Wow! What can I say about how hot Ty has been lately. He only had 2 points in the first half and if this was old Ty he would have finished with single digit points. New Ty however, is someone who can turn it on whenever he wants and he decided the second half was a good time for that. He finished with 21 points 11 dimes 6 boards and an all important 0 assists. He has averaged 20 points and 7.4 assists in the new year, I know it is hard for Denver to fathom since they built this team without a superstar in mind, but we might have another star on our hands. Andre Iguodala stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points 3 boards and 7 assists, like Ty he has also stepped up his game recently. Even though it does not show up in the box score he abused Chris Paul all night and did not let him get anything easy. Andre has been looking like his 76er's self by stuffing the stat sheet and playing lock down defense. Although his shooting leaves something to be desired I think he scores at a fine rate for this Nuggets team. He hit a nice 3 pointer that started the Nuggets second half run.
Gallo was looking like his pre-injury self in this game. He scored from all over the place which resulted in 20 points and he was also finding passing lanes, finishing with 6 assists. Gallo is an important cog to this team and it has been no coincidence that when he and Ty started playing better, the team has stepped up their game. Kenneth Faried played like his normal energetic self and frustrated Blake Griffin inside to get him off his game. Faried finished with 11 points 10 boards and a surprising 4 blocks, which resulted in his 27th double-double of the season. When Faried plays like this it overshadows the fact that he can be a defensive liability and I would have liked it more if he was on DeAndre Jordan rather than Griffin because Jordan is not that great of a post player. Koufus is one of my least favorite players on the team, it always seems that he misses easy shots and can never catch a ball when thrown to him. However, I would have loved to see more of him this game because I think he could have handled Griffin better than Faried did.
The Nuggets bench was, well the Nuggets bench. They provided energy and some defensive help. Chandler has an especially good, well rounded game, finishing with 12 points 5 assists and 4 rebounds on 5-8 shooting. Chandler was someone who I especially wanted to trade because he seemed like a punk who hated Denver, but he has provided such a spark off the bench or in the starting lineup when Gallo was out. Brewer had a decent game he did normal Brewer like things, such as getting out in transition and bugging players on the defensive end. I am an avid "Start McGee" type of person, but tonight reminded me he still has a lot of room to grow before he can become a solid starter. Aside from 2 highlight blocks he did not do anything tonight, he failed to box out on many occasions and only played 14 minutes. Andre Miller is not a player I want on this team he is selfish in his shot selection and dominates the ball for too long before he decides what to do with it. His stats look nice, but if you actually watch him he hurts this team and whenever he is on the court he slows Ty's progression in becoming a star player.
Overall, this was a great blowout win against a team on a back to back. These are the games they should win.
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