Down 3-1, Odds Heavily Against Nuggets

We may have seen the last Nuggets home game for this season

Denver, CO – We all know the situation now, and it’s not a good one for our Denver Nuggets. After the Lakers scratched out a 92-88 victory in game 4, the deck is now stacked against Denver as they must win 3 straight to keep their season alive. The Nuggets missed several critical baskets down the stretch, as L.A. did just enough to take command of this best of seven series. One more loss, and the 2011-2012 season is history for Denver and its fans. Game 5 is Tuesday night at the Staples Center, where the Lakers won the first two games with relative ease. Did the game 4 loss take everything out of the Nuggets, or will they surprise everyone now and extend this series? Winning game 5 would not necessarily be a shocker, but history says coming all the way back and winning this series definitely would be.

Being down 3 games to 1 in NBA playoff history is not really where ya wanna be. Stunning information isn’t it? Really though, it may be an even worse situation for the Nuggets than you may have thought up until now. A 3-1 series lead has happened 202 times in NBA Playoff history, and in only 8 of those did the team that was behind come back and win the series. Folks, that is less than 4% of the time. Not a good omen for Denver to say the least. Combine that with the fact that the Nuggets have not looked great overall in this series, and it could be curtains come Tuesday night. The Lakers also have the look of a team who knows this is surely one of their last chances at a championship while Kobe Bryant is still near his prime. The urgency for them to close out this series in game 5 is huge, as they would like a little rest to gear up for Oklahoma City in round 2. By the way, that series is gonna be must see TV.

Are the Nuggets done? Yeah, probably on Tuesday. The prediction here before the series got underway was that L.A. would win it in 7. I thought Denver would push them to the brink of elimination, only to have Kobe come up big and carry the Lakers past the Nuggets in game 7. The thing that has stood out to anyone with eyeballs is that the Nuggets are just too young and inexperienced at some positions. The Lakers veteran leadership and length has killed the Nuggets, but this experience will end up aiding Denver in future seasons. This series is great exposure to playoff basketball for guys like Faried, McGee, and Gallinari, who should all grow as players going forward. Rarely does a team not have to go through growing pains as it matures. This season is just about done unfortunately, but 2013 could be the first of many deep Nuggets playoff runs.

Denver Sports by J Simp