THE DENVER/L.A. WARS---Rockies & Dodgers, Nuggets & Lakers  

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley, Colorado. For more information, go to specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

ROCKIES, NUGGETS --- Tuesday’s was a hard and disappointing night for the Colorado Rockies baseball club and the Denver Nuggets basketball team. Each failed to avoid defeat handed down from a Los Angeles adversary, the Rockies losing to the Dodgers at Coors Field, the post-season Nuggets losing for the second time in a row to first-round-playoff competitor, the L.A. Lakers.

Yet some good was shown by the Rockies and the Nuggets during their losses to the Dodgers and the Lakers, for instance, the Rockies coming back from a seven run deficit on Tuesday night (losing 7-5 instead of 7-0), and the Nuggets closing a 14 point gap around the same time, finishing 104-100, which otherwise would have been as embarrassing as Sunday’s Nuggets 103-88 loss to the Lakers.

For the Rockies, Tuesday night wrapped up the first month of its MLB season, while ending two series that addressed what could be the club’s best capabilities and more serious limitations for upcoming competition and September’s run for division and league supremacy. Today, the Rockies are 12-12 and in fourth place of the National League-West, though only four games behind the NL-West’s first place team, the Dodgers, and still at .500, with some thanks to Rockies DH and first baseman, Jason Giambi, delivering a walk-off home run on Wednesday night, enabling an 8-5 win over the L.A. team.

In the NL, the Rockies are ranked eighth among 16 teams. Up against American League clubs, the Rockies record is roughly equal to those of the Oakland Athletics and the Chicago Cubs, second place franchises within their respective divisions. All told, the Rockies finished the month of April as an above-the-margin franchise, its team batting average above .250. Too, the team avoided series shutouts in April, and hasn’t lost three games straight since April 4. Of the seven three-game series that the Rockies faced in April, they’ve won four.

THE DAYS AHEAD---- Rockies manager, Jim Tracy, and Nuggets head coach, George Karl, can reflect now on that which within their teams can be exploited favorably so that, in the Rockies case, the team can advance up the ladder from .500 and get to first place in the NL-WD; and, in the case of the Nuggets, so that they can win two at home starting this evening, and two more at L.A., in hope of getting to the second round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs.

The Rockies know that they could take advantage of opposing team weaknesses and accrue 11 runs in a single inning---such goes a long way toward maintaining confidence and the will for winning future battles, as happened against the N.Y. Mets on April 17, the Rockies finishing that game 18-9. An earlier double-digit Rockies win occurred against the San Francisco Giants, 17-8, on April 11. Of course, skills count for more---April’s better Rockies maneuvers in this category have been many, among them, the team’s early- and mid-lineup power-settings, which included outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, first baseman Todd Helton, and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, each not only banging out home runs and extra-base hits, but doing so when needed the most, e.g., in the third week of April, Gonzalez smacking four home runs with 11 RBI’s. Add the Helton grand slam walk-off homer versus the Mets, April 29, and Tulowitzki achieving a .333 batting average since the season’s opening day.

Moreover, the inconsistency of Dexter Fowler’s hitting seems to have diminished some, and Marco Scutaro, Michael Cuddyer, Ramon Hernandez and Eric Young, Jr. have been superb choices for the Rockies starting line-ups, each at defense and also as base-runner. Combined, the four have had multiple hits across nine games. As to a surprise, while not leading the NL in significant categories, the Rockies starting pitchers and relievers have exceeded expectations---during a total of around 195 innings pitched, the Rockies starters and relievers have allowed as many as 235 hits, implying an exceptionally large number of hitless innings thrown. And, the Rockies pitching staff ERA hasn’t been the sky-high number feared by the end of April, its 4.71 an acceptable stat after 24 games.

