Nene has gotten off to an impressive start for his NBA career, but it wasn't nearly enough this night.

No gas left in the tank

One great quarter + two bad quarters = One Nuggets loss.

The Nuggets fell behind by 7 after one quarter, and were behind by 15 at halftime. A massive 3rd quarter run of 19-2 got the Nuggets tied with the hawks near the end of the 3rd quarter. They did it by playing great defense, which creating turnovers that led to easy fast-break baskets. Unfortunately, they didn't play that way in the first half, and in the 4th quarter, they ran out of gas from the expended efforts in the 3rd.

Welcome back Juwan Howard. After a two game suspension to start the season, and an illness that kept him out of the third game, this was Juwan's first playing time of the season. Juwan had a herculean effort, with 25 points and 15 rebounds in 39 minutes. He did it with 11-19 shooting. James Posey was the only other scorer in double digits with 21, but he took 17 shots - missing 12 of them to get those points.

For the Nuggets to win this year, I think Howard and Posey will have to have above average nights, and one other Nugget will have to step up and score in the low double digits. Then, if they play good team defense for the entire game, they will have a shot at winning a respectable 20-30 games.

Other Notes:

We have a Rodney White sighting. White saw his first playing time of the season, and got 18 minutes. He shot 4-8, adding 8 points and 1 rebound. Not sure about this guy yet. All of his points were outside shots, and he seems to fall asleep on defense from time to time. We need more outside shooting, but I'd like to see him mix it up and take it to the basket also.

Chris Whitney went down with a sprained left ankle in the 4th quarter. Let's hope he's only out a few games, as Satterfield and Harrington look much better when they play behind him right now.

The Atlanta Hawks are no longer a likely win - unfortunately. With the addition of the Big Dog, and proven scorers in Abdur-Rahim and Terry, these guys can really score. They will do well in the East this year I think.

Til next game,

Alan