<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CINCINNATI - One Nuggets big man hit an early three-pointer and later threw down a flurry of ferocious dunks. The crowd roared its approval. Another Nuggets big man started the game with a running dunk and a nifty short hook. There was polite applause. So what if the second guy, Nene, wasn't the crowd favorite, that distinction going to Kenyon Martin, who returned to the city where he played college ball. Nene's play provided the biggest relief for the Nuggets in a 114-102 preseason win Wednesday night against Indiana at U.S. Bank Arena. "We got through it," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "He showed that he's going to be a presence." It was Nene's first appearance in a game since he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in the opener Nov. 1 and missed the rest of the season. Nene, who sat out the first two preseason games, wasted little time in offering encouraging signs. Yes, he was called for walking the first time he touched the ball. But Nene soon threw down a dunk for the first points of the game, and shortly thereafter drained a hook. "I was a little nervous," said Nene, who finished with nine points, three rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes. "My first game." Nene, who started at center while Marcus Camby was sitting out because of a left foot plantar fascia strain, felt as if he hadn't played in a game in a long time. "My knee hurts," he said afterward. "My back hurts. My groin hurts." </div> Source
