[Izulde]

There's a lot of pressure on this team and everybody from me and Larry Brown on down knows it. We've re-vamped this team so completely that Dan Jacobson and Duez Walker are the senior members of the squad, having played all of 2012 in a Nuggets uniform. Larry's going to have to figure out a way to get them to gel and gel fast.

Halloween Night against the Lakers proves an auspicious start as we win 117-102. Emeka Okafor has 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kirk Hinrich looks exactly like the perfect PG I like on my teams with 23 points and 13 assists and our bench was terrific, with 19 and 12 points a piece from Mike Miller and Marcus Williams. That's 19 points in 18 minutes from M&M. Can you say 6th man if he can keep it up? Mateen Yeaton, by the way, scored 20 in his much-hyped Denver debut.

The joy of topping the powerhouse Lakers goes down with a frustrating 79-71 loss to the Timberwolves next game. Kirk Hinrich was our only real offensive force with 20 points, though Marcus Williams did score 12 from the bench. I hate divisional losses.

We snap back with a 100-93 victory over the Jazz, our first of two in three days against Utah. Kirk Hinrich continues to be on fire with 20 points and 10 assists and Good Mike Miller showed up with 17 bench points after scoring just 2 against Minnesota. This is proving a really fun team to watch and I think they're going to surprise some people with just how good they are once they get used to playing with each other.

Divisional doubleheader of Jazz Part 2 and Seattle up next. We lose both and by fairly close margins, the first one 96-92 against Utah despite 20 points and 10 assists from Kirk Hinrich, 15 points and 13 rebounds from Emeka Okafor, 12 and 10 reserve points from Mike Miller and Marcus Williams and 14 bench rebounds from Phillip Gill. The Supersonics superseded us 104-97 as Brooks Smith rained on us for 39 points, runing Mateen Yeaton's breakout game of 28 points and Kirk Hinrich's fifth straight game of 20+ points with 20 exactly.

A 107-93 victory over the Pistons brings us back up to .500 as Emeka Okafor (21 points), [b]Mateen Yeaton (26 points) and [b]Kirk Hinrich (20 points) all break the 20 point barrier, Dan Jacobson doubles at 14 with 14 points and 14 rebounds to go with 6 blocks and Mike Miller leads the second team with 10 points.

The Kings give us the royal treatment on the road, hospitably hosting a 101-91 Nuggets victory keyed by the most astounding team effort I've ever seen from any of my franchises. 7 players in double-digit scoring and not one of them had more than 16 points (Patrick Pastner). Mike Miller topped the reserves naturally, with 13 points, but Phillip Gill added 10 points and continues to flash tantalizing potential.

Toronto brings us back down to .500 even as Patrick Pastner erupts for 30 points and Mike Miller scores 16 off the bench. The Raptors' front court is still otherwordly and with Allen Iverson now in the mix, still averaging over 17 points a game in the early part of his age 38 season, they're just that much more unstoppable. All things considered, 104-92 isn't a bad amount to lose by.

We take out our inability to establish consistent winning on the Bulls, Patrick Pastner pummeling Chicago for 24 points, Emeka Okafor putting up 13 points and 15 rebounds, Kirk Hinrich with 20 points and Phillip Gill with 12 points in 11 minutes to key the reserves.

Sweet revenge against Dallas as we crush the Mavericks 110-89. Mateen Yeaton has his best game yet as a Nugget with 33 points, 3 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks and a steal and Kirk Hinrich (21 points, 14 assists), Emeka Okafor (14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals) and Dan Jacobson (14 points, 12 rebounds), all come out of it with fantastic double-doubles. Something tells me Dallas isn't going to be so hot this year.

A genuine win streak emerges when we nix the Nets 109-99, Mateen Yeaton and Patrick Pastner combining for the most damage at 28 and 24 points respectively, Kirk Hinrich with 12 points and 10 assists, Shane Battier chiming in with 10 points in 10 minutes off the bench.

It's a streak I fear in danger in the upcoming doubleheader against the Spurs and the Rockets, and I'm right as San Antonio beats us 92-85. Only Emeka Okafor with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Mateen Yeaton with 29 points acted like they came to play. Everyone else just sucked. We rebound beautifully with a 20 point victory (114-94) over the Rockets in Houston, though as Mateen Yeaton grounds Yao Ming's boys with a sizzling 37 points. Patrick Pastner chimed in with 20 points, Kirk Hinrich contributes an ecellent 15 points and 18 assists and Phillip Gill double-doubles off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Mateen Yeaton Show continues with another scorching 37 points in a 124-89 win versus the Hornets. Emeka Okafor added 23 points, Mike Miller scored 13 off the bench and Phillip Gill had his second straight reserve double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He may be coming into his potential even faster than I figured.

We end the first month of player with a 120-102 triumph against Cleveland. John Aylsworth, a fifth year player who was taken with the 13th overall pick by the Jazz in 2009 and who signed a free agent deal with the Cavs in 2011, has really come into his own since coming to Cleveland. He torches us for 42 points in this game and is averaging 20.1 points in the early going, a worthy complement to Lebron James (at long last!, King James cries). But even with Aylsworth's 42 points and King James's 27 points, they still can't top Mateen Yeaton's third straight 30+ point game at 31, Patrick Pastner's 27 points or doubles from Dan Jacobson (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Kirk Hinrich (13 points, 14 assists).

And so at 10-5, we're deadlocked with Seattle atop the Northwest, with the worst team in the division the Utah Jazz at 8-8. Yeah, the Northwest is that damn good this year.

I'll cover the other conference notes at the end of next month, as I hate reporting after November, because it's too early.

But I just have to point this out.

The #1 team in the East with an 11-4 record is none other than..... the Indiana Pacers, who are riding 27.5 points a game from Ben Gordon and solid play from Jermaine O'Neal, Tony Parker and Paulinho Buboltz to heights not experienced in a long, long time.

Although I've said before that it's still too early to judge the trade, so far, it seems to have worked out great for both teams. Oh, one more thing. Leroy Wright won the starting C job after all and is averaging 7.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, a block and a steal. He's really found new life with the Pacers and I'm happy for him.

I almost forgot. One more thing.

Buboltz-Yeaton Comparison

Paulinho Buboltz
15 games/10 starts - 14.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 8.7 APG, 0.6 BPG, 0.9 SPG
Mateen Yeaton
15 games/15 starts - 23.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.7 BPG, 1.6 SPG

And Buboltz still has no contract extension.