A Dream Fulfilled...

A trip to the second round of the NBA playoffs? No.

A match-up with a team we swept in the regular season for a chance to go to the Western Conference Finals? No.

Hometown Hero Chauncey Billups leading the best Nuggets team I've seen in my lifetime? Again, no.

With a single minute and 4 seconds remaining in the game, my wildest dreams came true.

I was delighted to have seen Ryan Bowen enter the game with just under two minutes left, but it wasn't until that magical 1:04 mark that my heart filled with joy.

Balkman vs. Bowen.

Blankman vs. Captain Intangible.

The Showdown.

The Representer in the Pepsi Center.

They did not disappoint.

Within seconds, Ryan Bowen was running around like a newborn faun still getting used to its seldom used legs as he crashed into a confused Birdman and was called for a loose ball foul.

Balkman, on the other hand, managed to fill up two slots on his stat line with a single wide-open, beautifully airballed 3-point attempt. The slots of course being Field Goals Attempted and 3-Pointers Attempted.

The truth is though, the end-of-the-bench MVP honors for the game will not go to either of them. They were both outdone by the remarkably energetic play of Johan Petro. He grabbed a board, drove hard to the hoop to draw two free throws, both of which he made and also managed to notch a blocked shot. Well done, mon ami.

As it's now nearing 3AM and I've done my best to work off the caffeine I consumed to help me with my drive home, I'll leave you with one tidbit regarding the other 47 minutes of this glorious game: Thanks for keeping us in this game in the first half K-Mart!

My Nugs Dun Grown Up Before My Eyes (Round 1, Game 4 Nuggetz)

Before I get to the Game Nuggetz, I think it's important to note that this is easily the best game I've ever seen the Nuggets play. I am a fairly young man at the ripe age of 28 and have only been following the Nuggets for about half of that time, so I don't exactly have the historical perspective, but I think there's a good chance that we just witnessed the greatest game this franchise has ever seen. I realize it's a first round playoff game, but tying the all-time record for winning margin in a playoff game in a series that was supposed to be competitive is just ridiculously above anything else I can think of happening in Nuggets' history. Unbelievable.

Now on to the Game Nuggetz...

• Apparently the Nuggets figured out the secret to playoff success: score 2 points every time your opponent scores 1 point.


• The Nuggets role players are stealing all of the attention of the Hornets coaches, players and fans. While the crowd is busy booing Dahntay Jones and Anthony Carter, Melo and Co. are busy carving them up on offense and defense.


• The Hornets tried to play physical early in this game, but it's obvious that the Nuggets were so far in their heads that they had absolutely no chance from the tip. I've never seen so many airballs by the home team in a playoff game, which is especially surprising considering that Peja and Rasual Butler had been shooting so well coming into this game.


• This being the first game of the series I've been able to watch and listen to, I'm having a hard time deciding whether to believe Scott Hastings or Chris Paul and the New Orleans crowd as far as the performance of the referees.


• Speaking of the referees, is it me or does Davey Jones look completely lost every time the camera shows him. I'm not sure he knows where he is or what he's doing. Somebody should help him out.


• If it weren't for the free throws in the second quarter, The starters may have been able to sit out the entire second half. The Hornets went well over half of the quarter without hitting a single field goal.


• Sign of Maturity - First Half edition: Jumped out to a huge lead on the road after one quarter and still managed to outscore the "surging" Hornets in the second quarter.


• I just took the time to purchase a ticket to Game 5 in the middle of devising this blog post and will brave the 4-5 hour round-trip drive and sleep deprivation on Thursday for a chance to see this team officialy take the next step.


• This is the first game that Melo really looks completely comfortable playing playoff hoops. He's driving, hitting his jumpers, rebounding, finding open teammates and playing aggresive, opportunistic defense. This could be the beginning of a new Melo.


• Sign of Maturity - Second Half edition: The Nuggets came out determined to re-establish their physical presence in the second half. The referees were calling the game tighter at both ends, but that didn't deter the Nuggets defensively and they also stayed aggresive offensively, attacking and getting to the line, so once their shots started falling again, it was over.


• Well... more over than it already was anyway.


• Chauncey absolutely lives for the Dagger 3-pointer. Pulling up for that 3(turned out to be a 2 with his foot on the line) is his bread and butter. I'd like to see the stats on his 3-pt. percentage immediately following a turnover.


• Dahntay Jones - his D is getting the press it deserves - Did Chris Paul play tonight? - but he took advantage of every chance New Orleans gave him on the other end, every one of those 12 points were essentially bonus points for the Nugs.


• This game looked like it was a 1-seed taking on the play-in 16-seed in the NCAA tournament. Totally dismantled in every aspect, physically and mentally.


• Sign of Maturity - Bench edition: When the Nuggets bench was emptied, they followed the lead set by the rotation players. Focus on D, drive aggresively and look to set up teammates on offense.


• The first 50 point lead of the game brought to you by: Johan Petro with about 7:15 to play.


• Sign of Maturity - Post Game edition #1: Denver has now outscored New Orleans in 14 of 16 quarters including all 12 quarters in the 3 dominant victories. This team is not going to let up regardless of the score/situation.


• Sign of Maturity - Post Game edition #2: Denver has now held New Orleans under 25 points in all but 3 quarters in this series and has yet to give up a 30 point quarter. That is some consistant defense folks.


