Bogut a key for Warriors in NBA playoffs Andrew Bogut has been doing a great job of bludgeoning opponents in the NBA playoffs by throwing his 213cm, 118kg body around like a wrecking ball. And now he is targetting them with verbal zingers. "I'm sorry I don't have any glasses I can wear to fit in with the rest of the NBA guys," said the Golden State Warriors' Australian centre, fronting a recent press conference while dressed in a casual, checked business shirt. The joke was aimed at the new NBA trend led by the elite trio of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant, who roll up to post-game media calls as if they are on a fashion catwalk for nerds, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, bow ties, loud shirts, cardigans and backpacks. While the Steve Urkel-inspired fashion has some renaming the National Basketball Association the Nerd Basketball Association, the blue-collar Bogut is satisfied all the talk about him concerns his rise from the injury scrap heap. Bogut's 21 rebounds, 14 points, four blocks and plenty of bone-rattling screens inspired the Warriors to a 92-88 victory on Thursday to eliminate the favoured Denver Nuggets from the first round of the playoffs. Their next challenge is the western conference semi-finals series against San Antonio with game one in Texas on Monday (Tuesday AEST). The Warriors have lost 29 straight games in San Antonio, a streak that goes all the way back to 1997. Bogut, 28, who entered the NBA as the No.1 draft pick in 2005 for the Milwaukee Bucks, has never been to the second round of the playoffs, the Warriors have been absent since 2007, while the Spurs are playoff regulars, and winners of four championship titles since 1999. However, the Warriors - with Bogut dominant and guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson deadly from three-point range - have plenty of backers for an upset. With the top-ranked western conference team, the Oklahoma Thunder, losing All-Star guard Russell Westbrook to injury for the season, it is likely the winner of the Warriors-Spurs series will advance to the NBA championship series against the Miami Heat. Bogut will joust with one of the NBA's all-time greats, Spurs' forward-centre Tim Duncan, and some familiar faces - Australian guard Patty Mills, forward-centre Aron Baynes and former Boomer head coach Brett Brown, who is a Spurs' assistant coach. Microfractures in Bogut's left ankle forced him to miss 50 of the Warriors' 82 regular-season games and had many questioning whether his NBA career was over, but his Boomer team-mates have no doubt. "That's Andrew Bogut, if you've ever seen him at his best," Mills, discussing the big Aussie's dominating display against Denver, told the San Antonio Express. What he showed the other night, that's the real Andrew Bogut. Mills will likely play little in the Warriors-Spurs series, as he sits toward the end of the Spurs' talent-filled bench. The 208cm, 118kg Baynes may see some court time, with Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich tossing him in to rough up the opposing team's big man, something he did well when the Spurs knocked out the Los Angles Lakers in four games in the first round.