Nuggets out but not down

Well, that sucked. Actually, I’m trying—and mostly succeeding—not to be bitter right now. The Denver Nuggets’ season came to a devastating stop the last few nights as the Los Angeles Lakers simply started trying. But the Nuggets’ playoff run was as inspiring as it was incredible. And man, have things changed.

It started with a matchup: the team, with a No. 2 seed that was the highest of the Carmelo era, was set to face the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. I can remember discussing it over the phone with a friend, distraught that we didn’t get to play the more favorable Utah Jazz or Dallas Mavericks. The Hornets had some great pieces around the league’s best point guard, Chris Paul…or so everyone said. Now I can’t see Paul’s face on TV without laughing to myself about what a terrible playoffs he had. His reputation, to me at least, has taken a huge hit. Know why? Because Chauncey Billups is just that good. And don’t forget our 121-63 win on the road in Game Four.

Going into the playoffs, fan expectations were low. All we needed to get that self-respect back was a series victory and for Carmelo to play well. We got that with the New Orleans series. The rest was gravy.

A No. 2 seed should also get through the second round, though, and of course we did that pretty handily against the Dallas Mavericks. I think we’ll look back at Game Three of that series as the day Carmelo went from NBA All-Star to NBA superstar. Here’s the thing. He was a very well-known and well-regarded player who scored tons of points and made game-winners all the time in the regular season. He’d be playing in the Sunday game in February for years either way. But once he hit that game-winning three against Dallas, he elevated his game and his confidence to a whole new level. He had 31 points that day, and the next four games, he scored 41, 30, 39, and 34. Those last two games were against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. I was at Game Three of the Lakers series. Carmelo carried himself like he knew he was the best player on the floor. He didn’t end up playing like it the whole series, but the attitude alone is a huge step for Anthony, who has progressed more in the last year than anyone in basketball. A year ago he got a DUI and the team considered trade him. Now he’s an Olympic gold medalist and one of the most dangerous go-to scorers in basketball, especially at the end of games. We’re so lucky the team didn’t get rid of him.

As for the Lakers, well, they ended up beating us handily in the last two games. But as excited as we all were to play L.A., we probably shouldn’t have been. The Lakers won 65 regular season games this year, which is rare. In the 2000s, only four teams have had as many or more wins: the ’99-’00 Lakers (67), the ’06-’07 Mavericks (67), the ’07-’08 Celtics (66), and this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers (66). Those Lakers and Celtics teams both won the title. It would have been an historic upset for us to advance to the Finals this year. And if we’d hung on just a little longer in Game One, we just might have done it.

It’s a tough loss, but this isn’t the 2007 Rockies all over again. The Lakers should be fine next year, and now that they have a few days off, they might let Jeff Van Gundy or Mark Jackson take them out to a nice dinner. Get a room already. Seriously, go ahead. What’s the worst that could happen? Other powerhouse West teams of the last few years, though, like the Spurs, Suns, and Mavs, are all getting worse. This offseason is key. The Nuggets have to re-sign Chris Andersen, who will be an unrestricted free agent. It would be nice if we could pick up a power forward, someone who could rebound consistently, but I’m not sure if we’ll have or spend the money. Maybe, though. I feel like attendance should be up next year; the Birdman’s great, but every single person in this city is in love with Chauncey’s game. He is now the face of pro sports in Denver. Come November, when the Broncos are 0-9 or whatever, people are going to be stoked to have him back.

As for head coach George Karl, he’s been the target of some national media (read: The Sports Guy) criticism through this series, but I doubt the Nuggets will get rid of him. His pregame speech before the game was perhaps the most resigned I’ve ever heard, but he was just following a proud Nuggets tradition. Before Denver faced L.A. in the opening round of the 1987 playoffs, coach Doug Moe said, “We got no shot to beat the Lakers.”

We didn’t have a shot tonight, either, as Denver’s dream playoff run finally came to an end. You don't usually break out of the first round and win your first championship in the same year. Next year, though? Next year I think we just might have ’em.

Nuggets lose Game Five

I won’t say the series is over, but tonight’s game, a 103-94 victory by the L.A. Lakers over the Denver Nuggets, really hurt.

I’d been nervous all day; I guess as a Broncos fan I don’t remember what deep playoff runs feel like. While Game Four was a game we had to win, it felt coming into tonight that our best shot of taking the series was to win Game Five, too. Surely the Lakers knew this and stepped up with their best effort of the series. It was their one good effort for a few players. It’s annoying how guys like Lamar Odom will get praised for this game.

