Lakers-Nuggets Game Three: Kobe Bryant Has His Way In Colorado (Again)

Tonight in Colorado, Kobe Bryant willed the Lakers to the series lead, with a flat-out dominating performance, especially late. The game was also notable for the continued late-game failures of the Nuggets, which is to say, the Nuggets remain coached by George Karl. If I could double up my wager on Lakers in seven now, I would. And now, the micro-blog.

In the first quarter, Carmelo Anthony made the short-term case that he's the best player on the floor by getting to the line for eight free throws, leading to 14 points. The Lakers started 4 of 10 from the line, and Nene outplayed Andrew Bynum, but the Lakers got close at the end of the quarter on makes by Jordan Farmer and Lamar Odom, and it was 28-26 Nuggets after one. Closing out quarters has been a consistent problem for the Nuggets, and a consistent win for the Lakers; had they made their free throws, they'd be ahead.

In the second, the Nuggets get some early separation as Melo continued to drive the action with boards, an assist and steals; the latter is 3 in the first 14 minutes of action, which shows you just how D'd up he is for this playoff. (Melo, for his career, is a steal per game kind of guy, which isn't all that impressive given his big minutes.) Chris Anderson continued to be one of the best values in the Association this year, and I'm more of a fan of his for Sixth Man of the Year than I am Jason Terry. The Lake Show closed the gap with Melo on the bench, with Kobe Bryant making back to back shots to tie it at 39-all.

After a timeout, the Nuggets ran off five in a row, but a Kenyon Martin miss -- his fifth against zero makes -- followed a Pau Gasol dunk, and Bryant drew a Melo foul -- and that became meaningful later. Denver stretched the lead to 8 on good ball movement, but the Lakers ended the quarter positively with an Ariza three and a Bryant make on a Kleiza technical At the half, it was Denver 52, LA 48.

In the third, the Lakers tied it up in a blink with Bynum and Bryant. Dahntay Jones then had his best sequence of the series with a foul draw on Bryant, two makes and a nice lay up, forcing one of those Coach Phil Jackson is Actually Paying Attention Tonight timeouts. The way that Jackson has managed his timeouts in this series, as opposed to the Rocket one, tells you all you need to know about his confidence level.

Out of the timeout, Bryant had all day to measure and make from the arc. Melo got blocked at the rim by Bynum, forcing a turnover; it's his third block and a big play. The game got really grindy, with both teams jawing at the refs, and Nugget Fan sangs the Bull S*** Song. The Nugs contested everything on defense as Ariza got worked on the sidelines; he would return and be huge. Jones shoved Bryant in the back on a layup, and Bryant's refusal to sell the foul kept it from being a flagrant; since Kobe's had his complement of technicals this year, he held his tongue.

Melo then worked Walton like a speed bag, feeding Martin down low for a dunk. After a steal, the game turned into rugby with multiple floor burns, ending in a jump ball from the blown fast break. The game got increasingly chippy, and Fisher picked up a technical after some back and forth with Martin, with Billups missing the free throw to make up for the bad karma of Martin also not getting whistled. Nugget Fan really getting loud here. Jones drove and scored over Gasol, very impressive, to make the lead six.

Perhaps the biggest hidden play of the game happened with Walton selling Anthony's fourth foul; Melo hooked Walton to get to the rim, and Walton sold the elbow enough for get the call, and it's the right call, but it's also one that isn't always whistled, particularly at home. Walton then fed Bryant for a slam at the cup, and that's also Jones' fourth foul; the old school three tied it up, and that erased the Nuggets 7-point lead for the quarter. As Ariza went to the locker room, the refs hurt the flow some more, and a Billups make gave the Nuggets the lead again.

Bryant got Martin one-on-one, and that's a matchup the Lakers must love, but Bryant settled for the jumper and misses. Walton earns another possession by taking the charge from J.R. Smith. Anderson can't handle Gasol down low, but the big man misses another free throw, LA's 11th of the night. Smith can't get a call on Vujacic at the arc, but the refs make up for the non-call by giving the Nuggets possession, and Billups took advantage with a three; this is clearly the most officiated game of the series, and that's not a compliment. Bryant knew what kind of game this is, and picked up Martin's fourth with a chunky leaner.

