[Izulde]

Been a busy season, so I'll let the article talk for me.

"Once again the road to the Finals for the Nuggets goes through their own Northwest division, with the Jazz up first and, should Denver advance, either Minnesota or Portland. In fact, the road for -any- West Conference team dreaming of a title goes through the Northwest, for with all four division representatives in the bottom half of the bracket, the eventual West Conference champions will have to face off against at least one Northwest squad.

The Nuggets have experienced a lot of turnover and swapping in and out of old faces, most notably the here now-gone now-back again Victor Gipson and, of course, the headline-grabbing return of Paulinho Buboltz to the Mile High City. It made for a tumultous regular season, especially with the two-month injuries to Jonte Jones and Mateen Yeaton, but when the dust cleared, the Nuggets reclaimed the Northwest and repeated as the #2 seed.

They draw an interesting team in the Jazz, who they've had recent playoff history with. As to who will win... let's see what the tale of the tape says.

Point Guard
Paulinho Buboltz vs. A.J. Dunkley
Buboltz showed signs of becoming more of a passer in his second tour of duty, amassing 12 double-digit assist games in 36, including five of the last six regular season games. Even with that increased passing, his primary strength is still as a scorer as noted by his 20.2 points, 7.5 assists, 1.3 steals regular season line. Not an elite defender and small at 5'11, but he'll still get his steals.

Dunkley is much more of a passer than Buboltz, but nowhere near his scoring level. He averaged 12.8 points, 9.7 assists and 1.2 steals in the regular season and they're both short, quick, stealing guards. Only Buboltz has about 20 pounds of muscle packed on that Dunkley doesn't have.

Advantage: Nuggets

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Chris Gearheart
Getting Yeaton back is absolutely huge for the Nuggets, not only metaphorically, but literally as well. It's impossible to say how much rust he'll have on him, but at the very least, he'll be well-rested. Before he got hurt, he was showing no signs of slippage despite being 33.

Gearheart's 6'7, 222 lbs, so he's a bigger two guard with pretty good defense, the kind of opponent Yeaton hates to go up against. He's also an excellent shooter, averaging 18.9 points, a block and 1.4 steals in the regular season. However, Gearheart's had a long history of struggling in the playoffs and that trend will probably continue here.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Victor Gipson vs. Grant Fomby
The 3 is a spot of major controversy between the coaching staff and the front office. GM Jestor wants Vinston Henry here, Jim O'Brien insists on the mammoth Gipson, who flourished after coming back to the Nuggets following a two month hiatus in Miami, posting 12 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks between the two teams. He shot a career high 58.5% from the floor this season and looks extremely focused going into the postseason.

At one point, some thought Fomby was going to be a late first round steal and blossom into a borderline star, but instead, he's turned out to be just a run of the mill SF, with no special attributes and a pedestrian 9 points and 5.9 regular season rebouns to show for it. He's also going to have trouble against the giant Gipson and he probably won't make any noteworthy contributions this series.

Advantage: Nuggets

Power Forward
Vinston Henry vs. Henry Fisher
The Nuggets believe so strongly that Henry is going to become the next Yeaton that Jestor signed him to a maximum mid-level exemption contract in the regular season and Denver's a team that hews very much to a controlled costs line. He's not quite there yet, but he's developed good shooting and rebounding form over the course of the regular season and his defense, while still supbar, is markedly improved from what it was in October. His 12.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals bely how much he's advanced and we wouldn't be surprised to see a breakout campaign from him next year. That said, he's still somewhat raw, has never been in the playoffs and is a little undersized at 6'9, 231 lbs.

Fisher can't play defense for anything, but when you're a sharpshooter who's putting up 20 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 1.1 steals, that tends not to matter. A great shotblocker as the statistics note and he plays much bigger than his 6'8, 245 lbs. Has averaged 20+ points the last four seasons, but like Gearheart, is notorious for seizing up in the playoffs.

Advantage: Draw

Center
Jonte Jones vs. Scott Palmer
No rust from Jones after he came back from his broken toe, finishing out the season with 21.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals. He's still deadly accurate from the floor at 31, converting 55.8% of his shots so far this year. He looks refreshed and confident and when you have the defending Finals MVP in that mode, you've got a huge edge.

Palmer was supposed to revolutionize Utah's post game, but while he can play respectable defense, he's a 6'9, 246 lbs finesse center who shoots more jumpers than anything else. While his statline of 15.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and a steal during the regular season are adequate, he's got Tim Davis Softness Syndrome written all over him and to make matters worse, he's yet another Utah postseason underachiever.

Advantage: Nuggets

Bench
Tyrus Thomas was a great trade deadline pickup, able to do everything pretty well still even at 36. Louis Mertens's stats are inflated by his starts, but 10 points and 7.9 assists as the starting SG are still nothing to sneeze at. Carlton Goree is the offensive sparkplug, averaging 9.5 points, 4.4 assists and 1.3 steals off the bench and he should earn some 6th Man of the Year votes. Tzvetan Kishishev really came into his own as a scorer this year, averaging 5.5 points whle playing denying defense.