Tuesday’s loss by the Nuggets to the Lakers indicated that the Denver team’s embarrassing drop on Sunday was a fluke. Though its defense on Tuesday remained spotty, it kept the Lakers from scoring in three digits until late in the fourth period and helped enable the Nuggets offense to have the time needed to narrow differences in points and reach positions from which the team could have defeated the Lakers. The Nuggets also began carving court space for speedy breakthroughs, finding holes for reaching edges of the key and going into the paint for field goal attempts, including three-pointer attacks. Had the Nuggets shooting greater accuracy on Tuesday, the Denver team would not have experienced a large deficit in points at any moment of the game; they might have won the game.

For tonight, the Nuggets will need to keep three Lakers players from the coordination that they displayed during playoff games one and two: Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Though Bynum and Gasol have had the height to set up shots for Bryant, who scored 38 points during game two, they’ve shown that they can be stopped with more aggression than the Nuggets demonstrated throughout much but not all of Tuesday night. And, the Nuggets offense, especially guards Arron Afllalo and Ty Lawson, plus forwards Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried and Al Harrington, will need non-stop support for evading Bryant, Bynum and Gasol as these five fast and agile Nuggets players rush to score.

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NBA:  the PLAYOFFS

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

NBA:   THINKING last week that the Denver Nuggets could lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in a first game of this year’s NBA Western Conference/first-round playoffs wasn’t by any means an irrational expectation. But an L.A. Lakers win of 103 to the Nuggets 88 would have seemed illogical, for the Nuggets had beat the L.A. Lakers during the 2011/12 season and when they lost to them it was by fewer points. Moreover, the Nuggets finished the regular season appearing to be a better team than when they had faced the Lakers earlier in the year, capable of taking them down in their first post-season contest.

On Sunday, the Lakers seemed to be the Denver Nuggets more than they were the usual Lakers, a team reflecting the values of teamwork more than the dominant star power usually put forth in a post-season match by Lakers guard, Kobe Bryant, and like the Nuggets at a much higher level, which can be taken two ways when factoring in the Lakers seven-footers, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, the latter a master of the “borderline block,” the kind that may or not have been illegal, or as Nuggets head coach, George Karl, might say, “the illegal block looking legal.” Anyway, like the Nuggets in previous games, the Lakers were passing patiently, and assisting, rebounding, blocking, they were “all hands on deck,” and yet Bryant managed to get in his 30+ points.

NBA post-season games are often about teams attacking each other’s known strengths and vulnerabilities with new ways and means, each now having better knowledge of the other’s limits from studying them during final challeneges of the regualr season. For example, key strengths belonging to the Lakers have become power, height and flexibility for the defense, and more accurate shooting within and outside the paint from other than the team's guards. Drawbacks have been the Lakers lack of speed compared with several other franchises, among them, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Nuggets. As to Nuggets strengths, the team has relied heavily on lightning fast plays leading to shots inside the paint (when least expected), on hard and swift passing every which direction for field goals from the corners, plus assists and exploitation of steal opportunities.

As to Nuggets vulnerabilities, it’s been an improving defense that still needs more verticality and in-your-face domination that forces opposing players to pass weakly and make poor shots. Against the Nuggets on Sunday, the Lakers managed 64 points in the paint, a sign of effective penetration in spite of the Nuggets double-teaming faster than in other losses to the Lakers.

A comparison of defenses shows the Lakers having accrued 15 blocks, the Nuggets only four. The Lakers netted seven three-point attempts, the Nuggets, four, the Lakers three-pointers accounting for more than half the deficit that the Nuggets lost by.

In game one/round one of the playoffs, the Lakers not only attacked the Nuggets number one vulnerability, it’s defense; they went after the Nuggets best offense asset, preventing Nuggets guard and high scorer, Ty Lawson, from being the rolling thunder that he’d been throughout the regular season. Lawson’s regular season 19 ppg average was mocked by his achieving less than 10 points on Sunday. The only Nuggets player stepping up for a high number of points was forward, Danilo Gallinari, scoring 19. Andre Miller’s 12 points and seven assists were diminished by his four fouls. Al Harrington finished with 10 points, having made two three-pointers, this within 22 minutes of play. Corey Brewer also completed two three pointers, accruing 11 points during 23 minutes of play.

