air's Nuggets dynasty

[air]

HonorGlow, check your mail, I might have sent the end of season stats already. If not I should have them on my HD.

[air]

Nuggets vs. Lakers matchup preview
by Mike Nugget, Denver Post Sports Writer

Denver Nuggets will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semi-finals. Here is a closer look at the matchups in the series.

Centers: Marcus Camby vs. Brian Grant
Camby must score, and he must score big. He is currently the only low post scoring threat on the Nuggets, and if Grant is able to hold him down, the Nuggets will have to go outside more than ever. Camby is almost entirely responsible of low post scoring in the absence of Nene and Kenyon Martin.

Power forwards: Eduardo Najera vs. Lamar Odom
This matchup could be the one to decide the series. Despite showing flashes of his abilities, Najera has been largely disappointing especially in the playoffs. He had serious trouble against Stromile Swift in the first round, so expect that to continue against Lamar Odom, who holds the keys for winning the series for the Lakers.

Small forwards: Carmelo Anthony vs. Caron Butler
Anthony became Denver's go-to guy after Martin's injury and he must stay that way and lead his team with his scoring. He must also remain focused on defence, because Caron Butler has been a major scorer for the Lakers. If Anthony lets Butler score, his own scoring will not be enough of an advantage for the Nuggets.

Shooting guards: Joe Johnson vs. Kobe Bryant
Johnson was the hero in game six against Memphis, but he needs to step up again because he is facing one of the best players in the league. Johnson must keep Bryant from reaching sky-high figures, and his outside shooting needs to be more accurate than ever in absence of Denver's two low post scorers.

Point guards: Jason Williams vs. Chucky Atkins
Atkins is not one of the league's top point guards, but despite that he got the better of this matchup in the regular season game with his scoring. Williams has to stay on his man, because if Atkins reaches the figures he did in the regular season game it will be a huge bonus to add to Bryant and Odom's scoring figure, which is bound to be high. Williams needs to hit the occasional three-pointer because Denver are lacking offensive options.

Bench
Both teams have a rather weak bench, with Lakers' main threats being Devean George, Luke Walton and Chris Mihm. The Nuggets have to dig deep into their roster as rookie power forward Linas Kleiza will be in action for the first time this season. Their main bench players are outside shooter Wesley Person, point guard Earl Boykins and center Francisco Elson, who is also expected to play a bigger role than in previous games.

Prediction
The Nuggets will not be able to cope with the absence of two star players. Series goes to Lakers in five games.

Tell us your prediction
We want to know how you feel Martin and Nene's absence will affect the outcome of the series. Send in your predictions today!


Atkins was in good form scoring 28 points when the teams met during regular season. Denver came out 92-86 winners.

[Keo]

Preview looks great. Take it to the Lakers!

[JoshD]

you should beat the lakers with a strong Nuggets team

[colickyboy]

We want to know how you feel Martin and Nene's absence will affect the outcome of the series. Send in your predictions today!

denver over lakers in six

[Sac-1]

Great preview...good luck

[Anthony15]

Go Nuggets...Nuggets will win in 5!

[air]

Thanks for all your support.

*Sensation* Posted:

Preview looks great. Take it to the Lakers!

Cheers. I'll do by best to do that.

Stewie_G_Griffin Posted:

you should beat the lakers with a strong Nuggets team

I think there's a hint of irony there somewhere.

colickyboy Posted:

denver over lakers in six

Thanx for your prediction!

{SAC-1} Posted:

Great preview...good luck

Cheers. I WILL need it.

Anthony15 Posted:

Go Nuggets...Nuggets will win in 5!

Thanks for your prediction (never gonna happen that easy).

As I already posted I'll be away for the weekend.

Game one against Lakers will be up on Monday (maybe Sunday). I'll get back to the forums then, so stay tuned.

[brad feet]

go lakers!!!!! lakers in 6
great preview by the way.....

