(This post is inspired by me having watched the way the refs treated the Blazers and Hawks yesterday.)

I'm a huge optimist when it comes to the Nuggets. I expected nothing from them in the playoffs in 2004, but every year from 2005 to 2008, I said "this is it- this is the year they're getting out of the first round." Yes, even 2008 against the Lakers. And in 2009 when they won game 2 in LA I said "this is it, they're going to win this series in 6 and win the finals." And last year I was blown away when they turtled to the Jazz- I fully expected them to win that series. So what I'm trying to say is that I ALWAYS expect the best from the Nuggets come April and May. But not this year. Why?

As we all know, this league runs on superstars. The Thunder have a legit one (Durant of course) and a very overrated one (Westbrook- I hate the guy's game. He's a highlight reel steal/dunk guy who jacks up a dozen ugly jumpers a night and doesn't distribute. Anyways). If you think the league would rather see the "10 guys deep, no stars" Nuggets in the second round instead of the team with two very marketable guys in their mid 20s, you've got another thing coming.

Now I'm not saying that if the Nuggets lose it was solely because of the refs. OKC is super talented and has a lot of size, so I wouldn't be surprised if they simply outplay the Nuggets and take the series with no help at all from the zebras anyways. But please believe that the Nuggets aren't getting ANY calls late in close games. If they win the series it'll be because they won four games by double digits and didn't leave anything to chance.

Just my $.02.

As to those who wonder why the 2004-2010 Nuggets only won two series with a legit superstar on the roster: the thing is, those Nuggets teams (with the exception of 2009's) simply weren't good enough to beat the TWolves, Spurs, Clippers, Spurs, Lakers, and Jazz even if they did get a ton of calls. I think we've seen from the Knicks in the 30ish games since the trade just what kind of ball to expect from a team led by Melo.