The start of the fourth quarter is obviously where we lost the game, but the Lakers outplayed the Nuggets for most of the game, even in the tied first half. It was kind of like how some of our games with the Hornets played out: we controlled the tempo, and were clearly dominating, but didn’t have an actual lead yet. Tonight the Lakers did the same to us. They played just hard enough on defense to keep our shooters from developing any kind of rhythm. Why they don’t play like that all the time, I couldn’t tell you, but they clearly went all-out tonight and played well from start to finish. Man, I hate those guys.

The Nuggets’ backs are against the wall. Last time that happened, after Game Three, they responded with a huge home victory. Let’s hope they can unleash the running game at the Pepsi Center Friday night (7 pm Mountain, ESPN).

Magic up 3-1!

Wait a second…if LeBron gets knocked out, will the league try even harder to ensure Kobe makes the Finals?

Nuggets even the Western Conference Finals

With Carmelo Anthony sick and off to an icy start, the Denver Nuggets shouldn’t have had a chance tonight. But Chauncey Billups (loved that drive in the highlights) and J.R. Smith stepped up and led the team to a 120-101 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers and even the Western Conference Finals at two games apiece.

The entire team played well as the Nuggets outscored the Lakers in every quarter. The Birdman was fantastic, and he, Nene, and K-Mart completely dominated the boards against an overmatched Lakers front line. Dahntay Jones had a sweet breakaway windmill dunk and a wonderful make-it-look-like-an-accident trip of Kobe Bryant. Carmelo came in and did his thing in the fourth quarter, forcing his way to the line when they needed to keep the lead up. And the fans were outstanding; one of the “no means no” chants came through crystal-clear on TV. You know the league’s not happy about that.

Really, the only complaint Nuggets fans can have is about that stretch in the fourth quarter where the clock seemed to move backwards and the Lakers got free throw after free throw. But the next time I looked up J.R. was sinking threes and Denver was cruising to an easy win. Well, that and, as Stuart Scott reports, Bryant scoring the most points ever in the first four games of a conference finals. That part’s rough.

The Lakers, for their part, continued not to go to Pau Gasol that much and still rely on Kobe to do everything. Does anyone else on that team have another gear? And what is up with Phil Jackson? He had one of the most bizarre nights I’ve seen from a coach in a while. First was Kobe and Gasol sitting on the bench for so long in the fourth quarter. Once Kobe came in, he hit a few shots in a row. The Nuggets had a big lead and were in Morey Rule territory with plenty of time left, but you never know what Bryant’s capable of, especially if he’s going to play several more minutes anyway. Jackson also pulled that ridiculous move where he didn’t sub anyone in for Luke Walton once he fouled out. I don’t know what that was about because it looked like a pretty clear foul to me. The real question is why Jackson had Luke on Carmelo in the first place.

Anyway, the Nuggets go back to L.A., where they’ll have to win at least Wednesday (7 Mountain, ESPN) or Sunday to stay alive. How do you like their odds?

Magic up 2-1

Wow. Wow! The Orlando Magic just took a 2-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers with a ten-point win in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals.

I didn’t think Orlando had a prayer in the series, and told a reader I expected the Cavs to win in five. I’m still not sure Orlando will win, especially when the refs are willing to call a foul on Dwight Howard’s last-minute block of LeBron James, perhaps the cleanest block I’ve ever seen (more in a second). At this point I just really want someone to break up the Cavs-Lakers Finals, which is a pretty bad place to be as a fan. I mean, obviously I want the Nuggets to win it all, but if they can’t I just hope someone crashes the league’s party.

The Magic sure do play funny on offense with a lead, though. They kept going for the dagger three instead of a) a good two or b) trying to kill any clock. It was like a football team passing every down with a four-point lead or something. I was afraid they were going to blow it.

And really, I hate complaining about the refs, but I also hate how it feels like the underdog has to do more than just outscore the favorite. About that block: LeBron is pushing the ball up the floor and you know he’s going to pull up for three (the Cavs were down eight). Dwight Howard comes up behind him and blocks the shot. Absolutely clean. I mean almost every block has some kind of body contact, but Howard didn’t touch James at all. Of course, there’s a whistle anyway. So LeBron got three free throws with 36.1 remaining. It wasn’t enough to change the game, but it totally could have been. (Charles Barkley, thankfully, kept saying it was a terrible call, asked if anyone noticed the seeing-eye dog next to the ref, and said that someone needs to review the tapes and give technicals for obvious flopping.)

One more note on the officials: I also hate watch the players complain to the refs, but if some star really does get suspended for picking up a seventh technical and that turns around a conference finals or the NBA Finals, really, whose best interest is that in? This is the lamest running subplot of the playoffs. I really, really hope none of these series come down to that.

