Thread: The Official Denver Nuggets Thread!

Originally Posted by Denver Native (Carol)

I found the following - so if g applies to what JR did, the only thing that would have happened is that the Lakers would have inbounded the ball - BUT, no one knows what would have happened from that point on until the end of the game. Just because they would have been awarded the ball, does NOT mean they would have won the game????????

http://www.basketball.com/nba/rules/rule6.shtml

g. The eight non-jumpers will remain outside the restraining circle until the ball has been tapped. Teammates may not occupy adjacent positions around the restraining circle if an opponent desires one of the positions.

PENALTY for c, d, e, f, g: Ball awarded out-of-bounds to the opponent.

I think he did violate the rule...it was interesting though,because that was a high throw, and both players swatted away each other's hands before having to hit the ball, so J.R. thought they had hit the ball, and the referees may have thought that as well.

Either way, it wasn't called...and Fisher missed a shot to tie the game in the end, anyway.

Why in the world Kobe Bryant was used as a decoy is just beyond me.

Originally Posted by pnbronco

Carol you are so amazing with your knowledge. That you for always keeping up with the news, rules and sharing it with us....

Its great, but any ONE play in the game could have changed the momentum for either team. Thats why basketball is so fun and exciting! For every missed call that *could have helped the Lakers win, there was an equally important call not made for the Nuggets throughout the game. The only thing that matters is final score. If "COULDA" wins games, then we "SHOULD" be up 2 games to zip. Is a missed Free Throw any different than a missed call? Both are mental errors that can greatly affect the outcome. Even when against the Nuggets, I never will fault bad calls as a reason to lose. You have to overcome that crap and play through it. Someone else said it but being down by double digits even last year before the half would have meant a blowout.

As a basketball team you get lucky with bad calls on the other team and play through bad calls on you. Or you can just cry and whine and flop, then you would be Kob---oh, nevermind. This is not the smack forum!

I expect the Lakers best shot after we took one from them in their backyard, and can not wait for tomorrows game! George Karl said it right when he said the 4 best teams are playing right now, and I am enjoying the hell out of it right now.

Originally Posted by AlWilsonizKING

Just another thing for the media to whine about......I can see it now....

"The Lakers would have won this game if not for the missed call on the jump ball."




PEACE!!!

I was only asking! This series seems to be better than what basketball has produced over the last some years. I'll have to check out the game tomorrow instead of watching highlights.

BTW, thanks DN for the info!!

Originally Posted by MasterShake

Its great, but any ONE play in the game could have changed the momentum for either team. Thats why basketball is so fun and exciting! For every missed call that *could have helped the Lakers win, there was an equally important call not made for the Nuggets throughout the game. The only thing that matters is final score. If "COULDA" wins games, then we "SHOULD" be up 2 games to zip. Is a missed Free Throw any different than a missed call? Both are mental errors that can greatly affect the outcome. Even when against the Nuggets, I never will fault bad calls as a reason to lose. You have to overcome that crap and play through it. Someone else said it but being down by double digits even last year before the half would have meant a blowout.

As a basketball team you get lucky with bad calls on the other team and play through bad calls on you. Or you can just cry and whine and flop, then you would be Kob---oh, nevermind. This is not the smack forum!

I expect the Lakers best shot after we took one from them in their backyard, and can not wait for tomorrows game! George Karl said it right when he said the 4 best teams are playing right now, and I am enjoying the hell out of it right now.

Excellent post.

I would expect to get Kobe and companys best shot early Saturday night. If we can use the crowd to match their intensity early we should be in great shape.

Originally Posted by Dortoh

Excellent post.

I would expect to get Kobe and companys best shot early Saturday night. If we can use the crowd to match their intensity early we should be in great shape.

I think the Lakers are the better team in some respects, but the Nuggets have that x-factor. I get more excited when the bench comes out sometimes than I do the starters. If they can control the boards and manage to take both home games and get a 3-1 series lead that would be insane. I don't even see how a out of this world player like Kobe can bounce his team back from that.

The neat thing about a best of 7 is that teams adjust to each other, but you also find out quickly when they have no answers. We have no answer for Kobe in the Fourth, but they can't seem to stop our bench. Great series so far. I need to see a more convincing win from either team to really make up my mind. I can easily see this being a 6-7 game series.

Originally Posted by MasterShake

I think the Lakers are the better team in some respects, but the Nuggets have that x-factor. I get more excited when the bench comes out sometimes than I do the starters. If they can control the boards and manage to take both home games and get a 3-1 series lead that would be insane. I don't even see how a out of this world player like Kobe can bounce his team back from that.

The neat thing about a best of 7 is that teams adjust to each other, but you also find out quickly when they have no answers. We have no answer for Kobe in the Fourth, but they can't seem to stop our bench. Great series so far. I need to see a more convincing win from either team to really make up my mind. I can easily see this being a 6-7 game series.

