Game 5 Recap

Turned out to be a great game, and a terribly frustrating 4th quarter, but in the end, Los Angeles protected their home court and now it's time for Denver to do the same.

The most frustrating aspect was definitely Carmelo's inability to draw fouls in the lane.  You can argue about whether that's due to the Laker's interior length or the referee's decision not to call fouls on contact on drives to the hoop, but as a Nuggets fan, you can probably guess where I fall in that category.

Regardless, the score was tied at the end of each quarter, and the Nuggets put themselves into a position to take another game in LA, but just couldn't hold it together in the 4th.  Los Angeles got production from both Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher, and that more than anything else was probably the difference in this game.  I can complain all I want, and I plan to, but the bottom line is that the Laker's played harder in this game than they have all series, and they did what they're supposed to do at home, so all I can do now is look forward.

Looking at the box score, there are only a few categories that really stand out after tonight's game.

• Fouls - My thoughts on this have already been covered.  I thought that the fouls were called fairly evenly, but the way the game was called favored the Laker's style of play.
• Blocks - See "Fouls"
• Assists - In game 4, Denver was constantly trying to find the best shot.  I don't think that mindset changed much, but LA's defensive intensity definitely hurt the Nugget's passing ability.
• 3-Point % - The Nuggets were actually significantly better here, but still shot worse than 30%.  The key is that Denver shot 8 more 3-pointers than LA while both teams were cold from long distance, so that means Denver was relying on something that wasn't working.
• FG% - The Lakers shot about 10% better than the Nuggets and that's the first time in a very long time that I've seen that kind of discrepancy for a Nuggets' opponent.  This will have to change for Denver to get a win in Game 6.

Overall I'm disappointed, but by no means did this game make me feel as if this series is over.  It's going to take another great home effort as well as a complete game in Los Angeles in the possible Game 7, but I still like how this team is playing overall, and I still like the Denver Nugget's chances to advance to the NBA Finals in 7 games.