Playoff Revelations honors playoff players without big names, but who are having a big impact in the postseason.On a night when Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson both went over 30 points, it must have taken something extraordinary for Charles Barkley to call someone else Denver's MVP. And you look at Nene's stat line, and it's good, but not eye-poppingly spectacular: 13 points, 12 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers.
But here's another line you might be interested in ... Tim Duncan's. 14 points on 7-17 shooting. On the year, Duncan averages 20 and shoots over 54% from the floor.
And this was mostly all Nene, too. They rotated Camby over to Duncan some late in the game, but most of the game, it was just Nene. No special game plan, no serious double teams, no special tactics ... just Nene using his feet to stay in front of Duncan, and using his strength to keep him off-balance and frustrated.
And his work on the boards was formidable, too. Of his 12 rebounds, 8 of them were offensive ... the kind that lead directly to points and extra possessions.
So what are the odds of Nene keeping this up for the rest of the series? Well, Duncan will get better ... you're not going to hold him to 14 every night. The Spurs will make some adjustments, Duncan will figure some things out individually, but I think when all is said and done, he'll probably be held under his season scoring average this series.
And even if he does get his average, the Nuggets still come out ahead by being able to play Duncan one-on-one, and not leave themselves too vulnerable to the Spurs outside shooting.