Rodney Brown is extremely versatile, able to play all 5 positions on the court and he turned that into 10.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in the regular season. Cedric Caldwell has a bright future ahead of him, but he's not there yet. He's still the most talented reserve on the roster as it stands and should be the 6th man over Brown, as he can do a little bit of everything right now even. Chad Dobbins will be an excellent scorer someday, but the second year forward is still extremely green. There's no defensive stoppers on the bench and 38 year old Ben Gordon has been angry about his lack of playing time besides.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
Denver is looking really deep and really talented right now, and the three-time defending champions look to hold all the cards in this matchup against the Jazz. The only problem could be Yeaton's rust. Even given that and the possible effects on the team's performance and chemistry until they get used to each, the Nuggets still sweep this one.
Prediction: Nuggets in 4

Sounds about right, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Utah steal one from us.

Game One
So much for rust. Mateen Yeaton leads all scorers with 23 points and looks terrific. Jonte Jones pulls down 16 points and 18 rebounds and Tyrus Thomas and Tzvetan Kishishev contribute 12 and 10 points off the bench. For the Jazz, Henry Fisher scores 22, Chris Gearheart is right behind with 21 points and Scott Palmer grabs 15 points and 10 rebounds. But nobody else in a purple jersey can do anything and we win this one in dominating fashion.
Final - Utah 84 Denver 107

Game Two
I expected a greater challenge from Utah this game and I got it. Henry Fisher explodes for 31 points, Scott Palmer goes ballistic for 22 points and 12 rebounds and Rodney Brown hustles his way for 18 bench points. We come back with 21 points from Vinston Henry and 21 points, 11 assists from Paulinho Buboltz, but it's not enough as the Jazz pull of a major upset, stunning us by 13 to even the series.
Final - Utah 115 Denver 102

Game Three
In the locker room before the first game in Utah, Jim O'Brien rips into the men, telling them not to take this team lately or we'll suffer an embarassing first round exit and never live the shame down. The team responds beautifully, Mateen Yeaton scoring 24 as the advance guard to three Denver double-doubles: Paulinho Buboltz (19 points, 17 assists), Vinston Henry (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Victor Gipson (12 points, 10 rebounds). Factor in 10 bench points from both Louis Mertens and Tzvetan Kishishev and you have the makings of a 20 point blowout. Utah's frustrated, because they had 3 players with 20+ points: Henry Fisher with 22 points, but also 10 turnovers and Scott Palmer and Chris Gearheart each with 20. It doesn't matter, because in the end, we've got the monster win and the 2-1 series lead.
Final - Denver 113 Utah 93

Game Four
We need to not let up here. Unfortunately, despite seeing improved defense by having Tyrus Thomas move to the starting 4 because of Victor Gipson's strained back, Henry Fisher scorches us for 26 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Gearheart mimics those 26 points, A.J. Dunkley comes out of nowhere for 29 points and Rodney Brown scores 13 in reserve time. Only highlights for us are 27 points and 14 rebounds from Jonte Jones and Louis Mertens dishing out 11 bench assists. As a result, we lose and it's tied up 2-2.
Final - Denver 100 Utah 111

The good news is, there's no sweeps anywhere.

Game Five
The home game's pretty much a must win. Thankfully, our defense shows up at just the right time for the first time since Game 1. In addition, Tyrus Thomas looks 10 years younger in dazzling the home crowd with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Jonte Jones takes the secondary role with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Victor Gipson contributes 10 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Thus, despite 10 points and 11 rebounds from Henry Fisher and 20 points and 13 rebounds from Scott Palmer, we're able to shut down the rest of the Jazz and seize the 3-2 series momentum.
Final - Utah 84 Denver 100

The Knicks kicked off the 76ers in five and the Bucks upset the Cavaliers. Much to my dismay, Dallas and the Clippers both advance in five over the Spurs and the Kings respectively, meaning we're going to have a brutal matchup for the conference finals no matter who we draw.

Game Six
I can't go through another year of heart attacks. We need to finish out here in Utah. So what happens? Well, Jonte Jones has 18 points and 20 rebounds and Paulinho Buboltz is brilliant with 28 points and 11 assists before fouling out, but when Henry Fisher's getting 17 points and 13 rebounds, A.J. Dunkley's hitting us left and right for 29 points and 13 assists, Chris Gearheart is reaming us for 25 points and Rodney Brown's scoring 12 off the bench, it all ends up in a stinkbomb loss that forces a Game 7. It's digusting and if we lose here, only the #1 pick is going to keep me from quitting.
Final - Denver 96 Utah 108

The Raptors get it done, putting away the Pistons in six games. The other two series, like ours, are going to seven.

Game Seven
I can barely bring myself to even go to the arena for this game. We should -not- be in this position. Henry Fishers lights us up for 29 points and Grant Fomby gathers in 12 points and 11 rebounds. All five Jazz starters score 12 points or more and things are looking hairy, especially after our entire bench combined only scores 12 points. Yet, here's Jonte Jones, fired up for 28 points and 10 rebounds. Vinston Henry and Victor Gipson each double-double, for 15 points and 12 rebounds, 11 points and 10 rebounds respectively. But the hero is the one who's been absent all series long. At long last, Mateen Yeaton snaps out of the slump he's been in since Game 1 and erupts for 35 points. It gets us the win and we move to the second round. Hopefully all the kinks will be worked out by now.
Final - Utah 92 Denver 105

Portland and Orlando escape their own scares to lower seeds, beating out Minnesota and Chicago respectively.

I just hope we play better against the Trailblazers than we did this round. If we don't, our season will be over in a hurry.