On Thursday morning, seemingly eons before Thursday night’s Pepsi Center thriller, Denver coach George Karl talked about the “freedom” he has given his big men, on occasion, to launch the 3-pointer.
It’s a risk, of course, but Karl is a big karma guy — and also believes that veterans develop a smoother touch as they age. And that night, there stood 6-foot-9 ballhandler Kenyon Martin near the top of the key, with 29.6 seconds left and Denver ahead of Phoenix by three — in overtime.
Why not?
Martin’s big shot splashed, doubling the lead, and Phoenix never recovered, losing 119-113 to the Nuggets.
“I’ve got confidence in my shot — I’ve been in the gym working,” Martin said. “It was a crucial part of the game, and we needed the bucket. I’m not going to be shy and not shoot it.”
“He told me he was going to knock it down, and he did,” Nuggets guard Anthony Carter said. “It was a just a big-time shot.”
With the win, the Nuggets (27-13) remain 2 1/2 games ahead of Portland (24-15) in the Northwest Division. Before the game, Karl said that, understandably, it’s the Nuggets’ goal to win the division.
“It might take 50, I feel it might be a little more than that, might be closer to 55 — I don’t know,” he said. “We know there’s nine good basketball teams, nine maybe 50-win basketball teams in the Western Conference. The only way to stay ahead of that curve is to win games.”
Denver is 3-1 since Carmelo Anthony broke his shooting hand. The Nuggets got a little revenge on the Suns, who rallied past Denver late in a Dec. 20 game.
The momentum-changing play Thursday happened with 3:01 left in overtime, when the under-the-weather Chauncey Billups (26 points) made, well, a sick move, driving to the basket and lifting a reverse finger-roll for a layup — while being fouled. He made the free throw for a 110-105 lead. Down six at the half, Denver clawed back in a valiant third quarter, and with 1:23 left in regulation, the Nuggets’ J.R. Smith hit a 3-pointer in the left corner to tie the game at 103. It proved to be the last basket of regulation.
On Thursday, the Suns were approximately 321 pounds lighter. Center Shaquille O’Neal opted to rest, as he sometimes does on back-to-backs. Let’s just say he wasn’t missed.
Entering Thursday, two of Denver’s sharpshooters were in a slump “beyond belief,” as Karl put it. But both Linas Kleiza and Smith made key contributions Thursday.
Kleiza played like he was in shoulder pads, attacking the basketball as if he were the running back the Broncos had been searching for. In the first half alone, the perimeter player slammed four dunks and went to the half with 11 points (he finished with 18). And Kleiza’s unflappable 3 from the right corner, with 6:50 left, gave Denver a four-point lead.
Smith, meanwhile, tallied 19 points, including a nifty steal from Steve Nash, which he turned into a nasty dunk on the other end.
Martin had eight points in the first six minutes of the third quarter, spearheading the comeback. He had a career-high seven steals.
“The victory was very important,” Carter said. “They had beat us down there. But we bounced back tonight, stayed with it. We just had to buckle down. Our intensity was great in the second half.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Phoenix forward Louis Amundson, who went to Monarch High School, finished with six points and six rebounds in 14 minutes and made a tough block on a J.R. Smith layup attempt. . . . In the third quarter, Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups shot a free throw with such a soft touch, the ball just sat on the area of the rim that connects the rim to the backboard. It was counted as a missed shot. A Phoenix player finally got the ball down.
Final thought
Clutch, clutch, clutch. That was a tough win against a tough team, and the Nuggets rose to the occasion when it mattered most.
Up next
Vs. Orlando, Sat., 7 p.m.
Benjamin Hochman, The Post
