| 10 May 2009
(Denver-CO) Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Fortunately for the Denver Nuggets, they’re both! After playing a terrible game riddled with over 30 fouls and less than 20 assists, Carmelo Anthony hit his first postseason game-winning shot (and perhaps the biggest three-point basket in Denver Nuggets’ franchise history) to gift the Nuggets a, 106-105, victory over the Mavericks after a no-call on an intentional foul by Antoine Wright with under five seconds remaining in regulation. Denver now holds a 3-0 lead in the series and will go for the sweep in Dallas on Monday night.
There’s really no sense in detailing how this game arrived at the fourth quarter because it would read a little something like this: Both team’s struggled shooting the ball. Both teams fouled a lot. In fact, there were 89 free-throws shot in this game combined (40 by Denver and 49 by Dallas) by way of 61 personal fouls (34 committed by Denver and 27 committed by Dallas).
With that being said, here are a just few of the gruesome details from the first three quarters of play.
In the first quarter, Denver missed 15 of their first 17 shot attempts on their way to finishing 6-24 in the quarter. Fortunately for Denver Dallas wasn’t much better. The Mavericks were 8-22 from the field in the first twelve minutes of this game and both teams handed out a dismal three assists. Carmelo Anthony was a frigid 2-10 shooting, but made all six of his free-throw attempts to keep the Nuggets tied going into the second quarter, 20 all.
The second quarter had a little bit more offensive pizzazz, but seven fouls by the Nuggets and nine by the Mavericks slowed the game down to a grind. Denver shot 14 free-throws in the second quarter alone, making nine attempts, and the Mavericks shot eleven, also making nine, as both teams continued to struggle shooting the ball from the field. The Mavericks connected on just 7-19 field goals in the second quarter and finished the half with only one player, Dirk with 21, in double figures offensively. And this time around the Nuggets weren’t much better. Carmelo Anthony was the only Denver player to head into halftime with double figure points, 19, as the Nuggets were 9-21 from the field in the second quarter and a chilly 33% shooting overall. But yet somehow after playing terribly the Nuggets were leading by three, 48-45, at the break despite having only eight assists as a team.
Then things started to get really sloppy for the Nuggets. Denver committed 15 fouls in the third quarter of which the Mavericks shot 21 free-throws off of. Dallas made 19 of those 21 attempts and with a buzzer-beating jumper by Jason Kidd took the lead headed into the fourth quarter, 80-79. However, all the fouling that took place really overshadowed an otherwise amazing one-man performance by Chauncey Billups. Mr. Big Shot took over offensively for the Nuggets by scoring 16 of Denver’s 31 points in the quarter as a foul-happy Denver was outscored 35-31 in the third.
With the stage set for what was surely going to be a tooth and nail battle for game three I was actually happy the Nuggets were in such a tight predicament. Up to this point, the only game of this postseason that the Nuggets haven’t been thoroughly in control of was game three against New Orleans and in that game Denver came up two points short of taking the win. However, in Dallas, there were more contingencies to factor in. For one, Denver had serious foul trouble to contend with entering the fourth quarter. Chris Andersen had five fouls and Nene and Chauncey each had four. From there you can take your pick of obstacles to overcome. The Nuggets were still shooting under 40% from the field (24-62 shooting), had only handed out ten assists, and the Denver bench was being outscored 22-11 by the Dallas reserve trio of Jason Terry, Brandon Bass, and Ryan Hollins.
But still, with their backs against the wall, Denver fought valiantly.
There were three ties and four lead changes in the fourth quarter, but what happened in the final 60 seconds of game three is what legends are made of in the Mile High City. Down by three, 102-99, Nene was able to cut the Dallas lead to one with a nifty up and under move with :44 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Jason Terry connected on a gigantic three to give the Mavericks a four-point lead with :31 to play in regulation. The Nuggets called timeout and out of the huddle Carmelo took the ball straight to the rim for a two-handed flush with little to no resistance from the Dallas defense. This really puzzled me for a couple of reasons. First, and foremost, the Dallas’ lead had been halved in just three seconds. As a coach, Carlisle should have told his players to keep the rim safe at all costs in attempt to make Denver make a mid to long range jump shot, or at least make free-throws, on such a critical possession. I’ll give Carlisle credit as a coach at the highest level of basketball and assume he did mention that to his team coming out of the Denver timeout. However, that leaves the onus of the boneheaded defense squarely on the five Mavericks on the floor. Why Dirk and Co. parted like the Red Sea allowing Carmelo Anthony to score a dunk in just three seconds is beyond my understanding.