I hate on Kobe but those 3's last night with mello inside his shorts were flat out ******* sick.

I want the nuggets to finish them off as quickly as possible but its been such a great series so far I would almost feel short changed not getting to see a game 7

Originally Posted by Dortoh

I hate on Kobe but those 3's last night with mello inside his shorts were flat out ******* sick.

I want the nuggets to finish them off as quickly as possible but its been such a great series so far I would almost feel short changed not getting to see a game 7

I wouldn't. A game 5 ending in L.A. with no hope of a comeback is what we need to have the confidence to take out CLE/ORL in the finals if we ever get there. I want no doubt that the better team won, game 7's are for the weak!

Originally Posted by MasterShake

I wouldn't. A game 5 ending in L.A. with no hope of a comeback is what we need to have the confidence to take out CLE/ORL in the finals if we ever get there. I want no doubt that the better team won, game 7's are for the weak!

Then again, a game 7 beat down of the Lakers at Staples would be pretty sweet, too! I'm talking like a 15-20 point win! I wanna see Jack Nicholson have a stroke.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12423273

LOS ANGELES — The 2009 NBA Finals sounded pretty exciting, all right. LeBron James versus Kobe Bryant. Commercials coming to life. Cavaliers versus Lakers. Two 60-plus win teams. Two championship teams — one has to lose, but everybody wins.

"If they want to see that matchup, they can go play (the video game) NBA Live," Denver's Kenyon Martin barked after his Nuggets' 106-103 win Thursday night here, tying the Western Conference finals at 1-1. "Everybody has anointed Los Angeles as the Western champions and Cleveland as the Eastern champions. We're not going to lay down, by any means. If it's meant to be, then they're going to have to beat us. We're not going to give it away."

In fact, they took it away Thursday night.

After losing Game 1, which certainly seemed like their best chance to steal one in L.A., the Nuggets did just that in a thrilling Game 2, which featured a courageous Carmelo Anthony (game-high 34 points), unexpected heroics from reserve Linas Kleiza (16 points with four 3s), hustler's hustle (Martin led the team in floor burns, and Chauncey Billups forced a jump ball and made a steal in the final minute) and a moment to freeze in time (Nene lunging at Derek Fisher at the final buzzer, forcing Fisher to miss a potential game-tying 3).

They say a series doesn't start until a team loses at home. Well, the No. 1-seeded Lakers lost at home to Denver, the first time in 12 tries by the boys in powder blue in the playoffs.

Game 3 is Saturday night at the Pepsi Center. Should be loud.

Anthony, whose performance in Game 1 made national news, was every bit as scintillating in Game 2, scoring 34 with nine rebounds and four assists.

"You're in the mode, you're in the zone," Melo said when asked to describe his night. "But my main focus is not to score 34 or 39 points. That's not my focus."

This, of course, is the ideal description of the new Anthony, a dynamic dynamo who has given New Orleans, Dallas and now the Lakers a gym bag full of fits.

For one, Anthony is banging the boards like he's Pau Gasol. Of his nine rebounds, five were on the offensive boards. And, second, he is playing defense with a scowl. He spent numerous possessions on Bryant (32 points) in the fourth quarter, doing an admirable job. The two were teammates on Team USA last summer in Beijing, and they joke that they stole moves from one another.

"I'm pretty sure he stole my jab step," Anthony said.

Trailing 81-80 heading into the fourth, the Nuggets elevated their defense in the biggest quarter of the season so far, forcing L.A. to shoot just 38.5 percent and holding Bryant to eight points.

"The whole thing was there was just a demand that we had to win this game," Nuggets coach George Karl said of the fourth-quarter defense. "There was an inner spirit. We're a much more smart and mentally tough team than last year."

There were a few timeout huddles in the final minute, and Karl looked at his team and saw winners. It is an amazing feeling, one could sense from hearing the coach talk about it.

"Oh yeah, I've sensed that all year long," said Karl, who has coached in one NBA Finals, in 1996. "Chauncey, Kenyon, Melo. We're growing up pretty quick. Their ability to move toward that goal, most times takes two to three years. We're doing it in six to seven months."

After the game, outside the winning locker room, Dr. Steve Traina had a smile tattooed to his face. For 21 years, he has worked with Nuggets teams.

"The team's camaraderie," the doctor said, "has never been better."

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_12426463

LOS ANGELES — When all looked lost for the Nuggets, in a city built on big cinematic moments, forward Carmelo Anthony delivered the line destined to define this Denver team that refuses to give up on its crazy championship dream.

"Keep fighting," Anthony insisted as he ran down the court, punctuating his order with an expletive, demanding that teammate Chauncey Billups listen.

