Mr. Body
04-22-2005, 01:23 PM
I wonder what gets passed around the halls and emails over at ESPN. They must have passed out posters with Marcus Camby and Nene Hilario on them, with bulging pectorals, about a month ago. They looooooove them some Denver Nuggets.
A blueprint for beating San Antonio:
A. You need to get physical with them ... and Denver is the most physical team in the league. Guys like Nene and K-Mart will absolutely knock Mr. Eva Longoria (aka Tony Parker) down the first time he comes cruising down the lane (like the Lakers did last year). Also, Duncan has always been one of the classiest players around -- what happens to him when K-Mart is throwing elbows around, or Nene starts swearing at him in Brazilian? You need to do this stuff against the Spurs; I'm not sure they like rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty, especially with Malik Rose gone. Who's sticking up for TD when Nene clotheslines him into the basket support?
B. You need to keep throwing big guys at Duncan ... and the Nuggets have three good ones (K-Mart, Nene and the wildly underrated Marcus Camby). I see him making the Sad Duncan Face a lot, the one where he stands next to Popovich and looks like a son who just let down his dad in Little League.
C. You need a small forward who can post up the smaller Spurs guys (Ginobili, Bowen, etc.) and take advantage of them ... and the Nuggets probably have the closest thing to a young Bernard King right now in Carmelo Anthony. On paper, anyway.
D. You need a great coach. Not a good coach -- a GREAT coach. And George Karl is one of the best. He'll know exactly what to do here -- push the pace, knock bodies to the ground, bang the bejeezus out of Duncan (who's been banged up all season).
So why aren't I picking the Nuggets? I don't trust Melo yet -- the right team can get him into another one of those Athens-type funks, and I don't like the way he reacts when his shot isn't falling. If you're The Guy for a good team, you need to figure out ways to help them when you're not scoring. When Melo isn't scoring, he also stops rebounding and playing defense. Not a good quality. Still, any time you get two of the best five teams playing each other in round one, that's pretty cool.
A. I wanted to find his email and snap back at this guy - who I usually find amusing - but ESPN hides their columnists emails pretty well, or don't post them, because they know their inane takes would get lots of flak. Anyway, my understanding is that Tony Massenburg is on the roster in order to knock some heads, and I'd take him over Nene, namby-Camby, and the poseur Kenyon Martin any day. Kenyon Martin sure is a tough guy, when the rim is undefended, bo-yee!! I remember something about KM's performance last time he met Duncan in the playoffs. Plus, if anybody tries to take out Parker, woe betide Earl Boykins the next period. The refs don't want to see this get too physical.
B. Yes, the Nuggets have three good big guys down low. The Spurs have Tim Duncan. Would you trade all three for Duncan? Didn't think so.
C. Carmello Anthony is like a young, preschool version of Bernard King. I swear the ESPN crack-pipes have the Nuggets logo embossed on the side. What's Mellow's lifetime shooting percentage against the Spurs? He hits one out of every three shots or so, right? That's excellent odds. Plus, there's always the reverse of each of these points: the reverse, in this case, is a guy named Bruce Bowen. He's not as wide as Anthony, sure, but is deceptively strong. The players Bowen has trouble with are quick and nasty slashers like Wade, not spot-up shooters like Anthony with limited moves.
D. Admittedly Duncan is banged-up, and that's tough. I doubt Karl, who is close to the Spurs' coaching staff and organization, is going to go underhanded and try to take the man out. Karl is a good coach, but what has he won? Seriously? There's a guy on the other bench, you know. Plus, only one team has P.J. CARLESIMO.
It's really frustrating reading these takes. They're so ill-informed sometimes. I try to give them credence, in this case because Simmons is spot-on often. But I don't get the Nuggets love.
Don't people see how weak their offense is? It's predicated on the fast break, which will be shut-down, and on put-backs. Concentrate on each side, and you're set. They only have one offensive starter, and a couple off the bench. One of the biggest worries is Boykins, whom Simmons fails to realize.
A weak offense versus a strong (albeit injury-ravaged) defense? Essentially, this is a weaker version of the 2003 Nets. Not saying they couldn't somehow win the series or send it deep into 7 games, but I don't think it will. As somebody else pointed out, one team here is dangerous: Denver. The other team is far, far more dangerous: San Antonio. The true x-factor isn't Camby's blocked shots or anything on that side, but the Spurs' offense, their outside shooting. If Manu, Barry, Bowen, Udrih, and Robinson get it going from outside, they won't have to grind this series out, it will end pretty fast.