Of course, one can’t help but wonder what the first Nuggets/Lakers game would have been without the Lakers giant freight train booming on and off the tracks, a.k.a., Andrew Bynum. He recorded 10 of the Lakers 15 blocks. Breaking it all down, from the Lakers high string of blocks and the Nuggets Ty Lawson unable to hustle past rows of timber and Bryant scoring high, the Denver team caved .  .  .  To all this, a fan wrote, “A famous heavyweight boxer once took a terrible beating from a challenger in the first round of a championship bout. Back in his corner, his manager said, ‘What’s wrong with you, are you trying to lose the match?’ The fighter responded, ‘I just wanted to see what the other guy had to give.’ In the second round, the heavyweight won the bout via TKO.” If that fan is referring to the Nuggets of Sunday afternoon, our response is, “The Nuggets are not tricksters in that manner, they are an extremely resilient team and they have come back immediately from worse defeats and have won.” Tonight, it’s game two of what could be a seven game series ending May 12.

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NBA:  OKC & Minnesota Down, Nuggets Go Forward.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

 

35th Annual Rocky Mountain Senior Games, June 6-10, at Greeley, Colorado, contact: Sheri.Lobmeyer@greeleygov.com

 

NBA:    BY achieving a victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, April 25, the Denver Nuggets became a single winning game away from achieving the NBA-Western Conference’s number six playoff seed, which whipping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s last game of the 2011/12 season would guarantee. On Thursday, April 26, the Nuggets took care of business, they defeated the Timberwolves, 131-102.

The Nuggets have been a winning team, and here’s the better side of the good: in addition to the Nuggets maintaining its 103.7 points per game average throughout most of the regular season, nine of its games won were versus the likely to be post-season contenders, among them, the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the L.A. Clippers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Timberwolves. Only one of the nine wins was by fewer than 103 points, vs. the Lakers, 99-90.

Five of those nine Nuggets-defeated teams are already the number one franchise of their division---the Thunder, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Heat, and the Bulls, an indication that the post-Carmelo Anthony/Billups Nuggets haven’t been the left-behind franchise they were expected to be since the 2011 Nuggets revision began with the popular star shooters Anthony and Billups sent from Denver to the New York Knicks in exchange for several unknowns from the Knicks.

The only leading division team that the Nuggets haven’t beaten this year with those former Knicks aboard, are the San Antonio Spurs, a contest during which the Nuggets were one point shy of three digits, losing 114-99. Only in four of 66 games played this season have the Nuggets finished with less than 90 points, neither of the four below 81.

Other Nuggets stats address the team’s ride into the post-season. Not only have seven Nuggets players achieved double-digit averages, 11 Nuggets players have double-digit averages in the execution of blocks, 13 in the employment of steals, 15 with double-digit assists (four of these players have triple-digit assist totals), and 12 Nuggets players have triple-digit rebound totals, while 10 have high triple-digit field goal totals. Noteworthy about these Nuggets individual player stats is that there are numerous other NBA franchises with players that have higher numbers in most of the listed categories, yet across the rosters of those teams are fewer players with double- and triple-digit totals, and also fewer double-digit scorers than the Nuggets have had, though the Nuggets highest ppg holder hasn’t attained more than a 16.3 ppg average (guard, Ty Lawson), when several NBA teams can boast of having shooters with 20+ ppg averages. Reflected, then, is the Nuggets emphasis on teamwork over star power.

