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Nuggets win Game One

(I don't know if anyone cares, but my prediction before tonight would have been Spurs in six. I hate typing that but if I have to make a guess, there it is.)

* * *

Notes from the game:

1. I switched on the game to hear Tim Duncan explain how seriously the Spurs were going to take Nene this series. To me, Nene is the most confusing player in the league. Everyone says he has boatloads of potential, but I've watched the Nuggets since he was a rookie and he looks like almost the same player to me.

No one can deny he's beast physically, and he can be a force on the boards and on defense. He doesn't actually grab a lot of rebounds all the time, but I guess that could be a byproduct of playing next to Marcus Camby and, to a lesser extent, Reggie Evans. And he has next to no moves in the post.

Then tonight he scored 13 and grabbed 12 rebounds while playing 38 minutes of gutsy defense. But he only shot 5-for-12 and committed a third of the team's turnovers all by himself. I do think the Nuggets need a huge series from him to have a chance even though yes, I know they won tonight.

2. Ah, watching Allen Iverson in the playoffs. That was as fun as I'd hoped it would be. He scored 31 and handed out five assists. I've knocked Steve Blake's point guard skills a little this year, but no matter now, because Iverson scored those 31 while shouldering most of the point guard responsibilities. Fantastic.

3. The most encouraging part of the night: 30 points and eight rebounds from Carmelo, who connected on a huge three with about five minutes left. Carmelo's been clutch in the regular season for years, knocking in plenty of game-winners already, but he's always been a little shaky in the postseason.

Obviously the bulk of the credit for his performance goes to Carmelo himself, but I wonder if Iverson's presence hasn't helped prepare him for this playoffs. Here's hoping this year is his coming-out party. I hope he flies under the LeBron/Dwyane Wade radar a little longer, though, because Carmelo plays his best with a chip on his shoulder.

4. Did you see the commercial for USA Basketball? Basically, it was a bunch of guys-Carmelo, LeBron, Chris Bosh, and I think Wade-telling the camera they were committed to representing the country with pride and practicing hard. Whoever put together the commercial has obviously never heard of "show, don't tell", because the ad couldn't have been less convincing. It didn't help that the players approached the spot with tangible "I'm not getting paid for this" enthusiasm.

(Actually, Carmelo looked pretty sincere. LeBron seriously was miserable in the ad-he's not half as charismatic/likeable as I was told he was going to be back in the day. Not that I really care-I don't own any Nike stock-just an observation. I don't want to pile on a 22-year-old, but do any of you still think he'll ever reach that Tiger/MJ level?)

5. I'm thrilled the Nuggets won. But the Spurs weren't the Spurs tonight. I don't really know why it would be the case, but Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in particular sort of looked exhausted tonight. Game 2, Wednesday night, is going to be a real show.

Comments

John said…
Nene was definitely the X-factor last night and needs to be for the entire series if we have any hopes of stealing this one. What impressed me is how active he remained underneath - it was almost like he just outhustled Tim Duncan, and that got under Duncan's skin.

Overall, I was shocked to see a Nuggets team with so much poise down the stretch. AI is a huge part of that mental improvement, and I think having him around not only opens up the floor for Melo but takes a bunch of pressure off of him as well. I already have Wednesday night blocked off on my calendar.
11:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Nugget Rule!
11:19 PM
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