the rest of Nuggets Nation why George Karl plays him in the fourth quarter religiously? Look at the past 10 games, and his plus/minus ratio is always in the minus.
— George, New York
Greetings, George. Your namesake feels that Carter is a tremendous perimeter defender and has a great knack for getting in shooters’ faces. Sure, there are times when Carter gets burned, but other times he’s just guiding his man into coverage. It sounds like you’re a little down on A.C., but it looks like you’ll be stuck with him on the defensive end in fourth-quarter situations, possibly switching off during timeouts with J.R. Smith for offensive purposes.
Mr. Hochman – I am frequently critical of Carmelo Anthony. But I have to say that tonight (Friday night vs. Dallas), he was a monster. Here’s my question: If he can do so good by slashing to the rim and then either finishing, stopping and popping, or dishing, why does he so often seem to settle for the backing-into-double-coverage turnaround that seems to usually result in a bunch of teammates standing around — and a brick?
— John Bates, Lakewood
John Bates, what’s up? Hope things are going great in Lakewood. Indeed that 43-point night on Friday was a thrill to watch. When he’s on, he’s clearly the top small forward in basketball. And whereas in previous games he put up big points but did so with a lot of shots, of late he has been making more of his shots. (In February, his field-goal percentage was 43.9 percent, and in March it was 46.2.)
I asked coach George Karl about Anthony’s penchant for pulling up your favorite “backing-into-double-coverage turnarounds.” Said Karl:
“My whole thing with Carmelo is effectiveness and efficiency. I think scorers, as they grow and understand, the minimal of bad shots they take, the better they fit with the team. I don’t think any scorers not going to have a bad shot. My thing is, what we want Melo to do is move around, to keep the defense unaware of where he is. The reaction of a double-team or zone-up or some type of fronting a denial, there’s a lot of way to disrupt scorers and I think in the last couple weeks, we’ve been moving him around a lot to where the defense is behind the offense. That’s a challenge for the coaches, the team, and Melo. … He has been running and trying to play early a lot more in the last month of the season, and I think that’s important, because the hardest defensive read is in transition.”
Benjamin Hochman covers the Nuggets for The Denver Post. , or .
