NBA Playoffs: Nuggets play their game in their building, take Game 3 from Lakers

George Karl had a quiet confidence about his team heading home to Denver, even after dropping the first two games of the series to the Lakers in Los Angeles. He saw a lot of good things in his club, especially in a close Game 2 contest, and couldn’t wait to get back to the Pepsi Center for Friday night’s Game 3.

Karl is one of the sharpest and most tenured coaches in the league, and it turned out that what he saw in his Nuggets was legit. Denver pounced on the Lakers early, and led by as many as 24 points before holding on for a 99-84 win that cut L.A.’s lead in the series to 2-1.

The Lakers couldn’t match Denver’s energy from the opening tip. Ty Lawson set the pace with 13 first-quarter points, Denver killed L.A. on the boards in the opening period 17-6, and led by 16 after one. The Nuggets held Andrew Bynum scoreless in the first half with just three rebounds, largely due to the fact that with Denver getting out in transition, there were less half-court opportunities for the Lakers’ All-Star center.

With the lack of an inside game, the Lakers resorted to jumpshots and three-pointers, with limited success. L.A. went just 6-for-25 from three-point distance, and those attempts accounted for nearly a third of the team’s total. That’s not the Lakers’ game, and that’s not the way they’re going to win games in the postseason.

Kobe Bryant accounted for 10 of those shots on his own, and finished with 22 points on just 7-for-23 shooting.

Energy was the key to this one for Denver, as was evidenced by the monster games from Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee. The Nuggets’ bigs were nothing more than role players who had a minimal impact on Games 1 and 2, but Faried finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, and McGee was an even bigger factor with his 16 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocked shots off the bench.

The Lakers are still the more talented team in this series, and this game, especially when viewed alongside the second half of Game 2, should serve as a bit of a wake-up call for them in terms of what this Denver team is capable of if you let them get going, and try to play their game, at their tempo, in their building.

It’s no secret what the Lakers need to do to take Game 4: they have to bring energy from the start, focus on containing Lawson, and not get sucked into playing uptempo and shooting threes when they have two dominant offensive seven-footers in Bynum and Pau Gasol who can score inside.

That’s easier said than done, of course, especially playing in Denver. Which might have been exactly why George Karl was so excited about his team’s chances in this series once they left Los Angeles.