[Izulde]

The first round was the easy part. Now is when it's get difficult, especially given our opponent. I'll let the article do the talking.

"Denver's sweep of the Jazz surprised no one. Memphis's straight-set knockout of the Rockets, however, stunned most observers, who were predicting a much tighter series. They'll undoubtedly get that closer matchup here as the Nuggets face off against the Grizzlies.

Point Guard
[u]Zelipe Gama vs. Chris Gearhart[/b]
Gama was absolutely sensational in the opening round against Utah, averaging 13.3 points, 12.3 assists, 5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. If he can keep that kind of production up, this series could be over a lot more quickly than most anticipate.

Gearhart is the player Nuggets GM Jestor called the best of his class and while he hasn't had the sort of breakout regular season one would expect from such a high accolade, Chris was dominant against the Rockets, with 22.8 points, 7 assists and 2 steals a game. Far more suited to the SG spot, he's an amazing shooter and scorer with good defense and ballswiping skills. At 6'7, 222 lbs, he's going to bully the much smaller 6'4, 189 lb Gama and limit the Spainard's effectiveness.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Durko Jagr
Yeaton put on a performance for the ages against the Jazz, averaging a breathtaking 31.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2.5 blocks. He's stayed fully healthy thus far in the postseason and he's going to need to maintain that for the Nuggets to win. Any doubts as to his ability to make a difference in the playoffs is long since vanquished, however.

18 points, 7 assists and 1.8 steals were good numbers against Houston for Jagr, but while he's a pretty good defender, he gives up 3 inches to Yeaton and a shorter guard with anything other than topflight defense is a recipe for disaster in trying to control the Nuggets star guard. That said, Jagr will get points of his own, as he's got respectable offensive game.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Ron McPherson vs. Rudy Gay
McPherson averaged 18 points in the first round, but he shot a worrying, Patrick Pastner-esque 40.6% from the field. That said, he continues to bring absolutely dynamite defense to bear and will stalk Gay all series long.

Gay's an excellent defender in his own right and brings just as much, if not a little more offensive game, with 18.5 points, 7.8 rebounds , 5 assists, 1.3 steals and a block per game to his credit versus the Rockets. As his board numbers suggest, he's a much more polished, all-around player than McPherson, but the difference gap is fairly slim.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Power Forward
Emeka Okafor vs. Pau Gasol
10.3 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.8 blocks is excellent playoff production from Okafor, especially when you consider the brilliant job he did in shutting down Carlos Boozer on top of it. More of the same would be just what Denver's looking for.

Gasol is definitely in the twilight of his career, but he still averaged 15 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2.5 blocks in the opening round. His point production is his greatest asset these days, as his blocking and rebounding are now merely pretty good and he's a very average defender.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Center
Antawn Jamison vs. Marvin Williams
Huge, -huge- break for Jamison as Narcyz Malinomowski, the Great Polish Sieve, was lost for the year with a broken hand with 3 games left in the regular season. The 39 year old Jamison's atrocious defense would've been catastrophic for Denver against Malinomowski's superior shooting. Frankly, Jamison's just a body at this point, 6 points and 6.8 rebounds in opening series notwithstanding.

Williams somehow averaged 12 points and 10.8 rebounds against Yao Ming in Round 1. Like Jamison, he's a SF masquerading as a C after his team's starting C went down. Unlike Jamison, he's a decent all-around player, but not spectacular in any area.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Bench
Brandon Brooks and Lindsey Williamson both tied for the scoring lead with 5 points per game average against Utah, but don't count any of this Nuggets bench out. In addition to the tenacious defenders mentioned in the Utah preview, any number of these players is capable of breaking out and will likely play a bigger role in this series.

Memphis showed a very short bench against Houston, just 3 players getting anywhere close to 10 minutes a game, only 5 appearing in a game period. A large part of that is thanks to Darius Miles, who plays all five positions and who averaged 9.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and a block in the first round. At 34, he's now an average all-around player whose greatest asset is his obvious versatility. Larry Hughes can't score much anymore, but he's still a good stopper. That's pretty much it for the noteworthy bench players, many of whom are hoping to see more action this series.

Advantage: Denver

Final Thoughts
This is shaping up to be a very classic series and an interesting one, with both teams missing their starting centers for the rest of the playoffs. The overall starting five tilts slightly in favor of the Grizzlies, but on the flip side, the Nuggets bench is vastly superior and should secure them the Western Conference Finals berth in the end.
Final Prediction: Nuggets in 7

The full limit, hmm? Yeah, I can definitely see that happening. The Grizzlies have an excellent squad here and beating them is going to be tough.

