(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets may have lost a crucial game five, 103-94, but the war is far from over. The Lakers, now up 3-2 in the series, have to come back to the Mile High City to try and close out Denver in its first elimination game of the playoffs. In game five, Kobe Bryant was a decoy and the Nuggets had to battle a touch of home cooking from the referees, but Denver has no one to blame but themselves as the Nuggets crapped out in fourth quarter after playing L.A. square through the first 36 minutes.

The Nuggets jumped out to just the kind of start they needed in front of a star-studded Staples Center in the first quarter. Chauncey got things started with a three to break the ice and Carmelo found Kenyon Martin for two assists  as the Nuggets cracked open an early, 10-4, advantage in the first three minutes of the first quarter. However, Denver’s early lead was short lived as the Lakers counterpunched with a 10-1 run over the next four minutes and the quarter ended knotted at 25.

What I liked about the first twelve minutes of play was the Nuggets commitment to penetration on the offensive end because despite Denver shooting 9-22 from the field they were able to shoot eight free-throws in the first quarter. Granted, they only made five of those attempts, but it was apparent the Nuggets were the aggressors offensively and that translated well on the other end of the floor. Dahntay Jones did a great job denying Kobe the basketball and as a result the Mamba attempted only two shots in the first and scored just four points. The Nuggets also did a fantastic job on glass. Denver held the Lakers to just one shot and out on defense by allowing only two offensive rebounds and grabbed six on L.A. as they won the battle of the boards in first quarter 14-9. Offensively, Chauncey’s nine first quarter points, including hitting both of his three-point attempts, were a welcome sign after Mr. Big Shot’s outside shot has been erratic in the series.

With 13 ties in the first half, needless to say, the second quarter was tight. The largest lead in the quarter belonged to Denver, 54-49, with just a minute to play after Anthony Carter hit a huge three with the shot clock running out, but once again it was short lived. Sasha Vujacic capped off a 7-2 Laker spurt with a three-pointer from the corner with two seconds on the game clock to tie the game once again at 56 entering the half.

There were things I liked about the second quarter and a few that I thought were atrocities. For starters, the Nuggets have to start making their free-throws. Denver did a great job continuing to attack the basket and earned a total of 18 free-throws in the first half, but hitting on just 12 of those 18 attempts is just not getting it done. Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith, for as good of three-point assassins as they are, were a combined 1-4 from the charity stripe and Dahntay Jones splitting four attempts were a real stub of the toe for the Nuggets.  Another area of which is going to need some refining is closing out quarters. At the end of the second quarter, Denver clocked off the job after AC hit that three to put Denver up by five. The Nuggets conceded a bunny to Pau Gasol and Nene picked up his third personal foul of the game on a weak attempt to keep Gasol from getting the a ball to the rim. Thankfully, Pau missed the free-throw, but the chincey foul Big Brazil picked up would come back to haunt the Nuggets later in the game as Nene would foul out. Foul aside, Lamar Odom was able to scoop up the loose rebound on the missed free-throw and gathered up another offensive rebound after the Birdman denied him on a dunk to throw in a junior hook which cut the Denver lead to one, 54-53. Not being able to grab the defensive rebound after a free-throw is just the kind of mental lapse the Nuggets so desperately need to avoid to overcome a juggernaut like the Lakers, but time and time again (just like getting the ball inbounds) it seems like the Nuggets miss crossing the T’s and dotting their I’s. And speaking of getting the ball inbounds, the Nuggets lost their final possession of the half on yet another miscue inbounding the ball. J.R. Smith made the drastic mistake of throwing the ball towards his own basket with the shot clock off at the end of the half. His low, bullet pass to Linas (in J.R.’s defense it did hit LK in the hands) was not handled and the ball went out of bounds to the Lakers underneath Denver’s goal. That unforced turnover led to Kobe Bryant being able to suck all of Denver’s interior defense into the paint on his penetration and his kick out for Vujacic’s three from the corner tied the game at 56 and  let all the momentum swing back in L.A.’s favor.

