San Antonio @ Denver

[corona]

Key Matchup:
vs.
If Iverson's blocked fewer than 5 times, he's had success.

Last Meeting: December 15th, 2007
102-91 Spurs victory.
Parker missed the game with a sprained ankle.
Kenyon Martin was suspended before the game for an elbow he delivered to Melvin Ely.
Finley was 4/5 from 3 with 21 points. Oberto matched that 21 by going 10/11 from the field.
Carmelo scored just 15 points, while Iverson dropped 30.

Denver: 18-12
Please god, stay healthy everyone.
Rank 13th in offense and 2nd in defense.
Martin will be good to go after missing the two previous game for precautionary reasons (regarding a strained hamstring)
Nene's thumb is heavily wrapped but he looks to be in pretty good shape.

Keys to winning:
Get a hand up on all 3 point shooters.
Move the ball from strong side to weak side consistently & quickly.
Limit turnovers.

Last 5 Games:
L Golden State
W Golden STate
W Milwaukee
W Sacramento
L Portland

San Antonio: 21-8
Rank 1st in offense & 8th in defense.
Brent Barry's out for 2 weeks with a slightly torn calf muscle.
Ginobili's questionable with a strained left index finger.

Last 5 Games:
W Memphis
L Toronto
W Chicago
W LA Clippers
L Memphis

Pictures:






Game Notes:
http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/notes.pdf
http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/notes.pdf

Game Chat:
http://nuggets.proboards1.com/index.cgi?action=chat

[DFan]

I'd be nice to see the Nuggs get it together and get a win. Let's see if the can start the new year right.

[Marcy]

I really hope we win this one... Otherwise I don't think we're leading our division anymore

[Neel]

Is DJ really that effective against AI, or is he mildly effective and it's just being blown way out of proportion?

[Don_eMOCION#31]

Is DJ really that effective against AI, or is he mildly effective and it's just being blown way out of proportion?

i'm really doubtfull of the nuggets fans sayin that DJ is that kind of an A.I. stopper. maybe he'll block him 2 times. but this will turn A.I. on to kill everyone. i remember the time A.i. faced mo-town in his philly days. Prince had some nice blocks against A.I. but a.i. got really angry about this and poured in 30+ppg and 10apg in the playoff series against the pistons 2 or 3 years ago.

i've never heard DJ being that kind of an A.I. stopper before i was a nugget fan after the A.I. trade. i expect a good game by A.I.

IF i'm wrong i'll say that A.I. doesn't deserves to be a nugget!

[L-Burna89]

DJ's dominance on Iverson is far more than just blocking his shot every other possession.

[SJustice1621]

DJ's now the AI stopper..

Yeah...and Ruben Patterson is the Kobe Stopper

[Nuggetsfanduh98]

No DJ is an AI stopper...AI had some of the worst perfomances I have seen him make against DJ...The only time he really got off the bench last year was to guard AI...

[SJustice1621]

No DJ is an AI stopper...AI had some of the worst perfomances I have seen him make against DJ...The only time he really got off the bench last year was to guard AI...

link?

Trust me there is NO AI stopper

[Nuggetsfanduh98]

-= original quote snipped =-



link?

Trust me there is NO AI stopper

Oh DJ has been able to get in AI's Head...But beleive me I hope AI cannot be shut-down by DJ If they so choose to put him on AI thursday!!!

[Blue_N_Gold]

No DJ is an AI stopper...AI had some of the worst perfomances I have seen him make against DJ.

Ridiculous.

Iverson - 29, points, 8 assts, 3 steals; Dec. 31, 2004.
36 points, 10 assts, five steals; Dec. 27, 2005.
38 points, six rebs, six assts; March 9, 2006.

If 34 points and 8 assts per game is considered "stopping" AI, I sure hope DJ gets 30-plus minutes Thursday.

[Nuggetsfanduh98]

[quote="Blue_N_Gold"][/quote]\

Are you ev3en sure DJ guarded him those game???

[L-Burna89]

DJ didn't guard AI in the first two games.

In the March 9th game he only guarded Iverson in the 2nd half, because AI blew up for 27 pts in the 1st half against Buckner's "amazing defense." He only scored 9 pts while DJ was guarding him, and had at least 4 of his 6 turnovers as well. Iverson shot just 13-32 in the game and DJ's defense was a huge reason why we were able to sneak out a win that night.


And why didn't you post the other game, in which DJ actually guarded AI for most of the night?

20 points, 5 turnovers, 30% shooting(6-20); November 10, 2006


DJ killed Iverson in that game, also blocking his game tying layup attempt to preserve the win.


Not to mention, E stated that Iverson could never score on DJ in practice. DJ owns him.

[pickaxe]

At least San Antonio might make it interesting. Maybe the opposite will happen....maybe we'll see some sharing. True test of Iverson on this team?

A positive note, last 5 games the rebounding has rebounded:

NUG 49.40 OPP 42.20 +7.20

But the other team stats slipped a little.

If some stats pick up but others slip.....what is the overall measure of a team?

I don't know, Melo responded to lack of production with not only more offense but more rebounding....someone on this team has to keep that going and spark everyone.

[legendarywalton]

It's funny how suffering through years of DJ's crap (made up for by the coolio hair) has actually given us insider knowledge. And yes, he does shut down AI... we'll see if he does it in this game.

EDIT- I don't actually think DJ will even play, but I could be wrong.

[DNIsLeGiT]

I hope we come out angry for this game as it's a revenge game against the spurs who gave us a whooping the other time down in tx.

Hopefully ai will rebound from that horrible game against golden state at home,hoping k-mart is good to go because we need both him and nene on duncan and hopefully karl will use jones or yakouba on parker and ginobli.

I hope we win this game because it'll only help our confidence since we lost to them before in the playoffs and at there gym,one more thing if aktins shots isn't falling we need to take him out right away as i feel he's a liability on defense when his shots aren't falling.

GO NUGGETS!!

[Shady08]

This would be a big win for the Nuggets. Last game we played pretty good and that was with Camby on Duncan. Now we have K-Mart and Nene. GO NUGGETS!

[elbowthrower]

DJ is such a liability on offense that I don't care if they put him on AI. They can leave him open most of the time and double the players who are really a threat.

[SJustice1621]

Sorry, I have yet to see an AI stopper; i mean if Kobe is held to 15pts one night by 1 guy do we reign him the kobe stopper?

I hope DJ is on AI tonight so we can end this ridiculous debate.

[MELO4MVP]

The game that DJ "shutdown" A.I. was the game Melo hit the gamewinning reverse layup in with about 20 seconds. A.I. dominated the Nuggets in the 1st half and Carmelo played horrible. In the 2nd half DJ held A.I. to like 10 points on alot of shots, got blocked by DJ quite a few times, and Melo dropped like 20+ in the 2nd half and hit the gamewinner. I remember that game clearly and it was played in Philly.