Denver 106, Los Angeles Lakers 103 (series tied, 1-1)

Well, this is how close games work. And I think that it's a good thing that we've had three games like these in the Conference finals.

People are finally starting to realize that these five-points-and-under games can go either way, no matter how good the team or circumstance. And hopefully this might help, say, Wizards fans from killing their team for losing three games in a row by a total of seven points in the middle of December.

The Lakers could be up 2-0 with a few more breaks, same with the Nuggets. As it stands, 1-1. 96 minutes of fantastic basketball. And though I'll spend part of your morning telling you where things went wrong, there isn't a lot of blame to go around. Two championship-worthy basketball teams battled from start to finish, one won by three.

One would think the most lingering regret for the Lakers, as relayed constantly by the ESPN crew of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson in the first half, is how the Lakers somehow "should have been up by 20," at times, due to Denver's poor play.

How in the world does that work? How is it that one team, the home team, was doing just about everything right on both ends, while the other was only bringing it on 75 percent of its possessions, and we're criticizing the team that's playing near-perfect ball?

The Lakers shouldn't have been up by 20. Instead, Denver should have been in a one-possession game. Criticize them. The Lakers played brilliantly, but you can't shut out a great team like Denver, and every so often the Nuggets would hit a tough shot or get it together on defense for a possession or two. Which means you don't blow the great team out, even if your play is spot on.

It means -- when you toss in that tough Carmelo Anthony(notes) leaner or Linas Kleiza(notes) three-pointer or the sound help defense on Kobe at the apex -- that you have a solid, if tenuous, hopefully double-figure lead.

The arrogance that we have in discussing these Lakers ... one of this team's biggest cogs is playing on one leg, and they're in the Western Conference finals. That's significant. That means they'd be tested -- to the brink of elimination, likely -- even with a healthy roster.

And with Andrew Bynum(notes) dragging that leg around, and seeing his shape catch up to him after a busy first half (Bynum was dog-tired in that second frame), things are going to change. It's like criticizing the Nuggets if Nene had torn something midway through the season, and wasn't 100 percent or in shape yet.

Listen, the Lakers are playing a knockout basketball team. And if that knockout basketball team plays spotty defense for a quarter and a half, doesn't share the ball well, and doesn't play possession-to-possession basketball, the best a team like the Lakers (as good as they are) can hope for is what they got -- a 14-point lead.

People expecting the Lakers to magically run up by 20 or 25 points just because Nene or Kenyon Martin(notes) didn't run the floor on a few possessions, or because Carmelo Anthony's shot wasn't there to begin the game, they have to have a greater sense of history. The competition at this level is so great, that even a team tossing out a stinkbomb of a game is still going to worm its way to points and stops. It's just how it goes at this level. Don't expect a boot on anyone's throat. Unless someone completely lays down, there aren't any blowouts.

I loved the Laker spacing and attack early on. The team shared the ball, made quick decisions with the ball, and had the finishers to build the lead. It also owned the glass, again, as we saw Kenyon Martin whiffing on defensive rebounding opportunities (straight up just watching the ball go past him as Lamar Odom(notes), behind Martin by a few feet, runs in to collect the loose ball), with Chris Andersen(notes) not playing much better.

32 points on 20 shots for Kobe, and the Nuggets really have to borrow that Rocket scouting report. Or just read this column.

Kobe wants to shoot from the elbow-extended, behind the three-point arc. With most shooters who are being lazy (and Kobe, going for the home run in someone's face instead of penetrating the defense, is being lazy), you want to bait them into taking that low-percentage shot. For Kobe, as tempestuous as that shot might be, that's not your typical, Michael Redd(notes)-like face up.

With Kobe, that's his spot. That line-drive, torque-heavy release that backspins in all the time. You have to crowd him there. And you have to stop him, as he drives to his right toward the free throw line, from giving that one dribble at the elbow and fading away. Force him left. Force him left. Force him, the hell, left. Force him into a shot you haven't seen him take and make a trillion times before.

It's not just, "ah, tip your cap to the guy." No. Read the scouting report. Crowd him and force him out of the areas he's most comfortable in. It's not easier said than done. You can do it, if you're patient and have an open mind, free of instinct and bad habits.

Kobe was absolutely fantastic, on both ends, again. Just two turnovers in about 40 minutes. Bummer that he couldn't get him more than 20 shots, because even in a slow game like this, as good as his teammates are, he needs more than 20 shots. Credit the Nuggets for taking him out of the action, off the ball. I also blame the Lakers for not running the offense properly down the stretch.

