Nuggets at Wolves: No A.I. but the return of Chauncey
Posted on November 29th, 2008 – 6:42 PMBy Brian Stensaas
Hello from Target Center, where the Wolves tip-off with the Nuggets in just a little bit. Those who had tonight’s game circled and thought you’d get a good look at Allen Iverson tonight instead get former Wolf Chauncey Billups. He has been, well, quite the good luck charm since returning home to Denver. The Nuggets are 9-3 since acquiring Billups on Nov. 3.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is back home less than 24 hours after Mike Miller’s last nanosecond shot assured the Wolves a victory in Oklahoma City. Fun fact about Miller’s shot: In 20 seasons, the Wolves have now won 20 times thanks to a shot in the final second. Kevin Garnett did it four times. Sam Mitchell and the late Malik Sealy are the only other players to do this more than once for the Wolves.
Here are your starters: Gomes, Big Al, Collins, Miller and Foye for the home squad tonight. It’s Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Nene, Dahntay Jones and Billups for Denver.
Booth, Mad Dawg and Ollie are inactive for the Wolves.
Enjoy the game!
16 Responses to "Nuggets at Wolves: No A.I. but the return of Chauncey"
Jerry, are the Wolves actively shopping McCants?
This one’s over. We just got annihilated at the free throw line.
Another nice second half effort by the Wolves.
missed it while watching the Wild - like everyone else.
chauncy looked dominant tonight, they should have never let him go.
Ehhh I’m ok with the decision to let Billups go. At the time, we had Terrell Brandon, who was arguably the best point guard in the NBA. We didn’t know Brandon wouldn’t ever get over his injuries.
More concerning for me is that, like last night, we couldn’t stop the point guard. Last night Westbrook was just flying by the defense. Tonight, Billups basically gave himself a red carpet to the free throw line. We need to figure out how to stay in front of the point guard without fouling. (Insert my usual doubts about Foye here).
hahahaha Brandon the best pg in the nba? he was way past his prime when we let him go.
[…] On the Wolves – […]
Bryan I must say you have some of the worst Twolves takes I have ever seen. From you defending Randy Witless on a daily basis to now saying Terrell Brandon was the best point guard in the NBA. If I didnt know better I would think you were that dumbass Arenal who posted here last year. If you start touting Hansbrough with our number 1 pick I guess I will have my answer. At any rate you really need to get a clue. And saying you were OK with letting Billups go is the most assinine statement regarding this lame team in some time. Think about that.
Not really. His last year with us (01-02), Brandon was only 32 years old. The same age Chauncey is now. Like I said, it was injuries that ended his career. When he was healthy, he’d regularly put up between 15-20ppg and 8-10apg.
Way back in 1997 (his last year in Cleavland) he averaged 20-6 and Sports Illustrated ran him on the cover as the best point guard in the NBA. Jerry probably remembers this.
So ya, there was a time when he was considered arguably the best point guard in the NBA and he stayed at that level through his first few years here. The 01-02 season, Billups’ last here, was the first year Brandon had big injury problems. We had no idea he’d never recover from them.
Ombudsman, read what I just posted. All your guys’ comments and insults really prove is you’re too young to know what you’re really talking about.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1997/0210_mid.jpg
Just in case you guys don’t believe me about the SI thing.
what in the world does 1997 have to do with him and the Twolves…you said he was arguably the best point guard in the nba when we had him, and that is false, and not even arguable.
in 01/02 i mean….im not saying he wasn’t good, but getting rid of a younger chauncey was a terrible decision.
and no that was not the first year he had injury problems…he missed plenty of games in his career.
But both years he had here he was healthy. 71 games, then 78. And he averaged 17-8 over those two years, which is about equal to what he averaged in 97, and well above anything we ever got from Billups. In 00-01 he was a 16-8 player…basically equal to Steve Nash that year, a little ahead of Stockton, a little behind Kidd. I don’t see what is unarguable about that.
The team just didn’t have the money and Saunders wasn’t willing to commit the time to keep Billups. Too much tied up in Brandon, KG and Wally. Ya, it looks bad because Brandon basically never played again and Billups became an all star. But again, we didn’t know Brandon’s injury was career ending. If he had come back and picked up at that 17-8 pace, no one would have cared.
You’re saying Terrell Brandon was a better player than John Stockton because TB’s numbers were similar? And because SI said he was the best PG in the league in 1997? Really?
