Junior who? Junior Harrington (with 2 r's) that's who! Junior hit the game winner and stole the ball from Duncan, all in the final minute. Not bad for an undrafted rookie.

Maximum Effort = 3 wins in a row

The Nuggets now own the longest current winning streak of any Denver based pro sports franchise. How about them apples?

After two exciting, confidence building wins the past two games, the Nuggets had to host the mighty San Antonio Spurs. Okay, the Spurs are off to a slow start, coming in at 9-5, but they had beaten the Nuggets in the previous 6 meetings.

With Donnell Harvey working his way up from last man on the bench, to one of the first subs, and Posey & Howard providing scoring and leadership, the Nuggets have found winning ways.

Satterfield has been the starter up to this point, but Harrington made a strong case for himself in this game. Neither should be starters at this point, but with Whitney on IR, they have been doing their best to run the team. Satterfield is the more athletic of the two, and can really push the ball up the court, but Harrington seems to make the better decisions of the two.

In this game, he was cold as ice. With less than 30 seconds to go, the Nuggets grabbed a defensive rebound and called a timeout. Harrington held the ball until there just 5-6 seconds left on the shot clock. He drove the lane, and with everyone expecting a pass, he calmly pulled up and hit an open 20 foot jumper. Money. Nuggets up by 2. San Antonio gets the ball into Duncan after a timeout, and with 8 seconds left in the game he looks to drive to the basket. Harrington rips the ball away and is fouled. On the inbounds play, Posey is fouled, sinks both free throws, and the last gasp of the Spurs falls harmlessly away. Nuggets get to head to San Antonio for a home and home rematch tomorrow night.

The Nuggets can savor a big win against a playoff bound team. They are playing hard, playing with energy, and playing with good defense, just as we were promised. Good things are happening. Let's try not to get too giddy, but I do see some similarities to the Orlando team of a few years back that was under rookie coach Doc Rivers. They played hard and got a lot more wins than anyone expected that year. The Nuggets could do the same.

Rookie Watch

Nene played amazingly well in this game, especially considering he was matched up against Duncan most of the time. He had several key defensive stops in the second half. He also put in 10 points and had 6 boards in 26 minutes. This kid is amazing at 19, and he should definitely be considered as a Rookie of the Year candidate the way he's playing right now.

Skita continues to flounder. He looks lost on the court, and just needs time to practice, get stronger, and work on his game. I do believe he will be a great player, but we won't see that until next year. Savovic also plays hard, and does not have the exuse of age. His shots just aren't falling right now.

Lastly, I'd like to comment on a non-rookie - Rodney White. The guy has proven he can score, and he can shoot from the outside - two things that the Nuggets are in desperate need of, but he continues to play lackadaisical defense, the kind the Nuggets can't afford to have at any position on the court. His offense often isn't enough to offset it, and Coach Bzdelik has to substitute him out for defense at key points in the game. Learn how to play defense, and White could see more minutes, but he might find himself losing many of them to Harvey the way he is playing at both ends.

Til next game,

Alan