I digress, but I do want to mention (rather, question) one more point about the first half. It blows me away how the Nuggets, who are aggressively trying to get looks at the rim, don’t have the patience to get their best low post option, Nene, involved more offensively. Big Brazil scored just four points in the first half on a tip and a pair of free-throws. It’s just counter intuitive to me as to why the Nuggets haven’t gone to him more and baffling to me is the lack of aggression Nene displayed up to this point after having seeing the results of his biggest outings in game four. But, giving credit where it’s due, Nene did have seven rebounds in the first half of game five, but the Nuggets have to find a way to incorporate him more on the other end of the floor and half of that onus lies on Nene.

The Nuggets led by as many as seven on separate occasions mid way in the third quarter, but missed both their opportunities to put a strangle hold on game five. Their second seven-point advantage came with 5:11 remaining in the third after Dahntay Jones tipped in a Carmelo Anthony miss to put Denver ahead, 73-66. From that precise juncture of the game things went completely to pieces for the Nuggets.

Shannon Brown brought an otherwise stunned Staples Center crowd back to life with four straight points that included a filthy slam on Birdman to bring L.A. back within three. It all started with Kobe being double-teamed and the Nuggets losing track of Brown cutting backdoor for an easy lay-up. After the nasty cram on Andersen, Carmelo was whistled for traveling and on the ensuing possession Lamar Odom tied the game at 73 with a three from the right wing.

With the Nuggets wincing, Chauncey Billups’ calming three to put Denver up, 76-73, was a welcome relief as it silenced the Staples Center momentarily. But, what transpired over the next 6:32 seconds is a basketball sin. Throw out Kobe Bryant hitting a three immediately to tie the game at 76 to end the third quarter and listen to the next nine shot attempts by the Denver Nuggets. Kenyon Martin misses a 20-foot jumper, J.R. Smith misses a 26-foot three point jumper, J.R. Smith misses a 28-foot three point jumper, J.R. Smith misses a 29-foot three point jumper, Kenyon Martin misses a driving lay-up, Kenyon Martin misses an 8-foot jumper, Chauncey Billups misses a 27-foot three point jumper, Carmelo Anthony misses a 25-foot three point jumper, and Carmelo Anthony misses an 11-foot two point jumper.

The Nuggets went scoreless over the final 2:24 of the third quarter and 4:08 of the fourth before Carmelo drained a pair of free-throws to stop the bleeding, but the damage had already been done. The hero shot never fell for Denver and L.A. scored twelve unanswered points during this stretch to take a nine-point lead and full control of game five. The closest Denver could get after that point was four, twice, but yet another 2:24 of scoreless Nuggets basketball enabled the Lakers to push their lead back to seven and with a few free-throws by Kobe and Derek Fisher the Nuggets were on the wrong end of a, 103-94, defeat.

Sure, there were a few whistles that should have been choked on that cost the Nuggets, but none of those calls decimated Denver like their shot selection covering that six and half minute scoreless span that allowed the Lakers to seize the sizeable lead they needed to outlast Denver.

There’s your game right there.

Everyone will jock Lamar Odom’s 19 points and 14 rebounds and talk about how Kobe was this oh-so great facilitator, but the Nuggets gave this game away. They were the aggressor offensively, the better rebounding team, and more sound defensively. However, all of that amounts to nothing more than a moral victory for a group of would have been heroes that haven’t learned their lesson on how games of this magnitude are won. Throughout this series the Nuggets have never been able to hit that one shot that takes them from a seven or eight point lead into double digits and it hasn’t been because they’ve been afraid to take them. Rather, the Nuggets have looked to that one golden shot and it’s been pyrite every time. Instead of sticking with the gritty defense and fundamental offense going at the rim which gets Denver into these nice leads they look to kill a team like the Lakers with one back-breaking shot that doesn’t exist.

Here’s the box score for those of you who want to know how things panned out individually, but the bottom line remains the Nuggets are too individualistic when the game is there for the taking. It’s now cost them in two out of their three losses in this series and may just be the ultimate demise of this team.

Now, the Nuggets face elimination on their home floor tomorrow night. I've said all season long that this team has reacted positively to pressure, but the fact still remains they will have to win the next two games to advance to their first Finals in franchise history.

If the NBA is truly where amazing happens... it needs to happen now for Denver.

Go Nuggets!

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