Nuggets even series, head back to L.A. for Game 5

May 25, 11:34 PMDenver Nuggets ExaminerMike Wolf

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If these are your two favorite players
in the league, let's have a beer. AP

On a day when those who fought hardest were memorialized, the Denver Nuggets decided to give their fans a break.  No more nail-biting, whiskey-shooting, blood-pressure-medicating, late-night fretting fourth quarters.  At least not tonight.  Any late-game drinks were cracked open slowly -- sipped not slurped -- and enjoyed as the last few minutes of Denver's 120-101 series-tying Game 4 victory played out. 

No matter what happened throughout the first half (Kobe Bryant had 18 points so all was not completely well) this was yet another game where it seemed like the Nuggets.  Had.  Control.  A 7-point halftime lead stretched to 14 by the end of the third quarter.  The game seemed to be out of reach throughout the fourth quarter. 

That's exactly why Nuggets fans were worried.

Meanwhile, Altitude's broadcast on Mile High Sports Radio's AM 1510 (who else is going to miss Jerry Schemmel when he leaves the Nuggets next year?) uncovered another instance in which Chauncey Billups' playoff experience trumped everything else for the Nuggets. 

According to courtside reporter Jason Kosmicki, during a fourth-quarter timeout, Nuggets coach George Karl began instructing his squad to double-team the Lakers' bigs in the paint.  During the huddle, Karl received some slight resistance, as Chauncey quickly pointed out that with the Nuggets holding a double-digit lead, defending the three-ball was suddenly much too important to risk giving the Lakers open shots as a result of double-teaming inside. 

Karl reconsidered, the Nuggets reverted back to single coverage, and a recount of the Coach of the Year voting turned up a ballot with Chauncey Billups' name in the number one spot.  It wasn't me, either.

As the Nuggets prepare for goin' back to Cali, they do so as a completely different team.  Coming into Game 3, all the talk was centered (rightfully so) on Carmelo, Billups and Denver's homecourt crazies.  Now they've shown how they can be a well-rounded, deep team capable of beating Los Angeles in multiple ways.

Here's a breakdown of how spread-out the production was in Game 4:

• Kenyon Martin scored 13 points along with 15 rebounds.
• Nene had 14 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists.
• Dahntay Jones scored 12 points including 6-6 from the line.
• J.R. Smith broke out with 24 points including 4 threes and 2 steals.
• Chris Andersen scored 6 points, collected 14 rebounds and blocked 2 shots.  ESPN featured the Birdman at halftime, as well.  Goosebumps the size of the Flatirons rose up along Nuggets fans' flesh.
• Linas Kleiza had another solid game in this series, springing for 10 points on 3-5 shooting.

Can the Nuggets finally combine the efforts of a superstar duo with a ready and willing supporting cast?  I hate to throw-back completely to the Batman televison series (filmed in a suspicious Los Angeles-area dome), but the support in those classic episodes often came in the form of colorful villians.

But I have a feeling that Nuggets fans have had enough of Sasha the Joker, Gasol the Riddler, Phil Two-Face Jackson, Trevor Mr. A-Freeze-ya, and Kobe "Catwoman" Bryant.  Seriously -- he whines to the refs like a lost cat in a dark alley.  After the games, Kobe moans how he's tired of licking his wounds.  (The refs are The Penguin's of this series: Dressed in black and white, too short, and too dumb to know when they've gone too far.)

"I'm tired so I blah blah blah; it's not as easy duh duh duh duh duh," rambled Kobe after the game.  Bryant finished with 34 points but needed 26 shots to get there.  He tied J.R. Smith's performance in Game 3 for "Most Desperate Attempt to Win a Game By Chucking."  He -- just like J.R. in Game 3 -- was 2-10 from behind the arc.

This was another night where Denver looked, played, and defended like the better team.  Coach Karl seemed to know it, too.  

"You're the better team, it's time to show why," said Karl in a fourth-quarter huddle.

Whether or not they're the better team doesn't matter at this point -- the Lakers franchise has shown the ability to win playoff series' no matter who's "better."  In most great playoff series' over the years, games 1-4 are mere footnotes to chapters 5, 6 and 7.

The footnote for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals?  Nuggets blow out Lakers at home.