No Nuggets player stands out the way that the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Lakers Kobe Bryant or the Heat’s LeBron James can---Nuggets formidability has maintained from head coach George Karl’s insistence on the “We” instead of the “Me,” and that is what could bring the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs and serve as a model for future NBA reliance on a motto, “Teamwork reigns!” ending any rushes within NBA teams to trade three or four above-the-margin “team first” players for the next Durant, Bryant or LeBron. It’s a safe guess that in recent months the New York Knicks front office and head coach have been paying lots of attention to “We” over “Me,” even with that Linsanity breakthrough.  

END/ml

NBA:  OKC & Minnesota Down, Nuggets Go Forward.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

 

35th Annual Rocky Mountain Senior Games, June 6-10, at Greeley, Colorado, contact: Sheri.Lobmeyer@greeleygov.com

NBA:    BY achieving a victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, April 25, the Denver Nuggets became a single winning game away from achieving the NBA-Western Conference’s number six playoff seed, which whipping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s last game of the 2011/12 season would guarantee. On Thursday, April 26, the Nuggets took care of business, they defeated the Timberwolves, 131-102.

The Nuggets have been a winning team, and here’s the better side of the good: in addition to the Nuggets maintaining its 103.7 points per game average throughout most of the regular season, nine of its games won were versus the likely to be post-season contenders, among them, the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the L.A. Clippers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Timberwolves. Only one of the nine wins was by fewer than 103 points, vs. the Lakers, 99-90.

Five of those nine Nuggets-defeated teams are already the number one franchise of their division---the Thunder, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Heat, and the Bulls, an indication that the post-Carmelo Anthony/Billups Nuggets haven’t been the left-behind franchise they were expected to be since the 2011 Nuggets revision began with the popular star shooters Anthony and Billups sent from Denver to the New York Knicks in exchange for several unknowns from the Knicks.

The only leading division team that the Nuggets haven’t beaten this year with those former Knicks aboard, are the San Antonio Spurs, a contest during which the Nuggets were one point shy of three digits, losing 114-99. Only in four of 66 games played this season have the Nuggets finished with less than 90 points, neither of the four below 81.

Other Nuggets stats address the team’s ride into the post-season. Not only have seven Nuggets players achieved double-digit averages, 11 Nuggets players have double-digit averages in the execution of blocks, 13 in the employment of steals, 15 with double-digit assists (four of these players have triple-digit assist totals), and 12 Nuggets players have triple-digit rebound totals, while 10 have high triple-digit field goal totals. Noteworthy about these Nuggets individual player stats is that there are numerous other NBA franchises with players that have higher numbers in most of the listed categories, yet across the rosters of those teams are fewer players with double- and triple-digit totals, and also fewer double-digit scorers than the Nuggets have had, though the Nuggets highest ppg holder hasn’t attained more than a 16.3 ppg average (guard, Ty Lawson), when several NBA teams can boast of having shooters with 20+ ppg averages. Reflected, then, is the Nuggets emphasis on teamwork over star power.

No Nuggets player stands out the way that the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Lakers Kobe Bryant or the Heat’s LeBron James can---Nuggets formidability has maintained from head coach George Karl’s insistence on the “We” instead of the “Me,” and that is what could bring the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs and serve as a model for future NBA reliance on a motto, “Teamwork reigns!” ending any rushes within NBA teams to trade three or four above-the-margin “team first” players for the next Durant, Bryant or LeBron. It’s a safe guess that in recent months the New York Knicks front office and head coach have been paying lots of attention to “We” over “Me,” even with that Linsanity breakthrough.  

END/ml

NBA:  OKC Down, Nuggets GoForward // MLB: the Unexpected    

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

NBA:    BY achieving a victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, April 25, the Denver Nuggets became a single winning game away from achieving the NBA-Western Conference’s number six playoff seed, which whipping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s last game of the 2011/12 season would guarantee. On Thursday, April 26, the Nuggets took care of business, they defeated the Timberwolves, 131-102.

The Nuggets have been a winning team, and here’s the better side of the good: in addition to the Nuggets maintaining its 103.7 points per game average throughout most of the regular season, nine of its games won were versus the likely to be post-season contenders, among them, the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the L.A. Clippers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Timberwolves. Only one of the nine wins was by fewer than 103 points, vs. the Lakers, 99-90.

