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Nuggets fans may not have been burning Carmelo jerseys in the parking lot of Pepsi Center, but they were braced for the worst. Sure, the Nuggets got  Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Kosta Koufos two second-round draft picks previously belonging to the Golden State Warriors and $3 million in cash, but that didn’t strike them as the makings of a playoff team. They certainly didn’t expect their team to be 5-1 now without Anthony, including wins over the East-leading Boston Celtics, the Atlanta Hawks, and the division rival Utah Jazz.

Not only are the Nuggets not out of the playoff race, they’re in the fifth seed and climbing.

"You guys must think I’m crazy but I think we’re good," Nuggets head coach George Karl said in a recent interview with The Dan Patrick Show. "I had one practice with them, and I’m going ‘whoa!’ What always kind of mystifies me about this world of basketball is there’s so many brilliant minds in basketball; there’s so many guys that believe in the zone or believe in the triangle-and-two, or believe in the slow-down offense, or believe in the fast passing game offense — there’s so many ways to build a philosophy and win. But it seems like in the NBA you can only win with super stars. And I don’t believe that. I’ve always coached kind of doing what everybody else does, I do different. When I went to Seattle, nobody trapped and nobody did anything, so we fronted the post, and we double-teamed post-ups, and we doubled 40 or 50 percent of possessions a game and that worked. I just think why can’t you build a team where you don’t have a top-five player, but maybe a top-20 player at every position. That’s kind of what I’m thinking we’re going to be. We might not have an All Star, but at every position and maybe even have a bench that has more versatility and explosiveness than anybody else. So you have six or seven weapons, you might not have a superstar weapon, but you have good weapons. And then play hard, play defense, and be the most unselfish basketball team that you can be, because team wins more often than talent in this league anyways."

No Melo, no problem?

That’s certainly been the case early on in the post-Melo era in Denver. Arron Afflalo is playing unbelievably well with more touches, Raymond Felton has a very proactive chip on his shoulder after the abrupt trade from New York, Danilo Gallinari looked fantastic before a toe injury sidelined him, and the entire Nuggets team seems to have come together with a point to prove.

George Karl has been right many times before, and while it’s still early, he could be right again. The Nuggets may not need an All-Star to make the playoffs; they might even surprise an unsuspecting team once they get there. Wouldn’t it be something to see the Nuggets get all the way to the Western Conference Finals again without Carmelo Anthony? Wouldn’t it be ironic if Anthony were sitting at home watching his former team advance farther than his current Knicks team?

Stranger things have happened in the NBA. That’s what we keep watching.

The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the best regular season teams in the history of the NBA over the last 10+ years, racking up 50-win seasons with the greatest of ease. Unfortunately, postseason wins have been much harder to come by. One of the main reasons why has to do with their inability to get consistent defensive stops, particularly against quick, penetrating guards. The Mavs began to address their defensive needs over the summer, adding Tyson Chandler to the mix, but took another significant step forward on Thursday by adding Corey Brewer to shore up their wing defense.

The only issue now is where Brewer gets his playing time in Dallas. The Mavs are logjammed at the three with Peja Stojakovic starting and Shawn Marion playing significant minutes off the bench. Caron Butler is also saying he’ll be back before the playoffs, which remains to be seen. There is more of an opening at the two, but Brewer would have to beat out Roddy Beaubois, Jason Terry and JJ Barea, all of whom have figured heavily into the Mavs plans. Nonetheless, Brewer has been promised a significant role, so someone’s going to have to hit the bench.

It’s easy to overlook the Mavericks. After all, as good as they’ve been during the regular season, they’ve made a habit of completely falling apart once the playoffs start. This season, with no major upheaval at the trade deadline and two significant improvements in the defensive department, the Mavericks are starting to look like a team that could make some noise in April, May . . .and possibly even June.
 
Magic Brewing Again In Orlando?

It’s hard to know what to make of the Orlando Magic. 

First they made the unforgivable mistake of breaking up an NBA Finals team when they let Hedo Turkoglu walk away and then traded for Vince Carter. They finally realized what a mistake that was, and worked a huge trade to land Turkoglu back in Orlando, but also sent out mainstay Rashard Lewis in a related move. They took a step back defensively by sending out Marcin Gortat and Mikael Pietrus, while also creating a mess in the backcourt with Gilbert Arenas and Jason Richardson both coming back as part of those deals. 

{AUTHOR_BOX}Since then the Magic have looked brilliant at times, pathetic at others. They won nine straight games shortly after making their pre-Christmas trades, but then settled into being little better than a .500 team for the next two months, much to the dismay of All-Star center Dwight Howard. Even as the national media does its best to miss the point, talking about what Howard might do in 2012, Orlando’s Superman has been very much focused on the task at hand, and he’s been anything but pleased.

After all, the Magic, who slipped briefly to fifth in the East’s standings, are supposed to be one of the Eastern Conference’s elite teams.

It all came to a head when the Magic suffered their most embarrassing loss of the season, 105-111 to the Sacramento Kings.

"I’ve said everything there is to say," Howard said after the loss. "That’s it. I’ve talked every timeout, when we’re in the huddle, in the locker room. What, do you want me to tweet about it? I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do as a leader, so it’s not that. I’m not singling anybody out … but as a team, if you don’t play hard, you’re going to lose every night. … We just can’t have guys or anybody out there not playing hard. We’re professional athletes, you know. This is what we do for a living. If you can’t go out there and go hard for two hours, then you shouldn’t be playing."

Howard’s rant had a noticeable affect on his teammates, and collectively they have now won four games in a row, including impressive wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks and Miami HEAT. The Magic fell behind by 24 in the first half against Miami, only to come storming back for a 99-96 win.

Now we can’t help but ask: Will the real Orlando Magic please step up?

Maybe the Magic needed Dwight Howard to set aside his fun-loving, jokester persona to finally get the message that this is serious business. It doesn’t hurt than Jason Richardson finally broke out of his post-trade shooting slump. Maybe the Magic needed to get past the All-Star break to realize the playoffs are fast approaching. 

Whatever the case, Howard’s tirade has his team focused and winning again, finally beating some of the East’s hopeful contenders. It will be interesting to see how they fare over the rest of the month of March, which pits them against the Chicago Bulls tonight and also brings showdowns with Atlanta, New York (twice) and the Los Angeles Lakers. Can they sustain their winning ways, or will they lapse back into mediocrity again?

The 2010-11 Orlando Magic are a mixed bag, looking like contenders at times and pretenders at others. With Kendick Perkins gone from Boston they could have a very real shot at getting back to the NBA Finals, but will they pay attention long enough to get out of the first round?