Fallout!

Nine Days.

That's how long the Nuggets playoff run lasted. The first time the Nuggets Organization has ever been swept in a playoff series. It's time to say goodbye to these Nuggets as they go off to their summer time pleasure, Iverson to make another horrible rap album, Nene to play soccer on the beaches of Brazil, Martin to bed down the rest of the Nuggets Dance squad, and Carmelo to shoot pro-drug, oops, I mean anti-drug videos (not to mention his impending court date).

This will not be the same team next year. Silent Stan did not spend $80 million to have the team finish 8th once again. The stated goal of this team was to win the series they failed to do last night. Hopefully, it's over for this crop. If the Nuggets brass fails to make moves to shore up the defense, i.e. still think that the current team is good enough to win, then I will firmly believe my long-standing suspicion that this is a cursed basketball city. Denver is incapable of having good basketball teams because of the lack of oxygen deprives the minds of basketball GM's to make quality decisions.

To wrap up this series: Kobe Bryant owned the Nuggets. There that's it. When it mattered he put the dagger in the heart. Hitting sick jump shots both open and with a hand in his face. When he wasn't scoring he was dishing the ball to other Lakers who would score in bunches. The Nugs were focused on Bryant that they forgot about Gasol, Odom, and Walton, not to mention pesky Derek Fisher. I can break it down even further for you Nugget apologists with a word association:

Kobe is to Clutch Superstar, as Melo is to ______?

Any guess?

That's right. LOSER.

We have an exclusive here. Kobe Bryant had some words for Melo after the game. Through secret micro phone we were able to determine that Kobe said, "Get the hell out of this town as soon as possible. Get away from Martin and Camby and George Karl. Don't become another victim of playing Karl's loser ball."

Heed the old hand's advice young one.

So where do the Nuggets go from here. Melo will be back, he's still the face of the franchise. AI will be back because no other team would take him. Camby will be back because the Nugs brass is still under the ridiculous delusion that he can play defense. Martin will be back because they can't trade his salary away. JR Smith will be back because he's young and developing. Nene will be back, he still has yet to play a healthy season, so not team would trade for his unproven salary command. Karl will be back, but if this happens again he's gone. And if the team struggles in the middle of the season, he'll leave. Role players Najera and Carter are probably gone, and I'm not sure about Kleiza.

In essence, the team will remain the same. And everyone will be high on the Nuggets again next year. But it will be the same old show. It's just a matter of when Kroenke will pull the final curtain closed.