The sadness of what we're dealing with

The title is George Karl's curiously emo assessment of the Nuggets' season, in which they could be the first team in NBA history to not quality for the playoffs despite winning 50 games. The Nugs are currently 40-28 with 14 games left to play, and 2.5 games behind Golden State for the 8th seed in the West.

As you might imagine when the 8 seed wins 60% of their games, getting in gives you more than a puncher's chance, especially when the top teams include New Orleans (little playoff experience or home court advantage), Houston (no low post scoring after the Yao Injury), Phoenix (looking better recently, but still trying to fit a round Shaq into a square offense), Dallas...

But getting back to the Nugs, how is it that a team with the top scoring duo in the Association (Melo and Ivy, of course), a surprisingly durable difference maker at center (Marcus Camby, who hasn't been cottony for a long, long time), a reasonable bench, an experienced coach, a good home court...

Well, here's how. Gutless performances on the road in games they really had to have. From losing to the Sixers last week to the Knicks back in November (and yes, it was the first game there since Melo's Jab And Run)...

Well, given the degree of difficulty in the West, it doesn't take much to miss. And they're going to.