Nuggets vs. Spurs - First Round Matchup 2005

So here we are. This series starts the upcoming weekend (not sure when haven't heard but either Saturday or Sunday). I think this series is winable for us. We won 2 of 4 during the season, but I don't remeber Duncan playing in either one of those games. He is probably going to be the difference in the series for SA. If he plays well they should be able to win. We also need Camby to play well for us or we are going to likely get beat. Now for the analysis.

Denver-PG Andre Miller-Andre is playing GREAT as of late. If he can keep that up that will help a ton. If he can gaurd Tony Parker well that will help us because Parker torched us by getting to the lane and dishing over and over during one of the games earlier in the year. I think we need to cut Parker off before getting in the lane or we are in major trouble. Andre also needs to help push on offense. I think if we can get some nice alley oops to Martin and Melo we should be able to wear down San Antonio as they are not a running team.

Earl Boykins-Boykins has to improve from the Pheonix game. Not sure how he has been other then that lately but we need him to come off the bench, light the fire of this team and get them RUNNING. When he is playing well he is almost unstoppable because of his quickness and ability to hit shots. Could be a huge factor as he can definetly top the #2 PG of San Antonio.

SG- This will also be a vital postition for Denver. Several guys will probaby get time (Voshon Leonard, if he makes the team, Wesley Person, Couple others I am forgetting now.) These guys need to provide some offense and some solid defense on Manu Ginobli. Person and Leonard can definetly hit some threes and will be called on to do that.

SF- Carmello will be solid IMO. San Antonio will gaurd him tough but I think that he is really hot right now and get his points. He will be able to gaurd whoever he is playing because that is more of a defensive guy for San Antonio. Will need to get his points though because he is the point scoring leader on the team.

Najera needs to be energetic off the bench. I don't see why he won't because he has been his entire time in Denver. If he can make just a few hustle rebounds, steals, and plays he could win us a game or two.

PF- Martin will be really key. I think he might get called on to gaurd Duncan. That will be a really interesting matchup. On offense he has to hit shots and get to the rim. He can score nicely, but he has struggled at times.

Nene needs to be solid off the bench and not get into foul trouble.

C- Camby HAS to play and HAS to play well. He should be healthy after resting, but how good he will be is still uncertain. I think if he can play some nice defense he might be the diference in the series. Without him the last 3 games we absolutely blew on deffense. I can see him getting some HUGE blocks in the series.

Elson needs to play well when he is in there. He also needs to watch his agression as he got into some scuffles with KG last year. That is NOT something we need to get into with the Spurs.

All-in-All we need a good effort from everyone. The starters can not win this by themselves and need the bench to help them, but they must still show up. I will pick San Antonio to win this, in 6 games.

Oh heck yea! Nuggets in the playoffs baby!

w000t! Denver is, for the second straight year, in the NBA playoffs! Looks like we will be the #7 season (better then last years #8). Right now it looks like we will be playing the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. Sure is a tough draw as San Antonio is most likely the favorite to win it all if Tim Duncan is healthy.

Tough test tonight vs. Pheonix IN Pheonix. Phenoix is one of those teams that is going to run up and down the court ALL night long. Denver happens to play the same way so it should be interesting. After the game I will post my thoughts and once we are confrimed to be playing the Spurs I will post my thoughts on that series.

Also one other thing I want to do sometime is post my thoughts on the Huskers post spring pratice. I think it will be a fun year to be a Husker fan as they are young and have some talent for once.

Well, back to watching the Nuggets game for me. Not looking good early but we can explode for some points if need be. Ta-Ta.

I'm starting to think teachers are always right

I have to write some 8-12 page paper for Research Methods. I only took this class because I need to know how to write papers when I go on to college. I didn't take it, expecting it to be fun. I took it expecting it to be hard work :(. Our teacher missed most of the first month, so we were not totally prepared for her. I had slacked a lot in the last few weeks. I got some good books from the library when we went, but most of the other days I wasted time and figured I could cruise by in this class giving less effort then I should. Once my teacher got back she put an end to that.