Game One
Great performance out of Mateen Yeaton with 28 points. Our bench was great too, with 10 points from Lindsey Williamson and 11 points each from Thabo Sefolosha and Brandon Brooks. But the rest of our starters sucked the big one on both ends, resulting in Chris Gearhart shredding us for 29 points, Rudy Gay ripping us for 21 points and Pau Gasol and Marvin Williams doubling for 12 points and 10 rebounds and 10 points and 13 rebounds respectively. They kick our butts and it's not even as close as the final score indicates. Bad way to start the series.
Final - Memphis 103 Denver 93

Game Two
We need to get a win here or I fear our morale is going to be crushed. Zelipe Gama gets 10 points and 12 assists before fouling out and Emeka Okafor grabs 14 points and 12 rebounds, but the real story was our reserves coming through big again. Kirk Hinrich scored 14, Mike Nooner 10 and Brandon Brooks doubled with 12 points and 11 assists. They saved our butts against a Grizzlies team that saw 23 points from Chris Gearhart, 20 points from Rudy Gay, 16 points and 13 rebounds from Pau Gasol and 17 bench points from Darius Miles. A critical evening up of the series.
Final - Memphis 100 Denver 114

Game Three
I'd honestly be perfectly happy with a split in Memphis. That's how much this Grizzlies team impresses me. Mateen Yeaton continues to play his heart out with 25 points and our benchmen pull through again. This time it's Tyson Chandler (10 points, 11 rebounds), and Mike Nooner and Kirk Hinrich with 12 points a piece. The Grizz counter with 28 points and 10 assists from Chris Gearhart and 23 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks from Pau Gasol, who's really using his massive size to abuse us this series. In the end, we fall -just- short, collapsing down the stretch as Memphis roars back in the fourth quarter. I fear this was the major turning point of the series.
Final - Denver 101 Memphis 107

Game Four
Lose here and I suspect we're done. Our players know it too and they respond with the best game they've played all series. Mateen Yeaton erupts for 36 points, Ron McPherson finally breaks through and scores 23, Zelipe Gama distributes 11 points and 16 assists and Thabo Sefolosha shows off his playoff magic with 13 bench points. Chris Gearhart puts up 22 points for the Grizzlies and Pau Gasol adds 14 points and 10 rebounds, but there's no overstating just how huge or how complete a victory this was for us. Series now tied again at 2-2!!!
Final - Denver 111 Memphis 85

It's exciting playoff basketball everywhere as every single series is knotted up at two a piece. I have a feeling they'll be talking about this playoffs for a long, long time to come.

Game Five
Biggest game of the series by far. This is where the ultimate momentum shift will take place. Can we take advantage of being at home? I can barely stand to watch the game, I'm so nervous.... Mateen Yeaton shows up with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Ron McPherson rises to the occasion with 21 points and Brandon Brooks torches his way to 17 points off the bench. But Zelipe Gama is 0 for 6 on the night, Rudy Gay scores 21, Marvin Williams has a monster game of 19 points and 17 rebounds and Darius Miles adds 14 bench points. Gama's goose egg comes back to haunt as we lose by 3 motherf'ing points. Advantage, Grizzlies.
Final - Memphis 101 Denver 98

Game Six
We need a miracle in Memphis. That's all there is to it. Larry Brown preaches defense, defense, defense in the locker room before the game, pointing out that when we play D, we do well and our offense takes care of itself. The boys go out and do exactly that, holding the Grizzlies to 36.2% shooting and for the first time in this series, there's not a single Memphis statistical star. In fact, only two Grizzlies even break double digit points. Our end had one player, one shining star and it was Mateen Yeaton yet again, with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He's played magnificiently all postseason long, determined to get us to that beautiful trophy. Thanks to him, we live to fight another day and a Game 7.
Final - Denver 89 Memphis 70

We're the only series to go full throttle. The Lakers end the Trailblazers dream season in six games, the Raptors prevail over the surprisingly persistent Magic in same and it's six again for Indiana to put away Philadelphia and provide the first case of a lower seed winning this playoffs.

Game Seven
A sold out crowd. Wild and screaming fans. Both teams, sweat-soaked yet determined. It all comes down to this in this most grueling and hard-fought series. Can we strike gold in the mile-high comfort of our home? The Grizzlies come out roaring, clawing and fighting furiously. Rudy Gay scores 21 points, Chris Gearhart betters him with 26 points, Darius Miles scores 10 bench points and Pau Gasol and Marvin Williams tear through us for double-doubles of 16 points and 10 rebounds and 18 points and 11 rebounds. In counterpoint to this magnificient team showing by the Grizzlies, we have just two Nuggets players in double-digit scoring. The first is Ron McPherson with 28 points... and then comes Mateen Yeaton, who channels Allen Iverson of old in scoring 43 points, including a perfect 11/11 from the charity stripe. Yeaton's virtuoso performance gives us the miracle win as we stave off Memphis's fourth quarter charge!!!!!!!!! Yea-ton! Yea-ton! YEA-TON!!!!!!!!
Final - Memphis 99 Denver 109

Players and coaches run the court to en masse` mob Mateen Yeaton and carry him onto their shoulders while the crowd screams and cheers in a wild frenzy.

Sure, it's only another trip to the Western Conference Finals, where we've been before repeatedly and suffered so many disappointments. But we've overcome a major obstacle in beating one of the league's best teams with a 39 year old SF at C. I don't think anybody really expected us to get this far with Antawn Jamison actually starting.

But here we are, going on to face the Lakers.

Guess the Purple and Gold aren't done shining their Showtime glory, either.