Five of those nine Nuggets-defeated teams are already the number one franchise of their division---the Thunder, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Heat, and the Bulls, an indication that the post-Carmelo Anthony/Billups Nuggets haven’t been the left-behind franchise they were expected to be since the 2011 Nuggets revision began with the popular star shooters Anthony and Billups sent from Denver to the New York Knicks in exchange for several unknowns from the Knicks.

The only leading division team that the Nuggets haven’t beaten this year with those former Knicks aboard, are the San Antonio Spurs, a contest during which the Nuggets were one point shy of three digits, losing 114-99. Only in four of 66 games played this season have the Nuggets finished with less than 90 points, neither of the four below 81.

Other Nuggets stats address the team’s ride into the post-season. Not only have seven Nuggets players achieved double-digit averages, 11 Nuggets players have double-digit averages in the execution of blocks, 13 in the employment of steals, 15 with double-digit assists (four of these players have triple-digit assist totals), and 12 Nuggets players have triple-digit rebound totals, while 10 have high triple-digit field goal totals. Noteworthy about these Nuggets individual player stats is that there are numerous other NBA franchises with players that have higher numbers in most of the listed categories, yet across the rosters of those teams are fewer players with double- and triple-digit totals, and also fewer double-digit scorers than the Nuggets have had, though the Nuggets highest ppg holder hasn’t attained more than a 16.3 ppg average (guard, Ty Lawson), when several NBA teams can boast of having shooters with 20+ ppg averages. Reflected, then, is the Nuggets emphasis on teamwork over star power.

No Nuggets player stands out the way that the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Lakers Kobe Bryant or the Heat’s LeBron James can---Nuggets formidability has maintained from head coach George Karl’s insistence on the “We” instead of the “Me,” and that is what could bring the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs and serve as a model for future NBA reliance on a motto, “Teamwork reigns!” ending any rushes within NBA teams to trade three or four above-the-margin “team first” players for the next Durant, Bryant or LeBron. It’s a safe guess that in recent months the New York Knicks front office and head coach have been paying lots of attention to “We” over “Me,” even with that Linsanity breakthrough.  

END/ml

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

NBA:  Denver Nuggets, Playoff-bound  

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

NBA:    FOUR years ago, I asked then Denver Nuggets star forward, Carmelo Anthony, to reveal his dominant basketball wish. The answer: help a franchise get to the playoffs, reach the finals and become an NBA championship team. Well, one could say that Anthony helped the Denver Nuggets get to the playoffs this season and the last “by not showing up,” by urging a trade that took him, and then Denver guard, Chauncey Billups, to New York, the Nuggets having to remake hastily with newcomers Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Kosta Koufos, Andre Miller and others, while putting new pressure on guards Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, meanwhile the dependable center/forward Kenyon Martin and reserve guard J.R. Smith were off to China during  an NBA lockout that forced up a 66-game 2011/2012 NBA season.

Not four years ago, nor long before that, have the Nuggets been a Hollywood tale, coming from the lowest tier to where they’d be waving victory banners. Most commendably, they are a team that has been to the playoffs “nine years straight”---there’s consistency in that, yes? What does beg highlighting is that the Nuggets have always played hard under circumstances that usually take other teams out of the running for post-season entry, e.g., best players injured when needed the most, relied-upon head coach George Karl struck with cancer and away from the NBA for more than a month, Anthony and Billups off to the Knicks.

Yet in the many years that the Nuggets have made the playoffs, none were easy slide-ins. The Nuggets have been, no, they are, a team that progresses a game or two forward, next goes three back, soon startles with a stretch of wins against leading franchises but goes back to losing, scrambling forward again to achieve enough wins to make it under the wire and be seeded for that first playoff round.