Denver beat the Los Angeles Lakers 106-103 on Thursday night for one reason and one reason only.

Overcoming a 13-point deficit in the first half, the Nuggets kept fighting with all the stubbornness in a winner's heart.

On a night when Anthony one-upped Los Angeles superstar Kobe Bryant by giving the visitors 34 points, nine rebounds and four assists, this was the Denver star's most beautiful line:

"Keep fighting," Anthony urged Billups, with the arena going bonkers, at the precise moment when the Lakers looked most unbeatable, ahead 51-38 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

"That's all we can do. Keep fighting," Billups replied, with a nod of affirmation.

This is how basketball legends are born, athletes become friends for life, the momentum of a playoff series turns and a team begins to believe championship dreams can come true.

"Keep fighting," declared Anthony, his determination exploding with a curse word between his two-word plea, as he ran past actor Tom Cruise and all the beautiful people cheering the Lakers.

This best-of-seven series between the mighty Lakers and the upstart Nuggets to determine the Western Conference's representative in the NBA Finals is tied 1-1.

Both contests have been classics worthy of framing. Game 2 was not decided until a desperate 3-point attempt by L.A. guard Derek Fisher in the waning seconds failed to find the basket. There appears to be almost nothing to choose between the teams. Except one thing:

The Nuggets have so much fight no sane man would want to mess with them.

Quitting is not an option for Denver. Even at the point in the first half when every Lakers score looked as easy as a layup drill. Even when it appeared so helpless for the Nuggets that their old coach Doug Moe walked out of the arena, straight into the darkness of the night, and climbed on the team bus, where he watched L.A. stretch its lead on a TV in misery with the driver.

"Last year, the lead probably would have went from 10 to 20 points," Anthony said. "I'd be sitting here talking to you about a loss."

We speak all the time about superstars taking over at crunch time, in the final breathless minutes of a tight game. Winning time, however, sometimes arrives much earlier, when a champion with a stubborn heart refuses to lose.

"He really just took over the game when we really needed it most. He stepped up to the challenge. He made his mark, he told us how it was going to be, it's bigger than hitting the last shot at the end of the game, if you ask me," Nuggets guard J.R. Smith said.

We must now talk about Anthony as the equal of Dan Issel, Alex English or any player who has ever worn a Nuggets uniform for what Melo did in the second quarter, when all looked lost for the visitors, whose psyches were already bruised from throwing away a victory against L.A. in Game 1.

In a span of four minutes midway through the second period, when the Nuggets were looking for any reason to believe, Anthony gave them 11 points that screamed: Keep fighting.

"Win or lose, that's all you can do" Billups told me in the locker room, as he joked with Anthony, who soaked a tender ankle in a red tub. "You gotta keep fighting."

The Lakers know now: There is no way Denver will ever surrender.

Until the last shot or the final second, even when victory seems impossible and there appears no way out, you know what Melo, Mr. Big Shot and these Nuggets will do.

Keep fighting.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_12430351

MARINA DEL RAY, CA. — The Nuggets have an overwhelming home court advantage, undefeated at home since March 9, and now, suddenly, they have home court advantage in the Western Conference Finals, after splitting the first two games against the Lakers at Los Angeles.

"We worked all year to get home court advantage, and we took care of that in the first two rounds, and we were able to steal it from the Lakers, and now we're in a similar situation," Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said today at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. "We have home court advantage until we lose a game at home, and hopefully we don't. I think most teams play with more confidence at home, 20,000 people screaming for you, pulling for your every more. We're in a fortunate situation and we don't want to give that back."

Heading into Saturday's Game 3, the Nuggets were understandably relaxed today, watching film before boarding a flight back home. At the team's hotel, coach George Karl gushed about the rebounding of Linas Kleiza in Game 2 (eight boards), the passing of the big man Nene (six assists) and the tough defense by Carmelo Anthony on Kobe Bryant down the stretch (Bryant scored eight points in the fourth, compared to 18 in Game 1).

Karl also had a laugh when asked if he taught Billups the inbounds pass-off-the-opponent's-back play, which Billups used to make a key layup at the end of the second quarter.

"I think someone on the playground taught him that one, I didn't teach him that one," said Karl, a former player. "I actually did it in high school one time, but I failed. I tried to hit it off his back, and it hit the head and bounced the wrong way."

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com

Sat. May 23 Created: May 23, 2009 8:55am ET

Game L.A. Lakers @ Denver

Official 1 Official 2 Official 3
D. Crawford J. Capers D. Stafford

damn, i can't wait for gametime. . . .

my son has 4 extra tix to game 4 on monday if anyone is interested let me know and i can give you his ph# i guess they are kinda nose bleeders but hey its nuggets in the wcf....i'll check back in a couple hours.i think he said they where about 70 bucks each

GO NUGGETS