Bryant is a tough nut, here. He's pissed, right now, and I haven't even seen the post-game reaction. He's killing himself internally for letting Billups bounce the ball off his back toward the end of the first half, resulting in a Denver lay-up, and he's steaming that things are this close. This can go either way. He can make this all about himself, or he can work even harder within that offense to get good, not isolation, shots. That's what Jordan did. Watch the tapes, Kobester.

The Nuggets got it together by ... well, Carmelo Anthony continues to grow. Anthony didn't come out white hot, like he did in Game 1. He struggled. He could have pouted. He could have taken himself out of the game, mentally. He could have shot his team out of the game.

Instead? He worked at it, worked himself back into the game. 14 points in an eight and a half minute stretch in the second quarter, a point in the game where he used to pout because of a long rest, and the struggles of the first quarter.

In the third quarter? Five rebounds. That's big, for your small forward, in one quarter. He played about the first 16 minutes to start the second half, the Nuggets were +5 overall, and that sort of rock to lean on is huge in such a close game, against such a terrific opponent.

34 points overall, on 29 shots. Take away that first quarter, and he had 32 points on 23 shots.

Chauncey Billups(notes) used Los Angeles' aggressive D against itself and got to the line 16 times (during the regular season, all I had to write was "got to the line 16 times" with Chauncey; now I have to point out that he hit 13 of the freebies), and Nene took advantage of the Laker double-teams (yes, they were double-teaming him in the post, and running two defenders at him on screen and roll) to gather six assists, with nine rebounds and six points.

And, by the end of the game, the Nuggets are matching Los Angeles on the glass. And in the free throw department. Two huge Laker advantages from the regular season have been made up for. Kudos, Denver. Big, big play.

And kudos to the Lakers, who are playing just fine, and lost by three points. With plenty of chances.

Derek Fisher(notes) went 1-9 in the game, but the play Phil Jackson set up to give Fisher the best three-pointer in the house (in the corner) with his team down three? I don't care that Fish hit 1-8 prior. Fisher was 2-6 before hitting that game-winner against the Spurs in 2004. That was a high percentage shot to tie that left the Nuggets absolutely no chance to foul to put L.A. at the line for two shots. Despite Mark Jackson telling you that "the Nuggets decided not to foul."

The Trevor Ariza(notes) Situation, down the stretch, bugged me quite a bit. It's nitpicking, but as we've discussed, in a close game like this, you have to nitpick to find the difference between the winning team and the losing team.

There were dozens of factors that went into the Lakers losing by three points, I'd certainly be a fool in pinning the loss on Ariza. But his play down the stretch killed Los Angeles.

And, ironically, Mark Jackson was killing Phil Jackson for not having Ariza in the game during the midway mark of the fourth quarter. Mark Jackson put together all of Ariza's quick-hit attributes -- athletic, 19 points already, energy, length -- without thinking through matchups, or Ariza's acumen within an offense that is designed to find the best shot available by moving the ball, using great spacing, and making smart decisions.

The reason that Ariza wasn't out there is because Shannon Brown(notes) doesn't know the offense, yet. It's not Brown's fault, he was traded to Los Angeles in February, but only time and playing time help the neophytes learn the Triangle. If Brown is going to be out there to defend Chauncey Billups, and the ESPN crew couldn't stop gushing about Brown, the Lakers were going to need someone to run the offense, because Brown is incapable.

That person is Luke Walton(notes), who was running the show ably until Ariza entered, alongside Derek Fisher, with about five minutes to go.

And though Ariza picked up two pretty steals that ESPN went out of their way to discuss, he also split two free throws, took an awful shot that didn't even touch rim with plenty of time on the shot clock, dribbled out a possession so that Kobe couldn't get the ball with the clock running down, and turned the ball over.

He also allowed Chauncey Billups to get into the lane twice, which resulted in two Denver scores. Not the best run. And none of it, save for the two pretty steals, was documented by ESPN.  

This isn't to dump on Ariza, who overall had a tremendous game for a role player (four steals, 20 points on only seven shots). You just have to remember that, with the Lakers and their offense, sometimes there is a bit more than meets the eye.

A pretty pleasing series, to these eyes, thus far. Denver is +1 overall after 96 minutes of play, and you can only hope that the scores are just as close over the next 96 minutes, in Colorado.

Both teams can tweak, certain players can be chided for not shooting their average, and adjustments can be made. But we also have to understand that, sometimes, the winning team is only the winning team because they happened to be up by a couple of digits at the end of 48 minutes. Had the founders decided on 15-minute quarters, who knows?

All that it was built up to be. Fantastic, engaging basketball from both sides. Thanks for that.

Related: Behind the boxscore