This year, the Nuggets big and meaningful leap began with a Nuggets 101-86 win against the Houston Rockets on April 16, lockboxed for the playoffs on April 21 with a 118-107 victory against the Phoenix Suns, then confirmation of the team’s drive and skills shown with a back-to-back 101-74 win versus the Orlando Magic, on April 22. Of note is that the three pivotal wins were vs. teams that have been on par with, or ahead of, the Nuggets since the current season began, the message being that the Nuggets won’t be shoved aside easily during the playoff’s first round.

It did not look good for the Nuggets, however, when the team’s March and early April losses indicated a level of defense that the team seemed unable to reach. The defense needed for a playoff berth seemed to be eluding them, and that is what Nuggets head coach, George Karl, probably began stressing at the expense of his players positioning themselves to block and taking some rebounds. Karl must have wanted the Nuggets players to put the kind of pressure on that would keep their opponents from actualizing pre-planned plays, therefore from shooting until improvising in that last second allowed by the shot clock, because that is what has been happening enough times per quarter, evident in the mere 74 points attained by the Magic, April 22.

As the Nuggets defense has matured, there’s been no drawback in the Nuggets aggressive offense. The Nuggets have maintained their total points-per-game average, now 103.7, ahead of all teams that the franchise has confronted this year when the latter are totaled as an aggregate. Seven Nuggets players have ppg averages in double digits, led by Lawson’s 16.3, Afflalo next with 15.2.

With the recent addition of JaVale McGee (he has an unusually hefty number of blocks to his credit) and Lawson having accrued 78 steals this year, there’s indication that the Nuggets defense can stay above-the-margin, sending the team into round two of the playoffs, perhaps beyond that. On Wednesday, April 25, the Nuggets will face the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team expected to be the hottest challenge for the year’s Western Conference title, a win taking the victor to the NBA finals---Wednesday’s vs. Thunder game is the Nuggets last chance to determine what could be their more difficult moments during the 2011/12 post-season.

END/ml 

Friday, April 20, 2012

NFL” the DRAFT,” some Observations //  MLB:  Rockies, Going Higher    

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

                “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

            SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

NFL:   LAST year’s Penn State revelation, and illegalities at other schools, portrayed college football as being largely immoral and damaging to its talent and its continuance. But this month, more than 150 college players have been announced as being ready for the National Football League, suggesting that the college game is a lot more worthy and productive than last year’s scandals would have anyone believe, top of the list of 12 NFL quarterback possibilities

“Thinking About China Thinking About Us”

IT’s been clear from reported conversations with Chinese diplomats that Beijing finds many U.S. perceptions of what China’s been up to since the end of the Cold War, “dead wrong.” Also, these officials have led some U.S. counterparts to believe that Beijing obtains comfort from the West believing in “a mysterious Orient,” as if China learned that it could keep the West guessing, never knowing the true China.

            But much of how the U.S. thinks about China has been the result of Beijing lacking the transparency that could reveal which of its possible intentions will be chosen for fruition.

            Which color will the chameleon (Beijing) choose in the next instant, and in which direction will it move? Using baseball parlance, which will be hurled next from Beijing, a curveball, fastball or a slider? Will it be inside or wide when cornering the plate?

Because of insufficient knowledge about China’s global intentions, U.S. analysts have wondered if Beijing decided several years back to grow its economic, military and political influence around the world to (a) become the world’s one and only superpower, or  (b) only raise China’s standard of living, without serious concern about maintaining global or regional superpower status; or (c) have what it takes for just enough control of needed resources like petroleum, so that China could sustain its manufacturing and services for its exports and therefore prevent the Chinese economy from slipping way back into the poverty that existed for the Chinese people several decades ago; or, China may have decided that it would be necessary to (d) keep other powers from interfering with its ability to sustain the rapid growth rates that it has achieved, “no hegemony in mind except as last resort means.”