[air]

NUGGETS LOSE GAME ONE DESPITE CAMBY'S HEROICS

LA Lakers 89
Denver 81
LA leads series 1-0

Denver Nuggets are facing an uphill battle in the conference semi-finals against Los Angeles Lakers. With power forwards Kenyon Martin and Nene injured, Marcus Camby had to take more responsibility of scoring. The Nuggets had a clear strategy, starting Francisco Elson at center and Camby at power forward. They got Camby's defender Lamar Odom into early foul trouble, allowing Camby to match up against a weaker defender in Luke Walton. It worked amazingly well, with Camby scoring an incredible 40 points, but that was not enough for a Nuggets win as the rest of the team failed to perform. Once Odom returned towards the end of the game, the Nuggets couldn't find a scorer and the Lakers took an eleven-point lead. The Nuggets cut it to a single point with less than two minutes to go, but when Camby couldn't finish against Odom and the Nuggets' outside shots were not falling, it was all over.

"I think Marcus [Camby] had a great game. It's too bad the rest of the team couldn't help out on scoring", said point guard Jason Williams.

Starters:
LA Lakers
C B. Grant
F L. Odom
F C. Butler
G K. Bryant
G C. Atkins

Denver
C F. Elson
F M. Camby
F C. Anthony
G J. Johnson
G J. Williams

Player of the game:
Camby DEN 40/10/2 ast/2 blk

Stats:
LA Lakers
Grant 8/11/4 ast
Odom 12/5
Butler 10/4
Bryant 22/2/3 ast
Atkins 14/3/6 ast
George 4
Cook 2
Mihm 2/3/3 blk
Jones 10
Wafer 5

Denver
Elson 8/9
Camby 40/10
Anthony 10/5
Johnson 4
Williams 3/3/2 ast
Boykins 2/4/2 ast
Person 6
Voskuhl 6
Najera 2

Pictures:


Camby was on fire from the start.


Voskuhl scores his first points as a Nugget.


Bryant catches Atkins' pass for the alley-oop.

[Jugs]

Bad luck on the loss against the Lakers, hopefully you can bounce back

[air]

NUGGETS' LACK OF DEPTH SHOWS IN GAME TWO

LA Lakers 98
Denver 94
LA leads series 2-0

LA Lakers took a two-game lead in their Western Conference semi-final series at Denver tonight. They took control of the game right from the first quarter against a Nuggets team with a new starter in form of Greg Buckner, who replaced Joe Johnson. The change did not seem to help the Nuggets as they went into the second half of the game losing by 10 points after a great buzzer beater by player of the game Chucky Atkins. They were still losing by the same margin after the third and only managed to cut into the lead late in the game with excellent outside shooting by point guard Jason Williams. It was only a four-point loss for the Nuggets but they had certainly played much worse than that. Jeff Bzdelik explained his view after the game.

"We have two players out but we're not doing the best we can with this team. It's tough to have two stars out but you just have to cope with that. We're going to make some changes for the games in L.A. in order to get the best out of all our players."

Starters:
LA Lakers
C B. Grant
F L. Odom
F C. Butler
G K. Bryant
G C. Atkins

Denver
C F. Elson
F M. Camby
F C. Anthony
G G. Buckner
G J. Williams

Player of the game:
Atkins LAL 26/4/6 ast

Stats:
LA Lakers
Grant 10/9
Odom 21/8
Butler 10/5/2 ast
Bryant 17/2/5 ast
Atkins 26/4/6 ast
George 3
Walton 4/3
Mihm 4
Jones 3

Denver
Elson 0/3
Camby 32/7
Anthony 18/7/3 ast
Buckner 0
Williams 20/5
Johnson 11
Person 10
Voskuhl 2
Boykins 0/3 ast
Najera 1/4

Pictures:


I started Buckner because I thought Johnson's scoring would improve coming off the bench when my big scorers are not on. I was wrong.


Johnson comes back in and makes sure Odom doesn't get the basket.


Camby scored lots, but with him at power forward my rebounding is not good enough.

[Keo]

Very tough losing first two games at home, Ouch! You're in a hole man. It's do or die! Best of luck to you.

[Sac-1]

oh very bad start...escpically that they are at home....common man you can do it...good luck next game

[colickyboy]

down 2-0...what a shocker! but you showed improvement in the second game, so i think you're on the right track

[Kobe101]

Dont give up! When are MArtin and Nene coming back?

