Lakers crush Nuggets' Finals hopes, take series in 6

May 30, 1:57 AMDenver Nuggets ExaminerMike Wolf

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Wait, did I just see a suspicious guy in a "Members Only" jacket walk into the bathroom?  It didn't have to end like this, did it?  In front of 20,000 of their own fans, the Denver Nuggets' title hopes flamed out at the hands of the scorching Los Angeles Lakers (57 percent shooting, 56 percent from downtown, 100 percent from the line!), who won Game 6 and the series, 119-92.  

I would have rather watched the television screen suddenly go black in the fourth quarter -- like in "The Sopranos" series finale -- instead of sitting there wondering how many Nuggets threes it would take to come back from 16 down with 5 minutes left (counting possible Laker baskets, 6 and some free-throws, I thought). But there weren't enough Big Shots to go around, and the crowd was a little too Melo.

The toughest loss I ever experienced as a basketball player was in the state semifinals the year after winning the state championship.  I didn't touch a basketball for months afterward, and still have nightmares about the game.  I would ask myself 'Why didn't I punch the other team's best player in the mouth in the fourth quarter?  Why didn't I get the ball to our best player more often?'  I still remember walking off the court dazed, never to play competitive basketball again, wondering what our coach would say about the game.

But you don't dissect losses like that.  And after the worst loss in Nuggets franchise history (the '85 team had no shot at winning the series or title once Alex English broke his thumb) by a team that had a legitimate shot to win it all, with the best basketball player to ever come out of Colorado running the show, I don't want to dissect this one.

I can't help but mention one thing, though: Once I noticed that the Nuggets had five assists as a team midway through the third quarter, I knew they would never come back.  This was the stat that shaped the entire season.  Fittingly so, after Pistons GM Joe Dumars' phone-call assist in November that sent Billups to Denver and saved the next three seasons.  If the Nuggets passed well and got multiple teammates involved, they won.  When they didn't, they lost.  It was really that simple during the whole season. 

Basketball is the ultimate team game with a little martial arts thrown in.  There's a discipline to the sport and you can't cheat it (How's that, Zen-meister?).  I think the Lakers learned that in the last six games. 

But not like this.  It couldn't have ended like this.  This was the season... 

The "Smooth" kid from Skyland who became a man (and champion and Finals MVP) in Detroit, came home to a team that never appreciated him when he was here, and didn't realize how much it needed him while he was gone. 

Carmelo Anthony went from "sorta-star with TV commercials and a checkered past" to "the toughest guy to guard in the entire league."

Chris Andersen soared, resurrecting his life, career and crazy fans at Nuggets home games.

Kenyon Martin won an entire playoff series by hip-checking Dirk Nowitzki into the second row.

Dahntay Jones, a player sought out on a Kerouacian journey by Mark Warkentien last summer, finally put some bite into the Nuggets bark.

Nene showed he can play like an All-Star after beating cancer, and also dunk on ANYONE in the entire league.

Renaldo Balkman gave us something to criticize George Karl about during the NBA-doldrums of late-December.

J.R. Smith set a record for "most times a Nuggets fan has thrown their television remote at the wall after an ill-advised three only to let out a Marv Albert 'YES!' as it swishes through the hoop."

Wait, is that Journey on the jukebox?

Hold on to that feeling,
Don't stop --