Clearly, the Spurs will feel a bit of fatigue in tonight’s game. The Spurs beat the Warriors last night in overtime, and subsequently jumped on a plane to Denver. In order to secure the win, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker played 42 and 43 minutes, respectively. The Nuggets last played on Friday, so they will be very well rested. Carmelo Anthony returned from injury in their last game to score 19 points in 30 minutes. The rust was evident in the 5 turnovers he committed, but he looked fresh and healthy.
The Nuggets are a team that does not match up well with the Spurs. Tim Duncan generally has his way with the Nuggets defenders. Nene is slow and undersized, while Chris “Birdman” Anderson needs to hit a weight room. In addition, they lack a defensive stopper to handle Manu Ginobili. JR Smith will come off the bench for Denver but see substantial minutes. While he is a very skilled offensive player, he lacks the passion for defense. Since both Ginobili and Smith will come off the bench, it is likely that they will guard one another. Ginobili should win this match up as he is skilled both offensively and defensively.
The advantage that the Nuggets have over the Spurs resides in their newly acquired point guard, Chancey Billups. Though Tony Parker has much improved his game when facing the bigger, stronger point guards of the league, they still pose problems. Also, surprisingly Tony shows fatigue in the tail end of back to backs, even though he is relatively young. I think this will be the critical match up of the game. If Tony can neutralize the Chancey affect, the Spurs should roll. But if Tony looks fatigued and is dominated, it could be a long night. Bottom line, Spurs by 8.
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