Such a waste of a really strong defensive effort. When the Lakers ramped up their defensive intensity in the second half the Nuggets looked absolutely atrocious on offense.

Artest was probably the non stiff of the game. He played some of the best defense ive seen on melo. For his offense i wouldnt give him credit id give the nuggets defense. Every shot he took, which i felt like were all threes, were absolutly wide open.

Honestly does any other star player foul out in such a big game on a BS call like that? I’m all for less referee interference in the NBA, but only if the calls are even. Don’t call a foul on one end that you don’t call on the other.

Is there any doubt that Melo is ejected from this game if he acts out half as bad as Kobe did throughout the game? Can anybody else besides LeBron throw fits at the refs like that on every call and get away with it?

One last thing, I’m not positive on the NBA rulebook, but on that possession at the end of the game when the Nuggs were down by 4 and Kobe shoots and misses the jumper; since Gasol tapped the rebound into the backcourt without the ball being touched by a Nugget player – shouldn’t that have been a backcourt violation? I would think so, but who knows with the NBA. I like the Nuggets chances down by 4 with the ball and about 30 seconds left.

Man the moment Lawson came into the game, the Lakers looked lost and he just kept driving in on them and either drawing fouls or kicking it out to the right players. The Lakers don’t have an answer for him. So I would not read too much into this loss (except we probably won’t get 1st seed in the West). Also everyone around Lawson seems to feed on his energy and play better. Not saying Lawson is good against other teams, but against the Lakers & Jazz he is ballin!
The fact that we coughed up an 8 point lead and came back and got a lead says a lot . I only wish Chauncey got a little more rest in the 2nd quarter and early part of the 4th quarter so he could have been more focused and less turnover prone. Of course that would have been made easier had Lawson not injured his shoulder.

To me, Melo seems like he’s more concerned about joking and playing around than playing focused basketball…

It reminds me of WCF series last year, where in Game 1 and 2 he was absolute monster, then in Game 6 he disappeared.

I can understand trying and missing shots, but I can’t understand the lack of seriousness in playing in a game of this magnitude. What’s he laughing and smiling when he’s struggling and NOT TRYING to shake himself out of that struggle? He’s not trying to solve the Lakers’ defense but he was repeatedly trying to solve it with one answer that failed and failed again: penetrate through crowded Lakers defense. That’s like someone trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, which is the true meaning of “madness”.

Some of you may say it’s his style, it’s his trademark, it’s Melo smiling but he’s frustrated. Can you question Melo’s seriousness and focus towards this game? I can.

If Melo shows up like this in the playoffs again, forget about the title. On some nights (like this one), he seems to be more interested in something else other than winning a ball game.

He was crying and bitching at the refs non stop the whole game. If melo would have done that he would have been ejected really quick. Just like Kobe never fouls out of a game. How does a superstar like melo foul out in a game like this one. That is complete BS

Should be circled on your calendar. Cancel all your plans, birthdays, meetings, works, schools, weddings… lol… it’s our HEALTHY squad vs these Fakers.

Then, it will be a statement game.

I would also bet Ty winning in a 1-on-2 ball game vs Derek Fisher and Farmar himself.

I thought Chauncey’s decision making in the second half was not so great. Too many empty trips down the floor (he left his feet with no plan a few times). Maybe he was pushing a little harder knowing that Ty was not going to play. Overall a good effort, but champions play better than good when they need to.

Good:
-Nuggs played great in first half, poorly in second half, and still almost won the game
-Lakers needed a huge game from Odom, and he’s hit or miss
-Nuggs controlled Bynum and Gasol for most of the game
-Nuggs made Kobe work for his shots

Bad:
shot selection and turnovers were killer in second half
-too much one on one, only 15 assists
-bad games from JR, Bird and Kmart (all – in +/)
-shoddy reffing as usual, Melo got held all game by Artest, Kobe gets away with blasting the refs

rather, it was frustrating to watch a great TEAM devolve into bad isos and quick chucking. the offense was not even poor in the second half: it barely existed. and that WAS a terrible call to give melo a sixth foul, but the reason why melo gets in these situations in the first place is because hes a lazy defender. he doesnt even try to anticipate or move his body; hes so often late to the party and tries to compensate for it be reaching and… fouling. it happens over and over again and it will continue to happen this way because he doesnt want to play defense. that being said: the teams are theoretically more equal than most people realize i think.

He played really hard on defense, did a nice job going up and getting defensive rebounds, and he did not commit a turnover. Most of his 3 point attempts were decent looks (you should negate the half-court heave at the end of the first when you quote his stats), although I prefer him taking 3s on a catch and shoot rather than a pull up off the dribble. I mean, he even backed up his twitter statement by teaming up with AAA to make Kobe look like a very mediocre player. In fact, I would have preferred if the Nuggets tried to generate more offense with JR running pick and rolls from the top. Getting him to penetrate into the lane or throw his patented slip bounce pass to the roll-man (like he did to K-Mart for that pretty lefty lay-in) would have been more effective than watching Melo refuse to pass out of the double team, take tough jumpers, or simply turn the ball over by dribbling in traffic.

Also, people need to stop blaming Stern, the refs and the league with conspiracy theories, you are making everyone on this blog seem completely retarded.

No doubt these are the two best teams in the West and this game was basically a playoff game. I still have no idea why the Lakers dont respect you guys because ya’ll have earned it this year by killing pretty much every elite team. It just seemed like they didnt even wake up until after halftime which is strange to see. It was also interesting to watch how both teams performed when both of our superstars were getting locked up. Anways, cant wait till April 8th and more so, the end of May!

