RealGM

Tuesday, April 5rd, 2011 - 7:00 PM MST - Altitude

BENCH:: RAY - MR SWISH - BIG AL - FORBES - TIMO - KOUFUS
INJURIES: AAA (out - hamstring) - BIRDMAN (out - ankle)



BENCH: NAZR MOHAMMED - NICK COLLINS - ERIC MAYNOR - DAEQUAN COOK - JAMES HARDEN - NATE ROBINSON - ROYAL IVEY
INJURIES:


KEY MATCHUP:
VS.
After a huge win against the Lakers, the Nuggets have another tough game against their likely first round playoff match up. With 2 games against the Thunder remaining on the schedule and 3 games separating them, these are 2 must win games if the Nuggets want home court advantage in that series. Someone will have to give Kevin Durant a tough time and it could be a mixture of Gallo, Kenyon and Wilson mainly. Russell Westbrook will also have to be kept in check, although I'm not sure he has the speed to keep up with Lawson and Felton. The Nuggets depth should give them a big advantage as the Thunder bench isn't nearly as productive. Perkins and Nene should battle down in the post, but I don't see Perkins being able to keep up with Nene's quick post moves. Overall, should be a packed house in Denver with an exciting playoff like atmasphere.

Raymond Felton via nba.com wrote:It's a big win. You hear Lakers, you hear Dallas, certain teams. But you have to talk about the Nuggets, too.

Wilson Chandler via espn wrote:It helps us a lot as a young team. It helps us build confidence and trust each other and it helps us be grounded when the game is tight at the end.

George Karl via Benjamin Hochman/Denver Post wrote:I asked Roy – tell me, who’s better, Ty or Raymond? He said he wouldn’t pick a guy but said, ‘Ty is more talented, Raymond’s tougher.’ And he’s right-on. Raymond wins games because he’s a tough guy. He reminds me a lot of Andre Miller when we had him here. He knows the instinctive things that win games. Ty has the quickness and speed that very few players have. He has some winning to him, too. It’s been fun.

vs. Lakers Sunday: Ty Lawson: 5 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists; Raymond Felton: 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

probably one of the most important games of this season. not only are we gonna play this team in the playoffs but if we pull off a win, were much closer to getting the 4th seed and putting us at an advantage over a very young tough team. By the way nice job on the game thread, but i would really like to see the return of our lucky game girl. but whatever, its your decision.

line's bouncing between -4 and -3.5

that's a gift.

From ESPN NBA Insider Rumors

Nuggets cautious with Afflalo

Arron Afflalo has been dealing with a strained left hamstring and after re-tweaking it again on Friday, he was held out of Sunday's game against the Lakers.

"We talked about not rushing it," head coach George Karl told The Denver Post. "We're hoping it would heal fast, and we'll talk about it (today)."

Karl said Afflalo would have played against the Lakers if it had been a playoff game. The gameplan for the last six games of the regular season is to rest him on back-to-back games. Afflalo will play Tuesday against Oklahoma City, but not against Dallas on Wednesday.

Wilson Chandler will continue to start at shooting guard when Afflalo doesn't play.

Good lucky fellas. I'm super excited for this match up.

Shady08 wrote:From ESPN NBA Insider Rumors

Nuggets cautious with Afflalo

Arron Afflalo has been dealing with a strained left hamstring and after re-tweaking it again on Friday, he was held out of Sunday's game against the Lakers.

"We talked about not rushing it," head coach George Karl told The Denver Post. "We're hoping it would heal fast, and we'll talk about it (today)."

Karl said Afflalo would have played against the Lakers if it had been a playoff game. The gameplan for the last six games of the regular season is to rest him on back-to-back games. Afflalo will play Tuesday against Oklahoma City, but not against Dallas on Wednesday.

Wilson Chandler will continue to start at shooting guard when Afflalo doesn't play.

He isn't playing tonight or tomorrow night.

All these damn injuries, making me change the game thread every few minutes... Glad we are resting AA though, he's more important to our playoff success than the 4 seed.

no more lucky girls please.

huge game, i really hope they set into playoff must win mode and show the Thunder what they're going to be up against.

How this game was not voted the Tuesday fan night game of the week on nbatv is beyond me. The Lakers/Jazz beat it out, some large market area out there somewhere has some serious homer/bandwagon fans, but I can't figure out if it is Utah or California

chandler is trying to do too much.

Edit: nuggets are losing because they are not making easy shots but OKC is playing on Nuggets pace so I predict a big turnaround in the second half. Nuggets just have to keep the game "winnable".

Way too many missed layups. Way too many turnovers. Way too many bad defensive possessions.
OKC looks pretty good so far, still plenty of time to turn it around though.

So the turnaround happened at the end of the half hehe.. kinda predictable. You can't count on nuggets missing easy lay ups all night to win the game, especially if you play at nuggets pace in the altitude.

gonna be a hell of a series....

my boy gallo isn't backing down from durant..

the first round series between the Knuggs and the thunder should be very, very good..

el loco wrote:How this game was not voted the Tuesday fan night game of the week on nbatv is beyond me. The Lakers/Jazz beat it out, some large market area out there somewhere has some serious homer/bandwagon fans, but I can't figure out if it is Utah or California

OKC is going to have their hands full with the Knuggets.... this is going to be a good series el loco..

and this should have been fan night game of the week for sure.

Good to see us beat you in both of your advantages, your homecourt and your bench. Our bench outscored yours and we won in a game that was never really close in the 4th.

I like our chances in the Playoffs. Should be fun though

TKF wrote:my boy gallo isn't backing down from durant..

the first round series between the Knuggs and the thunder should be very, very good..

That was kind of a little punk move by gallinari to come over and bump Durant for no reason though. I'm sure we'll see more of it in OKC, not a huge deal

This team obviously didn't give a **** about winning homecourt.

Disappointing.

No reason to lose this even without AA and Bird.

someone please suspend fallacy. You do not see denver fans going to ur forums and talking trash. This would be an automatic suspension anywhere else, so mods please do ur job. and stop acting like the thunder won this game because of their defense. We beat ourselves with our horrible shooting and the horrible refs that call a foul everytime they see kd or westbrook on the floor. so please gtfo.

eathb_au wrote:This team obviously didn't give a **** about winning homecourt.

Disappointing.

No reason to lose this even without AA and Bird.

Oh thats obviously it. It certainly couldn't be because OKC is the better Team.