Denver Nuggets - The Next Level [Game 3 + 4]

[Kenny]

Blazers are really young...

That they are; I hope my dinosaurs can show them a thing or two

What is the rating of Dakota Barry, he might run rings around Billups.

Barry has an overall of 78 and a speed rating of 94, while Billups has an overall of 85 and the same speed rather. If they run pick and rolls for him, they could find a possible weakness I suppose

Not many real players on the Blazers. Hope you can take care of business in four or five.

A lot of teams in the NBA are starting to look like that. A bunch of stars of today's game have been relegated to the bench (Chris Bosh for the Raptors comes to mind).

Blazers with only Roy and Green ? Really young team. What is the Blazers overall?
Nuggets in 6

Not too sure what their overall is, but the team like a bunch of teams in this year are stacked with computer generated players. Makes it hard to predict whose going to be the threat.

What??? Blazers beat the Rockets? Sweep them!

There's a mistake I'd like to point out: you forgot to add names to the IR's of Portland. Not a big deal, but I'm just pointing it out. So, um, yeah sweep the JailBla... I mean TrailBlazers.

What??? Blazers beat the Rockets? Sweep them!

There's a mistake I'd like to point out: you forgot to add names to the IR's of Portland. Not a big deal, but I'm just pointing it out. So, um, yeah sweep the JailBla... I mean TrailBlazers.

I'm pretty sure one of them is Kris Humphries?

But good luck against this team, I want to see you meet the Raps in the finals, ...and if you do, lose

Fixed it now; it's Jeffrey Axel and yes, Kris Humphries

Hoping to sweep these guys... well, I'm hoping to sweep everyone, but we'll see what happens. Won't be laying down to the Raptors either Wyze

Ready the brooms again Sweep it.

Hopefully; I'm pretty interested to see what happens in the off-season, so I'm trying to get through the playoffs as quickly as I can.

Lol @ Portland's bench, all generated rooks. 4-1 for you!

By the way, congrats on the 1000 replies

Thanks Thierry, I'm sure a good portion of those replies are from you, so you deserve a lot of credit for the achievement as well

For that matter, thanks to everyone for the posts on my thread. It's been a lot of fun

[Kenny]

just noticed Billups totally looks like he gave the Wolves crowd the finger in the game 4 pic nice

where's LBJ? must be in NY now, with those results

defnitely go at Boone the whole series and don't let up; he's soft as a newborn pinky mouse compared to your bigs - GL

LBJ is playing for the Suns now along with Stephen Curry.

And yeah, the plan is to make Boone take a lot more shots than he should. Even though his rating is higher than it should be, he's still not a great shooter.

[Kenny]

The Blazers oldest player in Roy which is saying something.

Well, this dynasty is 7 years ahead of real life, so not everyone is as young as they might seem... but still a hell of a lot younger than my team, for I am the Dinosaur Collector

[Kenny]

Denver Vs Portland: First 4 Games

Game 1: The Melo Show seels first game



Carmelo Anthony has once again come up big in the post season as The Nuggets recorded an emphatic 94-74 win in game one against the Trail Blazers. Melo lit up the scoreboard with 43 points, while his direct opponent Jeff Green also top scored for his team, but only had 19. Shannon Brown proved that he can still be an important player for Denver as he scored 19, while J.R. Smith scored 16.

For the Blazers, along with the aforementioned, Brandon Roy scored 17. Dakota Barry managed to score 13, while 6-man Jon Fitzgerald rounded out the scorers with 10. The Nuggets were rarely troubled during the night and if it's a sign of things to come, they might get through this series without any trouble at all.

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POR@DEN

DEN: 94 (Anthony 43, Brown 19, Smith 16)
POR: 74 (Green 19, Roy 17, Barry 13)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 43 points 2 rebounds 3 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 12
POR: Boone 11

Assists

DEN: Billups 7
POR: Barry 8

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Game 2: Perko's career night buries Portland



Just when the Trail Blazers think things couldn't get any worse, they go down 94-63 in game 2 against Denver. To compound the problems they're having, Melo only scored 10 points in this game. Borislav Perko did most of the damage as he registered his first playoff double-double. He scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, along with a team high of 4 assists. He along with Shannon Brown (23) caused most of the problems for a deflated Portland team.