I thought you could put a forearm in the back on the post but what is with the forearm to the stomach on the preimeter? Artest did that all day long against ’Melo w/o getting a single whistle against him.

The last call was bogus, but I don’t think Kobe got the benefit of the doubt too much either.

Denver had plenty of good shots in the third quarter that they didn’t complete and Billups and Melo gave the ball away too many times. . .they lost the game on turnovers more than anything else.

We can’t blame the refs for this game. We survived in the first @LA game without Melo, so why couldn’t we have turned it up for the last 150 seconds? It is common knowledge for unequality of free throws attempts to somehow balance themselves out between the two teams (or at least close) by games’ end. Very impressive first half, but I knew the Laker tide would take its toll on the Nuggs.

Upside: Ty is becoming the solid and dependable Chauncey replacement. Something that we didn’t have last year. Afflalo is gaining momentum against Kobe, who is strangely making his team more like the whining Spurs (Artest is falling into place, acting like Manu with the flops).

Downside: AC is continuing his woeful ways versus LA. I swear that his oncourt inability to point the team early in the 4th was the tipping point of the game. Nene’s second half disappearance, as in 2 points after scoring 12 in the first. And we all thought Smitty was inconsistent… I love Nene’s personality and story, but when is the toughness, Kevin Garnett-like intensity and domination be consistent for 38 minutes? I doubt that we’ll ever see that. Either a player has it and knows it, or just doesn’t!

Here’s hoping that we can keep the 2nd seed from Dallas and Utah, so that we can have home court as long as possible, and meet up with the Lakers again in the WCF!

Boy, you must of watched a different second half then everybody else. The Lakers, when pressured like that turn on the defense and stifle the opposition. That is what makes them Champions. Read the AP story on the game and listen to the comments from your coach and players. They did not know how to react to the pressure. Call a spade a spade, the Lakers effort in the first half was the same as the last two or three games for them. COMPLACENT, no energy. They finally turned up the energy and toasted your team like they will, if and when them they meet in the Playoffs. Your comments are very one sided and make for difficult reading, be more honest with your writing. The Nuggets are an excellent team on an inconsistent basis. Billups is a great guard, who knows how to win. Melo is right there at the top, but needs to cut out the smiling gig when successful, reminds me of Paul Pierce. That smile eventually will bite you in the ass (more like a disrespectful smirk). A sign of immaturity. Being a Laker fan, I have one last thing to say. Barring injuries, the Lakers should win two more championships in a row. By that time, Billups will be asking for a cane. The Nuggets are the second best team in the Conference, to bad their timing was off, because the Lakers team as situated can be one of the best teams ever assembled in NBA History.

This game was a duplicate of last year in the playoffs. At first the nuggets are dominating, then the Lakers make adjustments and the nuggets aren’t able to respond. Three primary areas of concern:

1) The Lakers size. Simply unable to go one on one with their bigs, so even when they miss a shot, another 7 footer is there for the easy put back.
2) A.C. played.
3) Coaching. Last night was like watching a QB throw for 300 yards, but end the game with three interceptions. Karl was engaged early, giving good instructions, working hard. As noted in the review, the calling of the timeout was way too late. We all knew A.C. would have to play when Lawson went down, and I bet we were all thinking the same thing. Put A.C. in to get Billups a rest, then yank him as quickly as you can. Instead, A.C. stayed in long after Billups returned, and got 7 minutes overall. And finally, he rested melo inexplicably while running a lineup of A.C., J.R., Afflalo, Nene, and Birdman. How does that lineup ever get into a competitive game? Someone explain it to me please. Melo was sitting on the bench looking pissed. I was openly rooting for him to stand up and tell the coach “I’m going back in, NOW!” Comeon, Karl, you can do better.

This may be the worst set of post game comments ever on the Stiffs. The Laker trolls bring out the worst in us.

That’s what did it, folks. If the Nuggets make a few more free throws in the second half, or a couple of shots the first four minutes of the 3rd quarter, they win the game.

(The call on Melo was awful, but the Nuggets still probably (75%+ chance) lose if it’s not made. The way they were shooting in the 2nd half, they probably would have walked away with nothing anyway. And even if so, they’re down by a basket and the Lakers have the ball. You usually lose in that scenario.)

it wasn’t that they weren’t calling it fair but more that they were calling stuff that they weren’t calling in the first half. This includes Melo’s offensive foul and also the Fisher foul on Billups. However it wasn’t the refs that lost the game for us. We had the lead and let it go. If we had hit more of our free throws and actually had any sort of offense besides throwing up long jumpers or 3’s we could have pulled it out. Unfortunately we had too many turnovers, bad shots, and bad defense to be able win the game.

I really think this game was lost not when Melo fouled out but the first couple minutes of the third. If we come out there we win the game for sure. However, we let them back in the game and gave it to them when we got flustered with their amped up defensive intensity.

Nuggets site is great. They just deleted the questionable comments and did not issue warnings and actually let me post again. That is professional, unlike other sites. I appreciate that.

Thanks and good luck for the rest of the year Nuggets. Hope you guys can win it all. With guys like Melo, Chauncey, JR, Nene, & K-Mart there isn’t a better 5 that the NBA can put on the court in my opinion.

of times you got guys going down the court, the ball is going no where near the basket, yet they stand at the line for 2 FT.

That’s silly. People aren’t doing anything yet they get points out of it. Anybody can lower their shoulder while on offense and “bounce back” the second they come in contact with a defensive player and “act” to get a foul. Some people don’t like that.

The Nets made more FT on the road than FG and won. I like the Nets I want them to win, but cmon that is silly. The ball wasn’t really going in the basket.