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Now that Broncos season is over, it’s catch-up time with the Nuggets

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Ty Lawson (3) has been terrific for the Nuggets this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Ty Lawson (3) has been terrific for the Nuggets this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The dawn of a new calendar year generally marks the time when those engrossed in football begin to turn their attention in earnest to the hardwood. The Nuggets have had a season’s worth of stories in just over two months. We know you haven’t paid attention to every dribble and that’s why this is here to catch you up. Here’s what you missed:

Well, You Probably Haven’t Missed This. But Still…

It never took too detailed an eye to know Carmelo Anthony’s saga. He ultimately wants to play basketball in New York; but he is under contract with the Nuggets; and he won’t sign the 3-year, $65 million contract extension the team has offered; but will – allegedly – sign it if it accompanies a trade to the Knicks; but in the meantime is playing great basketball for the Nuggets.

The organization knows it can’t keep him for an entire season or they risk Anthony opting out of the final year of his contract, becoming an unrestricted free agent with autonomy to sign with whatever team he likes, and the Nuggets ending the entire saga with no Melo and no players and/or picks in return.

Time is ticking away until the Feb. 24 trade deadline. The Nuggets have a willing trading partner in the New Jersey Nets, and as long as that team stays around the Nuggets can hold onto Anthony relatively pressure-free as long as they want up to the trade deadline. The gain might be another team willing to ‘rent’ Anthony for two months with a trade package the Nuggets like as an option against New Jersey’s. The risk is teams begin to start scaling back packages as the deadline approaches knowing the Nuggets will eventually have to take whatever they can get in effort to not be left empty-handed.

Meanwhile…

The Team Has Had a Rollercoaster Start
The Nuggets are 20-13 through their first 33 games, but it has taken a winding road to get there. They have generally struggled on the defensive end, fought an addiction to giving up leads in the fourth quarter, and battled through numerous games missed by a bevy of players for a bevy of reasons (most of which were due to injuries). After limping out to a 16-13 record, four straight wins have gotten them some separation in the win-loss column. And the upcoming schedule, which features 10 of the final 15 games in the month of January against teams with records under-.500 should give the Nuggets a real boost. With this remaining January schedule the Nuggets, now in sixth place in the Western Conference, could realistically find themselves among the top three or four by the end of the month.

Ty Lawson Has Been Spectacular
The goal coming into the season for Ty Lawson could be boiled down to one word: Confidence. The coaches simply wanted him to play with more. The second-year pro has responded. His points are up, his rebounds are up, his assists are up and his minutes are up. Lawson has improved both his catch-and-shoot game and his off-the-dribble shooting game and has not missed one speedy step in doing so.

Lawson’s effective play has helped …

… The Bench Become One of the NBA’s Best
Through games of Jan. 3, the Nuggets owned the NBA’s fifth most-productive bench. The reserves average 36.2 points per game led by Al Harrington at just over 12 points per game. Both J.R. Smith and Ty Lawson check in at 11 points per game to round out three players that average double figures from off the bench. Unexpected contributions have come from 25-year old rookie Gary Forbes, whose defense and hard work in practice earned him playing time, and whose effectiveness in games has led coach George Karl to continue to turn to him particularly in times when the defensive intensity and awareness needs a jolt. Every player on the bench has played and contributed significantly to a Nuggets win this season.

K-Mart and Birdman return
Offseason knee surgery claimed the first chunk of the season for both Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen, but both are back and working their way to full health. Andersen returned to playing on Nov. 22 and is playing right around 20 minutes per game. Martin returned to action on Dec. 22 and is playing just under 20 minutes per game and is supposed to, for the time being, not play the second game in back-to-back sets. Both have already been sizeable contributors on the defensive end and will continue to offer more to the team as they are medically allowed to gradually play more minutes.

Milestones
Coach George Karl notched the biggest milestone of all, getting his 1,000th victory in the NBA on Dec. 10 at Toronto. … Chauncey Billups has moved into third on the Nuggets all-time 3-pointers made list, passing Nick Van Exel and Dale Ellis. … Nene has moved into ninth on the team’s all-time steals list, passing Bill Hanzlik and Ralph Simpson. … Carmelo Anthony has moved into sixth all-time on the Nuggets games played list, passing Danny Schayes.

Stats That Make the Nuggets Go … or Stop

• The Nuggets are 17-9 when Carmelo Anthony starts, and 3-4 when he doesn’t
• The Nuggets are 6-8 in back-to-backs overall, but they are 4-3 in the second game in the back-to-back
• The Nuggets have lost 64 man games this season to players with injuries or illnesses
• Anthony has led the team in scoring 19 times. Billups six times, Lawson three times, Nene, and Harrington twice
• The Nuggets are 15-3 at home, 5-10 on the road
• The Nuggets are 18-6 when they score 100 or more points, 2-7 when they don’t
• The Nuggets are 17-5 when they shoot 45 percent or higher, 3-8 when they don’t
• The Nuggets are 12-4 against teams below .500, 7-9 against teams .500 or better

Consider yourself caught up. Enjoy the rest of the season.

Chris Dempsey: @dempseypost on Twitter, or cdempsey@denverpost.com.


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