Despite the collective bargaining agreement expiring soon, it is in Denver’s best interest to re-sign Carmelo Anthony. They always seem to put together a team that can get into the playoffs, but they do not go far. With Nene not getting any better, and Billups getting older, the Nuggets are not even going in the right direction. But to have a superstar locked up long-term would be beneficial to a team that cannot afford to go back to its miserable losing days.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

This off-season the Jazz, like many other good (but not great) NBA teams face a dilemma. How can they improve when they don’t have the salary cap room to sign an impact player? The Jazz have most of their salary cap room tied up in Deron Williams, the NBA’s top point guard, and an assortment of role players such as Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur. All three of those players are good, but are they the kind of players who can lead a team to an NBA title? Most observers of the NBA would say no. With the likely departure of Carlos Boozer, the Jazz are in a position where they are forced to insert Millsap, previously a bench player, into the starting lineup.

To make matters worse, the Jazz entered this season holding the New York Knicks’ first round draft pick which was projected to be a top-3 pick. Unfortunately, however, the Knicks slightly out-performed their expectations and the Jazz are left holding the 9th pick in the draft. The pick, while useful, will probably not propel the Jazz to the top of the western conference. With that in mind, how can the Jazz elevate their talent level to be able to compete with the Lakers?

In all honesty, the only real way for the Jazz to improve would come from either a lucky draft pick or from a trade. While the Jazz are set at point guard for the foreseeable future, they need to add a scoring threat at shooting guard, along with a shot-blocking presence on defense. Unfotunately, these players do not come cheaply, and it will take either good luck or a skillful trade in order to acquire a player who can raise the Jazz from the level of a perennial 4th or 5th seed, to the kind of team that can consistently challenge the NBA’s elite.

George Karl, not long after spending a week in the hospital dealing with complications from his battle with throat and neck cancer, said he’s feeling better and plans to return to the Denver Nuggets as coach next season, The Denver Post reported.

“I’ll be excited to be back on the bench — that’s what I do, that’s the dream,” Karl told the newspaper Thursday.

Karl completed a six-week treatment of chemotherapy and radiation for throat and neck cancer in April. He has also been hospitalized twice for blood clots since starting the regimen.

Karl was discharged last week after spending nearly a week in the hospital for the clots.

“I don’t see that happening,” Karl told The Post when asked if there was a situation where he would not return, “but I am going to put my health first, and come next fall, if the doctors don’t feel it’s a wise thing and I don’t think it’s a wise thing, [then we'll reevaluate]. But my feeling is the exact opposite. We’re in a good place, the steps have been good, the tests have been good and I’ve just got to keep plugging away every day.”

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

The Utah Jazz finally got some good news about an injured player.

Well, “good” might be pushing it. But for the shorthanded Jazz, even the slightest bit of optimism was a welcome change as Utah tried to piece together another lineup to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

Forward Andrei Kirilenko said Wednesday that there was a slight chance he could return from a nagging calf injury in time to join the Jazz if the series goes six or seven games — a much bigger possibility after Utah’s 114-111 win at Denver evened the series 1-1 on Monday night.

“It’s probably highly unlikely, but maybe,” said Kirilenko, who received a dose of platelet-rich plasma therapy to his strained left calf Monday. The injury caused him to miss 15 of Utah’s final 17 games in the regular season and flared up each time Kirilenko thought he was close to returning.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor says center Mehmet Okur has a torn left Achilles tendon and is out for the remainder of the playoffs.

Okur needs surgery and will likely miss the world championships this summer in his native Turkey. He flew home to Salt Lake City on Sunday after an MRI revealed the tear.

“It’s horrible, man. We feel bad for Memo,” Jazz forward Carlos Boozer said.

Okur was injured while driving to the basket in the first half of Utah’s Game 1 loss at Denver on Saturday night. Before the game, he had taken a painkilling shot to treat his Achilles tendinitis, which he had been dealing with since April 7.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

It’s a good thing Kyle Korver had a few misses to spare.

Though he missed his only 3-point attempt in Wednesday’s 100-86 loss to Phoenix, the Utah Jazz long-ball specialist didn’t shoot himself out of the NBA record books.

The opposite happened over the course of the season, in fact. Korver finished the 2009-10 campaign hitting 53.6 percent of his 3-point shots to secure the NBA’s single-season accuracy record.

“I would’ve liked to have gotten it hitting a bunch of them tonight,” Korver said, “but it’s something that when the season’s over you can be proud of, for sure.

“It’s not one night’s work,” Korver added. “It’s a whole season’s work.”

Click here to read the full article – By Jody Genessy of Deseret News

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Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points and Steve Nash had 18 points and 10 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter while the Phoenix reserves completed a 123-101 rout of the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night that gave the Suns homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Denver, which finished its regular season, would get the No. 4 spot and a first-round homecourt edge if Phoenix beats the Jazz today.

Denver would have secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with a win over Phoenix on Tuesday.

Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points to lead the Nuggets.

The Suns made 14 of 24 3-pointers, 11 of 17 in the first three quarters.

Phoenix jumped to an 18-2 lead and the Nuggets never cut it to single digits after the first quarter.

The Suns can finish no worse than No. 4 in the West and would be No. 3 if they win at Utah tonight.

Phoenix, winner of 13 of its last 15, led by as many as 23 in the second quarter, was up 70-49 at the half and led 97-70 after three.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of http://www.dailycamera.com

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The Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz traded comebacks in the fourth quarter before the least experienced player on either team completed the final rally.

Once Sundiata Gaines let go of his 3-pointer and the buzzer sounded Thursday night, there was no chance for the lead to change again. Utah 97, Cleveland 96.

It was the first career 3-pointer for Gaines, a rookie who was just signed last week to a 10-day contract and was playing only his fifth NBA game.

“He has a little swag in him and believes in himself,” said Carlos Boozer, who fouled out and had to watch Gaines’ winner from the bench. “I tell you what, he made us a believer in him, too.”

LeBron James had led the Cavaliers on a 22-4 run earlier in the fourth quarter and put the Cavs up by six with 32.5 seconds left, but Cleveland couldn’t clinch it from the free-throw line.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Sometimes, this is what it takes.

An embarrassment. A humiliation. Losing to a team so bad it is being compared to the worst squads in NBA history barely a month into the season.


“I would have liked to have come out of this with a win, and I would have said the same exact thing, but I think we did need this,” Chauncey Billups admitted afterward. “I don’t like losing, but I think we needed this.”

It was as if Billups had hopped a time machine and returned to the team he joined a little more than a year ago — a team of individual showmen, a team of one-on-one players, a team that thought it could shoot its way out of any hole, no matter how deep.

And why not? It had been doing it throughout this season’s first month. As if reliving its early run- and-gun days, the Nuggets went into Sunday night’s game second in the NBA in scoring at more than 109 points per game, five more than they averaged a year ago when they became acquainted with the concept of defense.

Click here to read the full article – By Dave Krieger of The Denver Post

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The Denver Nuggets confirmed Wednesday that forward Chris (Birdman) Andersen is day-to-day with moderate patellar tendinitis in his right knee.

Andersen has experienced soreness, so underwent an MRI in Denver.

Dr. Steve Traina said the test revealed no structural damage.

Also, guard Anthony Carter is listed as questionable for the Nuggets’ game Friday night against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of cbc.ca

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