First Round Series- Spurs Vs Nuggets

Game 1 Preview - Denver at San Antonio

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<u><font color="MediumTurquoise">Denver Nuggets (49-33)</font></u> @ <u><font color="SlateGray">San Antonio Spurs (59-23)</font></u>

Date: Sunday, April 24th, 2005
Time: 8 PM ET
TV: National TV: TNT | Local TV: Altitude

Season Series: Tied 2-2
11.27.04: San Antonio 89, Denver 75
1.8.05: Denver 90, San Antonio 99
3.12.05: Denver 90, San Antonio 87
4.1.05: San Antonio 84, Denver 102

Previous Games:

<font color="red">Portland 115</font> @ <font color="mediumturquoise">Denver 119</font>

<font color="SlateGray">San Antonio 73</font> @ <font color="darkgreen">Minnesota 95</font>

Projected Starting Lineups:

<font color="mediumturquoise">Denver</font>



Coach: George Karl

<u>Backcourt</u>
PG: <font color="mediumturquoise">Andre Miller: 13.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 6.9 APG</font>
SG: <font color="mediumturquoise">DerMarr Johnson: 7.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.1 APG</font>

<u>Frontcourt</u>
SF: <font color="mediumturquoise">Carmelo Anthony: 20.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.6 APG</font>
PF: <font color="mediumturquoise">Kenyon Martin: 15.5 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.4 APG</font>
C: <font color="mediumturquoise">Marcus Camby: 10.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 2.3 APG</font>

<u>Sixth Man</u>
PG: <font color="mediumturquoise">Earl Boykins: 12.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 4.5 APG</font>

VS

<font color="slategray">San Antonio</font>



Coach: Greg Popovich

<u>Backcourt</u>
PG: <font color="slategray">Tony Parker: 16.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 6.1 APG</font>
SG: <font color="slategray">Manu Ginobili: 16.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.9 APG</font>

<u>Frontcourt</u>
SF: <font color="slategray">Bruce Bowen: 8.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.5 APG</font>
PF: <font color="slategray">Tim Duncan: 20.3 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 2.7 APG</font>
C: <font color="slategray">Nazr Mohammed: 9.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, .4 APG</font>

<u>Sixth Man</u>
PG: <font color="slategray"> 7.4 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 2.2 APG</font>

<u><font color="mediumturquoise">Denver Regular Season Statistical Leaders:</u></font>
PPG: Carmelo Anthony: 20.8
RPG: Marcus Camby: 10.0
APG: Andre Miller: 6.9

<u><font color="slategray">San Antonio Regular Season Statistical Leaders:</u></font>
PPG: Tim Duncan: 20.3
RPG: Tim Duncan: 11.1
APG: Tony Parker: 6.1

Players To Watch

<font color="mediumturquoise">Carmelo Anthony: 20.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.6 APG</font>
<font color="slategray">Tim Duncan: 20.3 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 2.7 APG</font>

Game 1 Prediction

This could possibly be the closest 2-7 match up we've all seen in a while. San Antonio plays at a slow pace, and play hard nosed defense. The Nuggets however, are always looking to push the ball, and though they have played good defense since George Karl has taken over, their D has taken a noticable slip in the past couple of weeks. I expect San Antonio to get off to a quick start and take a pretty big lead before Denver come's back, but lose it in the 4th quarter. I think San Antonio will win 95-87.

 

Thanks for doing the preview Bobcats, I'm a little late... been slackin off.

Yeah to have any hope of winning this game, we must play D. And it starts from Marcus Camby. He's got the right stuff to block or alter lots of shots that lead to rebound and therefore our fastbreak. Should the Spurs succeed in forcing us to play slower, we should give the ball to Melo, who will post a lot down low on the smaller Bruce Bowen. He's got his ways on Melo (30% shooting in 4 Spurs games this season) but in the last two games, Melo attempted 27 free throws and made 24 of them. Given how fragile Tim's ankle is, we should capitalize by going a lot on K-Mart. If our D picks up, I predict we'll win 96-89. Call me crazy now, but we'll see what happens.

 

I've heard people saying that this series will revolve around Parker. But i disagree. I think the series will depend on the two centers. Whichever one comes back from injury and plays better i believe will win the series.

Edituncan isnt a "center" but u know what i mean

 

Denver has to at least get 1 road game from the Spurs. Going back to Denver at least tied 1-1 would be huge. IMO, Anthony will struggle shooting in this series as he did last year against Minnesota. Bowen and Hassell just frustrate him a lot...

 

^ If he sticks to our offensive structure he should do fine. Lots of down low post.

 

The Nuggets are playing solid, Andre Miller is leading this team and tearing apart the Spurs defense dude has 24 points at the half already. The game was a roller coaster ride and the Spurs made a push in the second half, but the Nuggets made a strong six point swing in the last 30 seconds to tie the game at 52. This series is all about execution and so far the Nuggets aren't really living up to their full potential. Carmelo and K-Mart need to come on for this team, Carmelo has gotten into early foul trouble and got off to a bad shooting start with Bowen on him, and the same thing goes for Martin. If both of them can get it going this team is going to start clicking.

 

congratz denver!! you guys manage to steal home court advantage. I really didn't see it coming..

 

^ What a great game by the nuggets!!! Camby played real well and so did Miller and Boykins!!! Awesome. The rebounding for the nuggets is what made them win the game (and the missed free throws by SA and not to mention that they missed their last 17 (?) shots)

 

I kind of saw this coming, with Duncan hurt and really i expect Denver to at least make it to conference finals, if not finals.

 

Dre was huge but we won it on the defense end. Good job by Karl to clearly assign jobs to his players ... Melo's main role in this one is clearly to rebound. I kinda expected TD to struggle, although not by this much, we gotta give ourselves some credit for the great D job. I hope the Nuggets are not too naive to think this series is over. The Spurs have more smarts to turn this thing around convicingly, eg. by blowing us out in Game 2. We'll have none of it.

 

Congrats Denver, Good Game! Keep up the momentum and stay positve. Lets get some new teams advancing instead of these same and sometimes boring series.
Im not really a fan but a commend ur team on its performance!

 

^ Thanks mich we need as much support as we can get facing these beasts of the West... also congrats on the Bulls win earlier today.

Btw, 94ft/ Bobcats don't worry I got the Game 2 preview

 

Grats to Denver, you guys played great defense in the interior and Andre Miller really came to play.

The end of the 2nd quarter was a real killer for the Spurs, and Timmy never looked comfortable.

That was great playoff basketball, guys on the floor every play.

 

It was Miller Time tonight, glad we stole one tonight and took away their home court advantage.

 

Great win by the Nuggets, Miller played a great game, the best game he will play in this series. Duncan looked really off in that 4th quarter. I don't know If it is the fact he is still playing hurt but for him to 7-22 is unheard of. Camby did a good job on him but that good.

Must win for S.A on wednesday no doubt about it. This match-up was always going to be a bad one for the Spurs. Not having a healthly Tim Duncan against this Nugget frontline is a nightmare.

 

Yes, what a great win! Denver stole homecourt and played great defense. Now if they steal game 2...

 

Defense obviously prevailed for the Nuggets last night. I think they held San Antonio without a field goal for about eight to nine minutes in the last quarter which won them the game. They need to keep it up though, they can't get too confident or the Spurs will trample them.

 

Bottom line is if the Nuggets can win game 2, they take series.

 

Nuggets @ Spurs (Game 2)

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I think you guys know what I mean when I say....the Nuggets didn't "just win". They looked convincing about it. I mean, it's THE SPURS. If you win, it's supposed to be by a .04 shot or something. The Nuggets look awesome.