Magic # to Lockup the 4th seed - 4
Match-Up to Watch out for
Kendrick Perkins vs. Nene Hilario - While he may not be their leading scorer, the Denver offense is run inside out, with Nene either trying to score on 1 on 1 coverage or finding one the perimeter players for a 3 if the double team comes. With Perkins, we now have someone that can attempt to guard Nene 1 on 1, which allows our perimeter defenders to stay home and defend the shooters.
Keys to the game
1) Challenge their bigs. While, Nene may be offensively gifted, he is a liability on the defensive end. With Chris Andersen likely out, their best post defender will be Kenyon Martin. Timofey Mozgov is still learning the game and is a liability defensively also.
2) Stay at home with the shooters. Not only do the Nuggets have good shooters, they also have streaky good shooters that can go off on any night (JR Smith, Gallo, and Harrington come to mind). With our bigs manning the paint, help from a perimeter player should only come every once in a while, not most of the time.
3) Maintain your emotions and keep your composure. This is probably the first of, at the least, 5 more meetings between these two teams within the next 2 weeks. Emotions will be high with a playoff atmosphere surrounding the game. Its time to start maturing and showing that we can’t be rattled in big games.
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Originally Posted by misplacedsooner
