Is anybody else tired of Stephen A. Smith?  The guy is full of rhetoric, is argumentative, and is way too loud.  Not many people fall into this category.  Rush Limbaugh comes to immediate mind.  It is very difficult for me to listen to Smith on the radio, I always search for another channel.

Saturday there were a couple of trends that applied to Denver and to Atlanta.  I released Denver as a premium pick and made Atlanta the free pick of the day.  I played the Nuggets heavier than the Hawks, I felt playing on Denver against the Lakers was a lower risk than going against the Celtics, one of the best defensive teams in the past 40 years in the NBA, with a below .500 team. 

Watching Denver and Atlanta play was like watching a team that cared about their future, Atlanta, and a team that couldn't wait to go on their summer vacation to Italy, Denver.  If I was a Nugget fan, or even worse, a Nugget fan who paid the high prices NBA teams demand of their fans to go to Saturday's game, I would be one pissed off patron. 

I have never seen a team in a more serious situation to have as little of focus and intenisty as I saw in Denver Saturday in Game 3 against the Lakers.  During the game, Carmelo Anthony is 2 for 10 from the field and the Nuggets are down by double digits.  Anthony puts up another brick and is smiling coming down court after the shot.  One of the TV announcers, Reggie Smith, a former NBA all-star, is incredulous in disbelief.  "How can he be smiling"?, Miller exclaimed. 

Apparently, along with other Nuggets, cause he doesn't give a damn.  Anthony may have well been saying, "Thank you Denver fans for your support, but the season is over."

Compare the Nuggets pathetic efforts to Atlanta beating the Celtics on Saturday.  The HAwks were a team that wanted to give their fans their moneys' worth.  Both Denver and Atlanta were off of back to back double digit losses, seeds 8 versus seeds 1. 

To paraphrase Senator Joseph Welch during the Army-McCarthy hearings in the 1950's, "Denver, have you no shame"?