San Antonio – Nuggets center plans on remaining a key player in this first-round series against San Antonio. But he doesn’t think it best to have him play 40 minutes.
Camby had 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks Sunday in 40 minutes, his first game back after missing two with a hamstring injury. He missed 16 games because of injury during the regular season. Camby expects Nene, Eduardo Najera and to get more minutes..
“I can’t give you 40 every night,” Camby said Tuesday. “Coach (George Karl) talked about getting other guys in.”
Rating the body blows
After hearing about the stitches required for Spurs’ Nazr Mohammed and Tim Duncan in Game 1, Karl suggested the roughhousing went both ways.
“I thought they actually got better hits,” Karl said. “I mean, (Manu) Ginobili’s hit on (Greg) Buckner was really a good hit. Buckner’s hit on Ginobili was soft, but Ginobili’s hit on Buckner was really good.”
Mohammed took four stitches after colliding with teammate Robert Horry.
Asked whether he thought Game 2 could be worse, Camby replied, “If it was getting any more physical out there it’d be a boxing match.”
Series deficit not new
San Antonio fell behind Phoenix 1-0 at home two years ago before winning the NBA title.
“We know it’s not impossible,” Ginobili said. “There’s no doubt about that. But the fact that (this) happened against Phoenix two years ago doesn’t mean we’re happy about it happening again. We’re very upset.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich dismissed any notion that his team can learn from two years ago.
“I think it’s meaningless,” Popovich said. “There were different combinations (of players), different mental state, a different chemistry.”
Tougher Tim
The Spurs are expecting an improved performance out of Duncan, who continues to battle a nagging right ankle injury.
“There’s been no setback or anything like that,” Popovich said. “He’s still on the mend.”
Duncan appeared tentative Sunday and didn’t have much lift, leaving several shots short.
“I think one thing you’ll see is an aggressive Tim Duncan down on the block, making quick moves and trying to take advantage inside,” guard Brent Barry said.
Footnotes
Game 4 of the Nuggets-Spurs series May 2 at the Pepsi Center is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. … Former Nuggets coach Paul Westhead stopped in San Antonio for a couple days on a cross country trip from Orlando, Fla., to Southern California. … Karl, on whether he can get a repeat of Duncan’s 7-for-22 Game 1 performance: “I’ll take a repeat. I’ll take 7-for-20 the rest of the series and pay a little money for it.” … Nuggets forward has a cold but didn’t expect it to affect him tonight. … Anthony’s college coach, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, attended the Spurs’ practice Tuesday. … Anthony called the SBC Center fans probably the best road crowd in the league.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey contributed to this report.
