Snow had Iverson't back, scoring 25 after Allen fouled out in the 4th, and held off the Nuggets comeback attempts.

Creating exciting new ways to lose...

This season, its a given, especially since the All-Star break that the Nuggets will have at least one bad quarter. That one bad quarter is usually more than enough to create another Nuggets loss, but in this game the Nuggets almost overcame their poor 2nd quarter when they were outscored by 13.

Although I'm a frustrated fan lately, I can see that the Nuggets continue to play amazingly hard despite being mired in an eleven game losing streak... now twelve. Depsite all that hard work, it's basically just just Juwan Howard and a bunch of guys with talent, but lacking in basketball smarts, skills, and confidence. A team in serious need of additional veteran leadership, and some time to grow a mature.

Going into the 4th quarter, the Nuggets found themselves down by 13. With 5:49 left, things got interesting as the anchor of the 76ers, Allen Iverson, fouled out of the game thanks largely to nearly every Nuggets defender stepping in front of him all night long. Four of Iverson's 6 fouls were offensive charges.

While the 76ers reeled a bit, Yarbrough and Williams combined for three 3-pointers. The Nuggets were suddenly within three points with 1:28 remaining in the game. The 76ers could not score, but Juwan was called for an offensive foul when the Nuggets tried to cut into the lead further. To compound the mistake, Juwan got a delay-of-game warning also, which was the second of the game, resulting in a free throw by Eric Snow. Can't really get mad at Juwan though, since he is usually the reason the Nuggets are in these games. To atone for his error, he came back and hit his second three pointer of the season, bringing the Nuggets within two points with 21.4 seconds.

With the shot clock off, Derrick Coleman was fouled immediately and obligingly made just 1-of-2 free throws with 18.6 seconds left. Enter another creative mistake in the waning minutes - Howard inbounded to Williams he had both feet out of bounds when he caught the ball. Ouch. How can two veterans make a critical blunder like that? The Nuggets fell harmlessly away from there as the 76ers hit their free throws, and pulled away to the final margin.

A few positive notes: Junior Harrington continues to impress, adding some scoring to his already potent defense. Marcus Camby had his first double figures scoring game of the season, starting to finally look comfortable on the basketball court again. He also had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Can Coach Bzdelik rally the troops again this week as the Nuggets head on the road? Atlanta could be a winnable game as that team continues to struggle also...

Til next game,

Alan