Deep Denver Depresses Defense

The Los Angeles Lakers underwent an ugly loss and gave up a season high in points last night against the Denver Nuggets. Chauncey Billups dropped a career high 39 points in Denver’s 126-113 victory at the Staples Center. The Friday stunner from the Nuggets occurred without the top scorer in the league, Carmelo Anthony. Billups buoyed the Nugget and more than made up for the absence of Melo with nine three pointers. The Nuggets bested LA for the second time this season and snapped their eight game home winning streak.
Denver delivered a demoralizing win by blowing the Lakers out of the Staples Center. Los Angeles was pitiful on defense and allowed the Nuggets to shoot 68% from the arc. The uncanny road performance from George Karl’s team puts Denver 3 ½ games behind LA in the standings. Anthony missed his seventh consecutive game because of a sprained ankle. The Nuggets need their scoring stud to compete in the Western conference. Friday proved they can still bring an effective effort to the hardwood. Billups manhandled LA with 21 points in the third quarter alone. Those buckets were enough to fall second to Wilt Chamberlain’s record 23 against LA in 1966. Billups also fell one three point shot shy of Peja Stojakovic’s 10 hits from downtown against the 2007 Lakers. LA’s MVP, Kobe Bryant, scored 33 points in the loss but it wasn’t enough to prevent six Nugget players from reaching double digits. Bryant was 8-of-11 in the first half, with 23 tallies. He hit the 15 point mark just seven minutes into the contest. The Nuggets trailed 64-59 at the break. Bryant slowed down after halftime, making three of ten shots and failing to record an assist. J.R. Smith propelled Denver with 27 points. Seven year veteran, Chris Andersen, grabbed 15 rebounds in the win, and reserve, Ty Lawson posted 13 points in 19 minutes.
Pau Gasol was a rebounding machine for the Lakers. LA’s big man finished with a game-leading 17 rebounds and 17 points to match. He dumped in the final bucket of the first half to account for LA’s five point benefit. The NBA champions were buried and beaten by Billups in the second half. The nine points Lakers edge was erased early in the half on four straight from downtown. Billups turned it into a two points Nuggets lead. Lawson stepped up at the end of the third quarter as the Nuggets gripped a 94-89 advantage. He came through early in the final quarter with a pair of free throws to make it a 102-91 Nuggets’ nudge. Lawson and Smith combined for 12 points during the game’s final 12 minutes. Denver secured a season high 15 three-pointers by night’s end, as Aaron Affalo got into the act with two. The Nuggets have the upper hand in this regular season rivalry. Bryan’t ankle is a problem for the Lakers. An ineffective and inept Bryant makes it increasingly difficult for LA to beat teams with Denver’s talent in the playoffs. Ron Artest, Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are a nice supporting cast, but Bryant remains the star. Artest was perfect from the line (4-of-4) but shot 30% from the field. Odom and Bynum had 10 points and 5 rebounds each on Friday night. Neither managed an assist. The Lakers did not have much on defense against chic Denver in their arena last night.

Parting Points: Weekend poem- Robert Frost’s “Dust of Snow”