After leading the Denver Nuggets to a franchise best 57 win regular season, George Karl was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year.

May 2, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl looks on against the Golden State Warriors during the fourth quarter of game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets 92-88. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Karl worked wonders with a lineup that lacked an All-Star, was hit hard by injuries to several starters and twisted its way through a brutal early-season schedule in which 22 of the team’s first 32 games were on the road. In leading the Nuggets to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, Karl was named Coach of the Year for the first time in his 25-year coaching career.

It was well deserved.

Despite not having a dominant scorer- Ty Lawson led the Nuggets by averaging only 16.7 points per game- the Nuggets finished an amazing 38-3 at home on the season and finished with the fourth best record in the NBA.

Karl received 62 first-place votes, followed by the Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra with 24 votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters.

The Knicks Mike Woodson finished third and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who won the award last season, was fourth.

Karl had 404 votes overall, which blew away Spoelstra’s 190.

He is 1,131-756 in his 25 seasons as head coach and his 21 straight non-losing seasons ties Phil Jackson for the longest streak in league history.

Overall he was the right choice. It would have been nice to see Woodson win the award, but this was Karl’s to lose. If anyone had a legitimate gripe it would have been Spoelstra, who led the Heat to the best record in the league and saw them win an amazing 27 games in a row.

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Dec 5, 2012; Charlotte, NC, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) catches a wild pass during the game against the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena. Knicks win 100-98. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Denver Nuggets’ head coach George Karl told reporters before the Nuggets visited Madison Square Garden on Sunday that he believes a championship is in Anthony’s near future.

“I’ve said I feel Melo’s going to win a championship someday,” Karl told ESPN’s Matt Ehalt. “He’s going to figure out that scoreboard and numbers and stat sheets aren’t important, it’s what the team scoreboard and the intangibles in the end that make winners champions.”

So far this season, Anthony has embraced that.

Sure he has put up some gaudy statistics that read: 26.4 points per game (prior to Sunday), 6.7 rebounds and a PER of 23.95 while shooting 45.7 percent from the floor and 43.5 percent from behind the arc, but ‘Melo has also embraced playing team basketball more than at any time in his career.

The results have shown as well as Anthony, who was once often criticized for his lack of leadership, seems poised to be the guy to lead the Knicks to a place they haven’t been since the 1973 season.

Anthony has played MVP-like basketball this year, but he is also playing with a defensive intensity he has never shown in his career. Karl isn’t surprised that Anthony would be focused on holding up his end on that side of the court as he notes that he has always had that in him.

Some guys wilt under the pressure and some guys thrive under it. Before this season, ‘Melo would have fallen into the type of player that couldn’t get it done with all of the chips on the table. But he has not only embraced the pressure of trying to win a championship in the Big Apple, but seems focused on doing exactly that.

There’s a long way to go in both the season and Anthony’s career, but if he keeps this up he just may prove his old coach right one of these days.

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Karl: "You suck at defense!" Carmelo: "I know!"

The Knicks game last night was absolutely dreadful. Porous defense, despicable shot selections, and, to top it all off, Carmelo Anthony hurt his elbow! Off the court—as mundane as it may be—the Knicks newest superstar is finding himself in another media driven cross-hare; things are getting feisty. Regarding the super lame former head coach/his former superstar feud, here’s Karl’s response to Carmelo’s tweets…

…which were a reaction to Karl’s taped TNT interview that aired Thursday night (courtesy of The Denver Post):

“I’m responsible for it, but the thing is – if you ran the whole interview, 75-80 percent of it was positive reinforcement on what a great seven years we had with Melo and what a great player he was – the best offensive player I’ve ever coached. In seven years, there’s no way that you’re going to have every day be happy. When you lose, he’s mad at something and I’m mad at something. I’m just sorry about the way it came out. I have tremendous respect for the guy. I think he’s going to be a Hall of Fame player. I’m kind of angry and frustrated with all the things that went on, but at the same time, I respect what he did.”

I hate to get lazy when describing something in writing but this whole thing is stupid. So we’re clear, all George Karl did was praise Anthony as the “greatest offensive player he’s ever coached” and then follow that up with some harsh/fair criticism in regards to Carmelo’s defensive intensity.  This shouldn’t be an indictment on either man, both great at what they do, and to be perfectly honest, if Carmelo felt a problem existed with what George Karl had to say, he probably shouldn’t have resorted to a feeble response on Twitter.  Come on, man! Leave that beef realm to the ladies.

On a side note, last night Danilo Gallinari came within one game clinching free throw of matching his career high, 31. He settled for 30 and the Nuggets eventually fell victim to a magical Brandon Roy narrative. Apart from sinking two free throws, there’s really nothing that could have been done, and I thank Gallo for giving us the game of the night.

