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2007-2008 Game 82:  Nuggets/Grizzlies Game Thread

The most interesting matchup in the Nuggets/Grizzlies game tonight will be taking place in Dallas.  

Denver can catch Dallas and earn the seventh seed with a victory over Memphis and a Dallas loss.  Should such a scenario occur Denver would play New Orleans instead of the dreaded Los Angeles Lakers.

The interesting thing here is the team Dallas is playing is New Orleans.  The Hornets have locked up the second seed in the Western Conference so they really have nothing to play for.  That is unless they want to play the Nuggets instead of the Mavericks in the first round.  

On the flip side Dallas knows that a win would set them up to play the Hornets and a loss would most likely result in a matchup with the Lakers.  I would imagine that Dallas would rather face the Hornets than the Lakers, but they have played the Lakers as tough as anyone this year.

What is my point?  Well, it will be interesting to see how both teams approach this game. If New Orleans goes all out and plays their starters for their regular minutes that tells us that they would much rather face the Nuggets than the Mavs.  While I doubt this would happen, is it possible Dallas come out and do a little tanking to fall to the eighth spot and maybe set themselves up for a series against LA knowing that there would be absolutely no pressure on them to win?  

I suspect that New Orleans will rest their key players and Dallas will play to win, but if something different happens we will know there is some playoff seeding shenanigans going on.

As far as the Nuggets go, they have been aiming at the 50 win plateau for some time now so expect them to play this game straight up tonight.  The Nuggets last 50+ win season was exactly 20 years ago in 1987-1988 when they set the franchise record of 54 wins.  

I will delve a little further into the Nuggets performance over the previous 15-20 seasons another day.

I honestly believe the Nuggets have no shot at defeating the Lakers in a seven game series, but they do have a slight chance at knocking off the Hornets so tonight’s game with the Grizzlies may be more meaningful than just exceeding the 49 win barrier.  

Despite having won three of their last seven games Memphis is playing out the string.  Those three victories came against Minnesota, Miami and New York.  Memphis has not provided much resistance to any of the quality teams they have faced recently.

The reason to watch Memphis is the development of Rudy Gay and the recent solid play of rookie Mike Conley.  Gay is warping up a very nice sophomore season with averages of 20.3 points on 46.3% shooting and 6.2 rebounds.  Conley is averaging 18 points, just over five assists and almost six rebounds a game over his previous four contests.  He will undoubtedly look to improve on what may have been his worst game as a professional in his first game in Denver.  

Nene is still out and may miss the playoffs, especially if they only last four or five games.  Everyone else is healthy enough to play and hopefully we will see plenty of Taurean Green, Bobby Jones and Steven Hunter in the fourth quarter tonight.

Make sure you check out the game preview over at one of the best blogs around, 3 Shades of Blue.  

I will miss most of the game tonight, but do not let that stop the rest of you from talking it up in the comments section.

Update:  Mavs Moneyball has some links up discussing the ramifications and attitudes towards tonight's Mavs/Hornets game.

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Comments

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Taurean....

I thought Taurean was playing with the 14ers. Will he be suited up for the Nuggets tonight??

MELO!!!

by abaca15 on Apr 16, 2008 1:12 PM MDT reply actions  

14ers season is over

They were eliminated last night.  That being said, it is possible that Taurean does not suit up tonight as he played last night.

by Jeremy on Apr 16, 2008 3:14 PM MDT up reply actions  

Tonight determines our fate

and we don't have our fate in our hands. I really hate the prospect of going up against the Lakers in the 1st round as I'm sure a lot of you do. I just don't see any way we make that series competitive. The Hornets on the other hand are beatable. I certainly don't think we'd beat the Hornets in a series either, but at least I'd feel confident that we could win our home games against them and maybe force a game 7 at their place in which anything can happen. I really hope we pull out a W tonight and the Hornets do as well, but like Jeremy said who knows who that game is going to be played between the Mavs and Hornets tonight.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 4:31 PM MDT reply actions  

Matchup question

Should the chips fall our way, how do we defend the Hornets?  Camby on Chandler and AI/Carter on Paul, probably, but what about the rest?  Can Melo check Peja?  KMart on West?

by LarryB303 on Apr 16, 2008 6:53 PM MDT reply actions  

Forget I asked

Mavs on a 20-6 run since.

by LarryB303 on Apr 16, 2008 7:04 PM MDT up reply actions  

I think you've got it about right
I think Carter would probably guard Paul. Melo would have to guard Peja and K-mart should definately guard West and not Camby. Outside of Paul of course, David West is the guy that scares me the most on that team. He is a tremendous mid-range player that is scarily underrated.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 7:04 PM MDT up reply actions  

I feel like we've already been swept

With that Hornets loss. Man playing the Lakers is going to be no easy task.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 7:36 PM MDT reply actions  

Can we get a break

I guess the only thing we can do is believe in our team and say "We can beat the Lakers".
Jeeze that was even hard to type.

by Kay on Apr 16, 2008 7:42 PM MDT reply actions  

Hollywood here we come....

BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!!
Dang, I hope we can put up a fight with them. And lets hope Bynum isn't anywhere near ready to play anytime soon....AND as much as I like Kobe, if Diawara "accidentally" hits his broken finger really, really hard i won't mind at all.....

MELO!!!

by abaca15 on Apr 16, 2008 8:31 PM MDT reply actions  

Honestly

I don't think Bynum will be much of a factor.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 8:42 PM MDT up reply actions  

50 wins

Assuming they can finish this one out, 50 wins would be a nice little accomplishment for this team. I know we have all expected more out of them this season but the fact remains that it's been quite some time since a Nuggets squad has put together a 50 win season. 50 wins any other year gets you a very decent seed and some big expectations going into the post season. This just so happenned to be the most insanely competitive year in the history of the Western Conference. I can't say I'm overly proud of this team at this point, but I can't really say I'm all that disappointed right now.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 8:53 PM MDT reply actions  

Good Stuff!

Hey everyone, sorry I missed so much of the fun. I was pleased to see so much conversation.

Well, we have a 50 win season and a matchup with the Lakers.  

My question is think back to the beginning of the season and tell me if you would you have been happy if someone told you the Nuggets would end the regular season with a 50-32 record.

Look for a poll on that tomorrow.

by Jeremy on Apr 16, 2008 9:27 PM MDT reply actions  

I was hoping for 55 wins

To be honest with you. And they could have gotten it if they didn't blow games to some of the weaker teams of the league. Yes I'm looking at you Atlanta, Indiana, Knicks, Bobcats, Bucks. Win those 5 games and they would've have met my expectations for the year. Overall though, if you win 50 ballgames you had a good year.

by RyanBuff on Apr 16, 2008 9:54 PM MDT reply actions  

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