Smith with a three from Billups at the buzzer, and the refs got Anthony Carter for a Vujacic flop; wow, the refs are just terrible tonight, and for the road team. Karma demands a Machine miss, which is followed by a Bryant airball from three. Nugget Fan was wild loud as the Nuggets got multiple offensive rebounds, finished by an Anderson putback. Vujacic stopped the bleeding with a three that Billups got right back; great back and forth here. Vujacic feeling it and missed, and at the end of the quarter Smith makes a huge three out of a bad Billups pass, and marks the occasion with a stupid taunting technical at Vujacic as Carter tried to get him away. Unreal talent, unreal knucklehead, unreal play, and unreal officiating. I've watched a lot of hoop in my life, and I don't think I've ever seen a guy like Smith; he makes Stephen Jackson look sane. For once, the Nuggets own the end of quarter, and it was 79-71 with twelve minutes to go. The biggest point about the surge is that it buys time for Anthony to stay on the bench, because no one believes this is going to be decided before the final minutes.

In the Lemur interview, George Karl noted how his team lost composure in the third. And to think, some people wonder about George. Bryant made the taunting tech to cut it to 7. Vujacic continued his bad play with a moron reach in. Smith went again from the arc and missed; only in Denver can a guy who is 2 for 9 take a heat check. Odom owned Anderson down low for an easy one. Kleiza missed a tough shot in transition, and here come the Lakers again, but Anderson made a great weak-side block. Billups misses the transition three, and the Nuggets are 4 for 21 now. Farmer travels on defensive pressure, then compounds the error with a stupid tech that could have got him tossed. Wow, these teams aren't playing smart. Billups makes that one, then watches Anderson miss in traffic; the Lakers turn, but Smith couldn't take advantage, and Carter got the whistle on Gasol down low. Anthony returned with 9:26 left as Karl tries to get the game to stop being so ugly; he was joined by Nene. Good Laker ball movement ends with a Gasol dunk. Nene can't score over Gasol, but he can pick up his fifth foul, and that's a problem all over, as Gasol is starting to make his presence felt. The Nuggets needed Anthony to take the game over, and it just didn't happen.

Gasol drew Anderson's second on another touch call. After two makes, it was a 2-point game, and that's another one for the Conspiracy File. Lakers D up hard and forced a wild Martin miss; that's now 0 for 8 for the quarter. A messy Laker possession is ended with Anderson pulling the chair on Gasol; at the other end, the Birdman blows it at the rim, pouted at the refs, and watched as the Lakers took the lead on an Ariza three. The Nuggets are really showing their knucklehead weakness tonight. Anthony finally got to the line, but only makes one to tie it back up. Bryant scored over Smith, then Smith got it back with a great pass to Martin for the flush. Gasol couldn't finish over Anderson, and Billuips is stopped at the rim, but Martin followed for the lead lay up. Big crowd noise again from the Denver faithful, and you can't ask for more from them. Halfway through the fourth as we went to commerce, it was a 2-point Nugget lead.

The Lemur cameras follow up on Coach Philip abusing Odom in the timeout, but he didn't remove him. Smith got away with touching Bryant on a three, who missed, but the Lakers get the team board. An awkward drive and dish by Ariza finds him again in the corner for the three-ball make. Anthony couldn't get a call on a drive, but the Nuggets get the team board, and Billups hit a corner three on the inbounds, drawing Bryant's fourth foul, and he makes for the three-point lead and Kobe Frustration. Billups was the Nuggets best player this half. Gaosl with an easy make down low, and Anthony's nightmare half continued with a miss. Nene guarded Gasol perfectly to no avail, and the Lakers took the lead back, 90-89, with 3:45 left. Fisher then does the same thing to Smith, and the Nuggets lead. Bryant drives on Anthony, collects the foul on Smith, and goes for the old-school three, but that's the 12th Laker miss from the stripe. Billups missed the three, and Fisher has to call time on the ground. We went to commerce with 2:46 left, and yet another classic game on tap. It's every night this year in the Association, this insane drama...

Smith D's Bryant nicely, and he missed late in the clock. Ariza got his fourth away from the ball on Anthony, and he takes the easy points to give the Nuggets the lead back. 2:15 left. Fisher gets to the rim, but Nene is there first, and the charge call keeps him on the floor and gives the Nuggets the ball. Good ball movement by the Nuggets ends in a Smith miss from the arc, and Martin took an over the top on Odom, sending him to the line. Odom made the first and missed the second to tie it back up. Smith made a great drive and pull up, owning Fisher; 2 point lead, but Kobe Bryant Does Not Care, and his jaw-dropping three changes the lead again. Billups to the rack to Martin, but he couldn't finish, and Jackson called time with 46.4 left and a 1-point lead. Bryant, I think, has had quite enough of the doubts that he isn't the best player in this series.