While still puzzled by this even as I author this recap, I digress. Denver played scrambling defense on Dallas’ next possession and Dirk, once again, choked when his team needed their most crucial basket. Nowitzki missed a 13-footer with :07 in regulation and Chauncey Billups corralled the defensive rebound. Denver called timeout, moved the ball up to half court, and had :06 seconds to work with on their final possession. The Mavericks still had a foul to give and once again I’ll give Dallas Head Coach Rick Carlisle the benefit of the doubt when I assume he told his team to use that foul to burn a second or two of the remaining six Denver had to work with.
However, and with that being said, Coach Carlisle must not have said to make the foul obvious because Antoine Wright proceeded to try and swat the ball from Carmelo’s hands after the inbounds in about as weak of an intentional foul as I have ever seen. It was borderline as to if Wright was trying to just play pesky defense in an attempt to make ’Melo’s last second attempt as difficult as possible or if he was really trying to take the intentional foul. Nevertheless, referee Mark Wunderlich was right on top of the play and didn’t see the play by Wright as an attempt to use his team’s last foul to give. Carmelo quickly sidestepped Wright after absorbing his pansy attempt to foul and let fly a picture perfect three that hit nothing but net! The simultaneous thud of over 20,000 jaws hitting the floor of the American Airlines Arena was deafening and as Mark Cuban put his hands over his head in disbelief the Nuggets rejoiced with the lead, 106-105, in the Dallas timeout with just one second remaining. Dirk’s 30-foot heave coming out of Dallas’ final timeout didn’t even draw rim and the Nuggets ran off the floor like they had just robbed a bank.
And if it’s any consolation for Cuban and the Mavericks, about two hours after the game the NBA league office announced that Antoine Wright did actually commit a foul. In a brief statement, NBA president Joel Litvin said, "At the end of the Dallas-Denver game this evening, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony's 3-point basket."
It’s only too bad Joel Litvin and the league offices’ opinion isn’t the one that matters. Mark Wunderlich’s opinion is the only opinion that matters and he didn’t see it that way. The call wasn’t made, Wright’s foul wasn’t intentional enough, and in my opinion, the Mavericks, who will blame everyone and the camera man Cuban shoved after the game, have no one to blame but themselves. There is numerous ways to make sure that foul gets called, but yet the Mavericks did none of them to make sure it was. For starters, you go right up to the referee and tell them you are going to foul the first player who touches to ball immediately. This way the referee knows it’s coming and is primed to blow the whistle the very instant contact is made. From there you can take your pick of the infinite ways Antoine Wright could have made sure the most important foul of the game was called. He could have wrapped up ‘Melo’s arms before he could have even got the ball into a shooting position or pushed ‘Melo out of bounds as soon as he received the inbounds. Somebody else could have fouled away from the ball as soon as the ball was inbounded too, but Dallas didn’t do any of these possible scenarios and Antoine Wright tried to gamble and play the ball and crapped out. But what’s even more puzzling about Wright’s decision to “not” foul was how he put his hands up in the air to signify that he hadn’t fouled as Carmelo let the game-winner fly. My question is did you or did you not commit the foul, Mr. Wright? And if you did, why did you put your hands up in this manner?
Whatever the answers are to the numerous questions swirling around game three’s electrifying finish the bottom line is Denver won the game. A game, that in all reality, they shouldn’t have.
The Nuggets played about as poorly as they have all postseason long and STILL found the wherewithal to beat the Mavericks on their home floor. Denver weathered a 33-point 16 rebound outing by Dirk Nowitzki, overcame being outscored in bench production 35-18, were out rebounded 46-41, conceded 49 free-throws to Dallas of which the Mavs made 40 of, and only handed out 15 assists. But yet still with all the signs that would point to a Denver loss, the Nuggets won this game behind some downright gritty performances.
Chauncey Billups scoring 23 of his team-high 32 points in the second half was monumental. Mr. Big Shot made pivotal shot after pivotal shot to keep the Nuggets within reach in the second half as ‘Melo cooled off and no one else surfaced for Denver offensively. Furthermore, and as the Denver defense went soft and foul crazy in the third quarter, it was Chauncey’s 16 points that kept Denver alive as Dallas was building momentum heading into the fourth quarter.
This was also Carmelo Anthony’s best game in his otherwise lackluster playoff career. ‘Melo scored 19 of his 31 points in the first half, but never failed to keep a pulse on this game down the stretch. He did exactly what he was supposed to do by taking the ball right to the rack with under :30 to play in regulation with the Nuggets down by four and his game-winning three added the next chapter in the Mile High City's book of sports legend. Carmelo finished with the aforementioned 31 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block in a game-high 42 minutes of burn.
The Nuggets are now 7-0 against Dallas this year and also are the only team since early February to beat Dallas on their home floor (twice). Denver now leads this series 3-0 and improves to 7-1 thus far in the postseason. Get your brooms out...
Go Nuggets! 
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