More thoughts on Game Three

• We bought our tickets on StubHub. If you’ve never used it before (I hadn’t), it’s totally legit. You buy your tickets online, and I think they’d mail them to you if there was time, but in our case we picked them up at a conference room in the Oxford Hotel downtown. All in all a pretty painless experience, except to the wallet.

• Niketown sucks. After I picked up David V at the airport, we had some time to kill, and he needed to get a Nuggets shirt. The last time I was there, which was a few years ago, I could have sworn one of the front rooms had a bunch of Nuggets or at least Carmelo stuff in it. There was none to be found anywhere in the store yesterday, even though Melo is the biggest star of the Jordan brand. But what really got me was that on the walls outside of the room where the basketball stuff is, they had a huge picture of LeBron James on one wall, and on the other…a big Kobe Bryant. You’ve got to be kidding me. Couldn’t they have paid some kid six cents to find a good picture of Carmelo?

• I remember reading about playoff games at the old Boston Garden. One characteristic of the place was that it would get really hot. The Pepsi Center wasn’t sweltering last night or anything but it was definitely a few degrees warmer than the first two playoff games I went to. It is later in the year, I guess, though yesterday wasn’t particularly hot. I really only noticed because I was amazed how comfortable it had been the first two games.

• What is was, though, was loud. The amount of artificial noise in the building was staggering. I don’t mean artificial cheering; I just mean things like the beat that goes with a “De-Fense!” chant. It never let up in the second half. I can’t imagine trying to play with that going on, and it wasn’t like it got quiet when the Nuggets had the ball. (Playing with a loud crowd would be friggin’ awesome; it’s all the fake noise that would be annoying.) If anything we overdid it and ended up favoring the more experienced team. Personally if I was, say, J.R. Smith, I would have liked a couple seconds to gather my thoughts when on the bench; the building was just annoyingly loud to the point that it got kind of uncomfortable sitting there.

The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that there were enough Lakers fans there cheering pretty loud in the first half when they’d score, so the Pepsi Center team decided to try to drown them out. I guess that’s cool, but the Nuggets were up most of the time, so I don’t think their fans would have had the edge. Besides, it’s way more fun trying to outcheer some obnoxious jerk than it is screaming when you can barely hear yourself. The tension in the air was pretty bad, though, and the Lakers fans were way more optimistic.

By the way, if you’re a Lakers fan at the Western Conference Finals, you probably should have found time to update that No. 8 Bryant jersey. Just saying. (Then again I thought the guy we passed in an old dark blue No. 4 Billups jersey was the man. Looking back those old uniforms were hideous, though.) I also saw two guys in Wilt Chamberlain jerseys. One was a lanky teenager, which I don’t get at all. The other was in his 20s or 30s and also definitely never saw Wilt play. I saw a Magic jersey, which is cool. Personally if I was a Lakers fan going for a retro look I think I’d lean more towards an Elgin Baylor or a Big Game James; what about you?

So back to the noise. There were a bunch of drummers going at halftime that were crazy loud and not my particular cup of tea anyway. The sound just lingered. Again, I’m down if the Nuggets’ locker room is soundproofed and L.A.’s isn’t, but who knows. I tried calling a friend at halftime and that was a miserable experience; fortunately the Can has these soundproofed rooms off to the side of the corridors you can hang out in.

• I had always wanted to sit in the seats where they give you the big balloons to wave at the free throw shooters, and yesterday, I did it. The Lakers shot free throws really poorly on our end, but Kobe was sinking them, so it was a pretty crappy feeling. Another cool thing was that a guy down the row had the Xerox of the NBA’s official stats for the first half, even though the story the numbers told was frightening. (I know we were up at halftime, but the shooting percentages scared me.)

• It’s funny how the fans react to the players live. After watching a few rounds we all know what the Nuggets do, and no one wants Kenyon Martin to try to do anything. J.R.’s tough to watch when he’s cold. Most guys would lose confidence in their rapid-fire threes, but not Smith. Guess that’s sort of a good thing. It reminds me of when a cornerback says he has to have a short memory, but it’s someone like Terrell Buckley who gets burned all the time and you’re like, maybe you should try to remember a little. When he drove for that shot with like a minute left, I said, “J.R., what are you doing?” and when it went in, the guy next to me screamed, “He’s scoring! He’s scoring!” then admitted he didn’t like the shot, either.

• If anyone’s going to Game Four, they did let us in more than an hour early now, not that there’s anything to do inside.

Nuggets drop Game Three

In a devastating blow to their championship dreams, the Denver Nuggets lost Game Three of the Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers tonight, 103-97. It was an absolutely brutal game to watch down the stretch if you like the Nuggets.

