Game Rewind: A Mile High Low – Nuggets 105, Lakers 79

Man alive, when the Lakers lose, they REALLY lose, don’t they?

Something stinks and tonight it’s the Lakers.

I thought this was a no-lose situation for the Lakers, but I couldn’t have been more wrong mostly because I never actually considered the possibility that the Lakers would get their butts handed to them.  I sure as hell didn’t anticipate the Lakers scoring only 8 points in the third quarter and you can bet your life that I never even thought the Kobe would get shutout completely in the second half.

In fact, tonight’s loss was just such an unmitigated disaster that I think the Lakers can probably just write it off entirely.  The basic fact of the matter is they played a putrid quarter of basketball that cost them the game.  OK, maybe they might want to work on remembering how to pass out of a double team or how to defend the high pick-and-roll (wait, I don’t think they’ve ever been able to consistently do that in Phil Jackson’s entire tenure).  But jumping to any other broad conclusions or decisions would be foolhardy.

Yes, Ron Artest let Carmelo Anthony get off in the third quarter, but he did keep in check in the first half, not letting Melo get loose until pretty much everything went wrong for LA in the second half.  Was it a concerning performance?  Yes, but only mildly so.  On the same note, the ESPN commentators were praising the work of Aaron Afflalo defending Kobe Bryant.  Afflalo did do a solid job, but if anyone really think he can repeat such a performance in the next three regular season games these teams play, well, then I have a bridge I would like to sell you.

The Lakers will be just fine after this loss.  Unfortunately, they’ve also given the Nuggets a major shot of confidence and will no have to clean up their mess the next time these two teams meet.

Someone feel free to stop Carmelo Anthony.  Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

• If there is a silver lining to the loss it is that we don’t need to listen to Reggie Miller gloat about predicting a 20-1 start.  I guess the Lakers will just have to settle for  19-2.
• Luke Walton got an extra stamp on his man card tonight when he appeared to get his pinky finger dislocated and sticking out sideways from his hand.  He barely flinched, calmly called a timeout and then had Gary Vitti re-set the finger with little more than a grimace.  That was just plain manly.
• At least Andrew Bynum held up his end of the bargain in the game, picking up yet another double-double.  I’d like to think that things might have been different in this contest had both Bynum and Pau been on the floor, you know, like the Lakers might have only lost by 16 instead of 26.

Lake Show Outtakes:

• On one hand, I really feel like Shannon Brown deserves some credit for being so active on the offensive end, but on the other hand, activity doesn’t always translate to production.  Brown really seemed to take it on himself to be an offensive dynamo off the bench tonight, but all that resulted in was a lot of poorly selected shots and out of control drives.  A little less energy and a little more intelligence would do Shannon a world of good.
• It is time to start using a shorter hook on Derek Fisher.  For the second time this season he didn’t make a single shot from the floor and just plain looked scared to shoot.  I can remember at least two lay-ups and another wide-open three-point shot he passed up only so he could make an ill-advised pass.  I’m not saying that he needs to be benched, just that one nights where he clearly doesn’t have it going that Phil just needs to recognize it and get him out of there.
• It was one thing to get demolished, but it was quite another to have Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga get posterized by Ty Lawson.  That just hurt.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, Denver Nuggets, Derek Fisher, DJ Mbenga, Game Rewind, Josh Powell, Luke Walton, Reggie Miller, Shannon Brown, Ty Lawson