Without 'Melo, Billups, Nuggets stop Jazz, end road skid  

I have read the news and I am glad that the Denver Nuggets have won, even without Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. These two players being injured are the main attraction in the team. Yet, the other guys stepped up and fill in what was missing. They played as a team and won as a team. No individual player can win a championship. Basketball is about teamwork.

Winning against the Utah Jazz without Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups is really impressive. The Jazz is a very good and athletic team and without Anthony and Billups, it's kinda safe to say that the Jazz already had the game in the bag. Anyway, the Nuggets is one of the strongest teams in the NBA for this season. They've got Anthony, one of the best scorers in the NBA, and Chauncey Billups who is considered as one of the best point guards this season. Aside from Anthony and Billups, they've got Earl/JR Smith who can easily set things on fire with his torrid outside shooting and scoring explosiveness. Smith just went hitting 10 three point shots in a single game this season but surprisingly, it was still not a career high, Smith's career high was 11 threes in a single game. Denver's big men are also very good. Kenyon Martin, Nene (Hilario), and Chris Andersen are really intimidating and can give the Nuggets a very good inside presence. Martin and Nene are double-double threats every night while Andersen is one of the leaders in shot blocks. And of course, aside from Smith, rookie Ty Lawson is also doing quite well making the Nuggets a lot deeper team. Despite playing for a very talented Nuggets team, Lawson has made some noise and is considered as one of the top rookies for the 2009-2010 batch (though pretty sure he won't win the ROY award). I'm very optimistic about the Nuggets chances this season and personally, I think they are the second best team in the West next to the Lakers. They can go as far as the Western Conference Finals but with their current line-up, I think going as far as the finals would be too ambitious already. The Lakers is more than strong enough for the Nuggets to handle.