Blake: Ready for raucous Pepsi Center

Friday, April 27, 2007

Nuggets point guard Steve Blake is averaging 7.5 points, five assists and four rebounds in the first two playoff games against the San Antonio Spurs. He has agreed to share his thoughts and insights throughout the best-of-seven series.

Man, it's great to be back in Denver. Nothing against Texas, but four days in San Antonio was plenty for me. I like being able to drive my own car to the arena, relax on my own couch and sleep in my own bed.

A lot of guys say they can focus better on the road because there aren't as many distractions, but that's never been a problem for me. Even with friends and family around, it's easy to make sure basketball comes first at playoff time.

The flight back from San Antonio was pretty routine. We landed a little after midnight after Game 2. I killed time during the flight watching Nip/Tuck. I caught an episode on TV one time and my teammate Eduardo Najera was nice enough to loan me the first season on DVD.

Nip/Tuck might be a fitting title for the first two games of our series. Both games could have gone either way.

We're happy with the fact we got one down there, but we're disappointed we didn't get that second one. We showed we have a lot of heart by making it close in Game 2, and I think we have a good chance in the series.

It's going to be a dogfight. The Spurs are a really good team, and we're a team that's playing very well right now. Anything could happen. It could go back and forth, back and forth.

Now that we have home-court advantage, I'm looking forward to playing in front of our fans at the Pepsi Center. I know it's going to be crazy. The fans are going to be loud and supporting us. It's a great advantage for us.

It's tough to say which arena is the loudest, but the Pepsi Center ranks right up there with places like Sacramento and Utah. Of course, I'm still partial to my alma mater. I always thought Maryland had some of the loudest crowds.

Some people find it amazing, but there are times during a game when I don't hear the crowd at all. Years and years of playing, I guess. It's hard to ignore, though, when you're making a run on your home court and the fans are going crazy. You get pretty hyped and you can just feel that energy.

The adrenaline of the playoffs also kicks in, and I'm not feeling tired at all after two games. If it's a long series or we get to the second or third round, then fatigue might be a factor, but right now, I'm more excited about playing than anything else.

There will be plenty of time to rest when the season's over. Hopefully, that's a long way off.