Jeff Green was once again the high-point man for the Trail Blazers with 19. Brandon Roy continued on his sub-par form with 14 points, while Dakota Barry scored 12. The story of the night is definitely how the role players of Denver picked up their game. It's bad enough when Portland let Denver's stars take over, but when the Nuggets get unexpected contributions from guys like Borislav Perko, it's almost impossible for the coaches to devise a gameplan... but they'll have to if they want to stay in this series.

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POR@DEN

DEN: 94 (Perko 26, Brown 23, Anthony 10)
POR: 63 (Green 19, Roy 14, Barry 12)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Borislav Perko 26 points 13 rebounds 4 assists 1 block

Rebounds

DEN: Perko 13
POR: Boone 9

Assists

DEN: Anthony, Mills, Perko 4
POR: Barry, Green 4

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Game 3: Portland improve, but still lose



Denver held off a much improved Portland side to win game three 93-87. In front of the home crowd, the Trail Blazers picked up their act as former Finals MVP Brandon Roy was on fire with 29 points. Dakota Barry and Jeff Green both had solid nights as well, scoring 17 and 16 respectively. Barry would complete his double-double with 10 assists to go with his scoring effort.

But to the misfortune of the Blazers, it wasn't enough to derail the Nuggets. J.R. Smith was the top scorer with 23 points. Chauncey Billups hit some big shots once again as he had 19, while Carmelo Anthony contributed with 17.

This game wasn't easy pickings for Denver as they had to close out the game from the free throw line. Luckily they have some of the best in the business from the stripe.

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DEN@POR

DEN: 93 (Smith 23, Billups 19, Anthony 17)
POR: 87 (Roy 29, Barry 17, Green 16)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Brandon Roy 29 points 3 rebounds 2 assists 2 blocks 2 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 14
POR: Boone 9

Assists

DEN: Billups, Perko 4
POR: Barry 10

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Game 4: Denver escape with sweep



In an exciting finish to the series, Denver have managed to win in Portland with a score of 89-87. Both Jeff Green and Brandon Roy showed up for this one, both having 20 or more points for the game. Darrell Sullivan, who had a disappointing series to this point also picked up his game, registering a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards.

The difference once again would be Carmelo Anthony though. After two relatively quiet games, he came out and scored 36 in this one, as he was supported by J.R. Smith (17) and Chris Andersen, who picked up his first double-double of the playoffs with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Despite Melo's big time performance, the game wasn't over til the final buzzer. With the score at 89-87, Dakota Barry had a chance to win the game with a half-court shot that narrowly missed. There were times that Portland looked like they would stretch the series out; but the class of Denver won out in the end.

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DEN@POR

DEN: 89 (Anthony 36, Smith 17, Andersen 10)
POR: 87 (Green 26, Roy 20, Sullivan 16)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 36 points 4 rebounds 2 assists 2 blocks 2 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 13
POR: Sullivan 12

Assists

DEN: Billups 6
POR: Barry 10

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Click on the thumbnail to see the slideshow for the Portland series:



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The Conference Finals preview will be up next.

[Andrew]

Good stuff, another sweep. The Blazers were severely outmatched until that last game, I don't think anyone's going to stand in your way.

[Axel The Great]

Fixed it now; it's Jeffrey Axel and yes, Kris Humphries

Weird how my name can also be a last name.

Good to see your team still on a rampage, bring Melo his 4th ring!

[Alpha_]

Excellent Win.. wew sweep again.. make it 3 in a row..

[Bucket]

Another sweep.

[Murat]

Blazers are really young...

That they are; I hope my dinosaurs can show them a thing or two

Just they are Badreligionaurus

[Martti.]

You're on fire man! Congrats on the 1000 replies also!

[Murat]

Haha... Read my sig?

[megarover]

Yet another Sweep. You just can't be stopped can you.

[Justine.]

Congrats on your another sweep

[Martti.]

Badger, you do know I meant 1000 replies for this dynasty, not your posts?

