Camby flashes the victory sign to the crowd as he heads to the bench with the game in hand, late in the 4th quarter.

ESPN Boxscore Web: Wolves Played like Sheep (via TwolvesCentral.com) Next game: Game #4 vs. Wolves, Tue @ 8:30MT

First Nuggets Playoff Win in 10 years

Voshon and Carmelo hit the first two shots of the game (both threes), and the Nuggets never looked back - leading the entire way.

Andre Miller has been hounded by the media and fans for not showing up yet in this series, and being thoroughly outplayed by his counterpart - Sam Cassell. Well, he changed all that right from the start of game #3. With two three point plays the hard way, and a jumper, Andre led the Nuggets out of the gates with 8 points in the first quarter, helping stake a 30-18 point advantage over the Wolves. Andre finished with 19 pts, 7 rebounds (5 offensive!), 6 assists, 1 steal and only 2 turnovers. He also helped hold Cassell to only 10 points.

Carmelo Anthony, Denver's ROY, played a great all-around game. He led the team with 24 pts, shot just under 50%, had 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, and 3 TO's. (After 10 in the first 2 games) He looked much more himself out there, and seemed to solve much of the defensive schemes that the Wolves had been throwing at him in the first few games - getting to the rack more and finding open teammates. His alley-oop dunk from Miller late in the third quarter was the best I have seen all year. I'm still not sure how he threw it down, as he came from the baseline, behind the basket, jumped up while facing away from the rim, caught a bullet pass and then twisted 180 in the air and threw it down. I think even LeBron was jealous of that dunk. * See Notes below.

Two sequences occurred late in the 3rd and early in the 4th quarter that summed up the game and the change of momentum in the series. First, Jon Barry and Rodney White led a fast-break that was beautiful and exciting to watch. With several Minnesota players back, they used 4 lightning quick passes, to move towards the basket without the ball ever touching the floor on the dribble. White ended up with an easy layup with the assist going to Barry. Second, with the Nuggets 2nd unit on the floor, Rodney White was bringing the ball up the court, leading a fast break. His pass completely missed Jon Barry, but went right to Carmelo Anthony, who was on the bench at the time. Kevin Garnett went to grab the ball from him, and Carmelo instead passed the ball around him to a nearby official. This was a fitting move by Carmelo, and well-handled by a 19 year old. You have to watch Garnett in this series to appreciate this. He often will do subtle little pysche things after the officials blow their whistles - grabbing the ball from people, knocking it out of their hands, and blocking shots even when they don't count. I'm sure he does these things to psyche out the Nuggets, but Carmelo would have none of it. When Garnett responded with words for Anthony in this situation (I couldn't see what exactly he did, as I was in the upper deck, opposite side of the court), Andre stood up and pushed Garnett away from Carmelo and the Nuggets bench. Andre received a tech for this, as he deserved, but it sent a significant message - "we will not be pushed around anymore in this playoff series!". It was perfect. Bzdelik also did the right thing by putting Andre and Carmelo right back into the game after this. There was no further animosity, but the message was received and the T-Wolves never threatened again in this game.

Key Factors and Players

• Marcus Camby lived up to his x-factor billing, and the intensity was back in his eyes after it was missing in game #2. His 16 rebounds helped lead the Nuggets to a huge rebounding advantage 53-36.
• Assists - The Nuggets are very tough to beat when they share the ball. 29 assists were huge after 23 in game #1 and just 14 in game #2. The Nuggets did it by moving and cutting, while looking for the open man. The amazing thing is that the Nuggets running game was somewhat held in check for the third straight game. (The Nuggs did outscore the Wolves 16-8 on fast-break points though) The exciting thing is how easy we made it look in our half-court set by moving the ball better.
• The Pepsi Center was rocking like a rock concert, as the fans totally did their part to help with the home court advantage. Denver fans love basketball, and yes, many of the people there last night were of the bandwagon variety, but as the Nuggets success continues into next year - the fans will stay and continue to support this team. The crowd of 19,713 was the 5th largest ever crowd at the Pepsi Center.

Things to remember:

• 1st playoff win for the Nuggets in 10 years
• 1st playoff win at the Pepsi Center
• 1st ever 8th seed to win a game by 20+ points

I for one, was not happy with Bzdelik's sub patters in games #1 and #2. I thought he did a great job in game #3. The starters played almost the entire 1st quarter because they never wavered on energy level, and big-men Andersen and Elson were first off then bench when Nene and Camby got into fould trouble. I like Doleac, but I don't think he's a great fit defensively in this series, and his not entering until the game was in hand this time around was a good move. Also, with Andre playing so well, Boykins was limited to just 20 minutes, which is actually a great amount to me. I think his effectiveness goes down when overplayed. Boykins helped keep the 2nd unit playing smoothly with 10 pts and 5 assists. The play of the 2nd unit was a major factor, as they totally outplayed the Minnesota bench in this game.

Other Notes: Happy Anniversary to my wife Carrie. This game coincided with our 6 year anniversary, and we enjoyed celebrating it by watching the Nuggets first playoff win at the Pepsi Center. LeBron James was in the house to support his friend Carmelo. When it was announced in the first half, and he was shown on the stadium's jumbotron, I think many of us were ready to boo the newly crowned ROY, not because it was LeBron, but because it wasn't Carmelo. However, Rocky, the Nuggets mascot cleverly diffused that by handing LeBron a Carmelo jersey, which LeBron promptly put over his clothes. The crowd cheered. :) Lastly, three Nuggets all time greats were in the crowd and introduced through-out the game - David Thompson, Fat Lever, and Alex English. All received huge ovations.

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Til next game,

Alan