I do. As one of you noticed on my new Twitter page, I did indeed attend the game in person. Here is the requisite view from my seat:

Look familiar? It felt that way, though I was on the opposite end of the court from where I sat in Game Five of the Hornets series, meaning the Nuggets would actually come at us in the second half. Also I was two rows back, if anyone really freaking cares.

I was pretty down after the game, but now I’m not sure how to feel. It seemed like L.A. dictated a slower tempo than we like to play at home, but we still put up 97 points on a night when Carmelo Anthony was in foul trouble and we couldn’t hit a jump shot to save our lives. It’s starting to feel like J.R. Smith’s cold streak is rubbing off on Chauncey Billups, isn’t it? We were only a few made shots away from going up 2-1 in the series. But it’s pretty hard to beat the Lakers, I think, when you give away two of the first three games.

The Nuggets were up most of the second half, but it didn’t feel like they were up, and it definitely didn’t feel like it was going to last the way we were playing. Our perimeter shooting, on fire against Dallas and New Orleans, is now just bad. Our defense is slumping, too. Carmelo had some key steals, but all in all it feels like we’re counting on him to do everything. He’s carrying himself like he knows he’s the best player out there. I can still remember his first foul; I thought it was okay, because he’s good at going into the end of the game with only a few fouls. Except tonight he picked up quite a few and had to sit for too long of a stretch in the second half. That was killer.

I’ll give credit to Kobe. His three-pointer over J.R. Smith with just over a minute left was the nail in the coffin. I’d wanted Carmelo on him but I must have forgotten he had five fouls somehow.

Anyway, I’m done talking about this killer game, at least for now. Check out Twitter for more on the atmosphere at the game, etc., if you’re interested.

Meanwhile, back in the East

I just caught the last six or so minutes of Game Two of the Orlando Magic-Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals, and I hope you did, too. It was NUTS. Beautiful basketball down the stretch from the Magic, who I seem to recall a certain reader supporting on his long and winding road to becoming a Nuggets fan. Anyway, Orlando Calrissian was hitting shots, and they seemed to know just how to cover LeBron: send absolutely everyone at him when he drives, and hope Mo Williams and The Big Z miss enough jumpers to keep it close. And it worked. Hedo Turkoglu hit a long three-pointer to tie the game at 93 with 48 seconds remaining. On the next possession LeBron appeared to take four steps on a drive and was actually called for it. For a second I thought it was some kind of defensive foul or something (wasn’t listening to the game sound), but no. (After the game Craig Sager asked LeBron if he had not argued the call because of fatigue, and James, to his credit, admitted he had travelled. To be fair he might have only taken three steps, but it looked like a foot was on the ground when he picked up his dribble.) Okay, again, anyway. The Magic are fouled and get the ball on the sideline with thirteen seconds left. I wasn’t super confident they’d get it done, but if they did, they’d be up 2-0 on the heretofore invincible Cavaliers! Hedo gets the ball on the right side, and drives into a crowd before launching an awkward, bending jumper that somehow falls in with a second left. Game over, Magic.

Except for a little fellow known as King James, who caught the ball behind the three point line, jumped, and fired a fadeaway three that rimmed in. And the Cavs salvage the split with a one-point win. Why isn’t anyone asking what makes his unstoppableness so unstoppable?

Lesson learned

Can’t beat the Lakers? Try becoming the Lakers.

The Denver Nuggets stole a chapter out of L.A.’s playbook tonight, winning in a way only the Lakers usually do: taking the first half off, showing no outward signs of caring, and then, somehow, getting back into it and taking the game at the end.

In sharp contrast to their effort in Game One, the Nuggets played almost flawlessly down the stretch, save perhaps J.R. Smith’s turnover on a pass attempt to Carmelo Anthony. (I guess Anthony had that turnover, too.) Anthony, by the way, just about willed the Nuggets back into the game, scoring more than 30 points for the fifth game in a row, which Scott Van Pelt just told me breaks Alex English’s franchise single-season playoff record. That means the streak started with Game 3 in Dallas, when Carmelo hit that game-winning three pointer. I can almost hear Morpheus: “He’s beginning to believe.”

Chauncey Billups might be missing some of his free throws, but he played great, especially in the fourth quarter. He put it in another gear when the team needed it, driving to the basket, and making his way to the line again and again. He knew just how to attack, and carried the Nuggets when Carmelo began to falter ever so slightly near the end.

They said that Linas Kleiza was scoring something like five points per game in the playoffs; that's way higher than I would have thought, but his threes were big tonight. (And Coach Karl wisely pulled him when he missed a three in the fourth.) Nene and Kenyon Martin were solid, though a few more boards from the Mart are always welcome. I was so relieved/stoked when Nene hit those free throws.