[Clutch]

another dominant series

you're facing a 2nd or 3rd seed in the WCF though (and LeBron's in the 3rd seed ) so I doubt they'll be pushovers like these first two opponents

[Murat]

Badger, you do know I meant 1000 replies for this dynasty, not your posts?

Ha. OK.

[cavs4872]

Carmelo was great in Games 1 and 4. It's a relief to him play like that, because I've been playing this game online a lot lately, and all of the Nuggets users just seem to forget about him because they are too busy ball hogging with J.R. Smith.

[Kenny]

Good stuff, another sweep. The Blazers were severely outmatched until that last game, I don't think anyone's going to stand in your way.

Hopefully you're right. I'm eager to see what the off-season will bring.

Fixed it now; it's Jeffrey Axel and yes, Kris Humphries

Weird how my name can also be a last name.

Good to see your team still on a rampage, bring Melo his 4th ring!

I shall do my best sir. It's a pretty badass name whether it's a first or surname

Excellent Win.. wew sweep again.. make it 3 in a row..

It's hard to see myself doing it again, with the quality of opponents in the other half of the West playoff tree, but I'll definitely try my hardest.

Another sweep.

Indeed; after a 7 game series with Houston and getting eliminated by San Antonio in the 6th game in my first season, every sweep I achieve is special

Blazers are really young...

That they are; I hope my dinosaurs can show them a thing or two

Just they are Badreligionaurus

I like it and I may change my screen name to it... ok, maybe not, but I've been thinking of changing it to something people could easily call me by in the forums.

You're on fire man! Congrats on the 1000 replies also!

Thanks Martti, a good chunk of them belong to you, so thank you as well for helping me get there

Haha... Read my sig?

I guessed English might not have been your first language, which is cool. I merely debate with you because we have contrasting opinions

Yet another Sweep. You just can't be stopped can you.

I hope you're right... winning 68 games and not getting a ring would be kind of embarrassing.

Congrats on your another sweep

Thanks Justine, hopefully there will be more to come

another dominant series

you're facing a 2nd or 3rd seed in the WCF though (and LeBron's in the 3rd seed ) so I doubt they'll be pushovers like these first two opponents

Too true; any team with LBJ in it is bound to steal one game off me. Plus the Clippers have a more than formidable lineup and they beat me rather recently as well (even if it was in controversial circumstances). I must concentrate no matter which team advances in this one.

Badger, you do know I meant 1000 replies for this dynasty, not your posts?

Badger, you do know I meant 1000 replies for this dynasty, not your posts?

Ha. OK.

I don't even have 1000 posts yet with my profile... my dynasty has superseeded me

Carmelo was great in Games 1 and 4. It's a relief to him play like that, because I've been playing this game online a lot lately, and all of the Nuggets users just seem to forget about him because they are too busy ball hogging with J.R. Smith.

Yeah I know what you mean. J.R. Smith can be quite Kobe-like in this game, so it's easy to take a whole bunch of shots with him. Melo is far better from mid-range though, which is better in the long run because the three can and will fail you if you overdo it.

I always hated it in Live 08 when people would choose either the Lakers and Suns and ball hog with Kobe and Nash. My team has games where one guy is dominant, but I generally like to get everyone involved.

[Kenny]

NBA Playoffs
Conference Finals Preview



Results

WEST

(1) Denver 4 - 0 Portland (5)
(2) LA Clippers 4 - 3 Phoenix (3)

EAST

(4) Miami 4 - 0 New York (8)
(3) Charlotte 4 - 3 Toronto (2)

Denver Vs LA Clippers

The Lineups



The Starters

| Chris Andersen | Borislav Perko | Carmelo Anthony | J.R. Smith | Chauncey Billups |

The Bench

| Jordan Hill | Patrick Mills | Robin Lopez | Taylor MacKenzie | Nicolas Batum | Shannon Brown | Basil Richter |

IR

| Taj Gibson | Oleksiy Pecherov | Sam Conners |



The Starters

| Stan Morgan | Josh Smith | Ricardo Carlos | Ollie Rose | Reuben Glanville |

The Bench

| James Harden | Joshua O'Brien | P.J. Davies | Eli Buck | Maxwell Tucker | Whitman Ellison | Donn Dowell |

IR

| Philipp Wagner |

Keys

A Blossoming Rose: Ollie Rose has been a standout since he initially came into the league, but this year he's been MVP caliber. He is a dynamite scorer to go along with the fact that he's an all-defensive first team player. Denver will have to throw their best defender on this guy, otherwise a boilover could be in the making.

