Last night, the Denver Nuggets were highly motivated to extend the seven-game series with the Los Angeles Lakers after falling behind 3 games to 1. They had a sense of urgency that you'd expect a desperate team to have. They pushed the ball and made their way to the paint with every possession. They hustled for every rebound, which there were many defensive ones to be had, and forced the action leading to a lot of easy scores. The smaller more active Nuggets were able to dictate the game while the Lakers remained flat-footed.
This would be more surprising if I didn't believe what I speculated
yesterday about the team possibly tanking the game to ensure they'd have Metta World Peace for the entire series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. I'd sooner believe that than admit that the Lakers are truly as pathetic and lazy as they appeared last night. They didn't offer anything to the contrary when they seemed disinterested in playing defense. Especially transition defense where most of the Lakers were late to run back down court allowing 15 fast break points to Denver in the first half alone. Andre Miller looked like an All-Star as he passed into wide open passing lanes for JaVale McGee to get easy dunks. The Staples Center was none too pleased. Boos rained down from the rafters as the Nuggets met little to no resistance in the paint outscoring the Lakers 58-44.
As horrible as their lack of defense was their offense wasn't much better. Despite Andrew Bynum's comfort in closing out the Nuggets when asked the other day he didn't provide much of an effort. Denver reserve McGee outplayed and outscored All-Star Bynum (21/14 to 16/11). If you wanted to tank a game you'd need a team effort to perform poorly in every phase of the game.
And that's just what happened.
Your starters would have to struggle shooting (Gasol 4-11, Sessions 3-12, Ebanks 1-3). Your bench would need to be outscored (50-19). So as a team the Lakers shot 39% from the field and 38% from the 3-pt line. Conspiracy theory critics can suck it.
Yet, despite the woeful numbers the Lakers still had a chance to win a game they clearly didn't deserve with a hot-shooting Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets withstood every surge that brought the Lakers back and for a while it seemed they wouldn't withstand Bryant's 12 points (of a game high 43 points) in the final 5 minutes, making four 3-pointers, to bring them within two points with a minute left.
But alas, the jumpers didn't fall and time ran out. Denver wins 102-99. The Lakers head back to the thin air of Denver to play Thursday for game 6. Just as planned. If and when the Lakers decide to play like they're capable they'll move on to play the Thunder with Metta at their full disposal. If this was baseball you'd call last night's game the "unintentional" intentional walk. A freebie made to look as though you tried. Lakers better try harder or this 'easy' close out could lead to an unpredictable game 7.
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