All I've got to say is that San Antonio is lucky that game 2 isn't until wednesday. They came out completely flat, played with no urgency, and forced shots. Denver played a great game, AI was at his best in this one.
sh*t...How do the Spurs expect to win a ball game when they play like that? Their leading scorer was Finley with 15 points...What terrible production from the big 3. Tim, Tony, and Manu better all come out amazing next game and win in convincing fashion. Im so pissed.
Big, big win for Denver in Game 1. Iverson and Carmelo played great, as did Nene and Camby, but without Iverson this game easily goes to San Antonio. He just brings a swagger and confidence to the Nuggets that I haven't seen an Iverson team play with since 2001. Every time the Spurs started to go on a run, and the Nuggets got discouraged or out of sync, Iverson took it upon himself to either get a bucket or calm everybody down and get them their shots. He sets the tone for them mentally, in my opinion.The Spurs' big three really struggled, and I really don't expect that to happen again against Denver, but I credit Denver because their bench was absolutely atrocious, and they still were able to pull out the win despite scoring under 100 points (they only won 3 games all season when they scored under 100).Now Denver can't be happy coming into Game 2... if they want to advance past San Antonio, they have to come into Game 2 and play like their down 0-1 in this series instead of being up 1-0. You know SA is going to find a way to win one in Denver, so winning just one in SA isn't going to cut it for Denver.
<span style="font-family:Arial">Wow, I was so close to deciding the exact score of this game. If you look back to my game thread, I predicted the Nuggets to win Game 1 94-88. They ended up winning 95-89, I was two points off. I also predicted Nene to play Duncan well, he did a great job on him. Finally, I predicted Finley as my X-Factor. He came up big for the Spurs today, 3-3 baby!- This win doesn't convince me, the entire Spurs team struggled and we only won by a few points. We still made plenty of crucial mistakes, we can't play like this again and expect to win another game in this series. I'm sure you guys remember the 2005 playoffs, we beat the Spurs in game 1 and they ended up winning the series in 5 games. I don't see this series being much different, the Spurs should close it out in 5-6 games.- Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson came up huge for us. They were the only ones shooting the ball well on our team. Everybody else struggled from the field, especially our big men. Nene and Camby shouldn't combine for 9-22 shooting, I expect them both to shoot the ball better on Wednesday.- I love Nene! He came up huge for us tonight, I knew he grabbed alot of offensive rebounds but I was shocked to see that it was 8. He was an absolute monster on the offensive glass, it's hard to top that rebounding performance. I also thought he did a great job against Tim Duncan. He didn't completely shut him down, but he kept him in check. Duncan seemed to be frustrated by Nene's strength. Most importantly, he stayed out of foul trouble all game. On a negative note, he made way too many dumb mistakes. He turned the ball over plenty of times and dropped a few easy passes. Nene didn't shoot the ball well either, but I can live with that.- We can't afford to keep giving them open looks. We sat back and let them shoot the ball too many times. Lucky for us, the shots weren't falling. I was screaming at the TV when the Nuggets gave Robert Horry 3 wide open shot attempts all within the final 2 minutes of the 4th quarter. Are we that stupid to let Horry shoot those shots? I'm sure George Karl was furious, I couldn't believe it.- I can't believe Reggie Evans sat out the entire game. We needed his defensive toughness and rebounding. I'm not sure I agree with George Karl on this one, this is one series where we need Evans the most. We could use him against Duncan, he has had success against him in the past. I don't agree with him sitting out, or with JR Smith only getting 4 minutes.</span>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BigMo763 @ Apr 22 2007, 09:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Big, big win for Denver in Game 1. Iverson and Carmelo played great, as did Nene and Camby, but without Iverson this game easily goes to San Antonio. He just brings a swagger and confidence to the Nuggets that I haven't seen an Iverson team play with since 2001. Every time the Spurs started to go on a run, and the Nuggets got discouraged or out of sync, Iverson took it upon himself to either get a bucket or calm everybody down and get them their shots. He sets the tone for them mentally, in my opinion.</div>I noticed this also, when the Spurs went up by 5 in the third he made 3 shots in a row including 2 free throws. He helped us get past their little streak and get the victory.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BALLAHOLLIC? @ Apr 22 2007, 09:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>- I can't believe Reggie Evans sat out the entire game. We needed his defensive toughness and rebounding. I'm not sure I agree with George Karl on this one, this is one series where we need Evans the most. We could use him against Duncan, he has had success against him in the past. I don't agree with him sitting out, or with JR Smith only getting 4 minutes.</div>I agree with JR, and a little with Evans. Reggie Evans is great on defense, but I swear every time he touches the ball he turns it over.JR would have helped us there, I am not sure why he sat most of the game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Apr 22 2007, 09:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>What a great day so far. Now if only the Mavs could lose too. Great performance by Denver tonight. I could see San Antonio winning the next 4, they are that good, but winning Game 1 is big. This could mean that they can stretch it out to 6 or 7, but you never know. Isn't it true that 75% of the teams that won game 1 win the series? We'll see. I still expect San Antonio to win but the longer the series goes on the better as long as the Suns can finish their's quickly.</div>Your wish came true. I actually knew the Mavs were going to lose, GS have beaten the Mavs before, and I could tell Baron Davis was gonna be on fire that night. I hope the Mavs lose in Game 2 and Game 3 (I mean how many play-off teams have come back from a 3-O defecit). I guess I just don't want to give Avery that satisfaction. :shifty2:
Nice job, Nuggets! I'm hoping you guys upset!I caught the 2nd half....Allen Iverson looked great. He wasn't forcing his game at all, but he was making almsot all of the jumpers that he took, and slashing really well too. Carmelo had a huge first half, and looked good shooting wise when I saw him too...oh...Allen also had some really nice fancy passes...Anyway, back on track....Nene did a good job, but didn't really have to create for himself. He's so athletic that if he gets the ball around the rim, he will convert....Tim Duncan struggled alot, and Tony and Manu didn't have good games either..
Well missed this thread before, but clearly was a great game by Denver even though Duncan, Parker, and Manu strugled.About the 2nd game well I made a post in the game 2 thread. AWFUL
