West notes: Nene becoming golden Nugget in stretch run

Nene may mean "baby" in Portuguese, but to the Denver Nuggets, it means they have the inside scoring threat to complement their high-scoring perimeter-oriented offense.

Nene tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in the season opener last season and missed the rest of the year, and then missed 14 games earlier this season after bruising the same knee, depriving the Nuggets of their best big-man scoring threat.

But lately, the slimmed down 6-11 Brazilian has been just the spark the surging Nuggets have needed for the playoff push. They've won three in a row going into Friday's game against visiting Dallas and have moved within a half-game of the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth seed in the Western Conference. Over the last seven games, Nene has averaged 18.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and shot 64.8% from the field while committing only 1.4 turnovers.

"Nene's been balling," teammate Carmelo Anthony said after Wednesday's 120-115 victory against the Sacramento Kings in which Nene scored a career-high 28 points and added 12 rebounds. "The last couple of weeks he's been playing really well."

Nene is the perfect complement to center Marcus Camby, who is more of a finesse player. Nene has a decent short to mid-range jumper, but his strength is inside.

"We have a lot of good players in Brazil," says fellow Brazilian Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns. "A lot of talent, but no one like him."

After playing most of his career at between 260 and 268 pounds, Nene trimmed down to about 250 this season to take some of the stress off of his knee.

"I think he is really going to be a factor come playoff time," said ESPN analyst Bill Walton. "He really looks like a man out there."

The Hart of the matter:

The Los Angeles Clippers have won three in a row and five of their last six games to maintain a game and a half lead over the Golden State Warriors for the eighth playoff spot, and journeyman point guard Jason Hart is a major reason why.

With Sam Cassell hobbled by a sore back and Shaun Livingston lost for the season to a knee injury, the Los Angeles Clippers, who were already struggling, needed a shot in the arm. They got it when they signed Hart, who had been languishing at the end of Sacramento's bench.

The Kings released him, and the Los Angeles Clippers quickly signed him and stuck him in the starting lineup. Over the last four games, he has averaged 15 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and shot 60%.

"Certain guys fit certain systems pretty well," coach Mike Dunleavy said. "When you find a guy who can play in your system, they're probably going to do pretty well. That's what it comes down to."

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