<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Los Angeles - Propped against the gym bleachers, Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin moaned the groan of a 1,000-year-old man. "Err ... aw!" Martin said painfully. It hurt just to listen to him. What could cause so much suffering? Putting on his sneakers. One loss closer to elimination after a single game in the NBA playoffs, there is only one logical answer for what ails the Nuggets. Put the 1,000-year-old man in the starting lineup. Denver is not paying Martin $93 million to be a role player. Martin wants to start. Let him rest when the Nuggets' postseason dreams are dead. What? You would rather watch coach George Karl roll his eyes in disgust as Los Angeles Clippers power forward Elton Brand steamrolls Denver out of the playoffs? "I feel like I can hold my own against anybody. Bottom line. No question about it," Martin said. If Denver's upset bid in this series has a leg to stand on, it must be a gimpy one attached to Martin. Brand bullied the Nuggets, particularly Francisco Elson, for 21 points and eight rebounds during L.A.'s victory in Game 1, except when K-Mart was on him like a tattoo. "I'm a darn good defender. Which I don't get the recognition for," Martin said. "I don't think my name has ever come up in the discussion of any NBA all-defensive teams. And that's a crying shame." On Sunday morning, as Karl preached beating the Clippers would require a basketball war of attrition, the Nuggets stood in a circle and listened intently. All except one. Martin plopped on the floor as unkempt as an overturned basket of laundry. During warm-ups, teammates jogged. Martin creaked across every floorboard. Either K-Mart hates practice or his knees are filled with broken glass. The lone person in Denver's traveling party who moves slower than Martin is assistant coach Doug Moe - and he's 67 years old, wearing a medical boot over an Achilles injury that gives Moe the gait of Frankenstein. "I was joking with (Martin) on the team bus that he should sit his sore body down until the fourth quarter, save his energy, then come in and deliver the knockout blow for us. He thought it was funny," forward Carmelo Anthony said. K-Mart cannot run. But maybe he can slow Brand with body shots. </div> Source
I remember during New Jersey's finals run back in the day, K-Mart was called the team's best defender. I don't know what K-Mart can do against Elton Brand's quickness, but I guess putting him on Brand is better than putting Elson on Brand. Plus, K-Mart is still capable of making a few jumpers here and there. I guess K-Mart's performance will be a big factor in this series.
