Nuggets Snake Bit in Game Three

Written by Nick Sclafani | 24 May 2009

(Denver-CO) The Los Angeles Lakers have two snakes on their team and both bit the Nuggets in game three’s, 103-97, loss last night at the Pepsi Center. The Black Mamba scored 41 points for the Lakers, including eight of L.A.’s final ten points to seal the victory, and Trevor “The Bush Viper” Ariza ambushed another inbounds pass with under a minute remaining with Denver down by two to poison any chance the Nuggets had to pull out a victory.

DAMN.

Can somebody please tell me why Chauncey Billups doesn’t run right to the inbounder so Denver can make a three-foot pass to get the ball inbounds?

Holy Moses, Mary Mother of God, and sweet baby Jesus!

In the first quarter, the Nuggets looked electrified by the amperage supplied by nearly 20,000 rabid Mile High fans who have been waiting 24 years to have the Western Conference Finals back in the Queen City. Denver was taking the ball to the rack with a reckless abandon and their aggressive offensive game plan was working as the Nuggets led by at least six or more points on six different score combinations in the quarter. No Nugget embraced the energy and this offensive game plan in the first quarter better than Carmelo Anthony. ‘Melo scored 14 points in the first twelve minutes of game three by scoring in all varieties, but mostly by creating contact and making good at the free-throw line where he was 7-8 in the quarter. However, the Lakers were not fazed by either the energy in the Pepsi Center nor Carmelo’s early offensive outburst, and after each time the Nuggets would extend their lead came back to tighten the slack.

Trailing by just two, 28-26, after one quarter of play, the Lakers went scoreless in the first three minutes of the second quarter as Denver opened up their second eight-point lead of the game after the Birdman swooped in behind the defense for a huge two-handed flush. The Bird went on to score six consecutive points for the Nuggets, but they were spread out over a 4:15 span that allowed the Lakers to cut Denver’s lead down to three before Nene hit the front end of two free-throws midway through the second quarter. It was during this sloppy and inefficient stretch that the Nuggets really abandoned their first quarter game plan of attacking the bucket. After Andersen’s big flush, the Nuggets came up empty on four three-point attempts (including two really long prayers by J.R. Smith) en route to coming up bupkis on all five shot attempts which weren’t Birdman dunks or lay-ins. This allowed the Lakers to fight back and they tied the game at 39 all, but Denver managed to finish the half very strong but not very smart. The Nuggets were able to recapture an eight-point lead with :25 remaining in the half after Linas Kleiza was the recipient of a great pass by J.R. Smith for a dunk. But, (and there always seems to be at least one against the Lakers) Trevor Ariza hitting a three and Linas Kleiza getting tangled up with Pau and drawing a cheap technical allowed the Lakers to cut an eight-point lead down to four at the half.

At the break, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Nuggets had squandered numerous opportunities to blow this game wide-open. Carmelo’s spontaneous combustion for 14 first quarter points by way of embracing a seek-and-destroy attitude was lost in the second as Denver shot and missed seven three-point attempts. Carmelo, who led Denver with 18 points at the break, was 1-6 from the land of plenty and J.R. Smith looked like the Prodigy of last season with two really bad attempts on an 0-3 showing from downtown in a scoreless first half. For the half, Denver was 1-11 from three-point range and didn’t use very good discretion when letting fly.

I digress, but the shot selection wasn’t the only bullet Denver dodged. Without the unlikely boost from the Birdman scoring 13 points in the first half, I’m not sure the Nuggets wouldn’t have been at a deficit on the scoreboard. Kenyon Martin was scoreless on 0-5 from the field, Chauncey Billups had a paltry two points in the first half on 0-3 shooting, and Dahntay Jones chipped in just a deuce.

Led by Kobe Bryant’s 15 points, and Pau’s nine points and six rebounds, all five Laker starters scored in the first half, but L.A. stubbed its toe in similar fashion as Denver did in game one by missing eight free-throws.

