[Izulde]

Playing Jonte Jones is going to be tough, but this is not the Mavericks team of Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki, who we battled so fiercely with through the early years in my time here in Denver. I think we'll do well here.

Let's see what the press says.

"There's little question that Jonte Jones is this generation's Lebron James, a superstar stuck on a team with too few supporting parts to hoist the championship trophy. That said, at least Jones has been to the Finals (2012) whereas the closest James has gotten in recent years is the second round.

Can Jones carry the Mavericks to an upset of the Nuggets? Review the tapes!

Point Guard
Zelipe Gama vs. Damian Giesen
Gama's averaging 10 points, 13.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds, a steal and 1.3 blocks in the postseason. In short, he's doing everything Denver expects out of him, both in the regular season and the playoffs. Make the passes, grab some rebounds, score some points and make defensive plays.

Giesen, 26, was the 23rd overall pick by the Grizzlies in 2014 and isn't really starting PG material. He's better suited to SG and he's looked frozen this year in the playofs, averaging just 8.3 points and 7 assists against the Lakers. Still, his passing was better than the regular season, when he averaged 5.8.

Advantage: Nuggets

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Jamar Barnes
Yeaton was magnificient against the Kings, averaging 26.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2.3 blocks a game. He's fully healed from a foot injury in the first round and he's primed to have another fantastic series as the heart of Denver's offense.

From J. Barnes to J. Barnes, only Jamar is inferior to Justin. He's a subpar defender and is actually better suited to play PG. Some shooting power as his 12.3 points and great stealing instincts as his 1.7 steals from the first round illustrate. He also averaged a block a game, but he's not going to do that against the taller Yeaton and his less than adequate defense spells doom for Dallas.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Ron Collier vs. Daniel Wilder
Collier's been under fire from the Nuggets front office, notably GM Jestor for his wild-shooting ways, but as his 43.2% shooting and his 10.3 points a game in the first round shows, he's toned it way down in the playoffs. He'll need to maintain that if he hopes to stay on the team past this year.

One of the most puzzling things about the Mavericks is why Wilder's making over $10 million a year and why he keeps getting a starting job. He's not very good in any area, certainly not worth the kind of money he's getting. He's got some defensive playmaking skills (a steal, 1.3 blocks in the first round), but he's never averaged double-digit scoring during the regular season and is only somewhat above that mark this playoffs with an 11.7 point average. On the other hand, he's got some rebounding skills, grabbing 5.4 boards in the first round, second on the Mavs.

Advantage: Draw

Power Forward
Marcelino Augusto vs. Al Horford
We salivated over Augusto before the first round and although he didn't make any highlight reels, he was quietly effective, averaging 14 points, 8.5 rebounds, a steal and 2.3 blocks. A fine first playoff series, particularly for a 19 year old rookie, no matter how heralded.

Good luck to Horford in trying to stop him. He weighs 30 lbs more than Augusto, but Marcelino's bested bigger and better men than Al and Horford's line of 8.6 points and 5.1 rebounds doesn't inspire confidence that he can contain the Nuggets' rising megastar.

Advantage: Nuggets

Center
Tim Davis vs. Jonte Jones
Davis didn't exactly set the world on fire in the opening round, but he still averaged 17.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and a steal per game. Unfortunately, he's a terrible blocker and plays very, very soft, things that are going to get him in trouble against the most aggressive, powerful Jones.

Jones averaged an eye-popping 29.6 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks against the Lakers and Andrew Bynum and there's every reason to believe he can do just as well against the Nuggets, if not better. On the other hand, since Horford is so horrible, Denver should be able to keep a double-team on Jones inside and dare the Mavericks to beat them from the perimeter.

Advantage: Mavericks

Bench
David Jackson went a long way to backing up his brash boast of being The World's Best Damn 6th Man as the second year player averaged an amazing 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against the Kings. You'd have to go back almost a decade, to the days of Chauncey Billups, to find a Denver player who had that kind of force off the bench. Michael Redd is hungry for a title and has been playing like it, sniping off the bench for 8.5 points in the first round and Kirk Hinrich is right there with him, compiling averages of 7 points and 4.8 assists.

Mike Patterson's a nice all-around backup and he averaged 11.6 points in the opening round. Jeff Green is averaging the exact same 9 points in the playoffs that he did in the regular season and he's a pretty good defender to boot. Hamilton Bibby is back in a Mavericks uniform after taking his skills elsewhere for a few seasons and is averaging 7.7 points. But for all Dallas's offensive power off the bench, they don't have the defensive stopper that the Nuggets do in Emeka Okafor.

