- <font color="blue">D</font><font color="orange">N</font>: Despite playing without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, for the second straight game San Antonio nearly knocked off a hot team, only to come up short in the end. In the last game against us, the Spurs came up very very short, being outscored in a game-ending 10-0 run with 3 minutes left with a 7 point lead. I credit our coach George Karl for putting Greg Buckner and DerMarr Johnson on Tony Parker in the second half, limiting him to only 6 pts after going off for 19 in the first. He also still put the ball in Melo's hands in the game's final minutes despite having a tough shooting night with 3-of-16 performance up to that point. The decision resulted in Melo's only 4th basket in 17 attempts, but it was no doubt the biggest basket of the night, cutting the deficit to one with 1:48 minutes remaining. The players also received credits for complying fully with the coaching staff. It's clear to me this unit is committed to winning. My only concern for us is that we may not be at full strength as this source says K-Mart aggravated his left knee injury after knocking with Dre Miller and Camby also re-strained his right harmstring. K-Mart said he's "in true pain right now". <font size="5"><font color="Blue">purpleb0n9's</font> <font color="orange">Prediction:</font></font> Without K-Mart and Camby in this one, I think the Suns will take this one 117-103, but not without a dog fight in the first three quarters. With them playing, I can see the Nuggets winning this one 109-105. I also expect Melo to bust out for his best game of the season, in fact his career (see "Top Ballers" section above).
Suns win it 106-101 in the end our O, which relied too heavily on outside shooting and Boykins and K-Mart just couldn't keep up with their offense, Nash was clearly the MVP of the game with 25 pts and 11 assists. When things went rough for them, he got them going with his threes, layups, and passes. Tough loss, but we showed that we could hang with one of the NBA's best teams... and it's really a matter of bouncing back in the next game. Melo finished with only 9 pts, far from the 45 that I predicted lol but I have no idea if Karl sat him the entire second half because he didn't play D or he got injured.