Bench play: Since I've highlighted Melo and Smith in the first two series', I thought Denver's bench would be worth a mention... and really, they've come up huge this playoffs. Jordan Hill consolidates the defense while giving Denver a solid inside scorer. Shannon Brown has been on fire with some big games, including 31 against the T-Wolves in game one. Batum, Lopez and Mills are more than useful and T-Mac 2.0 is possibly the streakiest shooter in the league. If this bench continues to contribute in high volumes, Denver could reach yet another NBA Finals series.

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Sorry it took so long to get this up. Hopefully the first 4 games of the series can be up soon. Can I achieve another sweep?

[Andrew]

Here's hoping the generated players are no match for the familiar faces.

[kibaxx7]

Aw, sweep on Rip City Here's hoping for a Nuggets-Heat final

[Axel The Great]

Wonder if Ricardo Carlos is Mexican?

Anyways, this should be a sweep, the only familiar players that the Clippers have are Josh Smith and James Harden, while you have 11 (I actually counted them lol). Hoping for a Nuggets-Bobcats finals.

[Murat]

Hoping the finals for you.....badreligionaurus

[Kenny]

Here's hoping the generated players are no match for the familiar faces.

Hopefully, but from experience I know that the Clippers have some good players. Ollie Rose is just absolutely ridiculous and we all know now about the flopper Reuben Glanville

Aw, sweep on Rip City Here's hoping for a Nuggets-Heat final

It's funny, I kind of misread that the first time and saw it as "Sweep City" (they'd probably prefer to be called the Jail Blazers than that). Seeing the Heat in the finals would be interesting because they no longer have D-Wade.

Wonder if Ricardo Carlos is Mexican?

Anyways, this should be a sweep, the only familiar players that the Clippers have are Josh Smith and James Harden, while you have 11 (I actually counted them lol). Hoping for a Nuggets-Bobcats finals.

I checked and he was actually born in Kentucky of all places... maybe his father is spanish or something?

I think no matter who gets in the NBA Finals, it's going to be generated players with bad moustaches all round.

Hoping the finals for you.....badreligionaurus

Thanks Badger... I'm hoping the old farts can still get it done

[Kenny]

Western Conference Finals: The First 4 Games

Game 1: The MVP Arrives as Denver takes game 1



After a slow start, Denver have surged past the Clippers in game 1 to win 104-90. The Clippers led after the first quarter of play by 30-19, which managed to wake up a sleeping superstar. J.R. Smith has produced solid numbers during the playoffs, but hardly "MVP" worthy. This game was a different story though as he poured in 52 points to be the Performer of the Game. Carmelo Anthony scored 14 in a relatively quiet game, while Billups supported J.R. in Denver's comeback as he scored 10 of his 12 points in the 3rd quarter.

As for the Clippers, they actually weren't as bad as the final score would lead you to believe. Josh Smith had a dominant performance with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Ricardo Carlos scored 22, while controversial point guard Reuben Glanville registered a double-double with 16 points and 14 assists. Star player Ollie Rose had a nightmare of a game. Not only did he let his direct opponent score 52 points on him, but he also only contributed 13 of his own.

Overall, there were positive things for the Clippers to take out of this game. If they can have a well rounded team effort like this last time, as well as a better performance by Ollie Rose on both ends, they should be competitive in this series.

