Game 4 Preview: Nuggets vs. Lakers
by Nate Timmons on May 25, 2009 12:04 PM MDT
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Series: Lakers 2 - Nuggets 1
Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. MOUNTAIN
The Lakers snapped the Nuggets' 6 game (16 including the regualar season) home win streak with their Game 3 win. Tonight Los Angeles has a chance to put a strangle-hold on the series with a win and the Nuggets have a chance to get right back in this series with a win of their own.
Watching post game interviews on NBA.com it seems the Nuggets think they just need to be more aggressive tonight in Game 4 and get Nene going early. Nene started off Game 3 hot going 4-5 from the field for 9 points, but as tends to happen ... Nene's offense disappeared. After Nene's monster dunk to give Denver a 32-26 lead early in the second quarter, he only mustered 4 points for the rest of the game to finish with 13 points.
The same story happened with Melo. Anthony had a great first quarter scoring 14 points on a variety of shots. It seemed like a no-brainer that Melo was to reach 30+ points for the 6th straight time, but foul trouble and just flat not having the ball in his hands cooled him off. Melo only took 13 shots (shots where he was fouled not included) from the field, making only 4 of them, and it was his third lowest mark of the playoffs. The difference is that Denver was 2-0 with Melo taking 15 shots or less before Game 3 in the playoffs ... that mark is now 2-1. I expect Melo to come out fired up tonight as he left the court with a rather melancholy look on his face.
I've never been one who has believed that #15 plays better when he's mad, and I hope that he has his emotions in check tonight. Speaking of emotions ...
The Nuggets must keep themselves composed tonight. Anthony Carter and J.R. Smith each lost their cool and picked up technical fouls because pesky Sasha Vujacic got under their skin. The Machine as he's known or likes to call himself is a great agitator and the Nuggets just need to keep their cool. On both of those techs the Nuggets had just made a three-pointer ... so instead of gaining 6 points, the Nuggets only gained 4 with the two made tech free throws. In close games ... obviously every point is HUGE.
Officiating has been very questionable throughout the series on both sides. I watched every big call or no-call today thanks to my new DVR and while I questioned a lot of calls or no-calls I think, as usual, that both teams can make plenty of gripes. More importantly, calls have not decided these games. I refuse to buy into any conspiracy theory arguments. And I think as I saw pointed out in the comments section ... it wasn't the officials who made Denver miss 22 three-pointers.
There are two ways to get three-pointers in this game.
- Shoot the ball from beyond the arc.
- And-1 opportunities.
The Nuggets are at their best when they are using the latter to set up their offense. Every player in Powder Blue and White has the ability to get to the rack and the Lakers have shown they can be attacked at the rim. Denver must, must, must, must, must, must, must, must, must, must continue to attack the Lakers in the paint. If they do then they'll have their best opportunity to win tonight and they will once again win the free-throw battle as the Lakers were +14 from the chairty stripe.
L.A. got to the line a lot in Game 3 and they missed a lot. The Lakers shot 68.9% from the foul line (31-45) and I think a lot of their misses (8-16 in the first quarter) were due to the frantic balloon waving that was going on behind the basket. Those balloons were crazy in the first quarter behind the Lakers' basket and I hope that continues tonight.
As the first three games have been ... tonight's contest should again be close and execution late will probably be the difference. Los Angeles is up 2-1 because they have out-executed Denver in the fourth quarter twice. The one game where Denver did everything right late ... they won.
It's a rainy, cloudy, and unusually chilly day here in Denver. The Nuggets may not be able to change the weather, but they surely can brighten things up around here with a win tonight.
Pregame Notes:
- In the 2nd Quarter Denver was 0-8 from three-point land in Game 3
- Melo made a beautiful steal on a Lakers 3-on-1 fastbreak by committing to Trevor Ariza and Ariza not getting rid the ball fast enough to Pau Gasol (who was calling for an alley-oop) ... it was Melo's 7th multiple steal game of the playoffs
- Denver's bench outscored the Lakers in the first half 17-9 ... for the Game Denver's bench outscored L.A. 29-15
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18.5% from 3.
That cannot happen in ANY game for Denver or they are going to lose.
Chauncey and JR BOTH having atrocious shooting nights is going to doom us, foul trouble or not. If the Lakers hit their FTs and Chris Andersen doesn’t give us 15 points off the bench, the Lakers blow us out by 20+.
Chauncey:
- Drive the paint more
- (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Make better ball decisions
JR:
- Drive the paint more (hmm, deja vu)
- Stop with the overdribbling, Vujacic and Kobe are far too good on the ball defenders to fall for your behind the back tricks
Melo:
- Watch the early foul trouble, we need you all game, not just in the first
- Keep playing at the same high level you have been
Nene:
- RUN! The monster jam was because you ran on the break and Farmar was the only one back, you can do that on pretty much every Laker except Odom, Bynum and Gasol who are all slower.
- FINISH. I’m so goddamn sick of your little dropsy layups. You’re 5 inches taller than me and 70 pounds heavier. Spins and bankshots look pretty but they aren’t your game! DUNK THE BALL!
Andersen:
- Use your forearms, dude. I don’t know how you learned to guard the post with your hands, but that shit doesn’t work on a dude your size. Hand in the back means no hands to block shots with.
- Crash the offensive boards. We NEED second chance points against L.A., especially if our shooting continues to slump.
A.C.:
- Please, just spell Chauncey for a few minutes and don’t turn the ball over. You’ve been doing a much better job of not doing that lately but it’s painful to see carelessly thrown passes by our backup PG.
- STOP GOING FOR THE POST STEAL! Or steals when the defender has a line to the paint. You are a much better defender when you aren’t constantly gambling, particularly on players who are bigger than you.
Kenyon:
- For being the Nuggets most physical defender you certainly looked lost out there this game. Tip: Hack the shit out of Gasol if he gets close to the basket and keep a forearm in his upper back on the perimeter. He has a high center of gravity and if you keep it off balance he’s far less likely to be able to penetrate with a dribble drive, and he doesn’t have Dirk’s fadeaway.
- Keep it tough. If it means winning tonight, I don’t care if you get another technical or flagrant. We need this game.
Dahntay:
- Please, for the love of god, don’t shoot unless you can DUNK. You have probably the ugliest jumper I’ve ever seen and you don’t do us any favors when your easy layups around the rim barely draw iron.
- Keep up the good work on Kobe. You’re a much better defender when you can play the lanes, but you can’t be so physical with him on the perimeter. Guy will get the superstar calls so in the post wait for help from the weakside.
Kleiza:
- Well, thanks for once again proving that game 2 was a complete aberration. If you aren’t going to defend or knock your open shots down, just sit. We’d rather have Balkman out there anyway.
- Since I know you’ll be playing anyway thanks to Karl’s boner for you, stay on the offensive glass. This is where you will hurt the Lakers more than anything else and where you did a lot of damage in game 2.
All that said…Denver stayed in it, once again, for 45 of the 48 minutes. They have to understand that execution, defense, ballhandling…you have to do it for 48 1/2 minutes against this Laker team. That extra half minute is because you know Kobe is going to pull some bullshit and you have to give an extra 30 seconds of gametime effort because of it.
Make no mistake, Denver can and SHOULD win tonight. Nuggets by 5. Go Nuggets!
One more thing:
Get some freaking inbound plays that work.
"C" is for Championship...that's good enough for meeeee!!!
by PosterNutbag on May 25, 2009 1:25 PM MDT up reply actions
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