NBA Update: Denver Nuggets’ Coach George Karl denied 1000th win
Ecstatic before the game, George Karl’s dream of a 1000th win milestone were shattered when his team, the Denver Nuggets were thrashed by the Charlotte Bobcats at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
Coming from a seven game winning streak, the Nuggets were stopped short, before the eighth, on Tuesday night in their away match against the Bobcats. The Bobcats managed a two point win over the Nuggets despite the latter’s desperate
efforts to turn things around.
With 90 seconds left on the clock, the Nuggets were still eight points down. Managing a turnaround, they succeeded in scoring 6 straight points. However, the shot that would have tied the score came at the buzzer. Nuggets’ point
guard Chauncey Billups managed to take possession of the ball in the last seconds and even took a shot, missing the bucket, the ball bounced off the rim just at the buzzer rang.
Dejected after the defeat yet still confident that the milestone is not far away, Karl told the press, "We only come here one time a year and of course going against Larry is always a challenge. It would have been something
I'd have remembered if I won my 1,000th here. But hopefully we'll get it on this trip."
Larry Brown, the Bobcats coach is one of six members of the 1000-win club. Others include retired star coaches Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Jerry Sloan.
Talking about Karl, Brown said, "He's a terrific coach. He's overcome a lot. I think we're all proud of what he's accomplished, and I think he's going to win a lot more games before he hangs it up."
Although, Nuggets’ stars Billups and Carmelo Anthony gave notable performances, in the end it just was not enough for a win. Billups scored 25 points while Anthony back in form scored 22 points with seven rebounds.
Although Karl was denied a victory against the Bobcats last night, it is without a doubt that the milestone is not far away. With three more matches on the road this week, Karl is bound to reach it in one of the coming matches.
With the end of their longest winning streak this season and Karl’s failure to reach the 1000th
win, it was truly a sad postgame flight to Boston where the Nuggets will play the Eastern Conference toppers, Boston Celtics.
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