The Los Angeles Lakers might have been the hotter team coming into this Mile High match-up, but the Nuggets made sure that the Lake Show left the Pepsi Center with a loss, and boy was it a good one. The Nuggets denied the Lakers the chance to reach .500 on the season, as Denver “Beat LA” 119-108 on Monday Night.
During the last game against the Bobcats, Gallo was hobbled up with a bruised left thigh, and would wind up sitting out this game, but you wouldn’t know it by watching this contest against the Lakers.
Wilson Chandler replaced Gallo in the starting line-up, and he would most certainly relish the opportunity. Chandler shot 10-18 (55%) for 23 points in just 25 minutes. Chandler’s numbers would pretty much help sum up the kind of night the Nuggets were having. Like Chandler, many of the Nuggets enjoyed good-shooting nights, mainly for the reason that nearly all of the Nuggets points came in the paint. Many lay-ups, and many dunks. The Nuggets had 67 points at halftime, and 50.. yes, 50 of those points came in the paint. They finished with 78 points in the paint. The Lakers had been having problems all year long in their transition defensive game, and in the Mile High altitude, it would only be worse.
Having played last night, the Lakers were out-run and out-gunned up and down the court in a sprint with the Nuggets. Something that the Nuggets continue to thrive on, especially against these Lakers, as we saw during the Nuggets’ success in the 7-game first round playoff series last year. The Nuggets half court game is still a work in progress, but no team has more success running down an opponent’s throat like Denver does.
The Lakers seemed to almost never cut the lead below double digits. As the lead would be cut to 8 or 9, the Nuggets would go on a run to re-extend the lead back up to the upper-echelon of double figures, many thanks to Corey Brewer who had 16 points coming off the bench for more minutes than usual with Gallo being out and Chandler in foul trouble all night long. Many thanks to the whistle-happy refs that seemed to be against Denver during the entire contest. There were 42 combined foul calls, and three technicals assessed to both squads. (Lakers 2, Nuggets 1).
Whether it be due to the mutiple questionable calls in the second half, or the help of Kobe’s 29 points, the Lakers would, however, cut the lead to 6 with about 5 minutes to play, only to see the Nuggets go on a complete tear and put the game away near the end.
Funny enough, during a lot of the contest, the Nuggets would also take their chance at the Hack-A-Howard technique, which had them see Dwight go 3-14 from the charity stripe, and have the Lakers end up with multiple empty possessions that lead to fast break points for the Nuggets, for which they finished with 33 on the night. Many due to the terribly missed free throws by Howard that would hit the back of the rim and go to nearly half court.
In an exciting night overall the led to a home win for Denver, the stat that might be the most important stat line that led to the Nuggets victory, would be the fact that Ty scored at least 20 points for the 7th game in a row. Maybe it’s the fact that there was talk at the trade deadline of the Nuggets being leader-less or that he realized that it was time to step up, but Ty has been on an absolute tear, nonetheless. In the month of February, Ty is shooting 50% from the field, and scoring 22.7 PPG. To me, that screams lead by example.
If Ty can keep up those types of numbers, the Nuggets have a legit chance to catch Memphis for the 4 seed, and maybe even be a threat to the Clippers. Just maybe.
NOTES: The Nuggets won their 9th straight game at home, and look to improve their record on the road when they travel to Portland on Wednesday to take on the 26-30 Trail Blazers on national television. The Blazers have lost 7 of their last 8 games, and have fallen four games behind Houston for the 8th seed.
Here’s an Extra that comes to you courtesy of AnthonyRod.com contributor Sammy Mugharbil: Highlight of the night by far! A sick alley loop up to Faried who jammed it over Dwight Howard aka Superman.
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Anthony Rodriguez
Anthony is the Founder, Administrator, Editor and Publisher of Lightning Rod Sports. Originally from California, Anthony has been raised in the Rocky Mountains and Denver area for most of his life. Anthony works with the Emmy-winning student-run T.V. newscast at MSU Denver, The Met Report, as the Assistant General Manager, formerly the Sports Producer, as well as Lead Anchor and Production Assistant. He is currently the Play-by-Play Announcer, Color Commentator, and Production Assistant for the Metro State Broadcast Network, and calls games for Metro State soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball as a “Voice of the Roadrunners.” In addition to that work with the Metro State Broadcast Network, Anthony also hosts the monthly 30-minute magazine show called "The Roadrunner Review" which airs on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. He hosts the bi-weekly "KMet Sports Show" on KMET Radio at MyMetMedia.com/KMETSportsShow. He is also the Founder, Administrator, Editor, and Columnist for his own Denver Sports website, LightningRodSports.com. Anthony is also part of the Social Media team at Examiner.com, and has worked with the Altitude Radio Network for the Avalanche and Nuggets. Anthony is a former Producer for Mile High Sports Radio, as well as a former Sports-Talk show host on the LightningRod Radio Network.