Could it then be that China’s recent military build-up is nothing more than the expression of a country that has planned to match military strength proportionately with its economic growth, to have the capability to protect, if necessary, the economic and political influence that it has built up since the 1990’s?

Some analysts claim that Beijing has considered actualization of all of the above, that it has maneuvered to satisfy each of the above-cited objectives depending on world situational factors.

Other analysts add that Beijing thinks about using military power “as leverage” for achieving special but limited ends, for example, to attack Taiwan, or lending show-of-force support to Iran during the latter’s disputes with the West.

            Fact: Neither the U.S. nor any other Western nation knows China’s intentions with great certainty. Even so, American politics continues to weigh in on the possibilities, e.g., America's conservatives being sure that China wants to dominate the West and will do whatever it takes to have that happen, to include the use of military force.

Meanwhile, American liberals think otherwise, that China will never be imperialist, though Beijing may rattle its cage before other nations from time to time. Many liberals believe that China behaves as would any country experiencing new growth, wanting a bigger slice of the global economic pie, Beijing without any interest in land-grabbing or in besting the U.S. only to be numero uno, or because it fears the U.S.

            So, which way will China be going in the near and distant future? Will it work to have the ways and means to engage whatever the winds blowing from the West conjure up? This requires Beijing to have the ability to counter that which appears to its leaders to be unlawful aggression, though such may not be the case. The always possible scenario is Beijing or Washington misinterpreting sudden out-of-the-box behavior, using military power to preempt what it may be thinking is preparation for aggression.

            More than likely, and since neither the U.S. nor China sees the other except through that proverbial glass darkly, each will keep several hard and soft options at the ready, and at the starting gate.

END/ml

NBA:  OKC & Minnesota Down, Nuggets Go Forward.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

 

35th Annual Rocky Mountain Senior Games, June 6-10, at Greeley, Colorado, contact: Sheri.Lobmeyer@greeleygov.com

 

NBA:    BY achieving a victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, April 25, the Denver Nuggets became a single winning game away from achieving the NBA-Western Conference’s number six playoff seed, which whipping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s last game of the 2011/12 season would guarantee. On Thursday, April 26, the Nuggets took care of business, they defeated the Timberwolves, 131-102.

The Nuggets have been a winning team, and here’s the better side of the good: in addition to the Nuggets maintaining its 103.7 points per game average throughout most of the regular season, nine of its games won were versus the likely to be post-season contenders, among them, the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the L.A. Clippers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Timberwolves. Only one of the nine wins was by fewer than 103 points, vs. the Lakers, 99-90.

Five of those nine Nuggets-defeated teams are already the number one franchise of their division---the Thunder, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Heat, and the Bulls, an indication that the post-Carmelo Anthony/Billups Nuggets haven’t been the left-behind franchise they were expected to be since the 2011 Nuggets revision began with the popular star shooters Anthony and Billups sent from Denver to the New York Knicks in exchange for several unknowns from the Knicks.

The only leading division team that the Nuggets haven’t beaten this year with those former Knicks aboard, are the San Antonio Spurs, a contest during which the Nuggets were one point shy of three digits, losing 114-99. Only in four of 66 games played this season have the Nuggets finished with less than 90 points, neither of the four below 81.

Other Nuggets stats address the team’s ride into the post-season. Not only have seven Nuggets players achieved double-digit averages, 11 Nuggets players have double-digit averages in the execution of blocks, 13 in the employment of steals, 15 with double-digit assists (four of these players have triple-digit assist totals), and 12 Nuggets players have triple-digit rebound totals, while 10 have high triple-digit field goal totals. Noteworthy about these Nuggets individual player stats is that there are numerous other NBA franchises with players that have higher numbers in most of the listed categories, yet across the rosters of those teams are fewer players with double- and triple-digit totals, and also fewer double-digit scorers than the Nuggets have had, though the Nuggets highest ppg holder hasn’t attained more than a 16.3 ppg average (guard, Ty Lawson), when several NBA teams can boast of having shooters with 20+ ppg averages. Reflected, then, is the Nuggets emphasis on teamwork over star power.