Bryant to the baseline to draw Smith's fourth foul; no chance for the defender on that. Just one make from the Mamba makes us all wonder if the Lakers are just going to miss too many free throws to win this game; it's a 2-point Lake Show lead with 37.1 seconds left. Martin can't inbound before five seconds are up, and Nugget Fan is having nightmare memories of Game One; and it happens *again*, with Ariza collecting the tip from Odom. Anthony has to take his sixth to prevent the game ender, but Ariza makes that moot with two makes. 99-95 with 35 seconds left. Billups overdribbles and got bailed out by Odom. Billups makes two to keep it in doubt, but the Lakers can actually execute an inbounds pass, and Martin sent Bryant to the line; that was the end of his night as well. With Nugget Fan raining down the hate, Bryant made both. Billups got nothing but air from 35 feet, and Jones put Bryant on the line with violence as Nugget Fan starts leaving. Courtisde mics pick up some ugliness as the Mamba makes it a six point lead. The game ends on Nugget misses.

Pretty great game, despite the over officiating, and that's the first loss at home for Denver in their past 16 games. I can't shake the feeling that the Nuggets actually have a better team here -- the Lakers needed every ounce from Bryant tonight, who had 41 and looked visibly spent for perhaps the first time in his NBA career, as he was bent over double during his Lemur post-game interview -- but when you have George Karl as your coach, you are going to blow big games late with things like taunting technicals and failed inbounds passes. Yeesh.

Lakers 2, Nuggets 1, and if you don't think this series is going long -- Game Four will see a referee free throw correction, I'm sure -- I've got a bridge to sell you.

Oh, and here's a final fun fact for Nugget Fan: Coach Philip is 49-1 in series when he's up after three games. The lesson: you get him early, or you don't get him at all.

Cavs-Magic Game Two: 48 Minutes To A Miracle

The best playoff year ever for the Association continued tonight in Cleveland. I can't state this enough: for sheer night-in night-out amazement, this year is taking a back seat to no sport and no year. But I'm going to take you there with the usual hyper-detailed micro blog, because it deserves it. Every single minute of it.

For the second straight game, the Cavs jumped out to a big early lead -- 15-5 after the first five minutes, and 30-16 at the end of the first -- but unlike last night's game, it's wasn't all LeBron James, and the ball movement was terrific. Midway through the second quarter, the lead was 23, and it looked like the Magic were just going to be happy to go home with a split.

But then the Magic do what they do -- namely, start making threes -- and while Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis combined to start 2 for 11, they finished 15 for 32. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

With 3:44 left in the second quarter, the Turk got a steal off James, and Delonte West refused to give him a shot at the old school three; even better, the refs didn't give up the flagrant call, showing that there wasn't going to be undue ref involvement to ruin this one. Cavs Fan liked that play a little too much; had this game been in Philly, I'm sure the national media would comment. A slam from LeBron showed the continued good ball movement, but the Magic were shooting better now, and the lead shrank to 14 before commercial.

The Magic then answered one of those Utter Devastation drive and dunks by James with a calm Lewis triple. Another ridiculous make for James was matched by a JJ Redick runner, and the Cavs' defense was starting to fail just like Game One. After a rare Magic miss, James went to the rim again and gets the call, and he's going so good then, he was even making every free throw. The Turk connected with high difficulty over the remains of Ben Wallace. James finally missed a free throw, and at the buzzer, Sasha Pavlovic gets the steal but no call, and that's it.

Now, please note that all of that was just the end of the freaking second quarter. At the half, it was Cavs 56, Magic 44.

TNT -- who, I have to say, I greatly prefer to the World Wide Lemur -- showed Stan van Ron Jeremy Gundy going back to his I Hate My Team routine that is going to cause him to wear our his welcomed in another 2-3 years, but it's working for now, and for the most part, I hated his team in the first half tonight, too.