Those words describe how I felt down the stretch, but now? Incredible! I can’t believe my Nuggets just beat the Los Angeles Lakers on the road in the Western Conference Finals in what was starting to feel like a must-win game. They got it, and now they have the homecourt advantage. But this series, which has been great basketball so far, is far from over. Game Three is Saturday night at the Pepsi Center (6:30 pm Mountain, ABC).

Hello from the second quarter

It’s funny that I would post that link about the refs—and even funnier that Dick Bavetta is on the crew tonight—but if the Nuggets lose, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. Where is the energy? Carmelo’s starting to heat up, but he still had to walk over to Nene to get a five after a made free throw. Wake up, people! We are lucky it’s as close as it is, and somehow now it’s a five-point game, so I’ll get back to watching it.

O-fishy-ating (Get it?)

Guess who finally hit the big time? That’s right, folks, you can now read something I wrote on somebody else’s blog. Truly a momentous day. No, I didn’t actually write the whole post, but you should really check it out anyway.

It figures

Without getting into any details, today sucked, and so it’s fitting that the Lakers took down the Nuggets in Game One tonight.

What’s sad, but also reassuring, is that the Nuggets put themselves in position to win the game. They had a big lead in the first quarter, which is almost annoying at this point, because unless you’re playing the Hornets you always lose a lead you build that early. But they also had some good leads in the fourth quarter. If you’re not familiar with this rule, which I think I’ve heard the Sports Guy credit to Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, it’ll totally change the way you watch games. The quote is from Michael Lewis’ awesome profile of Shane Battier:

One statistical rule of thumb in basketball is that a team leading by more points than there are minutes left near the end of the game has an 80 percent chance of winning. If your team is down by more than 6 points halfway through the final quarter, and you’re anxious to beat the traffic, you can leave knowing that there is slightly less than a 20 percent chance you’ll miss a victory; on the other hand, if you miss a victory, it will have been an improbable and therefore sensational one.

So remember when Carmelo Anthony got caught by the sideline and called that timeout, but then right after the break caught a pass from Nene for a dunk? That gave the Nuggets a seven-point lead with 7:28 left, a lead they kept past when the clock ticked under seven minutes remaining. The Nuggets also led by six inside of six minutes and five inside of five. And, oh yeah, Chauncey Billups' three gave us a two-point lead with 1:38 remaining.

So what happened? Well, I refuse to turn this blog into a bunch of whining about the officiating, so I guess I can’t explain it. Also, the Lakers were getting the ball to Kobe Bryant better than the Nuggets were to Chauncey or Carmelo in the closing minutes. (Thankfully, both 7 and 15 played well when given opportunities down the stretch.) Anthony Carter’s inbounds pass that got stolen was absolutely atrocious, too. I think the Nuggets will be a lot better off on offense when J.R. Smith gets back on track, though. While he did hit one big three, he usually provides a bigger lift at the start of the fourth quarter.

My other concern is Denver’s first-half defense on Bryant. Way too many times he was allowed to get the ball down low and simply elevate for an easy shot. I don’t know how to prevent that but the Nuggets have to find a way or this is going to be a very short series.

Drug check

Did anyone watch SportsCenter tonight? If you did, did you happen to see real-life Jon Barry on a real-life court guarding a life-size digital Kobe Bryant, presumably from NBA Live? Just, uh…just curious.

21.5 more hours…

It’s the Lakers

Thanks to their 89-70 victory over the Houston Rockets today, the Los Angeles Lakers will face the Denver Nuggets in this year’s Western Conference Finals. If you didn’t see the game, know that it was truly an easy win; the Lakers won by 19 despite Houston closing the game on a 12-0 run.

The schedule is now set for the next series as well. Game One is Tuesday night at 7 Mountain (ESPN), and the Nuggets and Lakers will play every other day until the series is over. Actually, the schedule’s been set for a few days, a fact I wish I’d known when I was looking for but not getting any tickets on Friday. (Did any of you have any luck on that front?)

Does today’s first Game Seven give anyone pause heading into the series? I say it’s about time the Lakers step up, because they haven’t done much to this point. But then, all we’ve done is beat a bunch of quitters, and then a one-Germensional team. I am excited to see the games, but would feel a lot better with the warm blanket of homecourt advantage nearby. Does anyone think we have to win the series in six?

One thing I did notice in today’s game that Kobe wasn’t the first guy off the bench congratulating his teammates, even though he totally was the night before when I watched Kobe Doin’ Work. Huh. That’s weird. Could the Lakers’ star be hiding some kind of injury? I mean, gosh, I can’t think of any reason for him to act differently during the movie like that…

Two series down

Enjoy the highlights, including Kenyon Martin's last-minute dunk that had Mark Cuban's name written all over it.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think before this postseason that the Nuggets were going to the Western Conference Finals. Even with that No. 2 seed, I would’ve settled for getting out of the first round and then losing to the Spurs. Now, of course, my dreams just keep getting crazier.

