(Denver-CO) Although the Nuggets lost game three in New Orleans, 95-93, I have a positive outlook going into game four. The Denver Nuggets could have very easily won this game had Sean Marks not had the presence of mind to deflect what would have been a sure dunk for Kenyon Martin to put Denver in the lead on Carmelo’s shuffle pass with four seconds in regulation. However, Marks saved the day, and extended this series, with his last second defensive stab to force Carmelo into a spinning jumper from twelve feet that ricocheted off back iron.

The silver lining in this shortfall is Denver played poorly overall and still had the opportunity to beat the Hornets on their own floor. The Nuggets never quit on this game and can take a moral victory out of the perseverance displayed when preparing for Monday’s game four.

Denver stormed out of the gate with a 10-0 start and stunned the patrons of the New Orleans Arena by only allowing four points in the first six minutes of the first quarter. Denver was scoring easy baskets with heady passing by Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups who alternated handing out assists on Denver’s first four field goals while the Denver defense held the Hornets to just 2-11 from the field. The combination of cold shooting and stingy Nuggets defense left New Orleans trailing, 22-6, with under four minutes remaining in the first. New Orleans did finally kick start their offense with a 7-0 run that defibrillated the fans at the Hive and the momentum swung NOLA’s way for the remainder of the first quarter. The Hornets outscored the Nuggets 15-4 in the final four minutes of the first with Denver only managing one field goal in this span to enter the second with a five-point, 26-21, advantage.

James Posey being substituted for David West was the instrumental chess move that brought the Hornets back to life after the Nuggets looked to be putting New Orleans in their coffin. To this point, West was a game worst -12 +/- in his seven minutes as a starter and it was Posey’s two free-throws that started the 7-0 run with the Nuggets ahead, 22-6. It was also Posey’s two three’s and Anthony Carter fouling him on another of which he cashed two out of three free-throws on that brought New Orleans back from down by as many as 16 to just three. Without his ten quick points in an even quicker four minutes off the bench in the first I’m not sure the Nuggets don’t take all the momentum they built early and proceed to blow this game wide open by halftime.

And here’s an interesting note on the Hornets in the first quarter: Only Posey, Paul, and Marks scored! Paul was 4-5, Posey 2-3, and Marks 1-2 shooting as the rest of the Hornets were a combined 0-14 shooting.

In the second quarter, New Orleans was able to pull the game even at 31 all before Chris Paul started to take over. Paul, who scored eight points and handed out three assists in the first, accounted for another eight points and four assists in the second as the Hornets won their first quarter of the series 29-21. And it was Paul’s passing that fueled Hornets, not his scoring. The Nuggets were unable to keep Paul out of the lane as effectively as they had been up to this point and with Paul getting David West and Rasual Butler going while keeping Sean Marks in the fold. The Hornets, who only had three players score in the first quarter, had twice that many in the box score at half and were up by three, 50-47.

The first half offensively for Denver was schizophrenic. After starting the game 4-5 from the field with four assists and finishing the first quarter shooting 58% (10-17) with seven assists the Nuggets broke down offensively in the second. Denver was just 7-22 from the field in the second quarter and stopped taking the ball to the rim. The Nuggets shot eleven free-throws in the first quarter by taking the ball to the rack and drawing fouls. Granted, they only made six out of eleven attempts, but the nine fouls they garnered had Byron Scott set for another personnel crunch. But, for some reason the Nuggets fell in love with the three after Linas Kleiza connected on a pair and J.R. Smith hit one in the second quarter and as a result abandoned dribble penetration. This change in offensive agenda only fruited three free-throw attempts by Denver in the second quarter and let the Hornets off the proverbial foul trouble hook. The entire front line of Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, James Posey, and David West each had two fouls after one quarter of play, but after the aforementioned change offensively, whether consciously or subconsciously, the Nuggets were unable to put that third foul on any of NOLA’s pivotal frontline pieces.

And for the first time this series, Denver didn’t have a clear stagecoach driver offensively. Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Linas Kleiza, and J.R. Smith each had eight points at the break.