The first possession of the second half was that old-school Cavs defense, and the fact that the home crowd didn't pick up on it showed just how much nerves they had. An absurd James three, followed by Z stopping Howard one on one, still doesn't quite get them loud as the lead went to 14. A bad Alston miss and a nice pick and roll for a James jumper got them a little more enthused, but a miss trade later, it was Howard at the rim with ease, and a miss later, the Turk abused West to bring it back to 12. The crowd had no confidence that this could end early, and they were right.

Sideshow Anderson made a tough reverse, but the Turk was driving easy to the bucket, and we're back to trade bucket mode, with the next swap being Mo Williams for Courtney Lee. And then Lewis made back to back threes, and in a blink, it was a 14-4 Magic run.

Coming out of the timeout, James went for yet another old-school three, but missed the free throw. I can't tell you, really, how good he is right now. Lewis missed a three badly, and Sideshow followed with an ugly dribble and bank. Rather than get discouraged by lucky offense, the Magic just rain down another three. That's got to be discouraging. James broke the line and got blocked, but recovered and drew Howard's third foul on another old-school three. Alston misses, but runs down Williams for a turnover; and on the trip back, Z and Williams stop Howard at the rim, with Mo calling time on the floor. The Cavs led this game by 10, but it might have been the least comfortable ten they've led by all year.

Midway through the third, Williams didn't want the three, and his runner wasn't any better. Lewis missed a corner three, the kind of shot he normally buries. The Turk picked up an odd loose ball foul, his third, the kind of play that's rarely called even if correct, but the fact that this was the most curious ref decision of the night tells you what kind of game they called. James only got off the floor to get his leg worked on, the same one that got banged in Game One, proving nothing other than that he bleeds like a normal man; as soon as he returned, he just went to the rim like normal. Rather than have any moment of hesitation, Lewis just scored. Howard picked up his fourth defending an alley oop, and with 2:22 left in the third, the Cavs still had that 10 point lead, and maybe a little better feeling with the Magic center looking bench-bound.

Here's the problem with that hope: while it's never a bad thing to get Howard on the pine, it's not like any of the Magic opponents have been able to take advantage. The Magic won Game Six in Philadelphia without Howard; when he's been on the pine, Gortat has played well. They might even move the ball better.

Joe Smith took his fourth foul on Lewis behind the arc, and Lewis reacted to the tap was as if he was shot. Despite the bad free throw karma, Lewis drains all three to make it a 9 point game. The Cavs turned it carelessly on their usual top of the key weave, and Smith got his fifth away from the ball, forcing James to guard Lewis... which just means the Magic use the Turk to hit the three instead, cutting it to six. A bad Cavs possession ended with a long three miss. The Turk missed, but the Cavs couldn't shoot in transition, and Pavlovic ended it by missing from the arc. A Lee runner is waved off as Ben Wallace is able to get the block call; huge stop for the Cavs there. The quarter ends with a flat and short three from James, and that's a 25-19 third quarter for the Magic, who are awfully close to taking a hammerlock on this thing. Yes, I'm amazed. Cavs 75, Magic 69.

Mike Brown notes that his team is having problems with the pick and roll. No, really? And to think, some people wonder about him. A James drive got nothing, and Pietrus fed Gortat at the rim for a stuff; it's a four point game. West answered, and Anthony Johnson sent James to the line as Gortat got crushed. Two makes pushes it to 8, but Gortat converted an ugly finish at the rim. James fed Pavlovic, who gets to the rim and scores over Gortat, who added a potentially justified technical for a blocking call when he was outside the arc. With just one make - Pavlovic has some ridiculous issues at the line -- the lead was nine again.

Pavlovic took a wrestling foul on Lewis on pick and roll coverage. Howard replaces Gortat, and the Turk drove and scored in his Mr. Fourth Quarter way. The Cavs moved the ball well, but they were also antsy about pulling the trigger, and it resulted in a Pavlovic air ball. Courtney Lee got a call and made both to trim the lead to five, the closest it had been since the first quarter. James turned it with a charge as Anthony Johnson got a little lucky; the refs then hit Turk with a make-up turnover. The Cavs continued their tense fourth with a James miss from bad distance, answered by a tough running miss from Lee. James then turned it on a bald charge on Michael Pietrus, who really should get more floor time for the Magic, and just to back that sentiment up, Pietrus drained a three over Vareajo to cut it to two. Vareajo compounded the error with a bad turnover. At the seven minute mark, Lee finally tied it on an easy drive, and wow, wow, wow.