It was a tense closeout game, as those games tend to be. I didn’t get a single phone call, text, or game-related e-mail during the proceedings, and only sent one e-mail myself. I’m not sure all the fear was deserved, especially when Carmelo get off to a torrid start in the first half, scoring 21 on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Can you believe a year ago the rumors were that the Nuggets were looking to trade Melo? (Charles Barkley just called him the best scorer in the NBA right now…how awesome is that?)

Unlike the Hornets, the Mavericks didn’t quit, but outside of Dirk Nowitzki and free throw attempt specialist Brandon Bass, was anyone memorable? One stood out to me tonight. In the first quarter Jason Kidd hit a three-pointer near the sideline, and the announcer called him “deadly”. This was Kidd’s first three, and I’m like, who gets called deadly for one shot? Kidd went on to make several long jumpers, but it made me think. The guy’s a career .402 shooter and hits just 34.2% from three land. He has terrific hands, balance, coordination, and was in great shape as a young man. And he’s a guard. So how come he never learned how to shoot? He’s had a very good career…but I can’t help how great it could have been with a little more time spent on his shot.

This may not make sense to anyone else right now, but it reminded me, briefly, of Kobe Bryant, who of course may be playing us in the conference finals. Here’s the thing I think: the all-time great players are the ones with the discipline to complete their game, to develop their weaknesses into strengths. Often, they have a secondary skill they can rely on that’s better than almost everyone else’s best talent. When Michael Jordan couldn’t score, which was almost never, he could fall back on his standing as the greatest defensive guard in the game and still have a huge impact. Larry Bird was a fearless scorer but also one of the greatest passers ever. Tim Duncan’s a great post player and passer who keyed several championship offenses, but in his prime he was so skilled on the boards he could dominate a game with his rebounding. And so on. And did any of these guys have a notable weakness, especially one that was relevant to their position? I can’t think of one. Which is why I’m bothered when guys like Kidd are placed in that rare air…because most of the transcendent greats took the game too seriously to have such a glaring weakness like Kidd’s shooting. The best example of the decade, of course, is Steve Nash and his complete inability to play defense, which is why he never should have won the MVP trophy. Anyway, what’s Kobe’s second skill, other than the ability to buy into his own hype? He gets credit for being a great defender, but like Derek Jeter, I don’t see it. If Kobe was great as everyone says he is, he’d do more on the court, as crazy as that sounds. And that’s why I’m not afraid of the Lakers.

But enough about the other teams, because tonight belongs to the Nuggets. I almost got chills watching Chauncey Billups in his postgame interview, where he was all business and knew now is not the time to celebrate. I love that guy and that attitude. And if you judge him by the standard of the last paragraph, he’s an athlete who’s made the most of his talent. I just can’t wait to enjoy the next part of the ride.

Mavs take Game Four

Dirk Nowitzki is a pretty good sport. After preventing a sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, a feat which made confetti fall at the American Airlines Center (seriously?), Nowitzki seemed eager to compliment the Nuggets. When a reporter asked him about the momentum in the series, he immediately said that Denver takes it to another level at home; it was exactly the kind of honest and humble answer we claim we want athletes to give. (Sort of like before Game Two, when he talked about how some of Denver's defenders give him trouble, and when Chris Webber and Charles Barkley tore him to shreds.) Furthermore he's scored at will in this series. I just feel like pointing that out considering how often I've given the man a hard time.

Anyway, the action tonight was another close and tightly-officiated game, though it didn't seem quite so ridiculous as Saturday's contest. Unfortunately the Nuggets couldn't execute the last two minutes. That's basically all it came down to. Carmelo created a decent look out of nothing on a possession that took way too long, but missed the close-range shot. Chauncey Billups lost the ball to Jason Kidd. That's basically it. Oh, that and a bunch of loose-ball fouls that defied imagination.

Still, there were positive signs in the fourth quarter. My favorite was when, with a little over three and half minutes left, Carmelo poked the ball away from Nowitzki while Dirk was posting up. It was notable because Dirk had already picked up some ticky-tack fouls on 'Melo, and I thought, "Carmelo's basically got to let him score, they're going to call him for a foul if he tries anything." And yet he still, somehow, forced the turnover. That's some mental toughness.

