Optimism in Denver

For one night at least, the Carmelo Anthony/Allen Iverson dynamic worked well in Denver. They won their first game playing together and even though they only beat the Grizzlies, there's still a lot of optimism in Denver and for good reason. With a core lineup of Carmelo, Iverson, J.R. Smith, Camby, and Steve Blake, this is one scary team. The problem though is that they're in the west and they have a lot of ground to make up. They would currently be the 7th seed if the playoffs were to start today, 11 games behind the Mavericks and it certainly doesn't help that the western conference is just freaking insane this year. The Mavs and Suns are absolutely phenomenal, in fact, I don't think I'd have a complaint if the NBA cancelled the 2nd half of the season and had a best of 41 series between the Suns and Mavs. And even beyond that you have a Jazz team that is playing phenomenally, the Duncan led Spurs that somehow are always in it, a Houston team that should become very good again once Yao returns (and especially if Tracy can stay healthy), and the way Kobe has gotten the rest of the Lakers playing makes them a scary team too. All in all, if they develop a chemistry together and work everything out, this could become the third or fourth best team in the west and get deep in the playoffs or maybe in the finals if things work out well enough. They have a reaon for this optimism in Denver and whether it will pay off, we'll just have to wait and see...