Advantage: Draw

Final Thoughts
Can Jonte Jones save the Mavericks? No. They had to go the full seven games against an Austin Buller-less Lakers and Jones provides Dallas their only major advantage. That won't be enough and while this series won't be a sweep, it'll be short.
Prediction: Denver in 5

Yeah, I can believe that.

Game One
Despite the inequity in overall talent, I'm still expecting a lot tougher matchup from the Mavericks than the Kings. If the first game is any indication, that's not going to happen. We shut down the interior passing lanes all night and Jonte Jones also only played 24 minutes due to foul trouble. Because we clogged up the inside, he took just 3 shots all night, converting 2 and ending with 6 points. When your superstar only scores 6 points, it doesn't matter that Mike Patterson and Jeff Green score 12 and 17 points off the bench respectively; you just aren't going to win. Not when Marcelino Augusto's scoring 20 points and Mateen Yeaton's leading all scorers with 23 points. And not when Emeka Okafor's coming alive for 11 bench points. David Jackson's double-digit bench point streak ended tonight, but only by a bucket. He was 4 of 4 for 8 points. Great night. Great big blowout for the 1-0 series lead.
Final - Dallas 87 Denver 108

Game Two
Fantastic center duel tonight, Jonte Jones putting up 25 points and 16 rebounds, Tim Davis countering him with 31 points. But it all came down to the support and all Jones had was 19 points from Jeff Green, who I'm really growing to admire. Davis, in counterpoint, had an assist of 22 points from Mateen Yeaton and a sensational 7 of 8 shooting for 15 points off the bench from David Jackson, pushing his postseason FG shooting to 70.2%. Wow! Closer game, but still a comfortable win. Nuggets up 2-0.
Final - Dallas 109 Denver 119

Game Three
The Kings fought back hard in Sacramento and I'm expecting the same from the Mavericks. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see them win a game here. Marcelino Augusto scores 28 points and Mateen Yeaton continues his consistency with another 22 points. Michael Redd shoots 11 points to lead the reserves. But Jonte Jones is alive and fighting now with 24 points and 10 rebound and Al Horford finagled 14 points and 10 rebounds himself. Then there's the 10 bench points from Jeff Green. The real story of the night, though is Damian Giesen, who has the game of his life in scoring 30 points with 7 assists. How big was it? So big that it was his new career-high. End result? We lose by 12 and suddenly it's 2-1.
Final - Denver 108 Dallas 120

Game Four
Big game here. We need to put them away or suddenly this becomes a whole new series. Jonte Jones rampages again, this time for 23 points and 12 rebounds and Mike Patterson contributes 12 bench points. But Mateen Yeaton counters it with 25 points and Zelipe Gama charges in for 19 points and 10 assists, after relying on strictly passing the first three games, giving us the win despite horrendous shooting from our bench and a foul-plagued game by Tim Davis. We've got them against the wall.
Final - Denver 107 Dallas 88

We already know our West Conference Finals opponents if we get that far, because the Spurs stunningly swept the Grizzlies. Even more surprising is the fact that the two series in the East are deadlocked at two games a piece.

Game Five
Now that the Spurs have swept, I really want to end the series here so we can get rested up and be as fresh as San Antonio for the conference finals. I'm sure glad to be back in Denver and so are the gang as Mateen Yeaton scores 22 points, Michael Redd scores 10 off the bench and all five of our starters score 12 points or better. Dallas counters with 19 bench points from Jeff Green and one of the most astounding performances I've ever seen. In fact, this is one of the greatest games I've ever seen period. Jonte Jones thunders for 39 points, 20 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 blocks, while Zelipe Gama -just- misses a 20/20 with 22 points and 19 assists. It was a hard-fought, intense game all the way through, but in the end, we take the first 3 quarters and tie in the 4th, closing out the series with an exciting 8 point victory. Back to the Western Conference Finals!
Final - Dallas 102 Denver 110

The win's not without a cost though. Ron Collier sprains his ankle, which means David Jackson will probably start the Conference Finals at SF. That's perfectly all right with me.

The 2-2 ties turned out to be anticlimatic, ending in six games with the expected results of Toronto booting Charlotte and Philadelphia sending Cinderella Atlanta home.