I distinctly remember 2007, when we played the Nuggets in the 1st round of the playoffs. They won game 1 and a prominent Denver columnist wrote about how we were done, how they were going to eliminate us because "they weren't satisfied with one win".
We promptly handed them their ass in the next 4 games. :lol
This is the article in question:
Spurs are on their way outBy Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist (
[email protected]?subject=The Denver Post:)Posted: 04/23/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT4 Comments (http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_5728864#disqus_thread)
San Antonio - With a 95-89 victory everybody else in basketball will regard as an upset, the Nuggets sent an unmistakable, undeniable message to Tim Duncan and the once-great San Antonio Spurs.
It's over for you.
It has been a great run by the Spurs, including three NBA championships, but it's done.
If Sunday's victory by the Nuggets in the postseason opener was so shocking, why didn't anyone in the visiting locker room look surprised?
After Denver claimed Game 1 in this best-of-seven series, someone asked center Marcus Camby if it was reason to party.
"We're not content," Camby insisted. "We ain't happy."
"That's what I'm talking about, M.C.," chimed in Jack Murphy, the team's video coordinator. "We're businessmen on a trip, here to do a job. We don't need to celebrate."
I'm not saying this series is over.
And the Nuggets certainly know better than to count out San Antonio.
"We know how serious it is," Nuggets point guard Allen Iverson said.
But what was revealed Sunday night is the Spurs are too thin, too gray and too vulnerable to be considered real threats to win it all.
So Denver might as well knock them out now and save San Antonio the inevitable disappointment down the road.
After Duncan clanked shot after shot under relentless defensive pressure by Nene, the normally unflappable San Antonio superstar was spied during the first half rubbing hands across his mug like a fuming child who could not believe what was happening to him.
"You're playing against a Hall of Fame player, and you can't stop a guy like that, all you can do is contain him," Iverson said of the intensity Nene employed to rattle Duncan. "Nene did a great job of just taking the challenge."
If Mr. Robot Face is what you normally see from Duncan, then his display of frustration means the Spurs are in real danger, Will Robinson.
After watching Carmelo Anthony and Iverson combine for 61 points, taking over at crunch time in a raucous arena, you must acknowledge Denver possesses as much or more talent than the Spurs.
There's only one Bruce Bowen, San Antonio's designated defensive pest, and he cannot be a gnat buzzing in the ears of Anthony and Iverson at the same time.
Once, as every bone in the body of San Antonio big-shot artist Robert Horry creaked as he raised himself from splatting on the floor, I swear you could see the AARP card slip from his pocket. The Spurs are old. They're ornery. They won't go quietly. But their roster has too much mileage to make a long playoff run.
Maybe the only thing really shocking about Denver's victory was how workmanlike it was.
Unlike two years ago, when the Nuggets teased us by stealing the opening playoff game in San Antonio when Andre Miller played out of his head and the Spurs missed 17 shots in a row, Denver has found a new formula capable of repeat success.
This time, the dream of winning a playoff series for the first time since 1994 is real.
Anthony and Iverson, not Duncan and Spurs point guard Tony Parker, were the best two players on the court.
It was the Nuggets who appeared more composed with the game on the line, going on an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take control.
"We didn't panic," said Iverson, who started slowly only to score eight crucial points in the final period.
After trading for Iverson in December, it took so long for the Nuggets to find an identity and learn player roles that you worried they might run out of name tags.
"We had some struggles. But there's nothing you can do to fast-track things," Denver vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said.
The pain of discovery is paying dividends now.
The Nuggets are no longer a classic running team. Those rainbow uniforms are in mothballs, and the soft running jumper of Alex English is a fading memory.
But, maybe, just maybe, Iverson has taught the Nuggets how to win the gutter fights and halfcourt battles in the dirty little wars that define playoff basketball.
What is that annoying chant fans scream incessantly in San Antonio's arena?
Go, Spurs, go.
And turn out the lights when you leave.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or
[email protected].