[Anthony15]

u better wain game 3 or u lose the series!

[nbalova2]

this is my 2nd favorite dynasty and your down 2-0. PLEASE WIN NEXT GAME!!!!!

[Its_asdf]

I haven't been posting here too often but this is definitely one hell of a dynasty. Damn.... Into the playoffs already, I should read this thing more often. You just dug yourself a 2-0 hole man, I hope you do better in game 3.

By the way, your dynasty has "inspired" me to make a Denver dynasty as well.

[air]

NUGGETS ON THEIR WAY OUT OF PLAYOFFS

Denver 64
LA Lakers 69
LA Lakers lead series 3-0

It looks like Denver Nuggets' season is coming to an end. They lost game three of their Western Conference semi-final series against LA Lakers at the Staples Center tonight. After scoring just eight points in the first quarter, the Nuggets stepped up their game, hustling for points and surprisingly leading the game 53-50 after the third quarter. They couldn't finish the game off in the final quarter, and Marcus Camby's missed shots proved to be what decided the low-scoring game. It was again a different lineup, with Eduardo Najera making his first start of the playoffs. Camby was soon moved to power forward, because he couldn't find his scoring touch at center. Carmelo Anthony was again quiet, with Lakers' small forwards Caron Butler and Devean George holding him to only nine points.

If the Nuggets manage to win game four they could still have a lifeline, as Nene and Kenyon Martin could be fit for the fifth game. The way it's looking now that will be too late.

Starters:
Denver
C M. Camby
F E. Najera
F C. Anthony
G J. Johnson
G J. Williams

LA Lakers
C B. Grant
F L. Odom
F C. Butler
G K. Bryant
G C. Atkins

Player of the game:
Odom LAL 14/10

Stats:
Denver
Camby 22/8
Najera 3/5/2 ast
Anthony 9/3/4 ast
Johnson 6
Williams 7/5/2 ast
Elson 6/11
Person 7/4
Boykins 0/6/3 ast
Voskuhl 2/3
Kleiza 2

LA Lakers
Grant 11/6
Odom 14/10
Butler 17/5
Bryant 11/4/3 ast
Atkins 3/7
George 4
Mihm 2/4
Wafer 5
Walton 2

Pictures:


It's not much fun relying on players like Linas Kleiza in the playoffs.


With Camby at center I don't get low post points, with Camby at power forward I lose too many rebounds.


I like a good catch-and-shoot player at shooting guard. Person is doing that better than Johnson right now.

PLAYOFF SERIES

WEST
1 Sacramento 2
4 Phoenix 2

2 Denver 0
6 LA Lakers 3

EAST
1 Detroit 1
4 Indiana 2

2 Washington 2
7 Boston 1

[air]

Incredible Jugs Posted:

Bad luck on the loss against the Lakers, hopefully you can bounce back

Nice to see new people posting on the thread. See you around.

{SAC-1} Posted:

oh very bad start...escpically that they are at home....common man you can do it...good luck next game

*Sensation* Posted:

Very tough losing first two games at home, Ouch! You're in a hole man. It's do or die! Best of luck to you.

Thanks. If I was in a hole before I'm not sure what I'm in now!

olickyboy Posted:

down 2-0...what a shocker! but you showed improvement in the second game, so i think you're on the right track

I didn't see it as an improvement, it was just Williams' crazy three-point streak towards the end...

Kobe101 Posted:

Dont give up! When are MArtin and Nene coming back?

Probably after I've been knocked out.

nbalova2 Posted:

this is my 2nd favorite dynasty and your down 2-0. PLEASE WIN NEXT GAME!!!!!

Anthony15 Posted:

u better wain game 3 or u lose the series!

Thanks for your support. I'll give it my best shot in game four.

Dr. Funky Posted:

I haven't been posting here too often but this is definitely one hell of a dynasty. Damn.... Into the playoffs already, I should read this thing more often. You just dug yourself a 2-0 hole man, I hope you do better in game 3.

By the way, your dynasty has "inspired" me to make a Denver dynasty as well.

