Celtic Fried

Pain, stress
My brain, can't even rest
It's hard to maintain the pressure on my chest
Excess frustration strikes...

Last night at The Can a playoff atmosphere broke out in the middle of the usually tepid February. And unlike the Nugs recent forays into the postseason, they emerged with a hard fought, yet old school shootout win versus the league’s best team.

As much as the refs tried to end the game with a string of bizarre calls in the Celtics favor, and the Nugs hitting only one of two FTs, the game served somewhat as a barometer of the team and the stretch run.

Kenyon Martin seems to have reenergized and completely healed and seems ready to get all up in whichever big man’s ass he might be paired up against. K-Mart had a couple plays versus the Celtics which he seems perilously surrounded by defenders, only to elevate in what seemed like a nanosecond to dunk the ball home. It was vintage K-Mart without Jason Kidd.

Allen Iverson was rusty most of the game, but hit key shots in the 4th, and most importantly, dished the ball. When AI has 10 or more dimes, the Nugs usually will pull out a win. Last night he had 9.

As always, Marcus Camby was the backbone of this team, swatting nine Celtic shots and pulling down double digit rebounds- again. And in one of the more bizarre plays of the 07-08 campaign, Marcus ventured out into 3 point land to nail a late trey and effectively put the game away. Just the way it was drawn up, right?

With a tough stretch looming (first five of March: Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio twice, Utah) the Nugs are precariously nudged in the #8 spot. As presently constructed, this team should fare well to hang on to get in the playoffs, but can this team do anything in the playoffs (mainly win a series- hell, win more than one game!) Or is Nene, perhaps Linas, or some draft picks on the way out to further escalate the West arms race and point the Nugs in the direction of legit West contenders.