it was only the grizz but...

to be perfectly honest, what i saw of the nuggets game was a happy coincidence that resulted from a stats studying session finished early. it is bizarre that a jewish-american princess would have NBATV on her 1,000,000 inch plasma screen tv, but both of those things happened. i tuned in just in time for the nuggets to get their swerve on in a serious way (about midway through the first.)
to me, that was a perfect example of how the nuggets SHOULD function. they basically hopped into passing lanes and ran the grizzlies clean off the floor. i would say that that is a fairly repeatable model for success, but one that requires that they have freakish athletes capable of lane-hopping and floor-running. fortunately, the nuggets are gifted with an extremely athletic team. (perhaps most athletic in the nba?)
but once the game moved along into the 2nd quarter, all the pratfalls of the nuggs approach were on full display. they didn't steal and j.r. smith shot far too many 3s, leading to far too many fast breaks, leading to far too many made baskets, leading to no fast breaks/easy finishes for denver, leading to more j.r. smith 3s. it's a vicious cycle.
ALL THIS BEING SAID: i wouldn't count the game as meaning too goddamn much. after all, it was their first game ever together, and the natural tendency is to create tension/chemistry where none has had the opportunity to grow. i know it was just the grizz, and i know the nuggets will not become the suns, but maybe they can repeat their 38-point 1st quarter once a game. for me, that will be enough.