Round 1, Game 2 Preview

I think we're going to find out a lot about how these playoffs are going to play out for this team in the first few minutes of Wednesday night's game. Like I said in my Game 1 thoughts, a Nuggets team that comes out looking like they still have something to prove and that they're going to do it on the defensive end will be a huge departure from the Nuggets teams we've known over the past decade. I'd like to see the Nuggets continue to take more pride in their stops than in their jump shots. A few early defensive stands followed by some easy buckets in the paint at the other end, and the Nuggets will already have a decisive edge in the mental battle of Game 2.

Speaking of the mental battle, any time you have a coach who is more concerned with the match up between his superstar point guard and another team's defensive shooting guard that occasionally cracks 20 minutes per-game, than he is with the fact that his team was manhandled in all aspects of the first game in a playoff series, I think it's safe to say you're in a good position heading into the next game. I think that Byron Scott is making a huge mistake by playing up the physical play of Dahntay Jones. The last thing he needed to do was give the Nuggets a reason to re-focus defensively, and I think that's exactly what he did. Had I been in his shoes I would have done nothing but praise everything about the way the Nuggets played in Game 1. The Nuggets are team, even after the arrival of Uncle Chauncey, that struggles in games that don't offer some sort of challenge and now, thanks to Scott's comments, the Nuggets have a reason to want to get another big, physical victory in Game 2.

This isn't saying that if the Nuggets don't jump out to a big lead with a defensive focus, that they have no shot to win the game or the series, but I'll feel a whole lot better about the chances of watching Melo play into June if they prove that they can keep up the intensity they showed in Game 1 throughout an entire series. My cautious optimism could give way to sincere optimism by the end of the first quarter tomorrow night, and I think there's a good chance that will happen.

I still don't expect a sweep and I think there will be a lot to learn by seeing how they respond to their first game on the road, but I'm feeling good about what I've seen so far and I'm expecting the focus to continue into tomorrow night, even if the ridiculously hot shooting does not.


Game Prediction: Denver 106 - New Orleans 98