WCF Game 1 Nuggetz

The bad news is that the Nuggets are facing their first series deficit of the 2009 playoffs.

The good news is they outplayed and outmuscled the Lakers in the Staples Center.

• Despite the heartbreaking loss, it was very exciting to see the Nuggets control the post in every area other than offensive rebounds allowed.  That bodes well for the rest of the series if they can focus on boxing-out as much as they did in the first quarter.
  
• The killer in this game was absolutely the play of the bench, which had been a monumental strength in the two previous series'.  The Nuggets' bench players were playing tight and nervous and I don't expect that to continue into the rest of the series.
• While Kobe's play is correctly getting the hype it deserves, it was the timely 3-pointers by Derek Fisher that were the back-breakers in my eyes.
• How costly were those 3 missed free throws to start the game for Chauncey?
• It will be interesting to see how Melo responds to such a dominating, efficient offensive performance.  Will he try to keep up his all-around play or will he try to get into a scoring contest with Kobe.
• As well as Kobe played, especially down the stretch, I'm basically happy with how the Denver Defender's performed against him.  His looks were pretty good, and weren't heavily contested, but there was always a defender nearby and more importantly, he had very few chances to drive and dunk.
• How great was it to see Carmelo checking Kobe in crunch time.  It made me realize that as great as Kobe is, Melo can guard him pretty well and he has no chance to guard Melo at this point in his career.
• The first quarter of this game went about as well as could be expected, especially because Melo was clearly ready and there seemed to be a focus on boxing-out and securing rebounds that was lost later in the game.
• I think this is was the first sporting event that I've felt noticeably anxious about that I haven't been directly involved in.
• If it weren't for Gasol's offensive boards, the Laker's frontcourt would have been entirely ineffective.  I don't expect they'll be dominated like that in every game, but I also don't expect the Nuggets to give up 10 more offensive rebounds than they get in any other game.
• A Lakers fan posted in the comments of my series preview that this was the best the Nugs could play and their only chance at winning in LA.  I couldn't disagree more.  While Melo may have played his best possible game, and KMart was very good, every other player on the Nuggets has a lot of room to improve.
• Nene needs to figure out what he did in the first half and do it for the entire game tomorrow night.  After a great performance early on, he disappeared, partly due to foul trouble, but that can't be all of it, he needs to keep attacking offensively.
• Chauncey racked up the assists early, but I'm not sure he managed an assist in the 2nd or 3rd quarters.  When his shot isn't falling, it would be nice to see his assist totals rise a bit.
• Overall, despite the loss, I'm excited about what I saw in Game 1 and I'm looking forward to seeing how things go tomorrow night.

In summary and in conclustion, people keep talking about how the Nuggets will respond to the loss, but I'm going to be interested to see how the Lakers respond.  That game reminded me of a boxing match where the heavy favorite took some nasty blows early, but managed to win the round.  He may be happy that he's gone round 1 under his belt, but he's probably a little surprised by how strong his opponent was.  There's clearly going to be adjustments made by each team, but the Lakers have to feel as if they've taken some blows to the body, and I think if the Nuggets play with this kind of effort in every game, the every-other-day schedule will wear down this Lakers team.