But don't forget J.R. Smith and his three long jumpers to beat the shot clock...just incredible shots, the kind you need to fuel a playoff run. (And it's always so nerve-wracking anyway at the start of the fourth when Chauncey is on the bench.) Speaking of Chauncey, he had nice lay-up/three-pointer sequence, but the best was the look he gave Carmelo when Antoine Wright picked up his fifth foul and a technical. It said, "I can't believe these wusses we're playing." And he drove and set up a big dunk by Nene with two minutes left. Later Carmelo had two free throws and that Reggie Miller-like three to cut the lead to one point at the end, but it just barely wasn't enough. I feel like if the game was even a minute longer, the Nuggets, who had suddenly found their rhythm again, might have won it.

The series will resume at the Pepsi Center Wednesday night (7 p.m. Mountain, TNT). I'm sad the Nuggets didn't pick up their first-ever sweep, but I can't complain too much. Carmelo has made huge strides even from game-to-game in these playoffs, and I swear Saturday's three has made him fearless. Chauncey, of course, still can't be stopped by the Mavericks. And with any luck, the Birdman, who missed the game with a stomach problem, will be back. Keep the faith, because Dirk is right: it's a whole new game at home.

Pregame warmup

If you've missed it somehow, you need to go read Tom Friend's long profile on Chauncey Billups on ESPN.com. (Thanks to David V. for the heads-up.) You might want to hold off for a couple hours, though, because I cannot wait to watch this team play again tonight.

Nuggets up 3-0 on the Mavericks

Double-click the highlights to go full-screen. Thanks, NBA.com!

For the last several playoff games, we’ve been wondering what would happen when the Nuggets finally get tested. Yes, they lost Game Three of the Hornets series, which is sad considering just how much can-do spirit the Hornets revealed in the series. But the Nuggets had a huge lead in the first quarter and almost won that game.

Perhaps the team still hasn’t been tested, but they absolutely stole a game from the Dallas Mavericks today thanks to a huge game by Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony’s game-winning three. The game was close most of the way, but the Mavericks kept getting a lead in the fourth. Then Dallas couldn’t make enough free throws, or execute properly in a “foul-to-give” situation, and the rest is history.

The Mavericks, led by owner Mark Cuban, were obviously ticked by the no-call in the closing seconds, whereby Carmelo got free for his clutchest shot as a professional. (You may have seen Cuban’s little push of the cameraman as he was stomping around after the final whistle.) I guess it technically was a foul, but it was one that could be ignored just as easily at the end of a hard-fought contest as on a game’s first possession. Plus the Dallas defender threw his hands up in the international symbol for, “I didn’t foul him.” So Carmelo dribbled free for the three.

By the way, mark another one off the Nuggets’ list of accomplishments that expunge past sins: a big playoff game by Carmelo (check), another player stepping up when they needed him (check first by Chauncey, but now others), a true homecourt advantage (check), a series win (check), an all-time-record-tying margin of victory (check) and now, a stolen road win and a game-winning shot from the ’Melo man (check).

The Nuggets are so hot they’ve got non-basketball fans, like my mom, watching. I caught today’s game with my mom and little brother, who argued with me about which Nugget was the best player on the team (I say Carmelo Yellow, he says Chauncey). I’m interested in your thoughts on this.

And of course, let’s not forget the other big plays in the fourth quarter that made it possible, like Nene’s huge basket, Carmelo’s dunk, K-Mart’s jumpers, or J.R. Smith and Chauncey popping threes. Once again it was a total team effort by the most thrilling Colorado basketball team in ages. Now on to Monday’s Game Four (7:30 Mountain, TNT).

Up two in round two

It’s becoming difficult for Nuggets fans to stay humble, which is unfortunate, because no team will be as eager to quit as the Hornets were. Nevertheless, the win last night wasn’t easy…or was it?

After a thrilling start to the game, including back-to-back dunks by Carmelo and J.R. Smith in the first quarter, a friend and I were discussing our chances. I try not to take anything for granted in sports because that backfires so often. But the Nuggets were controlling the tempo completely, and I felt like even if the game was close, we’d run away with it in the fourth quarter. He agreed.

Watching the third quarter last night, I was not so confident. Dallas controlled the pace of the game and turned it into a halfcourt, let’s-trade-possessions contest, which they’d clearly rather play at altitude than deal with our frenetic attack. I thought the Nuggets were headed for a real test in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless they blew the Mavericks away with another huge run to start the fourth and the game became another chance to take our stars out early to the roar of the crowd.