James took the mantle and scored on a drive. Lewis owned West to tie it back up. The 11-2 Magic run had Cleveland Fan ready to tie off. TNT informed us that the Magic are 44-11 when they make nine or more threes, as they had at that point. James missed, got the board and fed West, who also missed from the arc. On the Magic's first attempt to get the lead, they converted -- first one tonight. Williams then refused the goat horns he had been modeling with a huge make to tie it back on a possession where the Cavs look diseased. The Magic turn it as Williams goes to the floor, and Lewis got a shot to the face for his blocking foul trouble. Williams then made a huge three off a James dish, and Cleveland Fan is alive with a three point lead.

The Turk, at this point, simply did not care, and scored on his usual easy fourth quarter drive. Z, of all people, hit a top of the key jumper off a James drive, and the Cavs looked like a basketball team again. The Turk picked up an offensive foul, his fifth, as he nailed Sideshow Vareajo, who sold an actual call for once. Cleveland turned it, but Lee missed. James fed Williams for a wide open three, but he isn't that big of a hero, and you know the game means everything when the 7-foot Z with the four-times surgery legs are hitting the floor and calling time.

After the time out, Z missed an open three, one of those shots that you have to be happy to see if you are one of those theoretical Magic fans. Pietrus converted a runner over a Cavs quasi-trap, but it was answered by Williams with a nice running make. Lewis missed an open three as Vareajo hit the floor. James tried to get to the rim for a killing spike, but Pietrus fouled him en route, and the Magic weren't in the penalty yet. James drove with no call, and the Magic responded with good ball movement and an ice-cold Turk three to tie it again. Good heavens, the Turk is just an assassin.

James called for a travel with 30.9 left, a call that even he admitted to after the game. The Magic were a make and a stop away from a 2-0 series lead that would just stun on every level. I can't imagine how awful Cavs Fan felt, but from the crowd noise, there wasn't a single man alive who believed.

The Cavs had a foul to give, and Pavlovic gave it with 13.6 left on a Turk drive. A bit of a cheap call, and it gave the Magic the shot at holding for the last shot and win. The arena had a clock malfunction just to prolong Cavs Fan Agony, and James needed more work on his leg. Just agonizing; I think if I were a Cavs fan, the temptation to leave would have been huge.

On the inbounds from Lewis, James does not pressure it for some reason. I get that you need to keep an eye on the inbounds passer, and Lewis is too tall to really pressure there... but still, harass the man. Instead, he gets it to the Turk easily, and he converted an awkward half-drive and high arcing jump shot over Pavlovic -- not James -- with a second left. Immediately afterward, TNT cut to a reaction shot of a small boy in a Cavs jersey that was just awful, child abuse, really. In my notes, I wrote, "Absent a miracle, the Magic will be up 2-0 with home court."

And then a miracle happened.

Williams inbounded from half court to James. Having watched the replay a dozen times, the striking thing is how no other Cavs players seems to have hope.

Only James was moving hard.

Only James had any sense of still winning this game.

Only James could drive the Turk to the paint as if he was going for a lob, then get separation for the catch behind the arc.

And only James could rise and can it from 25 feet for the absolute single-out suck-out win.

Cavs 96, Magic 95.

Somewhere, Craig Ehlo is smiling -- crying, perhaps -- because he's off the hook now.

And that, folks, was just Game Two.

205 Drop: Top 12 sports figures that I can't explain to my kid

The link today was a lot of work and something I'm fairly proud of, so go click. Besides, it's got a severely outdated picture of my eldest kid on it, so if you don't like it and click on it a lot, you must hate my kid. How could you?

Lakers-Nuggets Game Two, Second Half: That Only Took 24 Years

Before the start of Game Two, ex-Lakers GM Jerry West made some small waves by talking about how, in his opinion, LeBron James was now a better player than Kobe Bryant. Bryant didn't give the story any extra air, because Bryant is a savvy veteran, but the Laker faithful were less than thrilled. But no matter what, the conversation of Who Es Muy Macho is a James-Bryant affair, with Dwayne Wade fans more or less keeping quiet after the Heat's first round loss to the Hawks.

But no one, outside of maybe upstate New York and the state of Colorado, really thought that the Lakers didn't have the best player on the floor in this series. And... just maybe... they don't.

At least, they didn't in the first two games of the series.

