Nuggets-Lakers Game 2: Nuggets Recover Their Heads, Earn Split Decision

The first 18 minutes of Denver’s 106-103 Game Two victory over the Lakers provided a glimpse into Denver’s not-so-illustrious recent history.

• The Nuggets big men played with no competitive fire whatsoever. Nene committed the egregious mistake of walking with his back to the ball to his man under the basket, being in no position to play defense. A halfcourt pass by Derek Fisher after an inbounds pass located Andrew Bynum all alone for a plus-one slam. And Nene never failed to not hustle back in his transition defense.
• Kenyon Martin spent most of the first half stargazing at Lakers’ missed shots instead of attempting to corral the rebounds.
• Too often Carmelo Anthony attempted to drive into a wall of Lakers defenders, leading to missed shots and dumb turnovers.
• The Nuggets spent more time complaining to the refs than sprinting back in transition.
• Dahntay Jones was used an abused for four fouls in the initial six minutes.
• The Nuggets made no attempt to play defense on Kobe Bryant until after he caught the ball. Knowing that, Bryant just took his man into the post and tallied layup after layup.
• Chris Anderson was left eating Pau Gasol’s dust in the post, and was suckered into launching (and missing) a 20 foot jumper. Shades of Marcus Camby.
• A simple inbounds pass from under their basket went awry.
• J.R. Smith couldn’t defend without fouling, and played with less mental acuity than a coma victim.
• A routine pass to Kenyon Martin went straight through his hands out of bounds.
• The Nuggets had no answer for Bynum and Gasol beating them down court and establishing deep post position before their defense could get set.
• Quick shots were the norm, as were unforced errors, mental mistakes, a lack of effort, and general crimes against playoff basketball, usually a sentence for defeat at this stage in the season.

But then the Nuggets found their collective selves and allowed their talent to shine through.

George Karl gave Linas Kleiza ample time at the four, opening up driving lanes, and removing an underwhelming big from the floor. The spacing gave Denver’s dribble-drivers more space to drive to the lane. Plus, Kleiza stepped up with a powerful driving layup, and by knocking down five of his seven trifectas.

On the defensive end, the lineup was much quicker in closing out perimeter shooters than Denver’s two-big lineup.

Finding more room to work inside, Carmelo punished every Laker defender with his dazzling array of powerhouse drives and pull-up jumpers.

And when ‘Melo didn’t have the ball in his hands, he’d simply camp under the basket and uproot any Lakers player who tried to box him out. Included in ‘Melo’s five offensive rebounds was a rebound and put-back through Kobe that led to a critical layup.

When Carmelo was asked to defend Kobe, he gave up a share of difficult jumpers, but his ball denial prevented Bryant from catching the ball on several possessions, while his strong body kept Bryant from the easy post ups he feasted on in the first half.

Chauncey Billups forced several shots and drives, but he absolutely disintegrated the defense of Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. And even against Derek Fisher, Billups simply put his head down and overpowered the Lakers rotating bigs for several calls, or his misses would free up the offensive glass for Anthony and others.

If Nene’s effort level was atrocious, he hit two big free throws, and came up with a huge defensive play, deflecting Kobe Bryant’s dribble as he tried to split Nene around a screen with only seconds remaining.

Kenyon Martin finally started to care in the second half and made a number of good defensive plays guarding Odom, and hit a tough-tiebreaking layup in traffic with 30 seconds to go.

And despite many Lakers playing well…

• Like Bryant who hit a brace of critical jumpers in the fourth, though he was outplayed by Carmelo
• Like Trevor Ariza who menaced passing lanes, picked Carmelo’s pocket, finished on the break, hit both his threes, and threw down a menacing dunk.
• Like Bynum and Gasol who pulverized the Nuggets on the boards in the first half and converted easy looks with good post position.
• Like Luke Walton, who hit a tough layup, and made great passes drawing Chris Anderson and lobbing over him to the man he was guarding resulting in layups or fouls on Denver’s rotators.

…Too many Lakers were no shows.

• Like Sasha Vujacic, who continues to embarrass himself with his shot selection—0-4 FG.
• Like Derek Fisher who’s fading to dust before our eyes—1-9 FG.
• Like Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown who were eaten alive by Billups.
• Like Lamar Odom, whose individual offense was shut down by Martin.

It should also be noted that the refs missed a huge call late in the ball game when J.R. Smith cut through the jump circle on a jump ball which should have resulted in a violation. Still, Trevor Ariza came away with possession of the jump ball, and promptly fell down. Whoops.

Give the Nuggets credit for not imploding, and for rousing their competitive chops before it was too late. And give Billups and Anthony credit for taking over when they needed to. While the opening 18 minutes was a glimpse into recent history, the final 30 minutes featured the unmistakable Nuggets of the present.

With their resolve and aggression stemming from Billups’ leadership and Anthony’s newfound maturity, the Nuggets can now steal wins impossible for them last season. Still, is their awful starts become a habit against the Lakers, there won’t be any way for them to steal this series.