Once again, the whole team stepped up. Nene had his second great offensive game of the series, scoring 25 to go with eight rebounds. Carmelo added 25 of his own despite taking himself out with stomach cramps briefly in the second quarter. (He still played a game-high 42 minutes.) I thought watching the game that Chauncey’s shooting had cooled off, and I guess compared to his start in the Hornets series it has, but he hit four-of-nine threes and had some great passes. J.R. Smith poured in points all night, which made up for his costly three-point miss before halftime that gave Jason Kidd time to convert one of his own. The only other play I really hated was when Kenyon Martin, who was fined $25,000 for his post-whistle hit on Dirk Sunday, was whistled for a foul as part of a double technical when he was hammered attacking the rim, but I still don’t think he did anything wrong on the play, so I don’t blame him for that. And still, it was fun to see Nene step in after the foul, because he's so huge it's clear no one is even going to pretend to want a piece of him. (By the way, I was surprised by the fine, but the video reminds me how his hit came after the whistle, so what are you gonna do?)

Broncos links

I hate to move the news of the Nuggets’ win down, but you can scroll down. (Can’t you?) Here are a few things I’ve run across lately.

1. Rick Reilly’s brief but cutting take on the Broncos’ draft haul this year. The worst part was when he said of McDaniels:

This is the same genius who traded one of Denver's first-round choices in 2010 to move up in the second round to take a 5'9'' defensive back—Alphonso Smith…And if the Broncos are going to be as lame as I think they're going to be—4-12 perhaps—that first-round pick will be very high.

And it’s time for a retraction. After the draft I wrote about Denver’s trade for Alphonso Smith, thinking we had dealt Chicago’s first-round pick, which I estimate next year will be about No. 32 overall. But Reilly’s right: it was our own pick we gave up for the 5-9 corner with 4.5 speed (which I don’t think is all that fast for that position). In other words, it was a DISASTROUS move, giving up the top pick of next year's draft for a second-round corner. The Broncos screwed up big-time. I guess I screwed up, too, by not realizing it, but there you go. I’m so pissed I don’t even want to write the rest of this (I started out here assuming Reilly was wrong…crap).

2. Next year we’ll surely be calling for Tom Brandstater, our new rookie QB from Fresno State, to get on the field. Here’s a YouTube clip of his highlights from the 2007 season. Now it’s possible that whoever cut this tape is a moron, but these aren’t very good highlights: the biggest standout to me was how bad his pass 23 seconds into the clip is. That’s a touchdown with a real quarterback. Freak!

3. And finally, Woody Paige had an interview with Pat Bowlen that’s worth reading, but will hardly improve your mood.

Go Nuggets!

Nuggets win Game One (rd. 2!)

As a longtime Nuggets fan, the more I think about this team’s still-brief playoff run, the more excited I get. Sometimes it’s the little things: watching an NBA playoff game on ABC and realizing that’s the Pepsi Center court where all the action is taking place. And sometimes it’s the huge things, like watching John Elway introducing Chauncey Billups to the crowd, a clip which literally gave me chills.

The Nuggets’ win today was textbook and also wasn’t—common in the way the team completely blew it open at the end, but rare in the way everyone stepped up around Billups and Carmelo Anthony, neither of whom had a great game. (’Melo still had his moments, namely his three-point play at the start of the second half and his first three-pointer in the fourth quarter.) It was the bench, as ABC pointed out, that really stepped it up.

I recently voiced my concern to, um, LT that we didn’t really have an answer for Dirk Nowitzki on our roster, while he contended the Chris Andersen could do the job. So far, he’s right. There are two things relatively unique about how the Birdman works that I really like. With a great shotblocker (and we’ve seen this with Marcus Camby, for instance), announcers always talk about how many shots they don’t block that they also alter. When I watch closely, though, I don’t see guys altering that many shots—except for Andersen, who clearly does affect at least a couple extra shots every game. And second, he doesn’t just get weakside blocks, but he’s also a good individual defender; just watch what he does when isolated against anyone from a point guard to a 7-foot German. Even on a team that switches as much as the Nuggets, he’s never a liability.

Nene was huge in the first half, and it was great to see him get off to such a good start. Erick Dampier can match up with him sizewise, sure, but I don’t think he can really defend Nene when Nene’s playing as aggressively and confidently as he did today. The play of Nene will undoubtedly be key as the series wears on.

Despite today’s win, the Mavericks seem to have a few weapons that could make this series much tougher than the last. The most obvious is Nowitzki, who got off to a great start today. The Nuggets started playing him physically (esp. with K-Mart knocking him to the floor) and slowed him down to the point that he was throwing up horrible shots in an effort to get foul calls. But he is skilled enough to take advantage of certain matchups. Jason Kidd is old but still sneaky, in that he can get himself open shots and still knows just when to attack. You kind of forget he’s out there. And Jason Terry’s very dangerous off the bench, though I think J.R. Smith is a pretty good answer to him. Has anyone ever loved strutting after a big bucket more than Smith?

Overall, though, while the Mavericks made me pretty nervous in the first half, the Nuggets won handily. How do you think the rest of the series will play out?