Cheers! It goes fast with a 29-game season, but I wanted to get through a couple of seasons instead of getting to 70 games in a regular season or something.

Good thing you're starting a dynasty, as y'all know I've been away and then I played games one, two and three, I better go check out what's happening on the dynasties.

Stay tuned for game four. As I said I'm giving it my best shot but I must admit I'm running out of ways to try and win.

[nbalova2]

good luck in game four.

[Sac-1]

OMG you lost again....well try to be the 8th team in NBA history to comeback and win when you are down 3-0....good luck

[air]

nbalova2 Posted:

good luck in game four.

{SAC-1} Posted:

OMG you lost again....well try to be the 8th team in NBA history to comeback and win when you are down 3-0....good luck

Cheers. This is an interesting point, I was just wondering if anyone's come back from 3-0 down. Here's game four.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NUGGETS STAY ALIVE WITH OVERTIME BUZZER-BEATER BY PERSON

after OT
Denver 100
LA Lakers 99
LA Lakers lead series 3-1

Denver Nuggets took a close win in game four of their Western Conference semi final series against Los Angeles Lakers tonight. Having led the game by a small margin after each of the first three quarters, they were close to losing the game after a Chucky Atkins three-pointer gave Lakers a two-point lead with less than 20 seconds on the clock. It was up to Marcus Camby to save his team, and he did just that as the Lakers surprisingly let him go one-on-one against Lamar Odom. The game was tied 87-87 after the fourth quarter and it was off to overtime, which was to have a dramatic finish. Lakers had the ball with 25 seconds on the clock, and the impressive Odom converted with a hook shot, leaving only 2.3 seconds on the game clock. Denver took a timeout and up stepped Wesley Person, who amazingly drained a three-point shot, leaving only a fraction of a second on the clock and giving Denver a win by the smallest margin.

Denver took control of the game early by getting Odom into foul trouble, allowing Marcus Camby to find his scoring touch. Camby carried his team with an amazing 37 points, while Carmelo Anthony, troubled by Lakers' double teams, added 21. The difference maker in the game, however, was the Nuggets' bench, with Person, Earl Boykins, Jake Voskuhl, Linas Kleiza and Eduardo Najera all adding points and rebounds. Voskuhl was perhaps the most impressive with 10 boards.

"We helped the starters just like a good bench should do", said game-winner Wesley Person. "We must carry on where we left off tonight in game five."

Starters:
Denver
C F. Elson
F M. Camby
F C. Anthony
G J. Johnson
G J. Williams

LA Lakers
C B. Grant
F L. Odom
F C. Butler
G K. Bryant
G C. Atkins

Player of the game:
Camby DEN 37/9

Stats:
Denver
Elson 7/5
Camby 37/9
Anthony 21/6/5 ast
Johnson 3/2/2 ast
Williams 7/4
Person 12
Boykins 5
Voskuhl 4/10
Kleiza 0/5
Najera 4

LA Lakers
Grant 14/7
Odom 18/6
Butler 13/3/3 ast
Bryant 16/4 ast
Atkins 29/5
George 4
Wafer 3
Cook 2/3

Pictures:


Boykins added five points from the bench.


Bryant goes up against Boykins, Najera and Voskuhl and gets the bucket.


Voskuhl had a terrific game for his standards, grabbing 10 rebounds.

PLAYOFF SERIES

WEST
1 Sacramento 3
4 Phoenix 2

2 Denver 1
6 LA Lakers 3

EAST
1 Detroit 1
4 Indiana 3

2 Washington 3
7 Boston 1

NENE AND MARTIN WILL NOT RETURN IN GAME FIVE

The Denver Nuggets' playoff run suffered a setback tonight when the team medical staff revealed that neither Kenyon Martin or Nene would be taking part in the crucial fifth game of the Western Conference semi final series against the Los Angeles Lakers. They also noted that the pair should be back in action approximately at the same time, and that they should both be able to join the team in training next week.

[Sac-1]

Wow you almost got eliminated but you won by 1 point in OT...what an exciting game.....now win 3 more...good luck next game...and the Kings are leading the series against Phoenix which is weird