It didn’t take long for Kenyon Martin to make his mark. Two minutes into his first game since April 2, the Nuggets forward received a pass in the low post, smashed his body into a defender and scored while being fouled. He did the same thing about seven minutes later, except this time with a dunk.
Martin had been sidelined by a left rib cartilage strain but seems to be physically ready for the postseason, which begins this weekend.
“His toughness, he can help get some rebounds,” Denver’s Anthony Carter said. “And he can intimidate a lot of players, just by being on the court. We can use his eight, 10 points. And just having him out there, it changes the whole mind-set of the team.”
National pride.
After a morning shootaround Sunday, Kings forward Andres Nocioni hustled to a television to watch a countryman master the Masters.
“It was awesome. It was huge,” Nocioni said of Argentina’s Angel Cabrera winning at Augusta National.
Nocioni spent the afternoon texting some of his fellow Argentine NBA players, such as Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto and Luis Scola.
“It was a great, great thing for Argentina,” Nocioni said.
Fashion statement.
Birdman T-shirts featuring Chris Andersen have become all the rage at the Pepsi Center. During the first round of the playoffs, fans can get one free with an online purchase of $50 or more at Altitude Authentics, the retail division of Kroenke Sports Enterprises. For every shirt given away or sold, $1 is donated to the charity of Andersen’s choice — The Alliance for Choice in Education (ACE), which offers need-based tuition scholarships to Front Range children of low-income families.
He said it.
“On defense, we’ve been consistently getting more consistent.” — Nuggets coach George Karl
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
