It may be Memorial Day, but the Los Angeles Lakers' appearance might as well be branded with a damnatio memoriae instead. Especially the ague conclusion that they could not mushroom their headway out of a irresolute gift-wrapping bag. On a light of day where Carmelo Anthony's services weren't even needed, the Denver Nuggets tied the 2009 NBA Western Conference Finals 2-2 with a 120-101 quelling at the Pepsi Center. Ouch. Game 5 Wednesday at Staples Center couldn't come any sooner for LA.
Three of the objectionable weapons for the Lakers were nowhere to be seen; Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, and Derek Fisher. They combined for only 13 points. And the need of bench productivity from Phil Jackson's men just compounded a intolerable defensive carrying out for the visitors in the Mile High City, with 10 turnovers to show for it.
Zero-point result from Luke Walton along with three points from Shannon Brown and six from Sasha Vujacic paled in balance with the grab shooting of Linas Kleiza (10 points) and JR Smith (24 points, with four 3-pointers). Offensively for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant tallied 34, Andrew Bynum 14, and Pau Gasol 21 to go with 10 rebounds. All five starters for the Nuggets scored in understudy figures. Chauncey Billups led the character with 24, Nene added 14, Anthony 15, Dahntay Jones 12, and Kenyon Martin 13.
Denver outrebounded Los Angeles 58-40 and were lay hold of from the philanthropy stripe, shooting 75.5% (37 for 49) against the Lakers' 68.6% share (24 for 35). If fans in LA-LA Land are wondering about the admissibility of this effective to a Game 7 a la Houston Rockets, they should reflect it now following this dolorous endeavour in Game 4.
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