I have realized that this class isn't as easy as I want it to be. I am going to struggle as English is my worst subject, espeically writing. However, I have also realized this class can be easier then it looks. The teacher lays out a strict schedule of when things are due to keep you on a good pace and make sure you get stuff done. For tomorrow, I had to write a topic outline. I had gone into today thinking I would just add a few more indepth things to my graphic organizer from yesterday and do fine. But when she returned the graphic organizers, I noticed that she thought my topic was way to broad. I talked to her about it, and she said she wanted me to cut my topic into a much smaller portion then what I had (I'm writing about the reasons for the fall of Rome FYI.) I was a little unhappy with this, as a I had not done enough research to go indepth into anyone of these subjects. So I went home and put it off by watching Seinfeld, reading the paper, doing my paper route, picking up my brother from weightlifting, and lo and behold it was time to go to work. After work I came home, and watched Family Guy, then I watched CSI, and all of a sudden it was 12:15 AM and I hadn't started on this damn outline.

I started to look at my organizer and realized I was in major trouble, I hadn't read enough to go indepth on these topics, and I was certain that if I did go indepth, I wouldn't have enough sources to do good notecards for Monday(o yeah I didn't mention we have 75 notecards due on Monday! I have to be real careful to make sure I use alot of sources too! O joy!). I was seriously contemplating just writing another broad outline, and then narrowing it later after I read more. I was standing there thinking, I should just go to bed and do it in the morning(I have tried this in the past, never works very well. I tend to get F's when I do that). Then I started thinking out loud, verbally going through my possible reasons to go indepth on. Pretty soon I realized that I had narrowed my topic down to 2 possible reasons. The growth of the empire, or the problems in the army. When I verbally went through how I could go indepth with the growth part, I realized I had found my paper. Just like me teacher had told me in class, you will find this ALOT easier once you narrow it down. Now that I had narrowed it down, it was much easier to write this oultine. Also I started to see where I could use my sources to make notecards.

The moral of my story, if there is one, is to listen to your teachers. Distinguish when they don't know when they don't know what they are talking about(you all know what I mean ;) and when they do, give it a try, even if it isn't your stlye. Maybe you never have been a person to use flashcards, but at your teachers urgings you try and find out they work best. You never would know if you don't listen to your teacher and try it out. For some reasons these people who go to school to learn how to teach, and get paid to educate me, know all these secrets about how to learn, and how to succed in school. Now if only I had realized this last year :(.

2 Sides to Everything.

While I was at work today, I work at a movie theatre by the way, I was 2 minutes away from the time I was supposed to clock off at, when I heard some bad news. Some poor kid had gotten sick and had a little "puke" incident in the bathroom. Somebody was going to have to clean it up, and I was fairly certain that most of the other employees weren't going to do it. I realized that I may be the only one there who would be willing to do it.

So, I went in the back, got some gloves, deodorizer, cleaning chemicals, mop (puke was on the floor), and several other things to help clean this mess up. I went and started cleaning the puke. It wasn't fun and I didn't enjoy it. I was thinking about why I was doing this when my manager Josh walked into the bathroom. Obviously he had heard about the incident and was making sure someone was taking care of it. He said he was thankful that I was cleaning it and sorry that I was the unlucky one who had to clean it up. That's when it hit me; almost every one would see it that way, that I was unfortunate to have to clean it up. I realized that I was fortunate to clean it up. What better way to impress your mangers then by cleaning up a mess that stinks without being asked? I realized that even in this activity which is no fun, there is a silver lining.

Throughout the rest of the day I pondered this, I thought back to what I have read in the Bible, that all things work together for good. Now I suppose that if you aren't a Christian then maybe this won't apply to you. But for us believers, I think that we have to work hard to see the other side of things. Whether it is a car accident, a death, or even something as little as having to do a dirty job at work, there is a good side to it. Sometimes it is hard to see what good can come of something, but God has told us that all things work together for good. Maybe that car wreck will teach you that you need to drive safer. Perhaps it will make you realize how dependent you became on your car, or how your car had become your own personal "god". No matter what you do this week, no matter what happens to you, I encourage you to look for that second side of things, the side that shows that all things work together for good. Reflect more on that, than you do on the sad side and you will be much happier :).