A blueprint for beating San Antonio:
A. You need to get physical with them ... and Denver is the most physical team in the league. Guys like Nene and K-Mart will absolutely knock Mr. Eva Longoria (aka Tony Parker) down the first time he comes cruising down the lane (like the Lakers did last year). Also, Duncan has always been one of the classiest players around -- what happens to him when K-Mart is throwing elbows around, or Nene starts swearing at him in Brazilian? You need to do this stuff against the Spurs; I'm not sure they like rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty, especially with Malik Rose gone. Who's sticking up for TD when Nene clotheslines him into the basket support?
B. You need to keep throwing big guys at Duncan ... and the Nuggets have three good ones (K-Mart, Nene and the wildly underrated Marcus Camby). I see him making the Sad Duncan Face a lot, the one where he stands next to Popovich and looks like a son who just let down his dad in Little League.
C. You need a small forward who can post up the smaller Spurs guys (Ginobili, Bowen, etc.) and take advantage of them ... and the Nuggets probably have the closest thing to a young Bernard King right now in Carmelo Anthony. On paper, anyway.
D. You need a great coach. Not a good coach -- a GREAT coach. And George Karl is one of the best. He'll know exactly what to do here -- push the pace, knock bodies to the ground, bang the bejeezus out of Duncan (who's been banged up all season).
So why aren't I picking the Nuggets? I don't trust Melo yet -- the right team can get him into another one of those Athens-type funks, and I don't like the way he reacts when his shot isn't falling. If you're The Guy for a good team, you need to figure out ways to help them when you're not scoring. When Melo isn't scoring, he also stops rebounding and playing defense. Not a good quality. Still, any time you get two of the best five teams playing each other in round one, that's pretty cool.
A. I wanted to find his email and snap back at this guy - who I usually find amusing - but ESPN hides their columnists emails pretty well, or don't post them, because they know their inane takes would get lots of flak. Anyway, my understanding is that Tony Massenburg is on the roster in order to knock some heads, and I'd take him over Nene, namby-Camby, and the poseur Kenyon Martin any day. Kenyon Martin sure is a tough guy, when the rim is undefended, bo-yee!! I remember something about KM's performance last time he met Duncan in the playoffs. Plus, if anybody tries to take out Parker, woe betide Earl Boykins the next period. The refs don't want to see this get too physical.
B. Yes, the Nuggets have three good big guys down low. The Spurs have Tim Duncan. Would you trade all three for Duncan? Didn't think so.
C. Carmello Anthony is like a young, preschool version of Bernard King. I swear the ESPN crack-pipes have the Nuggets logo embossed on the side. What's Mellow's lifetime shooting percentage against the Spurs? He hits one out of every three shots or so, right? That's excellent odds. Plus, there's always the reverse of each of these points: the reverse, in this case, is a guy named Bruce Bowen. He's not as wide as Anthony, sure, but is deceptively strong. The players Bowen has trouble with are quick and nasty slashers like Wade, not spot-up shooters like Anthony with limited moves.
D. Admittedly Duncan is banged-up, and that's tough. I doubt Karl, who is close to the Spurs' coaching staff and organization, is going to go underhanded and try to take the man out. Karl is a good coach, but what has he won? Seriously? There's a guy on the other bench, you know. Plus, only one team has P.J. CARLESIMO.
It's really frustrating reading these takes. They're so ill-informed sometimes. I try to give them credence, in this case because Simmons is spot-on often. But I don't get the Nuggets love.
Don't people see how weak their offense is? It's predicated on the fast break, which will be shut-down, and on put-backs. Concentrate on each side, and you're set. They only have one offensive starter, and a couple off the bench. One of the biggest worries is Boykins, whom Simmons fails to realize.
A weak offense versus a strong (albeit injury-ravaged) defense? Essentially, this is a weaker version of the 2003 Nets. Not saying they couldn't somehow win the series or send it deep into 7 games, but I don't think it will. As somebody else pointed out, one team here is dangerous: Denver. The other team is far, far more dangerous: San Antonio. The true x-factor isn't Camby's blocked shots or anything on that side, but the Spurs' offense, their outside shooting. If Manu, Barry, Bowen, Udrih, and Robinson get it going from outside, they won't have to grind this series out, it will end pretty fast.