Reply With Quote
WHAT are they??????
Road to Rings....That's OUR road!
Nuggets opening on road to rings
Denver wants what San Antonio has
By Adam Thompson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Launched: 11/01/2005 01:00:00 AM
The best-laid plans can change quickly in an NBA where Phoenix wallows as a lottery team one season and leads the league in victories the next.
But as long as injuries don't change cir stances drastically, the Nuggets can bank on one thing. If they're going to rise to the top of the Western Conference, they're going to have to go through San Antonio to get there.
Before the Nuggets and Spurs tip off the NBA season on national television tonight in San Antonio, the Spurs will receive their third set of championship rings in seven seasons. And they will do so with their three cornerstone players still in their 20s.
Get used to seeing Tim Duncan (29) , Manu Ginobili (28) and Tony Parker (23) trying to keep the Nuggets from reaching their goals over the next few years. All three are signed through at least 2009.
"They're the standard for the West, the standard for the league," said Denver forward Kenyon Martin, who hopes to be able to play his normal amount of minutes tonight despite offseason knee surgery that slowed him during the preseason.
Nuggets center Marcus Camby was more succinct. "They have awesome players," he said.
Nuggets coach George Karl, who will miss tonight's game and Wednesday's home opener against the Los Angeles Lakers to serve a suspension, said he worries about his own team first. But he added that it's good to know who the Nuggets have to get past.
"I mean, this is a team that's proven for five to 10 years that they're not going to go away," Karl said. "Their organization is strong, their talent pool is strong, their coach is strong, their fan base is strong."
Denver made internal and external changes during the offseason with the Spurs specifically in mind.
Karl said he likes the Nuggets' only free-agent acquisition, guard Earl Watson, in part because of how he might be able to defend Parker. The Nuggets also have adopted some of San Antonio's perimeter defensive principles after getting eliminated in five games in the first round of last season's playoffs. Denver shot 11-of-42 - 26.2 percent - from 3-point range in that series.
"San Antonio was a little mentally tougher on every possession than we were," Karl said during training camp. He recently added, "They beat us because they have a little more trust, a little more belief, a little more togetherness."
Martin looks at his own team and sees the chemistry getting better. "A team like San Antonio, they've been playing together for years," Martin said. "They have that chemistry: 'I know this guy. I know where he's going to be.' We have that now. That can help a lot."
The Spurs seem aware that this may not be a lopsided rivalry much longer. In talking about the NBA's best teams, Duncan readily wedged in the Nuggets with Detroit, Miami and Phoenix.
"Denver is going to be one heck of a team," he said of the only team to beat the Spurs twice at the SBC Center last season. "They ended with one heck of a roll. We beat them in the first round. But no telling what they could have done if they got off to a roll there."
The Nuggets hope to start that roll six months later, instead. At a players-only dinner Sunday night, Martin told his teammates what he expects of them. He reiterated that the Nuggets can't take the early part of the season for granted. If they do live up to those grandiose plans, they all know who will be waiting for them at the end.
Brooks replacing suspended Karl
Nuggets assistant Scott Brooks said he had trouble sleeping Sunday night - but not because he will make his regular-season, NBA head- coaching debut as a sub for Karl this week. He said his young daughter climbed into bed with Brooks and his wife. "She's a kicker," he joked. As for facing San Antonio's Gregg Popovich tonight and the Lakers' Phil Jackson on Wednesday in Denver, Brooks said: "We have a good team. If we had a bad team, I'd be really stressed out right now."
SPOTLIGHT ON MANU GINOBILI
The guard from Argentina who played such a big role in the Spurs' first-round victory over the Nuggets in the playoffs last season is questionable for tonight's opener because of a bruised right quadriceps. That couldn't be coach Gregg Popovich playing mind games with the Nuggets' Scott Brooks, who steps in for the suspended George Karl tonight, could it? Karl said Voshon Lenard would draw the first defensive assignment on Ginobili.
NOTEBOOK * NO DEAL FOR NENE:
As expected, the deadline for the Nuggets to extend Nene's contract passed without a deal Monday. The fourth-year forward now becomes a restricted free agent at season's end. "The Nuggets and we made good-faith efforts, but our perception of values is just too far apart at this point," said Nene's agent, Michael Coyne. "They want him there, and he wants to be there. He's happy with the direction of the team and Coach (George) Karl. He loves the fans and facilities and town." Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said he and Coyne spent a "fair amount of time" on the phone Monday. But Vandeweghe said that just because they could not reach a deal "doesn't mean that we don't like Nene a lot or anything like that. I think the majority of players go into their fourth year and become free agents. I'm still optimistic he'll be with us, and he's a very valuable player."
* FOOTNOTES: The Nuggets will put rookies Julius Hodge and Linas Kleiza, along with injured swingman Bryon Russell, on the inactive list for their opener in San Antonio tonight. ... The New York Daily News quoted available small forward George Lynch as saying Denver is one team the NBA veteran would consider playing for. But Lynch's agent, Steve Kauffman, said Monday, "George is going to get employed relatively soon, but I don't see it being in Denver."
WHAT are they
Road to Rings....That's OUR road!
Is it just me, or is Tim starting to really talk like Pop? He doesn't quite get those 50 and 75 cent words in there, but all of this use of "heck of a" to describe an opponent or a player sounds eerily like the Coach when he's talking to the media and in a good mood (when he's not happy, those "hecks" tend to become " s"). Just an observation.
WHAT are they
Road to Rings....That's OUR road!
whoa calm down. thats the road every team starts on when the season starts.
You have to look at the whole statement. What they mean is that Denver's first game is on the road on the night the Spurs get their rings.Nuggets opening on road to rings
Funniest thing I've read in a while- Voshon Lenard will get the defensive assignment on Ginobili. TNT might as well change the program rating to R if that's true.
Every team wants what the Spurs have, right?
TNT might as well change the program rating to R if that's true.
sorry...still high on all that halloweencandy......
Earl Watson is good ;-)
...
speaking of...maybe they meant the yellow brick road!
with watson & boykins
Where was this said?
baseball forum in the middle of October.
The New York Daily News quoted available small forward George Lynch as saying Denver is one team the NBA veteran would consider playing for. But Lynch's agent, Steve Kauffman, said Monday, "George is going to get employed relatively soon, but I don't see it being in Denver
I didn't know George Lynch was available.
Hed be a solid guy to sign for the bench.
Is there anybody with a recognizable name that you DON'T think would be "a solid guy to sign for the bench"?
Hmmm....reminds me of that one En Vogue song, what was the le?Denver wants what S.A. has
How embarrassing...
Neva Gonna Get It
That was the first thing I noticed there also. I almost wanted to read it again to make sure it was Tim and not Pop.
People in want ice water. I don't think they're getting any, either.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