In the third, Carmelo Anthony continued to press the issue on both ends, guarding Bryant on defense in a way that he, frankly, has not seen fit to at any point in his professional career prior to this year. He was physical (much more than Kobe, mostly because he's a half-dozen years and untold numbers of NBA games younger), dogged, able to use his star status to not get called for the kind of ticky-tack fouls that a lesser player would. And when paired with the similar determination of Chauncey Billups (30 free throw attempts between the two of them tonight), you've got something.

The teams played an even-money third quarter that got them to crunch time despite Trevor Ariza's best offense of the playoffs, punctuated by one of those athletic dunk drives that make scouts drool... and then followed up by a scary fall on another drive. Yikes. The play lost flow late with nothing but free throws in the last two minutes, but the game was tight enough that this didn't matter overly much to The Drama, and at the end of the third, it was Lakers 81, Nuggets 80.

The fourth opened with another Linus Kleiza three off of a Melo dish,. Kleiza's fourth make from distance of the night, but his last very good moment of the game. Not to overstate Kleiza's importance in this game, but his 16 and 8 were 80% of their bench points and 50% of their bench boards, and gave the Nuggets a hailing distance performance to the Lakers bench on the road (22 to 21 for the home team in points). More importantly, it let the Nugs overcome 35 minutes of meh from their shooting guards (5 points on 2 of 10 shooting from Dahntay "4 personals in the first six minutes" Jones and J.R. Smith), because with Kleiza in, they simply moved Melo to the 2 on defense against Bryant, and the 3 on offense with Kleiza floating to the perimeter.

Two more Melo makes pushed the lead to 7 with 9 minutes left, and with the Lake crowd getting officially nervous, Bryant nailed a three to bring them back. With 8:18 left, Luke Walton got a whistle on Melo that made him sit, but unfortunately for the Lake Show, it had more to do with George Karl trying to get his star some air, rather than actual foul trouble. In the next minute that Melo watched, Shannon Brown makes a three as part of Phil Jackson's continual craps roll at the point to bring it back to a 1-pint game., and after Kleiza fouls Odom, Melo returns in time to watch the Lakers take back the lead at the line. It wasn't quite as dubious as putting an ice-cold Anthony Carter in the game to inbounds the ball at the end of Game 1, but for people looking for Karl to blow the game for the Nuggets, that's the kind of small moment that you need to see.

After another Laker o-board, Billups fouls Brown, who makes one of two to make it a two-point game, but missed free throws are never a good sign in a close game. Gasol and Martin get double technicals as the refs threaten to over-officiate the end game. Melo gets to the line on a Walton foul and makes both; it's answered by Gasol getting the whistle on Melo and making both. Martin with a make off a Smith dish ties it back up at 95 with 4:45 left, and we'll go to crunch time all square.

A Nene foul puts Gasol back on the line, but he misses both, and the next trip down, the Brazilian gets to the line on an Odom whistle and gives the visitors the end with two makes. Historically, Nene's not good at the line, but historically, he's also incredibly injury-prone and a terrible contract burden for the Nugs; in other words, screw history. Ariza with a steal and gets to the line, but misses one, and if you're counting at this point, that's five fourth-quarter free throw misses for the home team, against the road team's zero. The teams trade missed opportunities for 80 seconds before Melo gets the make to push it to three points, but Bryant's huge three ties it back up at 99 with two minutes left. Give the devil his due; Bryant just has a sense of the dramatic, and that makes lets them treat the last two minutes as a normal situation, rather than a panic one.

Billups leverages his big game reputation with a foul on Gasol, and his makes give the road team the lead again. Unlike in Game One, Derek Fisher's must-have make stays out with 80 seconds left, and Nene's board runs clock. The possession ends with a Smith turn / Ariza steal, and the fact that the possession didn't end with Billups or Anthony taking the shot is, once again, one of those Furious George crunch-time coaching head scratchers. Bryant's inevitable make ties it back at with 45 seconds left, but the Nugs get a huge play from their bigs, as Nene feeds Martin at the rim for a go-ahead layup. Nice ball movement there for the road team, and I can't help but wonder if all of those free throw misses is going to wind up biting them in the ass.