The Denver starters ran into some serious foul trouble in the third quarter and George Karl having to sit his core really hurt the Nuggets. Dahntay Jones, Nene, and Carmelo Anthony each had just two fouls at the break, but each only played seven minutes in the third quarter due to picking up their third and fourth fouls. As a result, the offense, despite manufacturing 27 points in the quarter, really felt out of synch. ‘Melo was scoreless in the third and to compound this problem so was Nene after Big Brazil had scored 13 points in the first half. In fact, the Nuggets had scored just 16 points in the first ten minutes of the third before scoring eleven points in the final two to finish the quarter on an 11-4 run. The burst started with J.R. Smith knocking down a three off a very unselfish pass from Chauncey Billups before Mr. Big Shot connected on one of his own to end cap a great offensive rebound and tip in by the Birdman. But, (and there always seems to be at least one against the Lakers) the Prodigy of old wasn’t done rearing his ugly head. J.R. cashed a beautiful three right in the face of Sasha Vujacic at the buzzer, but decided to let Vujacic let know about in a profanity laced self promotion which landed him an obtuse technical foul.

With that being said, the Nuggets had managed to open up an eight-point lead (which actually became a seven-point lead after Kobe drained the Smith technical) entering the fourth quarter. The tightly played third had panned out to be yet another bullet dodged, but I still couldn’t help but feel the Nuggets were not completely in control of the game- or themselves. Denver had foul trouble to deal with if they were going to pull out this victory and their heads were obviously not where they should have been illustrated by Anthony Carter, J.R. Smith, and Linas being hit with T’s.

All of Denver’s luck ran out in the fourth with the Nuggets missing their first nine shots of the quarter. Denver finally scored a field goal on Martin's dunk with 6:34 left, but the flush came after L.A. was able to regain their first lead, 83-81, since, 12-11, in the first quarter. Trevor Ariza and Chauncey Billups traded three’s, Kobe and J.R. Smith traded jumpers, and free-throws were exchanged as the lead seesawed for the next four of the five minutes remaining in regulation.

Down by two with 37 seconds to play, Kenyon Martin set to take the ball out of bounds after the Nuggets had advanced the possession to half court with a 20-second timeout. K-Mart was unable to make a safe inbounds pass and was forced to use another 20-second timeout to draw up yet another play to get the ball in for a crucial Denver possession. Once again, with Lamar Odom on the ball, Denver failed to get the ball in, but what’s more puzzling about this attempt in game three compared to game one's debacle is how the inbounds pass wasn’t even to Chauncey Billups. Instead, Kenyon threw a terrible lob towards mid court to Carmelo Anthony (who in all fairness did exactly what he should have done by running right towards Kenyon to receive what should have been a three-foot pass) allowing Trevor Ariza to once again ambush the errant pass for the steal. Carmelo was forced to foul Ariza and by doing so ended a frustrating second half by fouling out. Ariza made both free-throw to extend L.A.’s lead to four and the Nuggets were reduced to fouling and watching in agony as the Lakers had no problem getting the ball to their best free-throw shooter, Kobe Bryant, and the Mamba iced the game with another four freebies.

Bryant made four free throws in the final 22 seconds and 6-8 in the fourth quarter to seal the win after sinking a three-pointer over J.R. Smith with 1:09 left to put Los Angles ahead for good at 96-95. The Black Mamba finished with 41 points, including 15-17 from the free-throw line.

Carmelo Anthony’s five-game 30+ scoring streak ended with ‘Melo scoring a team-high 21 points of which just three points were scored in the second half. Foul trouble sidelined Carmelo to begin the fourth quarter, but his disappearance offensively began way before that. Anthony attempted just four shots in the second half - all misses. As a team, the Nuggets had their chances to run away from the Lakers, but instead they ran away from their game plan of attacking the rim and in the end the fool’s gold of the long ball did Denver in.

From behind the arc, J.R. Smith was 2-10 with some flat out awful attempts, Carmelo Anthony was 1-7, and Chauncey Billups was 2-7 with a few questionable decisions. The Nuggets were 4-19 through three quarters and finished a combined 5-27 from three with the lack of discretion catching up to Denver in game three’s conclusion. The less than favorable results from three left Denver shooting 39% from the field overall.

Another Nugget who disappeared in the second half was Nene. Big Brazil was invisible after scoring 13 points in the first half with a scoreless second consisting of just two shot attempts and two rebounds. And, after scoring 13 points in the first half, the Birdman wasn’t much better. Chris Andersen scored just two points in the second half and grabbed just three rebounds in 14 minutes.

Now, I want you to think about something for a minute… The Nuggets now have to win three out of the next four games to take this series with only two more games at the Pepsi Center. That’s going to be an uphill climb of epic proportions starting with a MUST WIN game four in Denver on Memorial Day. The Nuggets also have to win another game in tinsel town…