In the third quarter we finally saw the Chris Paul that everyone expected to see before Chauncey Billups upstaged him in games one and two. Paul dominated the third period with 13 points, three assists, three rebounds, and was a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line. The result of his assertion in the third was NOLA opening up their largest lead of the series to this point, 56-47, which tested to resiliency of the Nuggets for the first time this postseason.

And in my assessment… Denver passed the test!

The Nuggets systematically chipped away at the New Orleans lead by getting back to basic, rim-attacking offense and actually regained the lead, 64-63, not but five minutes after falling behind by nine on Chauncey Billups’ second three of the quarter.

But here is where an alarming trend started to reveal itself. The Nuggets had been unable to finish quarters in their first game away from Pepsi Center. Denver was outscored 11-4 in the final three minutes of the first, 8-1 in the final three minutes of the second, and 13-5 in the third to enter the fourth quarter down by five, 77-72.

In the fourth quarter, Denver’s resiliency to overcome decent sized deficits was yet again tested with similar and favorable results, but their closing ability was now also on trial. The Nuggets fell behind by as many as eleven with under three minutes to play in regulation before rallying on a 14-5 run that fell a deflection short of greatness. Sean Marks deflected what would have been a crippling dunk by Kenyon Martin with under five seconds to play which would have given the Nuggets the lead. Instead of that dunk, Carmelo had to regain possession of the basketball after Marks denied his shuffle pass to K-Mart and put a quick shot on rim that didn’t fall. James Posey corralled the rebound in a phalanx of bodies and was immediately fouled by Kenyon Martin. Posey made the first to two free-throws before a last second 50-foot heave by Carmelo Anthony clanged off the front of rim with the Nuggets on the wrong side of a, 95-93, score.

Even in defeat we saw a lot of good things from the Nuggets. They valiantly battled a hostile crowd and a desperate team in a very physical game where three flagrant fouls and three technical fouls were whistled. They were able to come back twice from sizable deficits and closed the fourth quarter strong when they could have allowed this game to slip away thinking ahead to Monday’s game four. In addition, we saw Denver weather a 32-point, 12 assist, and five rebound performance by Chris Paul without what I would consider a great outing by any one individual Nugget.

All of this gives me reason to believe that the Nuggets are still in control of this series. Furthermore, and without what I would consider a great individual outing, the Nuggets were right there with a chance to steal a playoff game on the road with some down right poor showings by a few of their most consistent performers. Nene was simply awful. He never established himself with favorable position in the blocks early in the contest and as the game went on he looked more and more out of rhythm. Big Brazil finished this game with the paltry stat line of two points, eight rebounds, and three steals in a disqualification due to fouls. Chris Andersen also played poorly. The Bird’s wings seemed clipped as he was a game-worst -20 +/- overall in his 15 ineffective minutes without blocking as single shot. It was the first game since Denver lost to the Lakers on April 9th that Andersen failed to block a shot and his three rebounds tied his lowest total boards since a mid March meeting with the Memphis Grizzlies when he snared just two rebounds.

My final nugget of interest from game three concerns Denver’s free-throw shooting. It’s no secret that the Nuggets were the NBA’s top free-throw shooting team, by volume, in the regular season. Denver’s conversion rate at the charity stripe during the regular season was 76% and has slipped in the postseason down to 72% through three games against the Hornets. In game three, the Nuggets missed eleven free-throws (24-35) while shooting just 68% combined from the line. Carmelo struggled the most individually shooting just 4-8 from the stripe while J.R. Smith and Nene each failed to attempt a free-throw.

So here’s what Denver should do with game three: Take the good, throw out the bad, and come out ready to take care of business on Monday night. The minutia of finishing quarters, sticking to an aggressive offensive attack, and making free-throws are what foiled the Nuggets and all of those can be fixed. It was by no means the effort put forth and that alone is a victory in my book not to mention the invaluable postseason lessons learned from losing a game that was right there for the taking.

Go Nuggets!

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