• Sign of Maturity - Post Game edition #3: Carmelo's post game interview with Maya Starks showed that he was clearly hungry for more. In years past there's no question that Melo would have looked giddy walking off the court after a 58 point playoff win, but this team is different. This team wants more. I don't think anything less than a Championship will be good enough to satisfy them with the way they're acting on and off the court right now.


• Thoughts on Wednesday night's Game 5: Obviously I'm very, very excited for the chance to see the Nugs advance to the second round on the Pepsi Center court, but I do have some reservations heading into Game 5. Tonight, the Nuggets proved that they have matured, they have grown into a team that is playing for a championship and playing to win together as a team, so I'm no longer worried that they'll come out of the gate unfocused, I'm much more worried about all the pressure that's about to build up over the next 48 hours. This is exactly what they've been playing for all season, a chance to win a playoff series on their home court, a chance to get the first-round-exit monkey off Melo's back, a chance to show the world that they're no longer underachieving and that it's time to think of the Denver Nuggets as serious championship contenders. If the first few shots go down for the Nuggets, I think Game 5 will be over in a hurry, but if those butterflies creep in, I think it will turn into a game much like Game 3: A hard-fought, back and forth, heavy-weight fight, the only difference being the location, and I think that will be enough to swing the 4th Quarter tides in Denver's favor. Regardless, Chauncey's leadership will be just as, if not more important in Game 5 than it was in Game 1. But right now it's time to sit back and soak in the beauty of this historically dominant and record-breaking performance by our emerging, maturing and finally contending Denver Nuggets.

Quick Note: Based on the box scores, it seems that Ryan Bowen is inactive for this series or at least he has been for these games. This is a very disappointing development as I was hoping that in a game like this I would get to see one of my favorite ex-Nuggets get some minutes and show off his all-intangible, no discernible skill game. I think it goes without saying that the balance of this series has been severely tipped in the Nuggets favore by whomever is responsible for the inactivity of Ryan Bowen.

Round 1, Game 1 Nuggetz

• Cautious optimism. That's what I'm left feeling after Game 1. The Nuggets showed a lot of maturity in how they stayed defensively focused in a game where Chauncey couldn't miss. The old Nuggets probably would have let the Hornets creep back into it once they got a big lead and started looking for highlight reel dunks and ally-oops, but there's just a little bit more focus with this group. Could be the arrival of Uncle Chauncey, could be 5 early post-season exits in a row, either way I'll take it.

• I'm sure this is covered in depth in every game recap, but the Nuggets dominated on a night when their two most consistent offensive weapons down the stretch (JR, Melo) had some serious butterflies. It was good to see Melo get a couple hoops both driving and pulling up late in the game, hopefully they'll settle into a rhythm now that Game 1 is out of the way.

• Melo showed the same growth that he had early in the season grabbing his 7 boards early in the game. As much as Chauncey has helped change the mindset of the team, when Melo is aggressive on the glass, things seem to go well for the Nuggets.

• Speaking of rebounding, Nene showed more life on the glass than he has in months, which bodes well in a series where the only physical rebounder on the Hornets (Tyson Chandler) is still recovering from an injury. The 14 rebound differential in the game can definitely be chalked up to the pride that Nene and Melo seemed to be taking on the boards.

• If you look at the shot-chart by quarter, you'll see the Hornets' shots moving further and further out as the game progresses. This can be attributed to the defensive contributions of the front-court trio of Nene, Birdman and KMart. The more frustrated the Hornets got by the physical interior play, the more they settled for outside jumpers.

• JR made nearly every shot that he took from inside the arc and missed every shot he took from 3-point range. I hope he looks at that and tries to be aggresive offensively in game 2. JR's 3's don't seem to start falling until he really gets into the flow of the game, and that never totally happened last night.

• Nice quiet night from Linas the Menace off the bench. It's nice when he can play a game with a few dunks and a few long-range tries with lots of hustle mixed in.

• The only thing that stands out to me as a negative looking at the box score is the turnovers. It's easy to forget about the necessary areas of improvement after a blowout win in the first game of a series, but the Nuggets racked up quite a few turnovers early in this game, which could spell disaster if the shots aren't falling.

• I'd like to see the Nuggets try to establish some offensive post-presence early in Game 2. Now that Nene has showed some of his mid-season rebounding form, maybe it's time to get him back into some of those 8 for 10 and 12 for 15 shooting nights too. They need to attack Chandler while he's still trying to regain his confidence. I'd like to see Chandler show up on a few Nene posters before this series heads down to New Orleans.

• Looking forward to Game 2 I will be very interested to see how this Nuggets team responds to such a huge victory. They handled themselves extremely well on the court last night, but now let's see how they do after a few days of hearing the media fawn over their performance. If a focused, defensive-minded team comes out of the gate on Wednesday night, then I think it's safe to say we've ushered in a new era of Nuggets Basketball and there's a good chance that we'll finally see a team that's able to live up to the level of talent on the roster. On the other hand, if we see a team trying to re-capture the hot shooting of last night with a little more focus on getting their points than stopping the Hornets from getting theirs, then I think it's safe to say there's still some room for growth. Regardless, Game 2 will be very telling, and like I said before, I'm cautiously optimistic that by this time on Thursday we'll be able to officially welcome a more mature version of the Denver Nuggets than we've seen in a long time.

edit:
I almost forgot the most important stat comparison of the night:

Renaldo Balkman: 3 Minutes Played
Ryan Bowen: DNP - Coach's Decision

If that keeps up, I don't think the Hornets have a chance...