No Nuggets player stands out the way that the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Lakers Kobe Bryant or the Heat’s LeBron James can---Nuggets formidability has maintained from head coach George Karl’s insistence on the “We” instead of the “Me,” and that is what could bring the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs and serve as a model for future NBA reliance on a motto, “Teamwork reigns!” ending any rushes within NBA teams to trade three or four above-the-margin “team first” players for the next Durant, Bryant or LeBron. It’s a safe guess that in recent months the New York Knicks front office and head coach have been paying lots of attention to “We” over “Me,” even with that Linsanity breakthrough.  

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NBA:  OKC & Minnesota Down, Nuggets Go Forward.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS SUMMER GAMES, COLORADO, June 2, @ UNC, Greeley: for more information: specialolympicsco.org , or: 800-777-5767.

 

35th Annual Rocky Mountain Senior Games, June 6-10, at Greeley, Colorado, contact: Sheri.Lobmeyer@greeleygov.com

NBA:    BY achieving a victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, April 25, the Denver Nuggets became a single winning game away from achieving the NBA-Western Conference’s number six playoff seed, which whipping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Denver’s last game of the 2011/12 season would guarantee. On Thursday, April 26, the Nuggets took care of business, they defeated the Timberwolves, 131-102.

The Nuggets have been a winning team, and here’s the better side of the good: in addition to the Nuggets maintaining its 103.7 points per game average throughout most of the regular season, nine of its games won were versus the likely to be post-season contenders, among them, the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, the L.A. Clippers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Timberwolves. Only one of the nine wins was by fewer than 103 points, vs. the Lakers, 99-90.

Five of those nine Nuggets-defeated teams are already the number one franchise of their division---the Thunder, the Lakers, the Celtics, the Heat, and the Bulls, an indication that the post-Carmelo Anthony/Billups Nuggets haven’t been the left-behind franchise they were expected to be since the 2011 Nuggets revision began with the popular star shooters Anthony and Billups sent from Denver to the New York Knicks in exchange for several unknowns from the Knicks.

The only leading division team that the Nuggets haven’t beaten this year with those former Knicks aboard, are the San Antonio Spurs, a contest during which the Nuggets were one point shy of three digits, losing 114-99. Only in four of 66 games played this season have the Nuggets finished with less than 90 points, neither of the four below 81.

Other Nuggets stats address the team’s ride into the post-season. Not only have seven Nuggets players achieved double-digit averages, 11 Nuggets players have double-digit averages in the execution of blocks, 13 in the employment of steals, 15 with double-digit assists (four of these players have triple-digit assist totals), and 12 Nuggets players have triple-digit rebound totals, while 10 have high triple-digit field goal totals. Noteworthy about these Nuggets individual player stats is that there are numerous other NBA franchises with players that have higher numbers in most of the listed categories, yet across the rosters of those teams are fewer players with double- and triple-digit totals, and also fewer double-digit scorers than the Nuggets have had, though the Nuggets highest ppg holder hasn’t attained more than a 16.3 ppg average (guard, Ty Lawson), when several NBA teams can boast of having shooters with 20+ ppg averages. Reflected, then, is the Nuggets emphasis on teamwork over star power.

No Nuggets player stands out the way that the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Lakers Kobe Bryant or the Heat’s LeBron James can---Nuggets formidability has maintained from head coach George Karl’s insistence on the “We” instead of the “Me,” and that is what could bring the Nuggets past the first round of the playoffs and serve as a model for future NBA reliance on a motto, “Teamwork reigns!” ending any rushes within NBA teams to trade three or four above-the-margin “team first” players for the next Durant, Bryant or LeBron. It’s a safe guess that in recent months the New York Knicks front office and head coach have been paying lots of attention to “We” over “Me,” even with that Linsanity breakthrough.  

END/ml