The Rocky Mountain News reports on the Denver Nuggets situation without injured star Antonio McDyess.  The Nuggets themselves are trying not to let the loss of their best big man influence their attitude.

"Man, we just got to suck it up," Nuggets point guard Nick Van Exel said Wednesday after another Nuggets loss, this one a 15-point drubbing in Boston, Denver's sixth loss in seven games. "This is the NBA. We know there will be injuries. We know McDyess is hurt. We can't keep on making excuses and living by excuses. We got to go out and play."

"It's all mental," Nuggets forward George McCloud said. "It's tough enough winning on the road. It's frustrating to beat yourself. We have turnovers that are not from pressure. We can't make those type of mistakes. This is the time you don't want to start second-guessing the situation. You don't want to start thinking, 'There goes the season.' "

"It's easy to get discouraged," Nuggets guard Avery Johnson said. "You just got to be a man. First of all, we are getting paid to do a job. I don't think we take our jobs as seriously as we should. We got to take our jobs seriously. What happens is, you make mental errors over and over again. I don't want to hear about back-to-back games. I don't want to hear us making excuses for ourselves."

This should be prescribed reading for any player or fan who blames their team's record on injuries.