OFFICIAL Playoff CRASHCAST - 5/19/09 - Lakers vs. Nuggets GAME 1

[Coop-A-Loop]

Originally Posted by picc84

Any word in JR Smith?

Nuggets Waste Golden Opportunity By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- J.R. Smith says the knee that he tweaked in Tuesday night's frantic Game 1 finish is merely bruised and won't stop him from playing in Thursday night's Game 2.

That's the silver lining for the team that just squandered a golden opportunity.

Apart from Smith's insistence that he's fine -- and maybe the fact that Kobe Bryant is now just two technical fouls away from a one-game suspension -- there is lots for the Denver Nuggets to lament after they started the Western Conference finals with a 105-103 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

"The next 48 hours," Nuggets coach George Karl conceded, "are going to be difficult."

That's because the visitors wasted Carmelo Anthony's 39 points and clanked 12 free throws, which pretty much nullified the fact that the Nuggets were sent to the line 11 more times than the hosts. The game was physical and close -- pretty much everything Denver could have wished for after nearly a week off since dismissing Dallas in Round 2 -- but the ending couldn't have been much more painful.

This one will sting even if Smith has indeed survived the hard crash he took in the scramble after he intentionally missed a free throw in the game's final sequence, since Denver came close to breaking through against the mighty Lakers after losing the teams' past 10 playoff meetings.

The Nuggets aren't the first team to let Bryant rumble for 18 points in the fourth quarter, but they also had to live with the sight of Trevor Ariza picking off Anthony Carter's looping inbounds pass to Chauncey Billups in the final minute and L.A. running the clock down to 10 seconds before Bryant was fouled with the Lakers only up two.

So ...

In spite of Anthony busting out against a team that held him in check in four regular-season meetings, Denver is behind in a series for the first time this postseason. Bryant scored 12 of his 40 points in the final 5:57 to erase the Nuggets' 93-87 lead and leave them tantalizingly close to clinching the Hollywood split of their dreams on the first try.

"We missed out on a great opportunity to steal this game," Billups said. "We played probably good enough.

"... I watched this team play against the Lakers last year [when Denver got swept in the first round]. I don't think they had one game this competitive. We pretty much controlled the game, most of the game, [but] that's why it's disappointing that we sit here and we lose this game."

[big baller]

Great game last night, I really did think we might lose, but Trevor Ariza saved us!!

[picc84]

Thanks, Coop.

I really liked the decision to stick either Kobe or Trevor on Billups. For the most part throughout the game, he was pretty much neutralized by their height and length.

Shannon played some good D on him as well, staying in front of him on every drive.

Sasha didnt do much offensively but shadowed Smith pretty well.

[lakerfreak]

Originally Posted by big baller

Great game last night, I really did think we might lose, but Trevor Ariza saved us!!

lol Kobe saved us. Trevor put the icing on the cake and swept after the game.

[djwhizard]

Originally Posted by big baller

Great game last night, I really did think we might lose, but Trevor Ariza saved us!!

As I was saying last nite to anyone who would listen, that is why you put Trevor in at the end of games and not Luke!!! There was a stretch there where Phil was closing games out with Luke, and it was killing me. haha.

[laker4life310]

Great to win game 1 guys!

Kobe was aggressive, came out with great effort on both endds of the court, practically kept us in the game throughout and carried the guys during the last 5 minutes of the game.

Ariza made a crucial steal on the inbound pass to seal the deal, and made the wide open 3 to stay close and not let Denver go on a momentum run.

Gasol showed up aggressive in the 4th as he was playing passive and soft during the other 3 quarters, rebounding, boxing out and playing great on closing on Billups on the pick and rolls in the 4th.

Fish converted 2 important wide open 3's on Kobes passes, played within the game and did not try to do too much. Watching Fish play against Billups yesterday during the 1st quarter, he can't stop Billups because Fish definitely lost his step and speed even though Billups is not a lightning quick guard.

Brown, Farmar and also Powell contributed well off the bench with their minutes on the floor.

Odom and Bynum were pretty much no shows and I don't want to mention Walton and Sasha, enough said.

We played horrible but Kobe put the whole team on his back yesterday, W is a W.

On to game 2 we go!!!!