| May 8 - Staples Center, Los Angeles. The Lakers played an awful game and looked hopeless until Kobe Bryant brought them back to life with 4 three-pointers part of a 17-6 run that trimmed the Nuggets' lead to 2 points with 59 seconds left, but it was all the Lakers had to give and after missing two three-points attempts in the final possession they lost 102-99. Now the series is 3-2 for the Lakers who will have to travel to try to close it Thursday at Denver. Aside from Kobe who finished with 43 points, nobody else dressed on purple and gold looked willing to shoot the ball and their defensive attitude was a shame in general and Andrew Bynum in particular played most of the game as if he didn't understood the relevance of his role in the team. His defense of the paint was just atrocius like if he weren't the same player who got 10 blocks in game 1. JaVale McGee did whatever he wanted in the paint finding little resistance and finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Denver was led by veteran point guard Andre Miller who had 24 points and 8 assists coming from the bench. The Nuggets went to halftime with a 49-43 lead and midway through the fourth quarter they enjoyed a 15-point lead, 90-75. Then Kobe's threes started to rain and after he made 3 consecutive the deficit was as little as 2, 98-96. He missed in the next to possessions but with 14 seconds left Ramon Sessions made a three of his own to reduce the distance to 100-99. Miller made two free throws to put the final numbers since Kobe and Sessions couldn't tie with their 3-point attempts in the final 5 seconds. In another of his puzzling comments, Andrew Bynum declared before the game that closing series was easy because the opponents tend to give up quickly when facing adversity... |
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