Could Phil Jackson, the Zen Master himself, get fired this season? Of course not, you idiot, but where do the rest of the coaches in the league stand? (Source: Yarbarker.com)

I seem to be in a major ranking/grading/evaluating the whole NBA-mode, so today we’re gonna check out which coaches might not make it through the season.  Every year it seems like about six coaches are fired in the middle of the 82 game grind.  And a few more who made it through the grist then are shown the exit during the summer.  But we just finished one summer, so we ain’t talking about the next one yet.  Just this upcoming season.  Who’s Bulletproof?  Who’s on the Hot Seat?  And where does everyone else stand and why?  Well, you’re lucky ‘cuz we’s about’s ta answer these questions fer ya.

Bulletproof (again, for this upcoming season only):

Doc Rivers – Celtics

George Karl – Nuggets:  He might quit if it’s too grueling, but ya can’t fire a guy coming back from cancer.  Ya just can’t.  If you disagree, grow a heart, dude.

Phil Jackson – Lakers

Gregg Popovich – Spurs

Jerry Sloan – Jazz

(more…)

Anthony has been in the league 7 years now and been out of the first round once. Now, let that sink in for a second. The best scorer in the league (yes, I went there) and arguably the second best overall player in the league has been out of the first round once. Anthony is just now hitting his prime and the way he plays the game he’ll be playing at this level for years to come.

But back to the Nuggets failures, anyone who actually thought the Nuggets had a shot at making any noise this postseason obviously did not look at this roster or how they play without George Karl. With Karl now dealing with throat and neck cancer his coaching tenure with the Nuggets is in serious jeopardy, and the Nuggets don’t have many options out there.

Billups and Martin come off the books soon, Nene is getting up there in age, Birdman has regressed in a major way, and JR Smith is one of the most selfish players in the game.

But the question that the Nuggets front office is going to have address very soon is whether or not Melo is going to re-sign next summer.

With all the talk surrounding this summer and what LeBron is going to do the media is forgetting one major component and that is Carmelo Anthony.
I can say with the utmost confidence the Knicks have a better chance of landing Melo then LeBron. If the Cavs don’t somehow win it all this summer, I don’t want any part of LeBron.

LeBron also has the luxury of being in the eastern conference, while Melo has to deal with one of the toughest divisions in the NBA every year.

As I’ve said before, Melo has been in the league 7 years and made it out of the first round once. If Melo does bolt to NY next summer, he could quite possibly have the luxury of playing with Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, and who knows maybe David Lee.

Melo is rotting away in Denver, save him Donnie.

Let me explain.

The Boston Celtics are likely to advance as Stern just will not have a Magic/Cavs ECF matchup because of the ratings, but Celtics/Cavs is going to be heated and physical. Watching the Celtics get through each round is painful because I’m having to watch one of the most unlikeable teams in NBA history (I went there) advance with players like Kevin Garnett making a fool of himself on the bench, Rondo decapitating wiggers, and Paul Pierce being Paul Pierce. Oh, and who could forget Glenn “Big Baby” Davis and his immature antics on a nightly basis, he certainly has filled in well for KG in that sense. So if the Celtics repeat, I’ll be sick to my stomach.

The Cavs winning a championship is the last thing we need to have happen because once LeBron gets that ring that drops his likelyhood to bolt to New York significantly. He wants rings and if he gets one in Cleveland then you can expect he’ll stay unless we can lure another superstar to NY to join him. So a Cavs/Celtics ECF is a huge loss in my mind.

The Magic aren’t even relevant anymore as there is no chance of them winning games 6 and 7. Stan Van Gundy is one of the most annoying coaches in the game and for his horrible play calling they deserve to be eliminated. You live and die by your jumpshot in Orlando, even though you have the best post player in the game today. Van Gundy doesn’t fit with Howard and must be gone at the end of the season.

Then we have the Denver Nuggets, the team I’m pulling for, really emerging this postseason as contenders. Melo has played out of his mind, Billups has been his playoff self, and the post presence has put them over the top. This team is scary when they’re hot and with each win you have to like their chances over the shaky Lakers. But how soon do people forget George Karl is their coach, and I really don’t want to see Karl get a ring. I’ve never thought highly of him as a coach and I don’t believe he has been the reason this team is succeeding, it’s Chauncey Billups and his leadership. Maybe I’d be ok with them getting a ring if Karl gives his to Iverson for bringing in one of the best playoff players ever.

The Lakers finish off my list. Oh how confusing this team really is. With Bynum back in the starting lineup they look rejuvenated, but for how long? This team is too inconsistent to consider them the favorites. This team really hasn’t shined like I expected them too thus far and feel this team hasn’t lived up to their potential. Kobe’s window is closing quickly and he must realize this is do or die time and if he doesn’t get his title this season then he may never get his ring without Shaq.

Well, there you have it. My playoff thoughts all discombobulated into one post.