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LAC@DEN

DEN: 104 (Smith 52, Anthony 14, Billups 12)
LAC: 90 (Smith 27, Carlos 22, Glanville 16)

Sprite Performer of the Game: J.R. Smith 52 points 2 rebounds 1 assist 1 steal

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 12
LAC: Smith 11

Assists

DEN: Billups, Lopez, Perko 4
LAC: Glanville 14

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Game 2: Birdman is the man as Denver's streak continues



Denver made it to 10 wins in a row this playoffs with a 92-83 win, thanks to one of the most dominant performances ever by a big man in the playoffs. Chris Andersen had a game no Denver fan could ever forget. He scored 24 points to lead all scorers on the night, but the astounding part was that he was able to grab 27 boards. He had a double-double by the end of the first quarter with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He was supported by nice offensive performances by Carmelo Anthony (23) and J.R. Smith (19)

The Clippers had 4 scorers in double-digits, as Ollie Rose led the way with 19. Ricardo Carlos scored 18, while Josh Smith recorded his second double-double of the series with 15 points and 11 boards. Stan Morgan scored 12 points, but his game will be remembered more by the fact that he was the direct opponent of Andersen.

At 38 years of age, the Birdman is very much in the twilight of his career... however if this game is anything to go by, he still has a lot left in the tank.

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LAC@DEN

DEN: 92 (Andersen 24, Anthony 23, Smith 19)
LAC: 83 (Rose 19, Carlos 18, Smith 15)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Chris Andersen 24 points 27 rebounds 3 assists 2 blocks 1 steal

Rebounds

DEN: Andersen 27
LAC: Smith 11

Assists

DEN: Hill, Mills, Smith 5
LAC: Glanville 6

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Game 3: Denver 1 game away after blowout win



Denver are one win away from an NBA Finals berth after an emphatic 104-86 win over the Clippers. J.R. Smith would once again prove prominent as he top scored with 32, but it would be Melo's stat-line that would be judged as the best on the night. He scored 29 points, as well as grabbing 6 rebounds and blocking 3 shots. Chauncey Billups only just missed double figures with 8 points.

The curse looked like it came back to the Clippers in this game, but Ricardo Carlos (23) and Ollie Rose (20) were both desperate to prove that it no longer exists. Reuben Glanville was just shy of a double-double with 14 points and 9 assists, while Josh Smith picked up his 3rd of the series with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

If Denver win the next game, they'll equal the Spurs record winning streak of 12 games.

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DEN@LAC

DEN: 104 (Smith 32, Anthony 29, Billups 8)
LAC: 86 (Carlos 23, Rose 20, Glanville 14)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Carmelo Anthony 29 points 6 rebounds 2 assists 3 blocks 2 steals

Rebounds

DEN: Perko 10
LAC: Smith 14

Assists

DEN: Hill 7
LAC: Glanville 9

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Game 4: Denver equal record and complete another sweep



Denver completed their 3rd sweep of the playoffs by downing the Clippers by 88-81. Their win came off the back of a career performance by super-sub Jordan Hill. Although he didn't record a double-double, he came so close to having a rare quadruple-double. He had an unbelievable stat-line of:

10 points 9 rebounds 9 assists 8 blocks

Meanwhile, both Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith had great performances as well scoring 25 each. Chauncey Billups also had 12.

For the Clippers, they had an even distribution of scorers, led by Ollie Rose who scored 28. Josh Smith had another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Ricardo Carlos and Reuben Glanville both had quiet nights by their stands, scoring 12 and 10 respectively.

With this win over the Clippers, the Denver Nuggets have now gone 12-0 in the 2017 playoffs. With the Western Conference unable to break through, will a team from the East provide them a challenge?

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DEN@LAC

DEN: 88 (Anthony 25, Smith 25, Billups 12)
LAC: 81 (Rose 28, Smith 16, Carlos 12)

Sprite Performer of the Game: Jordan Hill 10 points 9 rebounds 9 assists 8 blocks

Rebounds

DEN: Hill 9
LAC: Smith 11

Assists

DEN: Hill 9
LAC: Rose 6

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Click on the thumbnail below for the slideshow of the WCF series against the Clippers:



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So the Denver juggernaut keeps rolling with another sweep. Can they break the Spurs record of 12 straight wins? Will they sweep the entire playoffs? Or will either the Heat or the Bobcats stand in the way of their destiny? The conference finals results will be up next.