If the Spurs lose this series...

[Testing]

Suns probably have the easiet first round matchup out of the top 3 western seeds. Lakers haven't been playing good basketball for over a month now. Kobe will win a game all by himself, but no way the Lakers can win more than that. They don't match up well against the Suns.

[T Park]

yeah the Suns are gonna sweep the Lakers.

I think Mahinmi gets brought over. They use White and Butler more. They draft a long 3, or a good point guard (maybe Acie Law? *crosses fingers*) if they could sign a Pietrus, that would be huge.

[Kobulingam]

Spurs played like and Denver played their max, and we were behind by 2 with a few nanoseconds left?

Duncan missed 50 easy shots at the rim, and Manu looked like he'd been resting for months (actually, that's true).

[FromWayDowntown]

Nuggets had poor bench production, which is unusual. They had 18 TO's. They scored under 100 points. This was far from a 'perfect' Nuggets game.

I also agree the Nuggets would lose to the Suns, but to say they would be swept is ignorant. They played a few weeks ago and Denver won by 25, was up by 40 for much of the game. They both play up tempo, but the Suns have more shooters.

I wouldn't say that the Nuggets were "perfect" last night, but I do think they were pretty significantly above what might normally be expected while the Spurs were pretty dramatically below what might be normally expected.

I think the matchup of Denver's Big 2 and the Spurs' Big 3 is pretty telling of last night's outcome. Carmelo and Iverson combined to shoot 21-40 from the floor and 16-16 from the line on their way to a combined total of 61 points. The Spurs Big 3 combined to shoot 19-52 from the floor (36.5%) and 3-6 from the line for a combined total of 42 points.

If those numbers stay like that, the Spurs will not win.

I'd be shocked, though, if those numbers stay like that.

[JamStone]

I honestly don't get the comment, "Well they played their best and we played 50% and we almost won."

From what I saw, the main reason why the Spurs played poorly was because of Denver's defense. Now, the Spurs definitely missed some open shots they could have made. But, Nene forced Duncan to take very tough shots and Denver was quicker to loose balls and they did a good job doubling the ball late in the shot clock forcing very tough shots. In fact, if they did a better job of closing out Finley on his 3-point attempts, I think the Nuggets could have broken it open in the first half.

I don't think the Spurs are done at all. But, I just don't see the argument that the Nuggets played their best and the Spurs played 50% so the series is still the Spurs.

I think the Nuggets forced the Spurs to play badly. And, I think Denver is a better team than the Spurs were prepared to play. And, unlike 2005, this Denver team is not scared of San Antonio and believes it will win the series. There is no intimidation. And, if there is any, it's with the Spurs on how to stop BOTH Carmely and Iverson.

[tlongII]

I already posted this in another thread, but...

AI > Parker

Melo > Manu

Camby/Nene = Duncan/Elson


These games are about matchups and the Spurs just don't match up well with Denver.

[SpurForLife]

Better put that Championship for Phoenix on solid ice. If we can't elimate them Detroit would more than likely destroy them if they met up in the finals.

[nkdlunch]

I already posted this in another thread, but...

AI > Parker

Melo > Manu

Camby/Nene = Duncan/Elson


These games are about matchups and the Spurs just don't match up well with Denver.

SPurs defense >>>>>>>> Nuggets defense.

Defense wins championships.

[Snake]

I honestly don't get the comment, "Well they played their best and we played 50% and we almost won."

From what I saw, the main reason why the Spurs played poorly was because of Denver's defense. Now, the Spurs definitely missed some open shots they could have made. But, Nene forced Duncan to take very tough shots and Denver was quicker to loose balls and they did a good job doubling the ball late in the shot clock forcing very tough shots. In fact, if they did a better job of closing out Finley on his 3-point attempts, I think the Nuggets could have broken it open in the first half.

I don't think the Spurs are done at all. But, I just don't see the argument that the Nuggets played their best and the Spurs played 50% so the series is still the Spurs.

I think the Nuggets forced the Spurs to play badly. And, I think Denver is a better team than the Spurs were prepared to play. And, unlike 2005, this Denver team is not scared of San Antonio and believes it will win the series. There is no intimidation. And, if there is any, it's with the Spurs on how to stop BOTH Carmely and Iverson.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Finally, some truths and facts from studying the game.

I would say, we still had moments where our defense totally collapsed... just look at how many times we let the Spurs shooters wide open from beyond the arc. But I thought we did a heck of a job inside (the 3 pt line) defensively.

"You played only 50%" because of our defense... not because you decided to show up only 50% for this game because I can see the Spurs were trying but they were just overwhelmed by our interior D. And we haven't played anywhere near best to what we can do. I'd say we played 70% last night.

[NugzFan]

Nuggets probably played the most perfect game they could possibly play.

not even close.

[Duncanoypi]

if spurs lose this series...manu will be traded to portland for z-bo...and tlong will kiss manu's ass..