The Laker time out leads to a questionable possession and a jump ball; Ariza controls the tap but gives back the Game One hero status with a turnover to Nene, and Laker Fan is bent over not getting the call on a procedural violation, because we all know everything about procedural violations on jump balls. Fisher gives up the foul to Billups on a long and dangerous outlet pass, because he has to; the Nuggets point guard makes both, because that is what he generally does in his career. 105-101 with 13 seconds left. The Lakers go down low rather than shoot the desperate three, and Gasol gets the foul from Martin; he has to make both, and does. 105-103 with seven seconds left. The Nugs are able to inbound this time, and Billups finally misses a free throw to keep it a one possession game; aii. The final shot of the game is a Fisher miss on good defensive pressure that could have forced overtime, and that's that. Wow.

Laker Fan is going to moan about the refs after this one, but they shoot jumpers and threes while the Nuggets drive and take contact; they should get more ref love, even for having Thug Martin on the roster. The last time the Nuggets have won a playoff game against the Lakers, it was 1985, so I don't mean to overstate this. Anthony has now scored over 30 (tonight: 34, albeit on 12 of 29 shooting) in five straight games; if and when he has a bad game, Denver will lose, and I'm still feeling very good about my Lakers in seven pick.

But the simple fact of the matter is that for 96 minutes on the floor in LA, the Nugs have been the better team for well over half, and that's with most of their bench players doing the usual playoff fold job. The Lakers are going to need more from people like Andrew Bynum (9 and 2 in 18 meh minutes), and especially from their point guards (a combined 5 for 18 tonight), to get this going back in their direction.

Lakers-Nuggets Game Two, First Half: Where A Late Alarm Clock Happens

One of the reasons why I haven't been a big believer in this Nugget team -- I picked the Bugs to beat them in the first round, and thought the Mavs would last longer, but still lose, in the second -- is that I just couldn't shake the idea that they were, well, the Nuggets. For the first time in the playoffs tonight, that was correct.

And then it wasn't.

The first quarter shows the Nuggets looking more like their team of old -- bad body language, technical fouls, defensive lapses on their own glass and the sense that they weren't really into it. The Lakers also got some pretty bad calls to go their way, and Chauncy Billups continued his bizarre and unexpected trouble at the free throw line. A few threes from bench players made the game closer than it looked, and a Sasha Vujacic miss in transition off a buzzer turnover kept it from seeming worse... but if the vibe of this game doesn't change and soon, the Lakers will win by 20 or more, especially if Carmelo Anthony continues to look ordinary. Lakers 31, Nuggets 23.

The second quarter begins with bench players and a careless Nugget turnover and non-board; the Lakers already have six offensive boards. The game got predictably sloppy with the shock troops, with Vujacic looking particularly inept. Pau Gasol is the best player on the floor during this stretch, but Kleiza makes another three to keep the game close, and then the game gets out of hand with good Laker passing leading to high percentage shooting, utterly flat Denver possessions, and a quick expansion of the lead to 14. There is nothing to recommend the Denver effort so far tonight, and to be honest with you, it's a bit of an effort to stay focused on the game -- if the Nuggets aren't really trying, then why should I really watch?

"How many times have we started off kind of soft and uninvolved?" says Karl to his team... and wow, do you really need to say anything else about why George doesn't have a ring?

'Melo picks it up a bit to get this a little closer, and rattles off 10 points of his own, but the Nug defense is just non-existent right now, so it's just trading points for the most part. In 20 minutes tonight, Kenyon Martin has no rebounds; Melo has all of one on defense... and then Anthony Carter lets a ball go through his hands, and the defense gives up a 50-foot pass to Andrew Bynum, alone under the rim, for the old-school three. I haven't seen this Nugget team in a while; I thought Billups made this team go away?

The Nugs pick it up a bit and another Kleiza three cuts it to 8, and parachute defense on Billups leads to another open 3, and voila -- an 8-0 run that cuts it to 5, despite the fact that that Nugs are still jawing at the stripes every chance they get. Kleiza's game is really what's keeping them in this. Two Billups makes cuts it to 3, and Gasol picks up his second over the back on an o-board attempt, and now it's the Lakers with ref issues. Another Kleiza make cuts it to one, amazingly. Odom makes from 20 on a fairly weak possession. Billups goes to the rack for no call as the Nugs ignore Anthony, and then Billups goes Globetrotter on the inbounds by bouncing it off Bryant's back and getting the layup. That's a 14-2 run to close the half, and Kobe's less than happy in his Lemur-mandated interview. Sadly, they don't ask him about that last confetti bucket play. Lakers 55, Nuggets 54, and it's anyone's game again. Hard to know what to make of this game right now.